Goh Lay Kuan
Goh Lay Kuan | ||
---|---|---|
吴丽娟 | ||
Born | 1939 (age 84–85) Hanyu Pinyin Wú Lìjuān | |
Hokkien POJ | Gô͘ Lē-koan |
Goh Lay Kuan (
During the mid-1970s, both Goh and her husband were branded as enemies of the state and detained in mass arrests of alleged communist sympathizers. The 1980s and 90s, however, saw Goh rise in prominence. In 1988 she created Nu Wa – Mender of the Heavens, Singapore's first modern dance production, and in 1995 she was awarded the Cultural Medallion, Singapore's highest award for artistic excellence.
Early life
Goh Lay Kuan was born in
Career
At the age of 15, Goh began learning
In 1964, Goh moved back to Singapore. Her motivations to return included racial discrimination, a sense that her people did not have a cultural identity to call their own, and the 1963 openings of the
In 1965, playwright Kuo Pao Kun, whom Goh had met and began dating in Australia, also moved back to Singapore. Goh and Kuo were married that year, and on the day of their wedding the couple founded the Singapore Performing Arts School (renamed the Practice Theatre School in 1973, the Practice Performing Arts School in 1984, and The Theatre Practice in 1997); Goh was the principal dance instructor, while Kuo taught drama.[2][5][6] Goh's vision for the school was to be able to train enough professional dancers to form a company. Goh began to choreograph dances for the students, and her first work of ballet choreography was completed the same year that the school was founded.[4] Practice Performing Arts School, which was founded right before Singapore became independent, received no financial support from the government. Goh and Kuo also refused to allow their families to fund the institution. At the time, people looking to learn drama relied on cultural groups, so there was not a tradition of paid instruction in drama. With all of these avenues of funding closed, the school was self funded and was in debt for its first seventeen years. As a result, Goh and Kuo, in addition to teaching and creating works to perform, also handled costumes and stage design themselves.[2][3] Shortly after founding the school, the couple had their first daughter, Kuo Jian Hong, who was born in 1967. A second daughter, Kuo Jing Hong, was born in 1971.[2]
Goh and Kuo's willingness to poke fun at the government and to raise social and class issues in their performances led to frequent conflicts with the Singaporean government, which made it difficult for Goh to obtain permits for the school and banned some of Goh and Kuo's performances. The school had a "Go Into Life" campaign, which urged artists to spend time working alongside farmers and laborers in order to experience their lives. In 1969, Goh created a ballet titled The Fishing Village which focused on the lives of ordinary people in a fishing village. Another performance, created by Kuo and titled "gai si de cang ying" ("damn the fly"), was about reactions to a fly at a fruit stall and was inspired by the reactions of a TV station to a fly appearing in a speech by Prime Minister
While Goh ran the school during Kuo's incarceration, his release in 1980 brought new life to the institution; both Goh and Kuo began creating new works, and the school began putting on more performances. During this time she extended her repertoire, studying traditional Indian, Indonesian, and Chinese dance as well as modern dance, the latter at the
In 1988 Goh also launched a program at the school aimed at young children between the ages of 3 and 6. She retired from leading the school four years later, in 1992, in order to focus on producing new works. These works included Sheng Ji ("Rites of Life") and Yu Gui ("Homing"), which were first performed in 1994 by the Guangdong Modern Dance Company. After Kuo Pao Kun's death in 2002, their daughter Kuo Jian Hong returned to assume a leadership role at the school.[2][4]
Goh's most recent work is Returning, a 50-minute work which incorporates elements of Chinese, Malay, and Indian dance. The piece is a collaboration involving five choreographers and six musical composers.[8]
Honors
In 1995 Goh was awarded the Cultural Medallion, Singapore's highest award for artistic excellence.[3] In 2014, she was inducted into the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations' Singapore Women's Hall of Fame.[5]
In 2010, Ong Keng Sen, who studied under Goh, created a documentary performance about Goh entitled The Red Ballerina. Ong worked with Lim Kay Tong and Karen Tan on the production. Ong would go on to create another work about Goh, Goh Lay Kuan & Kuo Pao Kun, in 2012.[2][9]
Selected works
- The Fishing Village (1969)
- Nu Wa – Mender of the Heavens (1988)
- Rites of Life (1994)
- Homing (1994)
- Returning (2015)
References
- ^ a b c "Goh Lay Kuan: The ballerina who overturned tables". Singapore News Today. Farhan. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Goh Lay Kuan". Tribute.sg. 10 October 2012. Archived from the original on 25 November 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f Lian, Goh Chin (3 May 2014). "The ballerina who overturned tables". The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f Chin, Chor Poh (25 February 2014). "Goh Lay Kuan". Singapore Infopedia. National Library Board. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f "Goh Lay Kuan". Singapore Women's Hall of Fame. Singapore Council of Women's Organisations. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- ^ "Milestones". The Theatre Practice. Archived from the original on 25 October 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- ^ ISBN 0819564710. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
- ^ Ng, Yi-Sheng (13 August 2015). "Returning". The O.P.E.N. Singapore International Festival of Arts. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
- ^ "The Red Ballerina". TheatreWorks. Retrieved 5 November 2015.