The Jade Opera House and the Singapore India Fine Arts Society, Singapore
The opening scene from “Tale of the Black Forest” is a cross cultural production written and directed by Chua Soo Pong in 2015. After its premiered in Singapore the 90-minute production was invited to perform in Belgium. The abstract to be presented in Bangkok at the Festival organized Chulongkorn University is the opening scene which shows Prince Panji leading a group of royal guards to the forest. Prince Panji spots a beautiful deer and is attracted by the loveliness of the animal. He orders his guards to chase the deer. On this way to search for the deer, he sees a village girl with a basketful of clothes in the wood. To avoid the horse knocking down the girl, Prince Panji pulls the horse reins so hard that he falls from the horse. The girl and immediately falls in love at the first encounter. She is Dewi, who has an identical twin sister.
Prince Panji: Hong Kun Yu
Hong Xiu Yu is the Artistic Director and Founder of Jade Opera Group (JOG) in Singapore. She was the troupe leader and star of Hong Xiu Yu Hokkien Opera Troupe in Taiwan established in 1990, played the main Xiaosheng (young scholar role) in numerous television opera with Yang Li Hua Hokkien Opera Troupe in the late 70s and throughout the 1980s. Hong Xiu Yu won acclaim in many memorable productions. The Xiaosheng role she enacted is unique and has a magnetic singing voice. In 2003, he came to Singapore and soon after was appointed as the Senior Teacher at the Chinese Opera Institute until 2010. She has worked closely with Chua Soo Pong in many innovative new Hokkien opera, adapting classics of the East and West. There included 'Ramayana', 'Mahabharata', and masterpieces of Shakespeare, Moliere and Brecht. She has also created Taiwanese drama series “Chi Jiao Po” and “Yin Guo Chan” that adapts the artistic elements of Hokkien opera. Productions she directed were invited to perform at international theatre festivals in Indonesia, Iran and Malaysia Other operas that were well received included " The Haunted Temple" , "The Chalk Circle" , adapted from Brecht's play of the same title. “Tang Bo Hu the Witty Scholar”and "The Painted Skin" etc. Hong Xiu Yu has also been performing in the Arts Education Programme of the Chinese Opera Institute (from 2004 to 2010) and the AEP of the Traditional Arts Centre (2012-). Hong Xiu Yu also perform several Huangmei operas in Singapore and abroad. She appeared in Festivals held in Bangladesh and the United States in 2010. Singapore:
Kshirja Govind
Currently an advanced level Bharatanatyam student at Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society (SIFAS), Singapore under Guru P.N.Vikas. Kshirja was awarded the ‘Natya Visharad” on completion of her Dance Diploma at Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society in 2018, and the best students award in 2016.
A regular solo performer Kshirja has been presented at various leading Natyanjali and Sabhas in Singapore and India. Kshirja was adjudged in 2019 as the Best performer at the Bharat Ntriya Utsav dance festival , in Chennai India. Kshirja was conferred “Future Face of Indian Classical Dance” by the Indian International Dance festival in 2018 and “Hidden Idol” in 2016 and won numerous prizes at various competitions.
(Presented in the 2019 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum : Panji/Inao – Preserving and Reviving the Shared Heritage of Southeast Asia, 21 June 2019, Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, organized by Institute of Thai Studies and Department of Thai, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University)