Against the backdrop of Singapore’s rapidly ageing population, a new classical Indian dance production brings the personal realities of dementia and caregiving into the spotlight.
Titled Unsaid, the production took place at the Agam Theatre Lab on Oct 3 and 4 utilising the traditional art form of Bharatanatyam to foster difficult conversations about memory loss within the Indian community.
The 75-minute performance is the brainchild of Ms Anuja Varaprasad, a medical speech therapist and veteran Bharatanatyam practitioner with over 30 years of experience.
The narrative explores the shifting relationship between an elderly woman diagnosed with dementia and her granddaughter caregiver as the condition progresses.
Unsaid brings together artistres from two of Singapore’s most established Indian classical arts institutions: the Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society (SIFAS) and the Temple of Fine Arts (TFA).
Ms Anuja performs alongside Ms Lakshmi Krishnan, a senior dancer and teacher at TFA, while the production also features a special guest appearance by Ms Lindi Zha from the Tang Renaissance.
To complement the emotional depth of the choreography, Chennai-based composer Charu Hariharan developed an original soundscape. The music uniquely blends traditional vocal and instrumental tracks with non-conventional instruments, including the cello, clarinet, oud, and sarangi.
Ms Anuja told tabla! that she drew inspiration from her professional clinical experience working with dementia patients, as well as losing her grandmother to Alzheimer’s disease.
“I have experienced firsthand the impact of the disease on both the person diagnosed and their loved ones. My aim was to use art as a medium to tell these unsaid stories, raise awareness of dementia and encourage conversations about an experience shared by many families,” she said.
The concept for the production was initially conceived in 2017 during her work with geriatric patients at a restructured hospital, before being revisited in mid-2025 and brought to life this year.
The artistic direction and choreography were helmed by Chennai-based practitioner Shyamjith Kiran, a former SIFAS faculty member known for his original thematic works.
Beyond the stage, Unsaid serves as the centerpiece for Unsaid Stories, a broader dementia advocacy movement running from August to October 2026. The wider campaign includes movement and wellness workshops for patients and caregivers, as well as a screening of an anthology of local short films titled A Singapore Dementia Story, organised in partnership with Dementia Singapore.
MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC Cai Yinzhou, who watched the performance, recalled his time as a centre manager at a dementia daycare, facing the struggles and emotions of each family.
In an Instagram post on Oct 4, he wrote: “No two of their stories were alike, yet each asked the same quiet, enormous thing of them, to keep holding space for someone they loved as that person slowly changed. Some days that looked like patience. Some days it looked like grief. Often both at once.
“That is what Anuja Varaprasad captured on stage. An economist turned speech therapist, beneath it the heart of a granddaughter who loved a grandmother with Alzheimer’s. Using one of our oldest art forms to present emotions what clinical language and official diagnoses never quite can.”
