The Asian Civilizations Museum was filled with ancient statues of Buddhas (of different ethnicities: the Thai Buddha had a long face). Each Buddha could be identified by common signifiers like the Wheel of Life imprinted on the palm of his foot and his long dangly earlobes which were stretched by the heavy jewelry he wore as a Brahmin before opting for a simpler lifestyle. Interestingly, we didn’t see any emaciated (or incredibly fat) Buddhas. The Buddhas were normal-sized but had three rolls of fat around the neck to remind people they don’t have to starve in order to achieve inner-peace.
When we left the museum, we were treated to a wonderful sit-down Vietnamese lunch. For the first course, we were served mango and papaya salad with shrimp. The entree followed; we had a choice of lemon-glazed chicken or shellfish curry (both with rice). I ordered the shellfish which came with more shrimp, squid, and several other unidentifiable shelled creatures. For dessert we had hot tea and a small diamond-shaped piece of a sticky white cake served alongside watermelon, honeydew, and more papaya. Throughout the meal the waiters kept our glasses filled with copious amounts of a red fruit drink which seemed extravagantly wonderful until Malhar Patel, a student on the trip who sat beside me, commented that it tasted like Kool-Aid. Suddenly not so wonderful.
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| Mango and papaya salad with shrimp. |
Our tour guide, Mary Ledbetter, joined us for lunch. Her father was the former president of UNC and so she treated us to tickets to see Singapore Dance Theater’s “Masterpiece in Motion” at the Esplanade. Upon talking with her I discovered that she has lived abroad for many years, mostly in Europe, but that she and her husband moved to Singapore a few years ago. She said that she doesn’t know where she will be in a few years and that she and her husband have realized that they can never plan that far in advance. She still maintains her UNC ties, however, and she has a house just a short walk from campus.
The performance at the Esplanade Theatre was as wonderful as I’d imagined. A gigantic stainless steel sphere overlooking the bay, the building is a piece of artwork in and of itself. Singapore Dance Theatre presented three pieces, each followed by a twenty minute intermission. The first, Maninyas, was characterized by a set of pas de deux and pas de trios. The dancers slipped between blue and green translucent sheets hanging from the back of the stage. A couple spun together, veils covering their eyes, and an unspeakable tension keeping them from ever fully embracing. As the music ebbed to a close, the sheets fell from the ceiling and they were finally “unveiled,” seeing each other for the first time.
We were in for a treat with the second performance: the world premier of Edwaard Liang’s The Winds of Zephyrus, a contemporary piece with the dancers embodying the different forms of the wind. First, a soft gentle breeze swept onto the stage, followed by faster gusts which eventually yellowed into a sick, quiet hush before the sweeping wrath of a hurricane.
Fearful Symmetries, the final piece, experimented with different shades of color. Dancers flitted between black-, white-, and primary colored-boxes. Honestly, the choreographer’s resume was more enticing than the performance. Nils Christe has choreographed 77 ballets for 65 dance companies with performances in 25 different countries.
Unfortunately, hardly anyone was in attendance to enjoy the performance. We sat in the balcony, and I could count the people seated below. Singapore has recently acknowledged its arts deficit and is trying to create an artistic sphere. From the performance I saw, I’d say that Singapore doesn’t suffer from a lack of arts, simply a lack of art connoisseurs. Perhaps the growing arts industry will be able to change that!
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