Celebrating Yale-NUS’ campus spaces: ‘Your Nooks and Crannies’

Over the past year, students at Yale-NUS have been exploring different projects to record and celebrate their experiences at the College. Besides the ongoing Legacy Project, a dance film cum exhibition, spearheaded by seniors Reneez Aiyana Gaspar Felix (Class of 2024), Stella Tan Yihan (Class of 2024), and Anastasia Kurniadi (Class of 2024), entitled ‘Your Nooks and Crannies’ recently debuted.

Their film-experiential exhibition highlights meaningful places on campus through dance. It features a series of site-specific dance items choreographed, filmed, edited, and performed by Yale-NUS students.

Spaces showcased in the film include Saga College, the Blackbox Theatre, the lifts of Cendana College, the space outside the Cendana Rector’s Commons, Elm courtyard, Practice Room 6 and the walkway leading to the practice rooms, the Science Block, and the Oculus.

“This project came about during a random conversation on our suite couch after a sYNCd (Society of Yale-NUS Dancers) practice session, when Stella and I were suitemates in Saga College for a semester in 2023,” shared Reneez.

“We wanted to create something to remember what Yale-NUS looks like before we leave, and to do it through dance, which has been a huge part of our college lives”.

Following their conversation, Stella, Reneez, and Anastasia came together and began pitching the project to other Yale-NUS student choreographers and dancers.

“Whenever we pitched ‘Your Nooks and Crannies’ to various individuals in hopes that they would join our team, we’ve always gotten eager and positive responses,” said Stella.

Beyond celebrating and remembering special spaces on campus, ‘Your Nooks and Crannies’ also intentionally created opportunities for the Yale-NUS community to re-discover, re-connect, and create new memories with friends on campus spaces. For dancer Portia Lim (Class of 2025), the filming of her dance performance is an experience that she remembers fondly. “It was challenging to get down and dirty in the Saga courtyard grass for our contemporary-style dance, but I enjoyed the process very much. To be able to dance with friends whom I’ve grown alongside over my past three years in Yale-NUS College was the best thing,” Portia shared.

On 27 April, ‘Your Nooks and Crannies’ finally debuted. Assigned ‘tour guides’ took participants on a guided walk across campus and visited sites specially curated and designed by the exhibition team. At each site, audience members viewed the site-specific dance video, as well as a behind-the-scenes interview of the choreographers who explained their creation process and inspiration.

At the end of the night, participants gathered at the Yale-NUS College Hall to view the highly anticipated full screening of ‘Your Nooks and Crannies’. The film received thunderous applause from the audience members, which comprised current Yale-NUS students, alumni, family and friends. Some were emotional as they witnessed the dancers and choreographers re-appropriate beloved spaces to create new meaning or represent existing sentiments deep in their hearts.

“It was really nice to see my work being screened! I was happy to play a part in this huge production that involved over 70 people and a bigger audience being so supportive of the work, “ shared Alan Seah (Class of 2025), who was one of the key videographers of ‘Your Nooks and Crannies’. He added: “I’m heartened that we all had the opportunity to make and watch this film together, to commemorate the spaces that we hold so dear.”

‘Your Nooks and Crannies’ has been uploaded on YouTube for public viewing – click here to enjoy this year-long labour of love by the Yale-NUS community!