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SINGAPORE – Local dance company Dance Spectrum International (DSI), which was scheduled to perform a tap segment at Chingay 2021, decided not to participate in the annual celebrations.
This was announced on the PAssion Chingay Club Facebook page on Monday (December 28), after the DSI segment drew criticism from netizens.
In a video of their dancers’ preparation for the celebrations shared by Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao on December 11, the dancers were seen wearing tutus underneath their lion dance costumes.
A petition requesting that the tap dance segment be removed from Chingay 2021 garnered more than 1,200 signatures, and several supporters criticized the performance as inappropriate and disrespectful of tradition.
DSI’s Facebook posts publicizing Zaobao’s article and a separate Straits Times article also drew disgruntled comments from netizens, with some calling the performance an insult to lion dance culture.
Some said that the performance was “nonsense”, and one netizen went so far as to request the closure of the dance group.
Ten DSI dancers, aged between 14 and 30, were to perform in one of the six segments of Chingay 2021.
https://www.facebook.com/zaobaosg/videos/385818766009045/
Her four-minute-long routine would have been a first for the company, with a combination of tap dancing and lion dance choreographed by founder and director Sharon Liew.
DSI’s withdrawal from Chingay “is in consideration of young dancers affected by cyberbullying,” the company said in a joint statement with the People’s Association (PA) and the Singapore Wushu Dragon and Lion Dance Federation (SWDLDF). .
The three parties had met separately to discuss key stakeholder concerns and tried to find ways to resolve the matter over the past week, he said.
“The three parties also agreed that while we welcome differing views on artistic expression, we do not tolerate hurtful comments online or personal attacks on individuals posted on social media.
“It is not consistent with the friendly and inclusive society we want to see.”
In Monday’s statement, PA and SWDLDF said: “We express our support and solidarity with DSI, and we hope that the young dancers affected will recover from the damage it has done to them.”
