Show: Dido & The Belindas (26 July)
Grab the All-Access Pass to experience all that DnA Fest has to offer across 25-26 July weekend.
About the Show
Imagine a ballroom scene, a diva drag queen beckons you and the night ignites with wit, dignity and energy, inviting abandonment to expectations. Director Ong Keng Sen harnesses the electrifying energy of drag artistry and ballroom vogue culture, particularly in the rousing "Tribe of the Abandoned”. This Tribe, or The Belindas, together with Becca D’Bus as host and Dido personified, reframes societal marginalisation by transforming wit, glamour, and performativity into powerful tools of resistance and survival. In doing so, the show celebrates the thriving queer communities forged outside the mainstream.
A visual feast with set and props intricately hand-made by award winning visual artist Khairullah Rahim.
With live performance by lyric tenor Thomas Michael Allen and composer and DJ artist Toru Yamanaka. Joining them as The Belindas are the glamorous voguer, Koppi Mizrahi (Icon Overall Mother of House of Mizrahi), the electric Showta Oricci (Father Japan Chapter of House of Nina Oricci), Momo Adachi, Acyd Rayne, Amir Haziq, Kak Nina Boo, Vignesh Kumar Singh, and Vivihoe.
(Photos by Hideto Maezawa and Debbie Y.)
Select Biographies
Ong Keng Sen
Ong Keng Sen, Artistic Director of T:>Works, has created many works that negotiate diverse traditional arts, queer expressions, documentary and archives of Asia with a wide range of contemporary artforms. His productions have toured the world, such as Trojan Women, created for the National Theatre Korea, which played at Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2022 and Edinburgh International Festival in 2023. He has also initiated and conceptualised various projects for curation and public engagement including the renewal of the Singapore International Festival of Arts (2013-2017), and Per°Form Open Academy (2023-2025) activating social urgences and knowledge production with global south artists. (Photo by Jeannie Ho)
Becca D'Bus
Becca D'Bus, Singapore's biggest drag queen, seen all over the world since she was created in Boston in 2005, is Eugene Tan, an artist interested in making meaning with entertainment, activism, garments, words and pleasure. Becca is the producer and host of RIOT!, Singapore's only regular drag revue, and an organiser and host of The Glory Hoes present, a queer film screening series at The Projector. Eugene has also been part of the organising committee of IndigNation, Singapore's pride season, and worked with multiple corporations on their Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity initiatives. (Photo by Debbie Y.)
Khairullah Rahim
The winner of the 2017 IMPART Awards for Visual Artist category, Khairullah Rahim is an internationally acclaimed artist working across mixed-media installation, object-making, painting, photography and moving image. His explorations delve into complex strategies of resourcefulness for everyday survival, through various means of collaboration and critical thinking. Recurring points of departure in his work premise around themes of queerness, desire, resistance, aspiration, labour and ethics of disclosure. His works are in the collection of Singapore Art Museum and SUNPRIDE Foundation. (Image courtesy of Figment)
Thomas Michael Allen
Lyric tenor, Thomas Michael Allen, has enjoyed an international singing career spanning the last two decades across Europe, America and Asia. His vast repertoire extends from the earliest operas of Monteverdi and Cavalli, through Mozart and Rossini, up to the works of contemporary composers like Phillip Glass and Hans Werner Henze. He has performed nearly every oratorio in the standard repertoire, and has dedicated himself to the art song repertoire, with two critically acclaimed solo CDs. Alongside his performing career, he is Assistant Professor of Voice and Opera at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. (Image courtesy of USC Thorton School of Music)
Toru Yamanaka
Born in Osaka, Japan, Toru Yamanaka is a music composer, producer, club DJ and organiser. Toru has collaborated with various artists around the world. From 1984 till 2000 he joined the Japanese performance group Dumb Type as a music composer and sound designer. Now he does live performances internationally, creating art with a strong relationship to the ever moving society. (Image courtesy of Toru Yamanaka)
Frequently Asked Questions
Rating
- R18
Photography / Video Recording Rules:
- Please note that photographs and videos of patrons may be taken at the event for use in our archival and publicity materials.
Collection of Registration Details:
- Your registration details including name and email address collected during registration may be recorded on our database for future marketing purposes. Please email [email protected] should you wish to be excluded from the database.
Refund Policy:
- All tickets are non-refundable.
Wheelchair Users:
- 72-13 is wheelchair-accessible and includes limited wheelchair seating. Please contact us at 6737 7213 to book wheelchair seats.
Contact Us:
- For any enquiries, email [email protected] or call at 6737 7213.