Searching Blue - Digital Freesheet

SEARCHING BLUE

寻 蓝

THE HUMAN EXPRESSION (T.H.E) DANCE COMPANY

WELCOME TO LONDON’S INTERNATIONAL THEATRE The Coronet Theatre is a reimagined architectural and design jewel, originally built as a grand Victorian Playhouse, now a pioneering home for international, cross-disciplinary arts. Curated

by Artistic Director Anda Winters, over the past decade it has become a significant cultural landmark.

Known for world and UK premieres, its mission is to bring artists and art forms from around the world, championing work that would not otherwise be seen. The programme enables access for diverse audiences to world-class theatre, dance, music, film and visual arts through co-productions, commissions, and invited works.

Centrally situated in London’s Notting Hill, The Coronet has two main spaces: The Auditorium and The Print Room Studio. With the additional performances and exhibitions in the bar, the atmospheric upper rooms, and basements, the whole building is a living global showcase.

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SEARCHING BLUE T.H.E

DANCE

COMPANY

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Searching Blue is a hybrid indoor and outdoor performance from The Human Expression (T.H.E) Dance Company, one of Singapore’s seminal contemporary dance collectives, accompanied by a live soundscape by Malaysian sound artist Kent Lee. Starting with a full-length performance in The Coronet Theatre auditorium, five dance artists will then guide the audience to a surprising nearby venue, unfolding across a series of garden sites and a backdrop of spectacular architecture.

Created by T.H.E’s founding artistic director Kuik Swee Boon, the piece is inspired by his daily commute, the relationships we have with our environment and the people around us. Searching Blue offers intimate engagements between dancers and the audience, where subtle gestures and live sound shape an atmosphere of reflection and closeness.

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CAST & CREATIVE TEAM Concept & Direction: Kuik Swee Boon Choreography: Kuik Swee Boon in collaboration with the performers Dancers: Carmelita Nuelle Buay, Priscilla Chan, Chang En, Klievert Jon Mendoza, Fiona Thng Music Composition, Sound Design & Performance: Kent Lee

THE HUMAN EXPRESSION (T.H.E) DANCE COMPANY Incisive observations, firmly Singaporean roots, and a universal relevance make The Human Expression (T.H.E) Dance Company.

Driven by a sincere desire to uncover the intricate, oft-overlooked facets of human existence, works by T.H.E—steeped in T.H.E’s HollowBody® methodology of accessing deeper impulses and embodied knowledge through movement—are an essential mirror to our contemporary everyday. T.H.E is dedicated to surfacing the body as a medium for exploring and reflecting on the human condition through contemporary dance. It also runs Singapore’s first annual contemporary dance festival, and regular public classes and programmes for schools and the community.

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PheNoumenon · Performed at The Coronet Theatre Feb 2022

Photo: Bernie Ng

Photo: Crispian Chan

KUIK SWEE BOON Founder and Artistic Director of T.H.E Dance Company (est. 2008) and its annual cont·act Contemporary Dance Festival (est.

2010), Swee Boon rose from performing in Singapore People’s Association Dance Company and Singapore Dance Theatre to becoming the principal dancer of Spain’s Compañia Nacional de Danza (CND) from 2002—2007, performing in works by then Artistic Director Nacho Duato, as well as renowned guest choreographers such as Jiri Kylian, Mats Ek, Ohad Naharin and Wim Vandekeybus.

Under Swee Boon’s direction, T.H.E has become a seminal dance company with a signature voice derived from training in his HollowBody methodology, developed from 2016. This methodology informs Swee Boon’s repertoire of works for T.H.E that has toured many international festivals, including a 360° virtual reality (VR) adaptation of PheNoumenon (2019) created during the pandemic. His numerous commissions include Infinitely Closer (2022) for Esplanade’s da:ns festival, which also marked the opening of the Singtel Waterfront Theatre.

Swee Boon is a 2007 Young Artist Award recipient, a 2003 Benois De La Danse Award nominee, and a 2021—2023 fellow with the International Society for the Performing Arts.

A NOTE THE COMPANY ON SEARCHING BLUE If we all had the ability to reach a nirvana-like state of “oneness” with the world, and a sense of being at peace with all that happens, would you be willing to give it a try? Would you have any concerns about relinquishing your sense of self in turn?

Drawing inspiration from the Extended Mind Thesis (1) and Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s My Stroke of Insight (2), Searching Blue is an attempt at rediscovering and understanding the body’s oft-neglected capabilities of sensing and perceiving as we ponder, and reconstruct, the relationships individuals share with each other and the world.

1.Extended Mind Thesis, coined by Andy Clark and David Chalmers (1998). In philosophy of mind, the Extended Mind Thesis (EMT) says that the mind does not exclusively reside in the brain or even the body, but extends into the physical world.

2. My Stroke of Insight is a book and Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) talk by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor that shares her experiences of “oneness” and metaphysical connectivity with the world in the immediate aftermath of suffering from a stroke.

