Grooving The Move

Introduce yourself!
I’m Ginette, and I’m an arts programmer. I’m in the dance programming team, and I help to run different festivals and programs to cater to different audiences in Singapore with interests not only in dance, but also in music, theatre, and all that. It’s a very event-based job and I’m always super busy and on the go, but this is what I find fun about the job!

That’s cool! How did you first get into the arts programming scene?
I’ve been dancing pretty much my whole life. I started when I was five and am still dancing a little bit here and there, but more so for leisure now. I think in all, I’ve been dancing for 20, 21 years or so. It’s always been a passion of mine, and I’ve done many different styles, from ballet to Chinese dance, contemporary to street. I guess you could say this is what led me to my current role.

Tell us about a dance programme you helped to curate that you’re particularly proud of.
The one that we did back in December 2023 comes to mind. We had this street dance show called FULL OUT!, where we brought together four big dance crews, both international and local ones. One of the bigger ones we managed to get was The Royal Family Dance Crew from New Zealand. Anyway, we brought these crews together to do this huge blockbuster show in our theatre, and it was a very power-packed show, very different from what we usually do in such a formal venue.

So it was really interesting for us to turn such a venue into a super hyped, vibe-y kind of environment for our younger audiences who enjoy street dance.

That sounds like so much fun! Do you personally have a favourite dance style?
I think my favourite would be contemporary dance. It’s something I’ve grown to love while doing other types of dances. I actually statured off with your classical dance forms like ballet and Chinese dance, which built my foundation, but I fell in love with contemporary dance because of the freedom I feel when I move.

As we all know, ballet and Chinese dance is a lot more structured, and I’m thankful it gave me solid foundation to build up my technical skills, but with contemporary dance, I feel like rather than merely executing choreography, I can explore and develop the way that I move.

Though I will say, I think it’s interesting how even when I do contemporary dance, I still use the techniques I’ve picked up from ballet and Chinese dance to inform the way that I move. It’s developed my physical vocabulary in the sense that I’m not just moving without thinking. Lots of the things that I’ve learned and cultivated over the years have been imprinted in my mind, which inevitably shapes the way that I move as compared to dancers with different backgrounds like street or Malay dance. This is what makes each dancer unique—their journey to build their unique vocabulary and structure.

As both a dancer and a programmer, how do you hope audiences will experience the shows and events that you curate?
I’d want my programming to be inviting for all kinds of audiences, and I hope that people will feel like they can step into the dance world without feeling intimidated. It might be something they’re unfamiliar with, but I hope that it will seem interesting to them and that they feel like they can just try it out rather than sweeping it aside and saying “that’s not for me”.

We want to have something for everyone with every series that we curate where I work, so for example, if we’re doing a street dance series, we wouldn’t just have a ticketed blockbuster show, but also free, accessible events that passers-by can stop to have a look at and hopefully build their interest up from there.