CultuRama 2018 – A Journey Through Time and Space

EVENT PROGRAM

BLUE DRAGON

Culturama 2018 will begin with a special performance that we hope sets a precedent for the Culturamas of the future. The dance representing Vietnam will be performed by members of Blue Dragon, a children’s foundation based in Hanoi, Vietnam. Blue Dragon rescues kids in crisis and so their journey to us has been more profound than a plane journey. Their journey goes back much further than the selection process to come to Singapore, the English lessons and the long hours practising the incredible fusion of traditional Vietnamese and hip-hop that you are about to see. Hip Hop has been a dance form that has been a fantastic tool to reach out to young people in crisis; it is energising and joyful. Our opening dance this evening is performed by young people from Blue Dragon, who will be joined by UWC students, and it is a metaphor for what our school is working towards international understanding and responsibility. Blue Dragon represents compassion and it is a force for education and advocacy and these are traits and endeavours to which we should all aspire. We have been lucky enough to host our Blue Dragon visitors all week. They have brought with them not only talented dancers but also incredible film-makers: Nam, Huy and Linh. Nam, Huy and Linh have, in collaboration with UWC students, been documenting their week with us. And so before the intricacies and energy of the dance, please enjoy the story-telling talents of our film-makers.

Blue dragon dancers

Dancer’s names: Bui Van Tuyen, Cao Tu Anh, Dao Con Khanh, Doan Chi Hung, Vu Thi Hong

Dance Leader: Ananya Bagri

JAPAN

This year’s dances for Culturama Japan are all energetic and hype. The 3 dances will be traditional, Jpop, and J hip hop.

The traditional song Senbonzakura, is a remix of a modern song using traditional Japanese instruments. The dance uses both modern and traditional elements; performers will be dancing to an energetic song.

Cry & Fight is our Jpop song. The dance is a fast-paced and impressive.

For our final dance, we will be dancing to Monster! by Super☆Dragon. This dance will be powerful and hype with heavy hip-hop elements. Every dancer will be a part of Monster! so the chorus is synchronised and hype.

Join Japan for the energetic and unique dance and a taste of Japanese culture.

Japan Dance Leaders:

Shion Yamada and Haruki Yoshida

Japan Dancers

Dancer names: Zimeng Wang, Zarina Appaz, Yuji Go, Wan Zhen Li, Syafira Nurlita, Shawronna Sengupta, Rene Koike, Pepper Dinsdale, Miu Sato, Khas-Ochir Bayarjargal, Khai-En Khoo, Izumi Kageyama, Hirona Kato, Hibiki Tokuda, Ha Ryn Kim, Ayami Ohya, Taiyo Hara, Xinyi Chen

CHINA

The culture of dance has been present throughout the 5000 years of history of China. It threads through the centuries and bridges all 56 ethnic groups into one culture – The Chinese culture. Here on the stage of Culturama, we will travel back in time and present to you the elegant dance of the Han. Being the most abundant ethnicity in China, it has one of the richest and longest cultures and we thought it would represent China the best. We have taken inspirations from the musical ‘Confucius’ and various different artists in order to get a range of variation and to have the most appropriate representation of our culture. It is the first time that we have participated in leading a country in Culturama and would really love to show our appreciation for our dancer’s tremendous effort and hard work. We had a really limited time but they’ve all done a great job keeping it up and being positive! We are very proud of what we have achieved as a team and hope you can enjoy and immerse yourself into the Chinese culture tonight!!

Chine Dance leaders:

Joyce Shen and Cristine Wu

China dancers:

Dancers names: Gwenda Gu, Isabel Smith, Ji Won Lee, Judy Cui, Kaibo Li, Kelly Zhou, Maggie Sun, Samantha Sayson, Saniya Sohanpal, Sara Kurniawan, Sophie Lau, Tony He, Yanrui Chen, Yaoyuan Zhang, Yoen Seo Ro, Joyce Shen, Cristine Wu, Imogen Trafford

POLYNESIA

A total of four dances make up Culturama Polynesia, featuring tracks from Tokelau, by Te Vaka (artists which inspired the movie Moana) and Mark Kealiʻi Hoʻomalu a contemporary Hawaiian chanter (well-known for his contribution to the Lilo & Stitch TV series). Inspiration was taken from videos of Hula competitions, including the Merrie Monarch Festival (the most prestigious hula competition). We want to show the audience the diversity of Polynesian dances, beginning with a hula inspired dance and continuing to a more upbeat drum heavy track, in which the dance is faster and more energetic. As leaders, we had to do a lot of research and choreographing as well as practising – as neither of us had danced this style of dance before and did not have much knowledge about the rich and vast Polynesian cultures. We are proud of our dancers for having learnt the dances in such a short period of time, always with a smile on their faces. We hope that you will enjoy watching our dance, as much as we have in performing it!

