Between Portrait and Performance: A Dance Response and Dialogue on Lai Foong Moi
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Between Portrait and Performance: A Dance Response and Dialogue on Lai Foong Moi
Sun 27 Sep | 3pm - 4.30pm | National Gallery Singapore, City Hall Wing, Level 2, Singapore Courtyard | Free, registration required: https://www.nationalgallery.sg/sg/en/talks/Between-Portrait-and-Performance-A-Dance-Response-and-Dialogue-on-Lai-Foong-Moi.html
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How do art and fashion shape the ways we see ourselves and each other? This opening programme brings together performance and conversation to explore the intersections of art, fashion, and identity through the works of Lai Foong Moi against the backdrop of 1960s Singapore.
The programme opens with a dance choreographed and performed by Angelene Wong (Fashion theorist, lecturer and performance artiste) featuring The Débutante, who reimagine the modern woman through posture and movement. Responding to the stillness and composed nature of Lai's portraits, dance brings movement to the Singapore Courtyard, creating moments where echoes of the past meet the present.
The programme continues with a presentation by art and fashion historian Nadya Wang (Founder and Managing Editor of "Art & Market" and "Fashion & Market"), followed by a conversation with curator Teo Hui Min. Through the lens of fashion history, they offer new perspectives on Lai's artistic practice, examining how dress reveals ideas of self-fashioning, women's agency, and identity during Singapore's transition to independence. The programme concludes with a Q&A featuring all three speakers.
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About the Panellists
Teo Hui Min is Curator at National Gallery Singapore. Her research covers visual art practice in Singapore (1950s–1980s). Her past projects include"City of Others: Asian Artists in Paris, 1920s–1940s" (2025) and "Tropical: Stories from Southeast Asia and Latin America" (2023) as well as solo presentations of Singapore artists including "Cheong Soo Pieng: Layer by Layer" (2024), "Mohammad Din Mohammad: The Mistaken Ancestor" (2021), "Georgette Chen: At Home in the World" (2020) and "Lim Cheng Hoe: Painting Singapore" (2018).
Dr Nadya Wang received her PhD in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art. An academic, curator and strategist, she works at the intersection of art, fashion and culture. Driven by a mission to champion regional narratives, Nadya is Founder and Managing Editor of two pioneering online magazines: "Art & Market", focused on Southeast Asian art and its global connections, and "Fashion & Market", documenting the Southeast Asian fashion ecosystem. She also leads Front & Off-Centre, an agency offering communications, curatorial, programming and publication services. In 2025, her monograph "Her World, Women and Fashion in Singapore, 1974–1989: Accidental Career Girl to Working Mother of the Year", was published by Bloomsbury.
Dr Angelene Wong holds a PhD in Art, Design, and Media from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She is also a graduate of the MA Fashion Studies program at Parsons School of Design, and an accomplished dance practitioner. Her research explores fashion, performance, and Asia, with her doctoral thesis offering a somatic perspective on fashion modelling practices in late 20th-century Singapore. Wong is the co-author of "Fashion, Identity, Image" (2022), co-editor of "Starring Asian Femininities" (2026), and lectures at the School of Fashion, LASALLE College of the Arts.
About The Débutante
The Débutante is an all-female dance crew that shares a passion for dance and desire to explore beyond familiar genres. Established in 2014 under the directorship of Amin Alifin, they would proceed to win awards and perform on stages across Singapore, Japan, the UK, Australia, and China. Their combination of strong dance technique, genre-bending choreography, and camaraderie won the hearts of audiences. Since, they have performed together for more than a decade, establishing themselves as one of Singapore’s most accomplished all-female dance crews and as individual artists. Most recently, they won the Lion City Dance Convention 2024 in Singapore. They have been invited to perform at esteemed events including the Asia Television Awards and their accomplishments have been featured in The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao. Their distinct style has also ushered them into the fashion world, with features and performances for Vogue Singapore, the Circular Fashion Hub, and Yeomama Batik.
