Goh Lay Kuan has nurtured generations of dancers and helped build our theatre scene from nothing. She tells Melissa Gail Sing that her work is not done yet—and she’s doing it her way.

She’s performed solo before global audiences and her dance works have been watched by many more to great acclaim. But for Singapore’s dance pioneer Goh Lay Kuan, who’s been credited for the birth of modern Singapore theatre and nurturing generations of dancers, any involvement in a dance project is never motivated by the glamour or its potential “success” as many would define it. Rather, it’s about what she can contribute to the arts scene and the impact of her works after the curtains have come down.

For the past two years, the Cultural Medallion recipient and Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame inductee whose works include Nu Wa – Mender of the Heavens, Om and The Homing Fish has been working on what she calls her most important project.

Returning is a dance collaboration with three generations of dance-makers and creative artists in Singapore, which celebrates our cultural diversity as well as the exchange and passing down of ideas, experiences and passion for dance. A highlight of this year’s Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA), it was conceived and directed by the 76-year-old co-founder and artistic advisor of The Theatre Practice and is her first large-scale production in almost 20 years.

“Ong Keng Sen, a former student of mine and now a very good friend, spoke to me about this in 2013,” she says of the festival director. “After some thinking, I agreed to be a part of the festival, but only if I could have free reign over my work—not for myself or for my schools or practice, but for Singapore’s dance scene and something that involved the participation of different races.” 

Cross-cultural collaboration was common back in the early 1960s to mid-70s, says the feisty wife of the late “father of Singapore theatre” Kuo Pao Kun, with whom she founded Singapore Performing Arts School in 1965 (it evolved over the years into The Theatre Practice which comprises The Practice Performing Arts School and The Theatre Practice).

“Back then, the arts practitioners from different cultural backgrounds worked together very closely and we’re all great friends till today. But now, there is a lot of competition between the performing arts groups, and this can hinder the development of the scene. If we embrace our differences and build on our cultural diversity, we can create something greater.”

Having experienced racism while living overseas, the idea of tapping onto Singapore’s cultural mix to forge a new artistic identity has been high on Lay Kuan’s agenda ever since she returned from Australia in 1965 after studying ballet at the Victoria Ballet Guild in Melbourne. 

“To me, even as we become a very globalised and westernised nation, this diversity of cultures that we have in Singapore should continue to be treasured. Sadly, much of the younger generation does not appreciate this beauty that we have right under our noses. Many other migrant countries encounter social problems because of cultural differences, but in our small country, this diversity is the glue that has kept us together for so long. 

“I think that the arts is a very natural and easy way to help us understand a lot of things and to create that mutual understanding, respect and tolerance for one another. Through dance, we can create a unique Singaporean identity. Keng Sen understands what we’re thinking and what we want to achieve, which was why I accepted this opportunity,” she shares.

Working on Returning, which runs from August 13 to 15, has been no mean feat, what with the challenges that come with working with the dances of three different cultures, Indian, Malay and Chinese, and three generations of practitioners spanning in ages from the 20s to 60s (plus having to deal with dancers dropping out of the project midway when they realise that learning the dances of other cultures is not really something they want to do). But Lay Kuan is a fighter, a reputation she earned following her 1976 detention together with her husband, for alleged communist tendencies in their works.  

“It’s tough, but I am very lucky I have a good team. At the end of the day, it’s not about how successful the production is but really about what happens after that—I hope to build a community of practitioners who enjoy working in this highly collaborative way, harnessing what we already have in terms of our cultural heritage and art forms available here. 

“I want to instil in the younger generation this idea of constant dialogue, friendship and learning. I always tell them, ‘This is such a small country, we have to work together. So don’t go too fast, or you’ll end up in the sea,’” says the grandmother of one who devotes much of her spare time to meditating and volunteering, and has always been a firm advocate for the performing arts for intellectually disabled children.

In a world full of superficial reality stars who thrive on cheap sensationalism, it’s refreshing to meet someone whose dedication to life and her craft continues to be on her own terms.  

Nurturing the Young

Known for her no-nonsense attitude towards her dancers, Goh Lay Kuan has a softer side when it comes to nurturing the young. In 1988, she developed the Play-In-Arts programme for preschoolers with the belief that early exposure to different art forms makes for a creative learning experience while instilling greater appreciation for the arts among youth, both physically able and handicapped children. She still spends her Saturdays at The Theatre Practice where she will be interacting with a group of excited preschoolers as they manoeuvre hula hoops, bouncy balls, and empty tins and sticks. “I learn from them too. And that’s exactly why I keep doing it. Learning never stops. My husband and I always believed that culture shapes a person, their thinking, beliefs and attitudes. It really makes a difference,” she says.