Polynesia dance leaders:

Suya Trenkel and Na Kyung Kim,

Polynesia dancers

The dancers: Shrishti Bhawal, Sofia Frandsen, Nayana Jain, Miji Trenkel, Leanna Jayan, Leah Dhulst, Isabella Duncan, Federica Ciummo, Emi Takimoto, Ashia Norhalim, Ella Griffiths, Elizabeth Knight-Hassell, Dahwon Jung, Chloe Tallentire, Arkie Morris

CAMBODIA

There are 4 songs cut back to back to each other. The very 3 beginning songs are of distinct dancers and costumes representing dances through the different and evolving eras of Cambodia. Starting from a slow beat, graceful dance (usually danced by professional dancers) to a more upbeat cha cha cha and twist song representing the uprise of rock n roll in the 60s of Cambodia. After that, the 3rd group dances to a more well known traditional dance that can be seen dancing by everyone from all ages nowadays during festivals like Khmer New Year. Finally, all the dancers with all the different costumes unite together on stage and dance to our final pop song which basically describes the beauty of our nation and how we are very proud of it, and that all the latter generations shall do whatever it takes to sustain this forever into the future.

Cambodia Dance leaders:

Khantey Lim and Vathana Narith

Cambodia dancers

The dancers: Abha Panchdhari, Anushka Maganti, Charan Chansrichawla, Ching Pheng Phoun, Ka Hlaya Tun, Massilia Leccia, Megan Kym Salinas, Ravisara Cheakdkaipejchara, Sitanun Sea-Seung, Sovanriachny Samnang, Sumedha Pandit, Vaanya Satwalekar, Wangdrak Dorj.

FRANCE

We have drawn inspiration from the iconic performance genre of Burlesque which included performances such as comedy, singing and dancing. This genre of dance has been scrutinised over the years due to its seductive associations and was originally banned in France due to the liberation it gave to the women dancing it. However, it was through the legalisation of burlesque that The Moulin Rouge was able to become the icon it is today. We find this dance fitting as it encourages empowerment of women and one’s ability to express themselves, values that are advocated in UWC. Originating in Paris during 1822, the CanCan has taken the world by storm. Similar to Burlesque, this style was frowned upon due to the fact that the women weren’t following societies rules. It is well known from the layered colourful skirts that fly around the stage as the women kick their legs high. All of our girls have given rehearsals their all and have worked hard to make the new addition to CultuRama memorable!

France Dance leaders:

Sidney Barnes and Remy Wilding

France dancers

France dancers: Isabela Meza, Sidney Barnes, Remy Wilding, Ananya Sriram, Anjika Bhatnager, Bailee Prescott, Chloe Shim, Clarice Wu, Ellen Potter, Emily Goovaerts, Ishita Garg, Leila Rink, Mio Ozawa, Molly Griffiths, Molly Stirrat, Nina Lamers, Sophie Groeneweg, Tara de Hert, Vaasanthi Palepu, Victoria Lindqvist

ETHIOPIA

Since Culturama Ethiopia is being presented for the first time at our school, we decided to come up with two basic pieces that are popular and could represent Ethiopia widely. The pieces are from the Southern region of Ethiopia; Gurage and Wolaita. Both of the dances are highly energetic and traditional pieces, and this is a good representation of all other cultural dances in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia Dance leaders:

Lorenzo Pirozzi and Feven Moges Naba

Ethiopia dancers

Dancers names: Etsubdink Bereket Gebremariam, Vasavi Dabriwala, Nayanika Gunvante, Aaliya Mulla, Anushka Balaraj, Preety Ram,

GHANA

This year’s Culturama Ghana dance is divided into 4 differences. Ranging from African traditional dances to Afro-beats. The first section represents West Africa’s rich and diverse culture. The ‘sinte’ dance is a mixture of the various cultures in West Africa. The second, third and fourth sections are the afro-beats which represent modern Ghana. This represents the vigor and diversity of West Africa.