#NationalGallerySingapore #LaiFoongMoi #Crossings #Fashion
Sun 27 Sep | 3pm - 4.30pm | National Gallery Singapore, City Hall Wing, Level 2, Singapore Courtyard | Free, registration required: https://www.nationalgallery.sg/sg/en/talks/Between-Portrait-and-Performance-A-Dance-Response-and-Dialogue-on-Lai-Foong-Moi.html
-
How do art and fashion shape the ways we see ourselves and each other? This opening programme brings together performance and conversation to explore the intersections of art, fashion, and identity through the works of Lai Foong Moi against the backdrop of 1960s Singapore.
The programme opens with a dance choreographed and performed by Angelene Wong (Fashion theorist, lecturer and performance artiste) featuring The Débutante, who reimagine the modern woman through posture and movement. Responding to the stillness and composed nature of Lai's portraits, dance brings movement to the Singapore Courtyard, creating moments where echoes of the past meet the present.
The programme continues with a presentation by art and fashion historian Nadya Wang (Founder and Managing Editor of "Art & Market" and "Fashion & Market"), followed by a conversation with curator Teo Hui Min. Through the lens of fashion history, they offer new perspectives on Lai's artistic practice, examining how dress reveals ideas of self-fashioning, women's agency, and identity during Singapore's transition to independence. The programme concludes with a Q&A featuring all three speakers.
-
About the Panellists
Teo Hui Min is Curator at National Gallery Singapore. Her research covers visual art practice in Singapore (1950s–1980s). Her past projects include"City of Others: Asian Artists in Paris, 1920s–1940s" (2025) and "Tropical: Stories from Southeast Asia and Latin America" (2023) as well as solo presentations of Singapore artists including "Cheong Soo Pieng: Layer by Layer" (2024), "Mohammad Din Mohammad: The Mistaken Ancestor" (2021), "Georgette Chen: At Home in the World" (2020) and "Lim Cheng Hoe: Painting Singapore" (2018).
Dr Nadya Wang received her PhD in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art. An academic, curator and strategist, she works at the intersection of art, fashion and culture. Driven by a mission to champion regional narratives, Nadya is Founder and Managing Editor of two pioneering online magazines: "Art & Market", focused on Southeast Asian art and its global connections, and "Fashion & Market", documenting the Southeast Asian fashion ecosystem. She also leads Front & Off-Centre, an agency offering communications, curatorial, programming and publication services. In 2025, her monograph "Her World, Women and Fashion in Singapore, 1974–1989: Accidental Career Girl to Working Mother of the Year", was published by Bloomsbury.
Dr Angelene Wong holds a PhD in Art, Design, and Media from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She is also a graduate of the MA Fashion Studies program at Parsons School of Design, and an accomplished dance practitioner. Her research explores fashion, performance, and Asia, with her doctoral thesis offering a somatic perspective on fashion modelling practices in late 20th-century Singapore. Wong is the co-author of "Fashion, Identity, Image" (2022), co-editor of "Starring Asian Femininities" (2026), and lectures at the School of Fashion, LASALLE College of the Arts.
About The Débutante
The Débutante is an all-female dance crew that shares a passion for dance and desire to explore beyond familiar genres. Established in 2014 under the directorship of Amin Alifin, they would proceed to win awards and perform on stages across Singapore, Japan, the UK, Australia, and China. Their combination of strong dance technique, genre-bending choreography, and camaraderie won the hearts of audiences. Since, they have performed together for more than a decade, establishing themselves as one of Singapore’s most accomplished all-female dance crews and as individual artists. Most recently, they won the Lion City Dance Convention 2024 in Singapore. They have been invited to perform at esteemed events including the Asia Television Awards and their accomplishments have been featured in The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao. Their distinct style has also ushered them into the fashion world, with features and performances for Vogue Singapore, the Circular Fashion Hub, and Yeomama Batik.
#NationalGallerySingapore #LaiFoongMoi #Crossings #Fashion
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