November 23, 2022
35 for EMCC35 | Ranice Tay
In this instalment of our #35forEMCC35 series, we spotlight Ranice Tay, a 2019 graduate of the NUS Theatre Studies programme, and a recipient of the NUS Performing and Visual Arts (PVA) Scholarship. As an undergraduate, Ranice actively staged shows with her NUS Theatre Studies peers under the EMCC umbrella. Upon graduation, Ranice continued her journey as a multi-disciplinary and bilingual theatre practitioner, and has since taken her talents and passion to the national and world stage.
In 2020, Ranice was invited by the SabinARTi Cultural Association in Casaprota, Italy, to develop her theatre piece, Dreamtalk, as part of an artist-in-residency programme. Dreamtalk was subsequently staged at LabPerm e L.U.P.A in Italy and at NUS Arts Festival. Most recently, Ranice performed at Singapore Art Week, for a piece she devised with her mentor and local theatre pioneer, Ang Gey Pin, titled That Day That Book That Fell.
You were one of the recipients of the NUS Performing and Visual Arts (PVA) Scholarship. How has this scholarship helped you in pursuing art within or outside of NUS?
As a PVA scholar, I was given special freedom to dream about the kind of artistic work I would like to be a part of, and see it blossom into reality. I was given the space to explore almost anything that informed my craft — from devised theatre, to creating an ensemble, and even cross-disciplinary collaborations with the NUS Museum. I was given mentorship, resources and support from NUS Centre For the Arts’ (CFA) leadership and staff through my journey in discovering my artistic voice and making sense of the artist I aspired to be.1
How did you first get started with EMCC?
It all started with The Actors’ Collective, an initiative I proposed to CFA after I was awarded the NUS PVA Scholarship. Back then, I felt strongly for the need to develop an ensemble with people who loved theatre and performance, and for us to focus completely on actor training. As a small team, we created our own production, Temporarily Mine, under the direction of Timothy Nga, and staged it as part of the EMCC series.
What roles did you play in EMCC series and what was the experience like?
I was both a performer and producer in the EMCC series, and it was truly a learning experience. I learnt the strategies of proposal writing, the tact involved in contacting and liaising with stakeholders from the theatre scene, the necessary poise needed to moderate a discussion and to pitch my ideas, and the details of transforming a vision into reality. EMCC felt like a laboratory for incubation and experimentation, a space where essential and precious first steps are allowed to happen.
What are you working as now?
As a theatre practitioner, I perform, teach, write, direct, and facilitate, working with different individuals and organisations both in Singapore and abroad. In recent years, I have been collaborating closely with my mentor, Ang Gey Pin, and presently published a co-authored essais on cultivating wellness through performer training in a special issue of the Theatre, Dance and Performer Training Journal. These days, I have also been working as a Taijiquan athlete and practitioner, with the aims of spreading the craft to young people and seniors from different backgrounds, while investigating the possibility of melding dance and wushu together.
What arts project have you been working on recently?
This year, I had the privilege of performing in the Singapore Art Week, for a piece that I devised with Gey Pin titled That Day That Book That Fell. It came after Dreamtalk — another devised duo performance — that was featured in NUS Arts Festival 2020. I am currently assisting Gey Pin in her directorial work for Offending the Audience, which will be performed by the Year 3 Diploma students at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
Find out how Dreamtalk came about here in our 2020 interview with Ranice.
About #35forEMCC35
NUS Centre For the Arts is proud to commemorate 35 years of ExxonMobil Campus Concerts (EMCC) through our #35forEMCC35 series. Spotlighting 35 individuals from past and present editions of EMCC, the series showcases how EMCC has complemented these individuals’ academic and professional lives, and their hopes for EMCC in the years to come.