Main Stage: Malay Archipelago

Step into the living pulse of the Malay Archipelago with a three-night celebration of dance, storytelling and cultural exchange.

The showcases bring together leading dance ensembles from Singapore and Indonesia alongside vibrant community troupes to illuminate how traditions, memories and creative voices continue to resonate across time and space.

Each evening offers a unique echo, a rhythmic dialogue between heritage and innovation. Main Stage: Malay Achipelago invites audiences to listen to the voices that echo across the seas to witness how the heartbeat of the Nusantara continues to resonate, evolve and inspire through the universal language of dance.

The opening performance, Gema Asal (Echoes of Origins), pays tribute to the ancestral forms that shaped the Malay world by journeying through classical and folk dances that embody the spirit, rituals and beauty of tradition.

The second night sees contemporary voices rising as choreographers and dancers reinterpret traditional vocabularies, revealing how echoes of the past inspire new movement languages. Denting Baharu (Resonance Renewed) on 8 Nov showcases bold collaborations that seamlessly bridge the old and the new, the local and the global.

On the final night, the performers present Antara Nusa Bergema (The Archipelago Echoes)! A grand finale uniting artists from across the region in a collective performance of rhythm, story and song. The night celebrates the powerful connections that reverberate between islands, a living symphony of shared identity, memory and hope.

Muara Festival is presented by Era Dance Theatre in collaboration with Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay as part of Esplanade’s Pentas series.