Ghana dance leaders:

Malakai Fotu Tumia, Sandra Ofori

Ghana Dancers:

Dancers names: Aishwarya Santosh, Ayesha MenonDhritika Jayanth, Edda Arnadottir, Ella Vera, Kate Fourie, Kriti Lamba, Kitty Sharry, Marushka Rout, Ruby Cristol, Sacha Singh, Shyan Nesfield, Snigdha Singhal, Vanda Weisz, Veda Shah, Vidhi Arora, Anna DonovaElitumaini Swai, Hannah Joergensem

NEW ZEALAND

3 different hakas will be performed, each containing different meanings, originating from different parts of New Zealand and each with different messages and purposes. The first, Ka Mate, originated in the 1820s by a war chief celebrating his escape from the enemies. Since then, it has achieved worldwide recognition as it’s been performed many times by the All Blacks. Another haka that the All Blacks perform is Kapa A Pango, a haka created specifically for them which was designed to reflect the multi-cultural makeup of contemporary New Zealand. The last haka is Timatanga, which is performed by the Maori All Blacks, the actions of which get adapted depending on the team, however, instill the same emotion and message across.

New Zeland dance leaders:

Massimo Galli Zugaro and Liam Postlethwaite

New Zealand Dancers:

Dancer names: Aaron Kiss, Alex Wachs, Alexander Marrapese, Anvay Dixit, Cesar Dori, Christian Levan, Connor Postlethwaite, Fynn Dinsdale, Gautam Udas, Johann Singh, Kyle Hunte, Sahil Joshi, Thys Moreau, Jayce Gallante, Dimitriy Telemtayev, Ko Seung Ho

EGYPT

Egypt has been apart of Culturama for many years now and it is back again with an upbeat and sensual version of an middle eastern inspired dance style that we are excited to bring to the stage this year. The movement expresses grace and elegance along with precise and crisp gestures. They also found inspirations in the belly dancing style that is very popular in Egyptian dance, such inspiration includes our choice of costumes and tempo of movement. We hoped you enjoy this exquisite experience that all our girls have worked hard to present to you all tonight.

Egypt Dance leaders:

Quinn Aldrich and Lia Shoshani

Egypt Dancers:

Dancers names: Audray Lau, Cala Barrett, Devika Sen, Dhir Baxi, Francesca Marshall, Meghna Abrol, Kritika (Pear) Krachaiwong, Lauren Hindmarsh, Shrishti Khetan, Sofia Carmela Anastacio, Sophie Hoet, Zoey Cocks

LATIN AMERICA

Culturama Latin America this year will perform four different dance styles: salsa, bachata, merengue and reggaeton. All of them are full of energy and the party vibes, a notable signature of Latin America. We have chosen popular songs for each style, that combined with colorful costumes will transmit the audience the fun and richness of our culture. Definitely, 3 minutes worth to enjoy.

Latin America Dance leaders:

Myriam Ortiz Isuiza and Valeria Obregon Diaz

Latin America Dancers

Dancers names: Ravraj Bhullar, Prithvi Singh, Parvathy Sunil Mattappilly, Masa Sara Holocsi, Louis Sheridan, Jamie Irigoyen, Jai Singhal, Gleb Tkachenko, Gilda Maria Ida Marsicano, Genesis Diaz, Evan Nicholas, Erik Herbert Lohmus, Daniil Malykh, Daniel Cruz, Arnav Hans, Anisha Joshi, Ami Kinoshita, Anaelle Jarrault, Saskia Lilli Lehtsalu, Ulperzent Zhanibek, Zoe Ludunge

INDIA

This year, India is made up of two traditional dances, Garba and Ghoomar. Ghoomar is a traditional folk dance that originated in Marwar, Rajasthan is typically performed for celebrating occasions such as the rain season, Diwali and Holi and many other festivals. The colours, designs and swirling robes of Rajasthan have mesmerized the world for years. This is an energetic yet elegant dance that incorporates the vibrant culture of India. We have incorporated Kathak steps in the choreography along with the traditional twirling in circles, coordinated hand movements, and footwork. Our formations will include multiple circles of dancers moving clockwise and anticlockwise together and in and out of a circle.

India Ghoomar dance leaders:

Poorvi Singh and Mansi Mishra

India Ghoomar Dancers:

Dancers names: Aanya Malashetti, Shivani Pandey, Samya Shanta, Nandini Ganesh, Sachi Sawant, Ria Mantri, Rhiannon Kozel, Advaitha Venkat, Adrija Das, Aditi Rudra, Poorvi Singh, Mansi Mishra

The Indian spiritual dance “Garba”, traditionally originates from the state of Gujarat. It is a lively, energetic dance which embodies the vivid culture of India, which is married into this art form. Authentically, Garba is performed in big groups, in ring-like formations that represent a revolving cycle of life itself; from birth, to life, to death and once again rebirth, the only constant amongst these cycles is the Goddess Durga herself, for whom this dance is customarily devoted to. This year, we have chosen an upbeat Bollywood Garba song, to meet the energy of a traditional Garba performance.

