Men In The Arts

Meet the men who are pushing boundaries in the Singapore art scene today.

- Lynette Kee, Terence Poh, and Bianca Husodo

ART MAKING IS almost always an emotional experience, one that warrants individuals to confront a vulnerable side of themselves. In Singapore, where society remains relatively more conservative as compared to the West, artistic pursuits have thus been dominated by women, while men find themselves leaning towards more technical fields of engineering and the sciences, devoid of emotions. Here, we speak to three male artists — a ballet master, musician, and poet — who are expressing their distinct personal takes on masculinity in Singapore through art.

MD NOOR, BALLET MASTER

The tale of most artists’ journeys towards their successes more often than not begins from a decisive moment. For Mohamed Noor Sarman, affectionally known as Md Noor, it is in the split second the curtains went up on Singapore Dance Theatre’s (SDT) first ever production in 1988. “All my friends were [performing] and I thought, ‘What am I doing sitting here? I should be up there with them!’,” he says with a laugh. Citing fellow pioneer dancers of SDT who were performing on stage, including Jamaludin Jalil who gave up pursuing a career as a lawyer to be a dancer, Md Noor recounts that night as a pivotal moment for him in his ballet career. “I felt like I had more to give and I was willing to do whatever it takes.”

Fast forward a few decades, Md Noor, one of the longest-standing members in the school, is now, in his own right, a ballet master in SDT.