Important Notice

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About the Programme/Event

Despite the doors of performing arts venues being forced to shut in 2020 and the limitations imposed on live acts subsequently, the spirit of creativity reigned strong with performing arts companies looking to innovative ways to continue presenting their works online. Join us as we take an insider’s peek on how Melissa Quek, choreographer, Marcus Foo, performer and Elvira Holmberg, dramaturg, pivoted and adapted dance productions for a post-pandemic audience.

About the Speakers

Melissa Quek

Melissa Quek is a choreographer, performer and educator.  From the age of 18 she was dancing professionally for a variety of local choreographers and international companies. She was a consultant and Programme Designer/ Manager for dance education and talent development programmes, a Dance artist for the Teaching through the Arts Programme (TTAP), currently coordinates the NAC-MOE Strategic Partnership CCA (Ethnic Dance) and occasionally writes reviews for the Straits Times. She enjoys multi-disciplinary collaborative works, Site-based work and cause based performances and workshops. Melissa is the Head, School of Dance and Theatre, and leads the Diploma in Dance Programme at LASALLE College of the Arts.

Marcus Foo

A graduate from LASALLE College of the Arts, Marcus started his formal training at age 17 with Modern Dance and Ballet. As a performer he has worked with the LADC Performance Company, John Mead Dance Company, SAF Music and Drama Company (MDC) and T.H.E Second Company.

As a choreographer in Singapore, Marcus has produced works for Dance in Situ and for T.H.E 2nd Company’s annual platform ‘liTHE’ and T.H.E Contact Festival. International collaborative efforts include BIENNALE des DANSES des SEYCHELLES with Parisian dancer Jimmy Vairon, Seoul Performing Arts Festival with Korean dancer Jin Byoung Cheol and DANCE-PORT TOKYO 2018 with Daisuke Inoue and Lee Sang Hyun, winners of Yokohama Dance Collection and Seoul Dance Collection.

Marcus has taught dance technique classes for Republic Polytechnic, Nanyang Technological University, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, National Junior College, Dancepointe Academy and LASALLE College of the Arts. He has guest choreographed for various dance groups/programmes at institutions such as National University Singapore’s Dance Ensemble and recently for School Of the Arts annual platform ‘BECOMING’.

In 2017, he completed his postgraduate studies at London Contemporary Dance School and graduated with a Master of Arts degree with Distinction. Shortly after he completed his 200hr Yoga Teacher Training at Yoga Movement Academy (Singapore) validated by Yoga Alliance, the international standard for Yoga Teacher Training.

Marcus is currently an associate artiste of T.H.E Second Company (Singapore).

Elvira Holmberg 

Elvira is an experienced arts educator. In the last 25 years she has worked in a range of schools and with youth communities in Singapore, Rotterdam, Delft and The Hague. She has directed theatre productions, developed theatre curriculum and trained both students and teachers in local and international communities. She has been teaching Theatre at SOTA since 2013, has been an adjudicator for the Singapore Youth Festival, and is the Immediate Past President of the Singapore Drama Educators Association.

While she was in Holland for twelve years, Elvira directed new work for Cosmic Theater [Amsterdam] DNA [Delft] and Hofplein Youth Theater [Rotterdam]. She has also performed in several productions for Keizer en van der Mast (Delft). Before 1997, Elvira worked with a number of local theatre companies directing new and devised work and performed for The Necessary Stage, Theatre Works, Teater Kami and SRT and more recently, wrote and directed for Ekamatra's Projekt Suitcase.

Online Programme/Event Administrative Information

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