India Garba dance leaders:

Megha Jain, Rthvika Suvarna

India Garba Dancers:

Dancers names: Ishaan Singh, Xin Yi Wan, Vivaan Khabya, Vir Banta, Shrey Gurusankar, Priya Venkatesh, Mallika Shankar, Khushi Raju, Josheph Immanuel, Ilina Navani, Aryan Singh, Aryan Bhargava, Aman Manghnani, Aayush Dutta, Aarushi Rath, Nandini Krishna

JAMAICA

Culturama Jamaica is making its debut this year and you won’t want to miss it! We’ve chosen to represent Dancehall Culture which is the current most popular style of dance and music in Jamaica, especially amongst the younger generations. Jamaican Dancehall has many different components to it which is reflected through the 4 different sections of the dance, each representing a unique style or time period.

Following the theme of “a journey through time”, the performance begins with a partner dance to the classic “Murder She Wrote” featuring iconic old-school moves stemming from the roots of dancehall in the late 1970’s. Queenstyle is the feminine-leaning style of Dancehall showcased in the next section with a 2016 hit by dancehall superstar Konshens. Finally, all dancers join up for the last two pieces to embody the light-hearted and tropical vibes of modern day dancehall. The final song entitled “Badd” was chosen as it is amongst 98 other songs to have sampled the 1982 hit “Bam Bam” by Sister Nancy which demonstrates the lasting influence that the foundational songs have on present day music and dance. “Bam Bam” is also layered in the intro of the dance to thematically set our performance around a storyline.

We aim to expose UWC to Jamaican culture past the heavily misleading stereotypes of Rastas, Dreadlocks and Marijuana. The dance will be high energy and vibrant yet fluid to display the essence of Jamaican Culture and overall shed light on the Caribbean region, something that hasn’t been done before in CultuRama, so sit back and soak up the vibes.

Jamaica Dance leaders:

Alessia Filocca and Aarushi Sachdeva

Jamaica dancers

Dancer’s names: Yuniko Van Thillo, Vidhushi Harit, Uddish Garg, Natasha Kaeller, Michael Tham, Isabella Griggs, Frederique Pesch, Faizana Faiz, Diana Bondarenko, Daniella Dobrinov, Caitlin Moor, Arvish Gandhi, Amanda Walton, Alua Telemtayeva, Aashna Singh, Vir Batra, Trisha Chakraborty, Abbira Mahibalan

SOUTH KOREA

This year, South Korea Culturama will consist of three different dances – A traditional fan & sword dance, a girls K-pop dance, and a mixed gender K-pop dance. We will be using popular Korean songs – “Ddu Du DDu Du” by a girl group called Blackpink and “Mic Drop” by BTS. The Blackpink girl dance will be cool and a bit sensual, and the BTS mixed-gender dance will be energetic and hype! The traditional fan & sword dance is dramatic and synchronised with Korean traditional costumes, long swords and huge fans, to go back in time and show the transition between traditional music of Korea to the now modern Korean pop songs!

South Korea Dance leaders:

Shaleigh Harrington and Eileen Tian

South Korea dancers:

Dancer’s names: Ami Kashima, Ana Fuentes, Arin Pantja, Aya Okumura, Brian Yaw, Claudia Zhang, Devang Bafna, Hyun Kye Lee, Jia Yi Lim, Karen Kwok, Kakoro Araki, Manini Banerjee, Nanaka Lid, Shereen Vitandry, Siona Mitra, Tomoya Fujikawa, Wenjing Chen, Victor Ueki, Youngchan Lee

USA

This year for USA we put together 5 different dances to allow you to have a broad experience of the evolution of dance in the United States of America. Through the two main styles, Broadway and (Old, New and Urban) Hip Hop we take you through the eras of dance over the years. We took inspiration from current dance crews and broadway productions to convey an accurate representation of the diverse culture and stylistic genres that USA has created and developed. Hope you enjoy!

USA dance leaders:

Natasha Went and Samantha Herbert

USA dancers

Dancer’s names: Zachary Nezianya, Sebastian Hindmarsh, Sarah Herbert, Natalia Grabarczyk, Lara Ethell, Jo Yie Leong, Iskander Yeraly, Ines Charrier, Ella Grabow, Elena Arudoss, Eddie Montanus, Ayoni Sarkar, Areeb Laftiffi, Ananya Devraj, Abheeshu Jain, Lauren Weaver, Raema Grover, Kelly Yeo

Culturama Student Committee – 2018

Urja Gaurav: Chair