PheNoumenon Feb 2022

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Rethinking Co-Existence Feb 2024

WHERE HAS SEARCHING BLUE BEEN? SINGAPORE: Goodman Arts Centre & Geylang Park Connector, Singapore (November 2023); ArtScience Museum [excerpt] (August 2024); Bhaskareeyam, SOTA Studio Theatre, Singapore [excerpt] (August 2025) MALAYSIA: COEX, Hin Bus Depot, Penang (December 2023); Chinese High School, Batu Pahat (July 2025); klpac, Kuala Lumpur (October 2025) INDONESIA: Institut Seni Budaya Indonesia (ISBI), Bandung (December 2023); Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta (December 2023) AUSTRALIA: OzAsia, Adelaide (October 2025)

GETTING TO KNOW T.H.E DANCE COMPANY Founded in 2008 by choreographer and artistic director Kuik Swee Boon, T.H.E has spent almost two decades developing a body of work that is rooted in Singapore but international in outlook. The company’s performances have travelled widely across Asia and Europe, appearing at festivals and venues in South Korea, Japan, France, Italy and beyond.

What sets T.H.E apart is not simply its choreography, but the philosophy that underpins it.

THE BODY AS A WAY OF UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD At the centre of T.H.E’s practice is HollowBody™, a movement methodology developed by Kuik Swee Boon and now embedded throughout the company’s training and creative process. Rather than focusing solely on technique or aesthetics, HollowBody encourages dancers to access deeper instincts, emotions and embodied knowledge through movement.

The approach grew from Kuik’s long search for a choreographic language that reflected both his experiences as a dancer and a broader understanding of what it means to be human. Having danced professionally with Singapore Dance Theatre and later as a principal dancer with Spain’s Compañía Nacional de Danza, he returned to Singapore determined to develop a distinctive artistic voice of his own.

HollowBody emerged from that search. The methodology views the body as a vessel carrying thoughts, emotions, memories and energy, seeking to create a stronger connection between mind, heart and body. Over time it has become the foundation of T.H.E’s movement language and artistic identity.

DANCE AS HUMAN EXPRESSION From its earliest days, T.H.E has been concerned with the complexities of human experience: our relationships with one another, with society and with the environments we inhabit.

Its works often combine technical precision with an unusual sense of openness and vulnerability. Dancers are encouraged not simply to perform movement, but to reveal something of themselves through it. The result is choreography that feels intensely personal while speaking to universal themes.

This commitment to exploring the human condition extends beyond the stage. T.H.E also runs Singapore’s first annual contemporary dance festival, cont·act Contemporary Dance Festival, alongside workshops, public classes and programmes that invite wider communities into dialogue with contemporary dance.

A HIDDEN CORNER OF NOTTING HILL: DISCOVERING THORPE LODGE Most visitors to Notting Hill know its colourful terraces, bustling cafés and busy streets. Few realise that tucked away behind Holland Park Avenue lies one of the area’s most remarkable hidden spaces.

For the second half of Searching Blue , audiences leave The Coronet Theatre and travel together to Thorpe Lodge, a beautiful historic villa set within the grounds of Holland Park School. Usually glimpsed only from afar, the building and its gardens offer a rare opportunity to step away from the city and experience a quieter side of West London.

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Thorpe Lodge is the last surviving villa of a group of grand houses built on the Phillimore Estate in the nineteenth century. Over the years it has been home to artists, educators and public figures, each adding to the building’s rich history. More recently, a sensitive restoration by Atomik Architecture has revealed the site’s unique character, reconnecting the historic house with its surrounding landscape and creating a series of spaces that encourage exploration, reflection and creativity.

THE CORONET THEATRE TEAM Artistic Director & CEO Anda Winters

Box Office Assistant Ivana Dieli

Audience Experience Manager Giudi Di Gesaro

Duty Managers Francesca Battinieri, Annabelle Gardner, Joanna Papanastassiou, Aylin Rodoplu, Hazel Townsend

Company & Production Coordinator Emma Smith Consultant Producer Hetty Shand Finance Manager Andrew Michel General Manager Andy McDonald Lead Technician Louis Williams Marketing Manager (Freelance) Elliot Hall Poetry Coordinator Marion Manning PR Consultant Sharon Kean Producer Daphne Seale Producing & Marketing Assistant Esme Bishop Theatre Administrator / PA to the Artistic Director Vihaan Chandy

Front of House Staff Matilda Badziak, Eugénie Bakker, Samya Bose-Rosling, Theo Chen, Stephanie Christodoulidou, Marcello Crisci, Merilee Ettia-Russell, Cheryl Fairon, Katrina Foster, Trey Francis, Thea Gavanski, Alessandra Gonnella, Hugo Gregg, Li Ikoku-Smith, Dane Kostic, Emma Laird-Craig, Maria Lisberg-Jonasson, Aija Miranda, Hamza Mullick, Andreane Rellou, Robert Veng, Kajsa Wiberg-Norquist Trustees Linda Bernhardt, Mike Fisher, Mimi Gilligan, Jane Quinn, Anda Winters, Bill Winters (Chair) Thank you to our patrons for their generous support: Honorary Trustee Mimi Gilligan Cupola Mike Fisher and T. S. Eliot Foundation Club Room Tom and Maarit Glocer, Julia and Scott Rochester, and Jane Quinn

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