REM: Learning to Dream Again

There are certain works that arrive from years of planning and careful intention.

And then there are works that quietly find you when you least expect them.

REM was one of those works.

The journey began when choreographer, educator and long-time friend JS Wong invited me to participate in the inaugural MYBody: Malaysian Choreographers’ Showcase, presented as part of D’MOTION International Dance Festival 2025 at Damansara Performing Arts Centre (DPAC), Kuala Lumpur. JS has been a generous supporter of my work for many years. Long before REM, he had invited me to represent Malaysia internationally, including participating in a dance festival in Jakarta where I performed Rehab alongside Sueki, a work that originally emerged through my collaboration with the late January Low. Over the years, he has consistently championed Malaysian dance artists and created platforms for choreographers to share their voices.

When JS invited me to be part of MYBody, I felt deeply honoured.

The showcase brought together six Malaysian choreographers whose work has significantly contributed to the dance landscape in Malaysia and beyond:

Amy Len
Fauzi Amirudin
Joseph Gonzales
Rathimalar Govindarajoo
Suhaili Micheline
Ong Tze Shen

To be included amongst artists whom I respect so deeply was both humbling and inspiring.

More importantly, it gave me an opportunity to create something entirely new.

At the time, I had recently relocated to Australia to begin a new chapter of life with my husband, Dev Anand.

Like many transitions, it was exciting, uncertain and filled with questions.

What does it mean to begin again?

How do we carry our histories into unfamiliar landscapes?

How do we continue evolving as artists after decades of practice?

Dev, who has always encouraged me to step beyond my comfort zone, suggested that I explore aerial arts.

To be honest, it wasn’t something I had ever imagined for myself.

After a lifetime immersed in Bharatanatyam, Odissi, contemporary dance and choreography, the idea of suspending my body from fabric in the air felt both terrifying and exhilarating.

Yet curiosity won.

Through the generosity of Jacqui Barnett at PoleFit Coffs Coast, I was introduced to aerial artist Ebony Clarke.

What followed was one of the most transformative artistic experiences I have had in years.

Ebony welcomed me into a completely new movement world. She challenged me to think differently about gravity, weight, suspension, momentum and trust. More importantly, she reminded me what it feels like to be a beginner.

After decades of professional performance and teaching, I found myself learning, struggling, falling, laughing, failing and discovering all over again.

There was something deeply liberating about surrendering expertise and allowing myself to be a student.

Slowly, aerial sling began to reveal possibilities I had never considered.

At the same time, I was searching for music.

The piece that eventually found me was Soundarajam Ashraye, composed by the great Carnatic composer Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar. The version I was drawn to was a haunting contemporary interpretation by Sound Creed, whose layered and atmospheric treatment of the composition seemed to mirror the emotional landscape I was experiencing.

I am deeply grateful to Ishwar Muthukumaran, whose generosity in sharing his knowledge helped me understand the meaning, depth and spiritual significance of the composition. Through his guidance, I was able to enter the work not only intellectually, but emotionally and spiritually.

As the choreography evolved, I began to realise that REM was becoming about much more than aerial sling, dreams or even the music itself.

Throughout my choreographic career, I have found myself returning repeatedly to questions of memory, identity, belonging, resilience and transformation. Looking back at works such as StarStruck, Rebel Without A Cause?, Panjara, Rehab, Rebab, Blue, Drowning, When Spring Came, Unwelcomed and many others, I can see an ongoing thread running through them all: an exploration of what the body remembers and what it struggles to forget.

REM became the next chapter in that inquiry.

At a time when I was navigating life between countries, cultures and communities, I found myself reflecting on what it means to carry multiple histories within a single body.

Having lived, worked and performed across Malaysia, the United Kingdom and Australia, I have become increasingly aware that the body stores experiences long after words fail us. Some memories remain clear and accessible. Others surface unexpectedly through sensation, gesture, instinct and movement.

In many ways, REM asks:

What remains in the body when memory shifts, identities evolve and home exists in more than one place?

The dream state felt like a powerful metaphor for this investigation.

In dreams, time folds.

