This year’s edition will be a homecoming of sorts as it brings back previous crowd favourites in a refreshing retrospective.
Mark your calendars—the Singapore Night Festival returns 18 August to celebrate its tenth magical year, a testament to the aphorism that time does indeed fly when you’re having fun.
For those of you who weren’t aware that Singapore’s largest outdoor performing arts festival have been around for as long as a decade, you will find it rather fortuitous that this year’s edition will be a homecoming of sorts as it brings back previous crowd favourites in a refreshing retrospective.
If you are going to brave both the summer heat and the half-million crowd (and we recommend that you do), make sure that effort doesn’t go to waste! Here are some of the event highlights that you absolutely have to catch.
Under The Dome
It’s not the Singapore Night Festival without a lit installation. The dome, which is called ‘The Flower of Life and the Infinite Self’, will consist of walls mounted with geometrically-arranged convex mirrors that will form dynamic reflections of the people who gather around it. While this is definitely an opportunity for a technicolour mirror selfie, don’t forget to pull your focus back to the art and not the ‘gram!
Where: Stamford Green
When: 18 to 26 August 2017 | 7.30pm – 12 midnight
Pole Performance
Pole dancing is an ageless and limitless artistic dance form—that is the message that pole and exotic dance studio The Brass Barre wants to send across in its upcoming performance at the Singapore Night Festival. As such, dancers from a support group of cancer survivors known as the Rose Diamonds will be joining the instructors to put up the spectacle. What’s most admirable is the fact that two-thirds of the Rose Diamonds are at least 55 and above.
Where: The Brass Barre, 222 Queen Street #02-01
When: 18, 19, 24, 25, 26 August 2017 | 8.30pm, 10pm
Get Scentimental
Get scentimental with an unparalleled experience that will be brought to you by skincare brand Aesop. Integrated as part of light installations at Gallery 10 of the National Museum, visitors will be led by their nose–quite literally–as they navigate the space via aroma and their memories of it. Titled ‘Nostos: Records of the Self’, the exhibition serves to remind us that scent can be an evocative trigger as well.
Where: Gallery 10 @ National Museum of Singapore
When: 18 to 26 August 2017 | 7.30pm – 12 midnight
Grapple MAX Dojo
Forget WWE. Grapple MAX Dojo packs the same thrill, where pro-wrestling performers will tell an improvised story through a combination of fluid acrobatics and combat sport. What’s more, the wrestling ring will be bandless, allowing for a uniquely interactive experience with the colourful characters that will be scuffling on centre stage.
Where: The Pit, Singapore Management University Campus Green
When: 24, 25 August 2017 | 7pm – 7.30pm, 9.15pm – 9.45pm
ZingO Festival Drum Group
ZingO is arguably the most prominent drum group in Singapore and the leader of its genre. With drumming performances that place emphasis on the Chinese culture, music, and education, the group’s performance at the Singapore Night Festival will be no less different. This time, it draws inspiration from the influence of the sun and the moon in modern Singapore to concoct an upbeat performance that will have you on the qui vive.
Where: 8Q@SAM
When: 24, 26 August 2017 | 7pm – 7.30pm, 10pm – 10.30pm
25 August 2017 | 8pm – 8.30pm, 10pm – 10.30pm
What’s more, festival goers will also be able to get around the arts and heritage district via a completely different mode of transport other than their feet—enjoy the Night Lights installations on wheels when you bring your own bicycle, or rent one from Hello, Bicycle! for free.
The Singapore Night Festival will kick off on 18 August, with performance nights on 24, 25 and 26 August.
(Header image credit: Source)
