Beautiful show of the evolution of T.H.E Dance Company

For the first time, dancers from The Human Expression (T.H.E) Dance Company, T.H.E Second Company and T.H.E Training Initiative shared the same stage in liTHE 2025.

- Elizabeth Chan

The evening traced an arc of virtuosic growth: excerpts of past works by training initiative’s participants, a restaging of T.H.E founder Kuik Swee Boon’s Un-form by the main company, and two brand-new Second Company creations - Hawla by main company dancer Klievert Jon Mendoza, and Misfits by Billy Keohavong.

It began with excerpts from Spare Room (Yarra Ileto) and Silences We Are Familiar With (Kuik), performed by the initiative’s dancers. They were potent vessels of the HollowBody methodology, yet this reviewer often felt as if she was watching silhouettes - echoes of familiar artists rather than fully alive individuals.

Jordan Tan stood out in Silences with her own interpretation of nuance and phrasing, and this reviewer wanted to keep watching, to see more of her emerge.

Mendoza's Hawla (“cage” in Tagalog) followed, driven by an epic and tension-filled score by longtime T.H.E collaborator Kent Lee.