Improvisation Methods and Practices in Southeast Asia Music, Dance and Theatre

Introduction

Darren Moore and Stephanie Burridge

1. Towards a Definition of Improvisation: An Ontological Quest … (or Fool’s Errand)

Steve Dixon

2. The Production of “The Secret Dreams of Teu and Kangaroo”: From Traditional Water Puppet Theatre to the Improvisation of Contemporary Performance

Lê Quý Dương

3. Black Zenith: Creating Systems for Electro-Acoustic Improvisation

Darren Moore and Brian O’Reilly

4. Reflection and Resonance: Creating Dance Theatre Through Improvisation

Stephanie Burridge

5. Improvisation in Balinese Performing Arts

I Wayan Dibia

6. Sayaw Ng Pakiramdaman: Practices of Improvisation in Dance in the Philippines

Joelle Florence Patrice Jacinto

7. The Role of Improvisation in the Negotiation of a Local Music Identity

Belinda Foo and Felix Phang

8. Telelogue: On Improvisation, Presence, and Cultural Becoming

Wolfgang Muench, Dirk Stromberg and Peter Zazzali

9. Unlocking Aural Skills Through Improvisation

Patrick Olsen

10. Self-Reflection and Expression Through Improvisation

Kok Siew Wai

11. Are We Just Making Things Up? Where’s the Notation?

Alex Dea

12. A Discussion on Improvisation in Western Classical Music Pedagogy in Singapore

Tim O'Dwyer, Karst de Jong and John Sharpley

13. Transforming Dance Improvisation Through the Inspirations of Bloom's Taxonomy

Susan Yeung

14. Inspirations and Improvisations in Theatre

Jeffrey Tan

15. Exploring Dance Improvisation and Composition from a Rhythmic Perspective

Darren Moore and Melissa Quek

16. Soft Fireworks: A Decolonised Embodied Technique for Devising and Improvising Cross-Cultural Performances

Elizabeth de Roza

17. Main Zapin: Improvising Dance Movements Within Play-Performance

Mohd Anis Md Nor

18. Improvising as SA(仨) – Breaking Conventions, Building Connections

Natalie Alexandra Tse and Andy Chia

19. Improvising Patient Advocacy in Community-Based Healthcare with Forum Theatre and Narrative Medicine

Edmund Chow

20. Making it Up while Playing Along Together: Some Methods and Practices of Collective Improvisation in Thai Performance Cultures

Pornrat Damrhung and Lowell Skar

Biography

Darren Moore (DMA) is a senior lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts, University of the Arts Singapore. He is an internationally recognised drummer whose practice aims to generate new ideas concerning improvisation, multidisciplinary collaboration, and experimental music practice.

Stephanie Burridge (PhD) is a research consultant at LASALLE College of the Arts, University of the Arts Singapore and is a choreographer, performer, and dance writer. She is Series Editor for Routledge anthologies Celebrating Dance in Asia and the Pacific and Perspectives on Dance, Young People and Change, the latter co-edited with Charlotte Svendler Nielsen.

"Improvisation Methods and Practices in Southeast Asia: Music, Dance and Theatre is an essential resource for scholars and practitioners. Delving into the performing arts landscape of Southeast Asia, it highlights the transformative nature of improvisational practices in the region. The strength of the book lies in recognising improvisation as a dynamic area of research in Southeast Asian Performing Arts and captures current practices in the region, lays the groundwork for future exploration, research and discourse through providing multiple case examples, and theoretical perspectives. Readers are encouraged to explore the integral role of improvisation in the creative process across music, dance, theatre and interdisciplinary collaboration in the region that transcends borders and fosters global dialogue."

Professor Anna CY Chan, Director, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts

 

"Improvisation Methods and Practices in Southeast Asia: Music, Dance and Theatre addresses a conspicuous lacuna in the literature on the making, teaching, learning, and enjoyment of art. Indeed, this volume represents an exemplary collective effort on the part of artists, educators and researchers to document and discuss improvisation as intrinsic to the performing arts. In these chapters, including the Southeast Asian case studies, the authors offer precious insights on productive tensions embedded in artmaking: between tradition and innovation, apprenticeship and experimentation, reenactment and reinterpretation, emulation and originality, and disciplinary mastery and interdisciplinary collaboration. Their scholarly contributions also illuminate improvisation as central to human creativity. We are reminded of Johan Huizinga’s line on the first characteristic of play in Homo Ludens: “that it is free, is in fact freedom”. This marvellous book demonstrates that improvisation is fundamental to artmaking – and celebrates the quality of freedom as fundamental to improvisation."

Professor Kwok Kian Woon, Vice-Chancellor, University of the Arts Singapore