Singapore Dance Theatre

The Singapore Dance Theatre is Singapore's national dance company, founded in 1988 by the late Anthony Then and Goh Soo Khim. It made its debut in June 1988 at the Singapore Festival of The Arts and received its first arts patronage by the then-Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Ong Teng Cheong. The Artistic Director of the company is Janek Schergen.

Its humble beginnings started with a group of seven ballet dancers in a modest dance studio on the second storey of a creaky colonial bungalow on Killiney Road. This studio space was shared by the Singapore Ballet Academy and the SDT's dancers could only train in between the Academy's rehearsal schedules on normal days. The building's condition was poor and, often, dancers had to be careful with their dance movements lest the floorboards gave way. On rainy days, the studio would experience leaking roofs and had to put buckets at the corner of the studio, to collect rainwater.

in 1991 SDT moved to the Fort Canning Centre in Fort Canning Park. As of 2013, SDT moved to purpose built headquarters on Victoria Street. The new premises has four large studios and better facilities for the dances and staff. On 12 July 2013 the new SDT headquarters was officially opened with the Silver Legacy Gala by presided over by President Dr. Tony Tan. SDT now consists of 37 dancers, predominantly from the Asia-Pacific region. It receives its funding from both public and private sources such as the National Arts Council, and corporate and private donations.

It has six seasons in a year, including performances at the Esplanade theatre and the Fort Canning Green, where its hugely popular Ballet Under The Stars (BUTS) series of outdoor performances are staged. BUTS has, to date, attracted over 180,000 spectators from all walks of life and have become dance aficionados.

The company’s repertoire ranges from classical to contemporary ballet, from renowned choreographers like Choo-San Goh, George Balanchine, Jean Paul Comelin, Nacho Duato, Jiri Kylian, Val Caniparoli, Edwaard Liang, Nils Christe, Graham Lustig, Ma Cong, Toru Shimazaki, Natalie Weir, Stanton Welch, Edmund Stripe and Marie-Claude Pietragalla. The company also takes on the works by contemporary choreographers Kuik Swee Boon, David Dawson, Jorma Elo, Xing Liang and Adrian Burnett. They also have done several full length ballets in their history with The Nutcracker, Coppelia, Cinderella, Giselle, Madame Butterfly, La Sylphide, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote and the contemporary work Reminiscing the Moon, choreographed by Boi Sakti, commissioned for the opening of the Esplanade in 2002.

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