As part of this year’s Asia Dance Arts Festival, the Dance Faculty of Singapore Raffles Music College hosted an Academic Summit Forum on 20 August 2026 at the SRMC Recital Studio.
Centred on the theme “Reconstructing the Value of Aesthetic Education in Singapore Dance Education: Challenges in the Context of Asian Multicultural Dance Integration,” the forum brought together respected educators, artists, adjudicators, industry leaders and professional-category dancers for a morning of exchange and reflection.
The session welcomed speakers and guests including Prof. Yang Ming, Mr. Liang Siyuan , Dr. Peter Gn, Dr. Stephanie Burridge and Prof. Yan He.
Together, they opened up conversations on dance education, multicultural integration, aesthetic values, and the evolving role of dance within Singapore and the wider Asian context.
The morning programme began with a welcome address, followed by the guest sharings on the various topics, and a group photo session. While the programme was concise, the conversations carried wider significance for SRMC’s role as a facilitator for the arts, arts education and future industry collaboration.
Reimagining Dance Education in a Multicultural Context
A key focus of the forum was the idea that dance education today must go beyond technical training alone.
Across the sharing sessions, speakers reflected on how dance carries culture, identity, discipline, creativity and human connection. In a multicultural society like Singapore, dance education is not only about learning steps or mastering forms. It is also about understanding different movement traditions, respecting cultural roots and finding ways for diverse artistic languages to speak to one another.
The forum also looked at Singapore’s unique position as a meeting point for Asian dance traditions. With Chinese, Malay, Indian, Western and contemporary dance influences present within its cultural landscape, Singapore offers an important space to explore how dance can move from simple coexistence towards deeper cross-cultural understanding and creation.
From Tradition to Contemporary Expression
Another important thread of the forum was the relationship between tradition and innovation.
Speakers discussed how traditions should not be treated as fixed or distant from contemporary practice. Instead, dance traditions continue to grow when they are studied deeply, understood respectfully and reimagined with purpose.
This was especially meaningful in discussions around Asian dance education. True multicultural integration is not simply about combining costumes, gestures, rhythms or movement styles. It requires a deeper understanding of cultural context, body language, artistic values and the meaning behind each tradition.
The forum invited participants to consider how dance education can help students stay connected to cultural roots while also developing the confidence to create, collaborate and respond to the world around them.
Conversations with Educators and Industry Leaders
Through the contributions of the speakers, the forum brought together different perspectives from academia, practice, adjudication and the wider dance industry.
The speakers touched on questions that continue to shape dance education today:
• How do we define aesthetic education?
• How can dance support cultural understanding and social connection?
• How can educators balance tradition, creativity and contemporary relevance?
• How can young dancers be prepared not only as performers, but as thinkers, collaborators and future contributors to the arts?
These questions are especially important as the dance landscape becomes more connected across borders, generations and creative disciplines.
Building Future Connections
For SRMC, the forum was also an opportunity to strengthen relationships with experienced educators and industry practitioners.
The forum created space for meaningful exchange and possible future collaboration, encouraging the sharing of perspectives, resources and ideas that can support dance education beyond a single event.
As SRMC continues to grow as Asia’s Creative Foundry, platforms like this reflect our belief that creative education should be connected to real conversations, real communities and real industry practice.
The Academic Summit Forum was a reminder that the future of dance education will be shaped not only in classrooms and studios, but also through dialogue, exchange and shared commitment across the arts community.
Through this forum, SRMC’s Dance Faculty continues to support a vision of dance education that is rooted, collaborative and ready for what comes next.
