Muhammad Arshad Fawwaz
Arshad, 24 years old, was diagnosed with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at a very young age and was raised by a single mother. He founded Inclusivity 4 All, an online concert series, to provide a unique platform for persons with disabilities to showcase their talents as well as raise funds for the underprivileged in Singapore.
Hafeez Hasan
Hafeez Hassan is a movement coach, dancer and choreographer who has been in the performing arts industry for more than 15 years. Starting out as a street dancer, he has clinched many awards at competitions such as the Singapore Hip Hop Championship (2005), Esplanade Dans Festival’s Overdrive (2006), Mediacorp’s The Dance Floor to name a few. With his passion in performing, Hafeez began to explore more genres such as clowning, physical theatre, miming, contact improvisation, classical Indian dance, Silat and more.
His openness towards the performing arts has led him to perform in various platforms such as musical theatre, physical theatre, immersive dining theatre, corporate launch events, concerts and many more. Being in the arts has inspired Hafeez to be a better person, and especially a better man. He is currently leading The Brothers Circle, a safe space for men to express themselves authentically
Jo Devadason
Catherine Joan Devadason hopes to bring joy to those who read her poetry & eat her bakes.
She is working towards opening a poetry cafe one day. Her poetry has been featured & performed at Playeum: iOpener – May 2019. She has collaborated with Diverse Aabilities Dance Collective to produce poem & dance performances (Speaking with Hands – Oct 2019, Down the Rabbit in the Hole- Mar 2020). Her poems appear in several anthologies published by Squircle Press (A Given Grace, Atelier of Healing).
(https://leavetheorange.wordpress.com)
Kavitha Krishnan
Kavitha Krishnan, is the artistic director of Maya Dance Theatre (MDT) and Diverse Abilities Dance Collective (DADC). She is also the co-founder and creative director of Apsara Asia Pte Ltd an arts education service provider to schools for the past 18 years.
Over the years, Kavitha has worked with different international collaborators and created inter-disciplinary/trans-cultural dance-theatre works with social consciousness. Her works with MDT bring awareness to topics such as, domestic sexual violence against women and children, and mental well-being. She has also toured the works to New York, Morocco, India, Europe and Asia.
In 2018, Kavitha founded Diverse Abilities Dance Collective (DADC) made up of performers with different abilities as a community unit of MDT. In 2021, DADC received support from sTart Up Fund (NAC) and has also worked with award winning choreographer Liz Lea from Australia with support from Asialink Arts (Australia) for their inaugural production, “Speaking with Hands” in 2019. Last year, DADC worked with producer and co-director Jeffrey Tan and No Strings Attached (Adelaide) for the digital project, SAME-SAME supported by Singapore International Foundation (SIF).
Trained also an Occupational Therapist, Kavitha was instrumental in the development of Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) modules for Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and was an associate lecturer for the programme and for Diploma in Arts Management (2020).
Kavitha values dance as a medium for communication and building connections; she strongly believes in the notion, “Dance Heals”.
Jeffrey Tan (Moderator)
Jeffrey is an experienced theatre director and drama educator, who has worked as Resident Director with The Theatre Practice (1997 -1998), Drama Lecturer and Acting Head of Drama with LASALLE SIA (1999 – 2001) and as Associate Artistic Director with TheatreWorks (S) Ltd (2002 – 2006).
In 2006, he won the NAC Arts Professional Scholarship to pursue his Masters (Drama and Theatre Education) at University of Warwick.
Jeffrey joined the National Arts Council as Assistant Director from 2007 to 2012 with the Singapore Arts Festival team. From 2010 to 2012, Jeffrey established ‘Com.mune’ – the Education and Outreach programme of the Singapore Arts Festival providing yearlong engagement for New Audiences, Arts Lovers, Arts Makers and Arts Volunteers.
In 2006, Jeffrey co-directed PLAY ON EARTH with two other theatre companies via Skype from the United Kingdom and San Paulo for the Singapore Arts Festival.
Currently Jeffrey is an independent Theatre Maker.
