An illusion of light is often presented, showing only the bright, composed parts. The true illusion is believing one is alone in the dark. Authenticity perhaps begins when the shadows are allowed to touch the light, creating an inner wholeness. It is only then that a complete truth may be truly known.
Soft Scaffolding
Ricky Sim (Artistic Director)
Sometimes, what feels hardest about performing isn’t the moment on stage. It’s everything around it—the quiet weight of making, sorting, sensing. The hours spent sitting with uncertainty. The rehearsals that leave you more lost than found. The chats over dinner, the silences in the studio, the quiet shifts that shape the work without anyone noticing.
It’s the part no one claps for. Not out of neglect, just because it’s not seen. The checking in. The holding back. The picking things up when they fall apart a little. When the show begins and the lights come up, people see a version of the work—but not the soft scaffolding beneath it.
Still, that part matters. Maybe even more. Maybe performance isn’t just what’s shared, but everything that holds it together. The small, steady efforts that stay invisible but somehow hold all the feeling.
The Feeling of Time
Matthew Goh (Company Dancer)
We’re brought up learning to measure time based on hours, minutes, and seconds. But do these numbers express our experience of time?
Occasionally, time seems to suspend, pause, or accelerate, much like an illusion.
In our bodies, our organs seem to work like clockwork; the heart pumps, the stomach digests, the lungs breathe, all in synchronicity.
Zooming out, our globe is rotating, the Sun sets, and the Moon rises, influencing the bioclocks of all living things on Earth.
In reflection, all this does feel like an illusion. But an illusion that foregrounds our living reality.
Efferverscence
Audrey Desmond (Social Media Manager)
Do we actually know the entirety of ourselves? With time and experience, we may get closer to knowing and illuminating the inner core of our being. Through this journey, some fear knowing the self, while others pursue it with might. But after all, it is ultimately our own choice how we want to shine the light and realise the ever-fleeting self.
Sufficient, not perfect
Theres (Marketing Intern)
To me, illusion is often the picture we hold of how life should be or the perfect outcome we hope for.
Over time, I have realised that life does not need to be perfect to matter. What matters is that things are sufficient, that they give us enough meaning and stability to keep moving forward.