A Light Between Rains
The people gather at the cusp of change, the inter-monsoon--when the big winds shift. Beneath the charged skies and the swelling heat, those that have gathered cheer and move. This is the A Light Between Rains, a display of colours, textures, sounds, melodies, movement, and an embodiment of the five elements – the building blocks of life. The people move through their city. They move to celebrate the simple joy of creating. They move to honour artistic traditions. They move to embrace change. They move to share, and they move to move.
Conceived as a speculative theatrical procession, A Light Between Rains was an act of collective world‑building, it includes and interacts with its audiences, unfolding through community workshops, performance‑installations and walking theatre. The performance itself was a site-empathetic roving piece performed both in the Civic District and the Punggol Digital Distripark. It featured choreography, costuming, puppetry and a deconstructed gamelan ensemble.
Concept | Choreography | Direction:
Jamil Schulze & Tan Guo Lian Sutton
Music: Rosemainy Buang & Zachary Chan
Production Design: Akbar Syadiq, Aida Sa’ad, Dianna Sa’ad, Russell Goh, Quek See Yee
Producer: Pearlyn Tay
Performed by a team of over 60 people.
Opening the SIFA 2026 Festival Village
Commissioned by Arts House Group (AHG) for the Singapore International Festival of Arts, SIFA 2026, A Light Between Rains opened the Festival Village, with the procession split into five micro-performance sites merging as they travel towards the final performance site. As they are considered to be the building blocks of all life in several Southeast Asian traditions, each of the micro-performance sites were informed by one of the five elements; Tanah or Earth, Air or Water, Api or Fire, Angin or Wind/Air, and Cahaya or Light – the aesthetics of which pervaded the costuming, puppetry, movement choreography, sonic landscape, and audience interaction.
SIFA 2026 Satellite Venue: Punggol
A Light Between Rains was also brought to the SIFA 2026 Satellite Venue at the Punggol Digital District. This performance took shape a little differently with two groups of elements starting at opposite ends, meeting for the final performance of Cahaya in the middle.
Community Engagement
To bring the world of A Light between Rains to life, our community engagement strategy was built on the principle of co-creation for “collective world-building”. These session were called “Mestick Making Workshops” and they provided participants with skills and direct experience in building the world of the procession. Held in conjunction with Northeast CDC, the Mestick Making Workshops were designed by a team of professional teaching artists, allowing participants to design and decorate their own Parade Baton based on one of the elements they identify with.
