NUS Arts Festival This March 2022: Dance, Music, Film Screenings, and Installations

Twenty-one performances in live and hybrid formats are what await Singaporeans in the NUS Arts Festival 2022: Shades of Light(ness) this month, from March 18-27.

Organised by the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Centre For the Arts, the 17th edition of the festival this year draws inspiration from Leonardo da Vinci's "sfumato," a drawing technique that creates indiscernible gradations from light to dark without any lines or borders, like smoke.

According to the festival, "It is this light(ness), or quality of light, which the artists in this year's NUS Arts Festival plumb for meaning and motivation in a greater search for answers to navigate the dark, complex, and uncertain post-COVID world we presently live in."

Here are some events you shouldn’t miss in this year’s NUS Arts Festival!

Tickets for live performances are priced at S$25 per ticketeach for the general public, S$15 for students, and S$25 for two tickets under the Friends of CFA special. Tickets for the live film screenings, meanwhile, cost S$10 for the general public and S$5 for students and NUS staff. For more ticketing information, visit the NUS Arts Festival website.

'Thanmai' – Dance

One of the live performances in the NUS Arts Festival this March is "Thanmai" by NUS Indian Dance. The dance group is led by artistic director and resident choreographer Santha Bhaskar, who has been the recipient of various accolades such as the Cultural Medallion in 1990, the Public Service Star in 2016, and the Meritorious Service Medal in 2021.

"Thanmai," which means true nature in Tamil, is an exploration of "the complexities of human's physical and spiritual relationships with light in its many forms." The performance will be held on March 27, from 8 PM to 9:30 PM, at the UCC Theatre.

'The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness' (2013) – Film

This documentary is just one of the four films that will be on show at the art festival's Light and Shadows at The Projector at the Golden Mile Theatre. "The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness," directed and written by Mami Sunada, centers on the employees of Studio Ghibli, including filmmakers Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki, who are also its founders. Studio Ghibli is the animation film studio behind beloved classics like "Spirited Away," "Howl's Moving Castle," "My Neighbor Totoro," and "Princess Mononoke," among many others.

'An Eclipse of Moths' – Installation

This free installation is by NUS Computer Science students Vineeth Buddha and Hardy Shein Nyien Chan in collaboration with artist A'shua Imran. "An Eclipse of Moths," which runs from March 18-27 at the UCC Foyer, is an evocation of the saying "like a moth to the flame" and interprets how our "obsession with light – specifically, artificial light – might be blotting out the light that has been with us since the beginning of time."

'Seek' – Music

The NUS Chinese Orchestra's "Seek" comprises two concerts of different programmes. The Afternoon Concert Programme at 2 PM of March 27 will include four compositions, namely "Dianxi Folk Tunes 1st Movement -- Awa Mountain" by Guo Wen Jing, "A Trip to Lhasa 3rd Movement – Sky Burial" by Kuan Nai-chung, "Dabo River Caprice" by He Xuntian, and "Lyrical Variations" by Liu Changyuan.

The Evening Concert Programme at 7:30 PM of the same day, meanwhile, will see the performance of the compositions "Train Toccata" by Liu Yuan, as arranged by Jiang Ying, "Caprice of Nature" by Sulwin Lok, "Winter" by Li Lianghui, and "The Legend of Shadi-er" by Liu Yuan.

Both concerts will be held at the UCC Hall.