Synopsis

A new nation is born after rejection. A woman's body is changed after childbirth. A whole village is scarred from a natural disaster. The effects of a trauma are long lasting; our bodies remember separation.

Motherland digs up the mysteries of our homes and of our bodies; surfacing the roots that run deep in our brotherhood (or sisterhood) of nations, the stories of friendship and love. 

"What shadow is ever separated from its maker? Do you see? The shadow and its maker are one and the same, so get over surfaces and delve into mysteries."

Motherland is a multi-lingual dance theatre production, developed as a collaboration between Malaysian and Singaporean dancer-choreographers Tang Sook Kuan and Jean Toh. Motherland, explores the inscription of history and culture on gendered bodies –of the (mother) landas well as the womanly bodies. Developed as a result of intense inter-and intrapersonal exchanges between the two artists —a Singapore-based Malaysian (Tang Sook Kuan), and a Singaporean living in Malaysia (Jean Toh) —the process of the work has seen the weaving of deeply personal, yet universal, threads of experience and stories culminating over countless bus trips between two sister cities across a Causeway, unfolding in rehearsal rooms between Singapore and Johor Bahru alike.

Motherland (Trailer)

Photo credits: G-Six Studio

11th & 12th November 2017, Johor Bahru International Festival City 2017, Malaysia

Writer, Choreographer & Performer| Jean Toh                                                                                                                         C0-Writer Choreographer & Performer| Tang Sook Kuan

Producer/Front-of-house| Lim Thou Chun                                                                                                                           Sound Designer| Ng Jing                                                                                                                                                         Graphic Designer| Marcus Lim                                                                                                                                             Lighting Operator| Angeline Pek                                                                                                                                             Sound Operator| Maffinda Liu                                                                                                                                               Technical Support| Vincent Chai