Singapore’s global aspirations have, since the turn of the 21st century, led to the consolidation of a range of new institutions—arts research centers, degree granting programs in universities, museums, festivals— with affiliated experts, to prepare the ground for an emergent arts scene that is aligned with the norms of contemporary western art practice. As neoliberal instrumentation competes with the communitarian logic of the traditional arts, dance forms such as Indian classical, Javanese court and Malay folk dances, which once sought to link the ancient past and perpetuity for ethnic communities of spectatorship, are constricted within narrowly defined categories of the regional performing arts market. To avoid becoming mere touristic spectacles, a new generation of traditionally trained artists reinvent their respective forms to accommodate the near future of contemporary culture in Singapore. Such adaptations unsettle the once cohesive universe of traditional dance, resulting in unfinished and unsettling works that betray, to quote Nicholas Bourriard, “countless forms of melancholy”, This paper looks at two recent works of contemporary dance staged in Singapore—January Low’s Reclaim (2019), Raka Maitra’s Pallavi Series (2015-2018). I consider dance emerging from this latter discourse as articulating an aesthetic of acclimatization, sustained by political, communal and institutional attachments that emerge in a climate of overwhelming crises and adjustment. As the traditional dance world in Singapore enters a state of slow death, I identify projects that embark on experiments of partial recuperation, which “stay with the trouble,” as Donna Harraway suggests, making-with and getting-on with what remains of traditional dance and its embodied practices. I suggest that these projects extend the life of traditional dance as a minor, mutated species in an early evolutionary stage that nevertheless transforms the ecology they acclimate to. In remaining selectively porous to neoliberal and biopolitical operations, and receptive to novel artistic regimes, can the aesthetic of acclimatization allow traditional dance to escape its totalization within neoliberal calculations?

As a pioneering champion of the arts, Professor Tommy Koh shares on the implementation plans for the development of the Renaissance City based on his experience from chairing and participating in various committees.

Going forward, there are broader factors at play that have affected and could increasingly affect the dynamics of this bilateral relationship. Foremost among them is the strategic realignment of forces between China and the United States, which small states like Singapore will have to adjust to. When China–U.S. relations are stable, there will be more room for small states to manoeuvre. However, when there is tension in China–U.S. ties, there will be greater pressure on small states to take sides. Moreover, China has certain expectations of how small countries like Singapore ought to conduct themselves, and it has made this known in no uncertain terms. On its part, Singapore, as a small country, has always stressed the sanctity of principles such as the rule of law and the resolution of disputes through legal means rather than the "might is right" approach.

This article focuses on the pioneer generation of amateur Chinese dancers in the People's Association Dance Company and the National Dance Company, who mark the emergence of Singaporean Chinese dance in the public sphere during the 1960s and 1970s. Relying mainly on primary sources, I analyze the development of Singaporean Chinese dance, showing how Chinese dance as a hybrid cultural form is constituted through the actions of the ruling elite and individual efforts. The rise of amateur Chinese dance can be seen as an outcome of a politicized node of fusion and interaction. Discussion focuses on three aspects of the development: (1) cultural policy that served the ideology of nation building, (2) the lack of state funding for dance, and (3) the slow accumulation of cultural capital by Singaporean Chinese dance practitioners.

Liew Chin Choy essays on the evolving role of a cultural administrator and examines the prerequisites of working in this emerging field — what an aspiring cultural administrator ought to be equipped with — and the challenges he faces in a knowledge-based, globalised economy.

Loh Khee Yew, the Colombo Plan Scholar of 1966, discusses with Renee Lee the development of design education as the precursor to create a design industry. This essay traces Loh's pioneering work provided by the opportunity of an international education, and ponders the current state of applied art education and business.