The past and present coexist.

Logic dissolves.

Different versions of ourselves meet and overlap.

REM inhabits this liminal space.

It is a dreamscape where devotion, memory and imagination drift between earth and sky. The work explores how inherited traditions continue to live within us, even as we move through new landscapes and experiences. The Bharatanatyam and Odissi vocabularies that have been etched into my body through decades of practice do not disappear. Instead, they transform. They re-emerge in unexpected ways, entering into dialogue with contemporary movement and aerial flight.

For me, REM became an exploration of the body as a living archive.

A place where personal history, cultural memory, devotion and transformation coexist.

A place where tradition is not preserved unchanged but allowed to breathe, evolve and dream.

The aerial sling became more than an apparatus. It became a metaphor. A space of suspension between what was and what might be. A space where I could release certainty, embrace vulnerability and imagine new possibilities for my practice.

Named after Rapid Eye Movement, the stage of sleep where dreams are most vivid, REM exists somewhere between dream and reality.

It is a place where memory, devotion, imagination and the subconscious intertwine.

The work draws upon movement memories etched into my body through decades of Bharatanatyam and Odissi training, yet allows them to dissolve, transform and reappear through the unfamiliar language of aerial sling.

For me, REM is not a fusion of forms.

It is a conversation.

A dialogue between tradition and innovation.

Between gravity and flight.

Between memory and possibility.

Between the artist I have been and the artist I am still becoming.

The creation of REM also prompted me to reflect on the many people who have shaped my journey.

I think of Datuk Ramli Ibrahim, whose mentorship through Sutra Foundation has profoundly influenced my artistic life for more than three decades.

I think of my years with Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company in London, where I first encountered the possibility of reimagining South Asian movement within contemporary contexts.

I think of Bilqis Hijjas, Foo Chi Wei, Tan Mei Mei and Geethika, my sutra family, fellow artists, collaborators, teachers and friends who have challenged me, inspired me and helped shape my artistic voice over the years.

 

 

 

I think of my family, who have stood beside me throughout every triumph, uncertainty and reinvention.

I think of my mother, whose sacrifices and unwavering belief allowed me to pursue a life in the arts.

 

 

 

I think of Dev Anand, who encouraged me to take that first leap into the unknown and never stopped believing that I could do it. He pushed me to try aerial arts, supported my training, celebrated every small breakthrough and reminded me that growth often lies beyond fear.

I think of Jacqui Barnett, who opened the doors of PoleFit Coffs Coast, generously provided a space for exploration and brought Ebony into the process.

I think of Ebony Clarke, whose patience, expertise and kindness introduced me to aerial sling and helped me rediscover the possibilities of my own body.

I think of Ishwar Muthukumaran, whose insights deepened my relationship with the music and revealed layers of meaning I may never have discovered on my own.

I think of JS Wong, whose invitation sparked this entire journey, and whose unwavering commitment to creating opportunities for Malaysian dance artists continues to enrich our dance community.

I think of the entire D’MOTION International Dance Festival team and crew who brought the festival to life.

I think of Eagle, whose lighting design helped shape the visual world of REM and transformed the stage into a dreamscape.

And I think of every friend, artist, mentor, audience member and supporter who offered encouragement, feedback, energy and belief throughout the process.

Because the truth is this:

REM was never created by one person.

It took a village.

And perhaps that is what the work is ultimately about.

Not simply dreaming.

But discovering that every dream is carried by many hands.

REM premiered as part of MYBody: Malaysian Choreographers’ Showcase at D’MOTION International Dance Festival 2025, presented by Damansara Performing Arts Centre (DPAC).

It remains one of the most challenging, vulnerable, transformative and rewarding creative journeys I have undertaken. A reminder that even after decades of dancing, there are still new ways to move.

Still new ways to listen.

Still new ways to learn.

Still new ways to dream.

And sometimes, if we are willing to surrender to the unknown, we may even discover new ways to fly.

D’MOTION 2025 – MYBODY – CloudJoi

https://www.cloudjoi.com/shows/4141-dmotion-2025-mybody