Led by dance artists Faye Lim and Bernice Lee, Rolypoly Family dance projects and programmes support the artistic, creative and social-emotional learning of young children and their families. We are a team of dance artists brought together by our intuitive and responsive movement practices and our dedication to children’s creative genius.
We bring dance performances, workshops, exhibitions and other experiences to diverse children and families.We partner groups and organisations across Singapore, such as community groups, social service organisations, arts groups and institutions, and government agencies.
As performing and teaching artists, we bring to our programmes our expertise in facilitation, training in pedagogy, and of course, experience in and passion for dance, movement improvisation and performance.
Our name is a statement of our beliefs – that families come in all shapes and sizes, that kinship can grow through creative and physical play (yes, rolling!), and that rhyming is as fun in language as in dance. Rolypoly Family is a division of Derring-Do Dance.
More About Us:
– Read about how we got started here
– Join our Mailing List here
– Read past Newsletters here
Faye Lim
Director
Her work history is multi-faceted, including collaborative performance-making (with Strangeweather Movement Group among others), teaching children and youth, developing community arts research and capacity building with the National Arts Council (a public arts agency) and advocating for and facilitating impact measurement in the non-profit sector with Just Cause Asia.
Prior to her work in Singapore, she performed and taught in New York City. Faye holds an M.F.A in Dance and Choreography from New York University and a B.A. in World Arts and Cultures from University of California, Los Angeles.
Bernice works and plays as a dance artist. She performs, creates, improvises, directs, facilitates, educates, writes, and discovers expanded roles for making and sharing dance. Her journey with Rolypoly Family began with going to contact improvisation jams, improvising play with nieces and nephews, and dancing with Faye pre- and post-pregnancy.
Bernice’s professional life has brought her dancing around the world, performing in hard-to-reach villages, big cities, quiet towns, grand theatres, gallery halls, and sweltering black boxes. Everywhere she went, and for every population, age group and ability, it was the desire for human connection and sharing a creative space that mattered most.
She takes great pleasure in nurturing and watching the creative impulse grow, and believes in discovering it in every person.
Bernice holds a BFA in dance from The Ohio State University (2010).
Bernice Lee
Director
ASSOCIATES
Felicia Lim
Felicia is a dance artist whose interest and inspiration lie in improvisation and contact improvisation. She enjoys connecting with herself, with others, and with the environment through movement and the physical body.
Felicia holds a BFA in dance from Purchase College, State University of New York (SUNY), and a Diploma in Dance from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA). She also has a 200-Hour Vinyasa Teacher Training certificate from Samyak Yoga.
Neo Jialing
Neo Jialing is, among many things, an artist, maker, poet, dancer and potato, with a B.A. in Dance from LASALLE College of the Arts. Her works are centred in somatic, lived experiences, wherefrom she strives to create and share safe spaces, transcending atypical notions of dance whether through spoken text or as a moving body. An active educator and creator for young audiences, Jialing helps with the facilitation of programmes and performs on a project-basis, predominantly for Derring-Do Dance along with their Rolypoly Family wing and The Kueh Tutus. Visit neojialing.carrd.co for more about her.
Sarah Oh
Sarah attained a BA(HONS) in Dance at LASALLE College of the Arts where she focused on pedagogy for her professional placement under Leia Ang. Sarah was an invaluable group leader and teaching assistant for the Dance Talent Development Programme 2016, supporting 15-year- olds in their pursuit of dance.
Her open and compassionate personality has led her to step out of her comfort zone to improve and never stop discovering and questioning. With a strong interest in pedagogy and the art of teaching dance to teenagers, along with her skills learnt from her Diploma in International Business, Sarah hopes to
start a dance school in the future.
Sonia Kwek
Sonia performs, makes and facilitates experiences through varying artistic mediums. Her practice is rooted in working with the body and performance, through using lived experience and sharing with others to make connections and discover new perspectives. Sonia works with children, youths and communities as she believes in using art, movement and play as a way to empower growth and open up conversations. As a facilitator and educator, Sonia strives to cultivate children’s imagination, confidence and resilience in creative expression. Sonia is a graduate of the Intercultural Theatre Institute, with a Diploma in Intercultural Theatre (Acting). Sonia also holds a Bachelor of Creative Industries (Drama) with Distinction from Queensland University of Technology.
Cheryl Ong
As a movement artist, Ong Cheryl enjoys somatic practices, real-time composition and improvisation. Wild nature and sharing with people ground her work.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Contemporary Dance from La Manufacture (Lausanne, Switzerland), she is eager to find and build spaces for personal and collective creativity. Body Stories is a community project and life movement initiated by her since January 2021 to share the power of movement with people from different walks of life, in nature and across the Singapore island. It is currently reaching out into other spaces, like Hopscotch Student Care at Common Ground, Bedok.
Connecting with our wilderness through moving in the landscape of the here and now. She also loves playing in the water, making food for the people she loves, and more recently, doing nothing.