DA:NS FOCUS – CONNECT ASIA NOW Comes to Esplanade
The event runs from 25 – 28 Sep 2025.
By: Stephi Wild Jul. 03, 2025
Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay will present three works that push the boundaries of dance to speculate new futures by artists from the Asia Pacific at our third edition of da:ns focus – Connect Asia Now (CAN), from 25 – 28 Sep 2025.
Australian dance company Chunky Move presents U>N>I>T>E>D, its newest work imagining a utopia where humans and machines commune. Co-commissioned by Esplanade, it also features Balinese experimental music group Gabber Modus Operandi, Bali-based streetwear label Future Loundry and Australian global leaders in animatronic design, Creature Technology Co.
A decade after Esplanade first commissioned SoftMachine, Choy Ka Fai reconnects with the five artists from the original work—Rianto (Indonesia), Surjit Nongmeikapam (India), Xiao Ke and Zi Han (China) and Yuya Tsukahara (Japan)—in SoftMachine: The Return, as they reflect on life, their artistic practice and the future of contemporary dance in Asia.
SoftMachine: The Return and U>N>I>T>E>D are also part of 60 Connections – At Home and Afar, Esplanade’s year-long season celebrating Singapore’s 60th year of independence (SG60). An excerpt of the 2020 docufilm SoftMachine Redux: Yuya POV Edition will be screened free online on Esplanade Offstage.
Long-time Esplanade collaborator Pichet Klunchun returns with Chapter 2, a new commission exploring how tradition and the physical body can evolve and co-exist with AI.
Beyond CAN’s main programmes, we continue our partnership with Dance Nucleus to support independent artists and progressive practices in VECTOR #6 The Sound of Intimacy. We will also host international presenters during CAN, enabling encounters that circulate knowledge, perspectives and solidarity in artmaking and across cultures amidst a time of global change.
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