The Singapore International Festival of Arts is counting down until artists from around the world arrive to transform stages across the city-state. There’ll be a full line-up of creative and inspiring performances in Singapore featuring music, puppets and projections aiming to excite, question and awe audiences. Before things kick off, we’re sharing what we know about six SIFA 2024 highlights – plus details of an exclusive Expat Living discount!
Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA 2024)
This year’s festival will take place from 17 May to 2 June and will feature an array of works across theatre, music, dance, film and visual arts. Each production is a response to the theme “The Anatomy of Performance – They Declare”. This is about making space for different beliefs and ways of being through listening to one another, our world and others’ voices. Families won’t miss out either; there are performances in this year’s Singapore International Festival of Arts specifically created for kids.
Moreover, Expat Living readers get a 10% discount by entering the code “SIFAEL10” at checkout. This is applicable on category 1 regular tickets only for Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About A Terrible Monster and Category 1 and 2 regular tickets across all programmes, except workshops. So, explore the line-up and grab your tickets here!
6 unmissable performances at SIFA
#1 Moby Dick by Plexus Polaire (France/Norway)
This literature classic has been turned into a spectacular visual using 50 puppets, several actors, live music and video projections to take audiences into the depths of the ocean. The tale of obsession follows Captain Ahab on a whaling expedition and quest to seek revenge on a white whale. His journey turns into a battle with nature and his own complex emotions.
#2 The Romeo by Trajal Harrell (USA)
When and where was dance created? During this large-scale piece for a dozen performers, choreographer Trajal Harrell creates a style of dancing inspired by the primal impulse and desire to dance. Through an exhilarating display of movement, discover how dance evolves and spreads across the world – and to Singapore.
#3 Sun & Sea by Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė & Lina Lapelytė (Lithuania)
Observe from above an artificial beach created using light, architecture and music. There’s more to this scene than vacationers sunning themselves – and soon you’ll learn their stories. Listen as they combine and rise into an ecological opera about the climate breakdown and planetary-scale threats.
#4 ANGELA (a strange loop) by Susanne Kennedy & Markus Selq (Denmark)
Illness and recovery, waking and sleeping, giving birth and being born, ageing and death: this close-up of a woman’s life delves into questions of existence, identity and the nature of reality.
#5 Una Isla by Agrupación Señor Serrano (ES)
Through a fusion of choreography, live video, AI-generated music, and holographic sculptures, this performance in Singapore questions the line between human and machine. Watch how the performers interact with and harness AI’s potential to create a poetic piece about boundaries in the digital world.
#6 Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About A Terrible Monster by Manuel Cinema (US)
While he tries hard to be scary, Leonardo quite simply isn’t. That’s until he finds Sam, the most scaredy-cat kid in the world. Could this be the start of an unlikely friendship? Both children and the young at heart will love the props, songs and hundreds of illustrated paper puppets tat bring Mo Willems’ book to life. Expect a big and bold show full of colourful visuals.
Also happening: Binder Animation Workshop with Manual Cinema! Learn to create your own short puppet animation using the paper puppet techniques from Leonardo!
See the full SIFA 2024 schedule and find out more about these performances in Singapore, plus puppet shows, dance showcases and other events here.
