23-Year-Old Uses Ancient Dance to Spark AI Awareness

When 23-year-old Elden Zachery takes the stage at *SCAPE this week, he'll be doing more than performing. He'll be using centuries-old Japanese butoh dance to spark conversations about our relationship with technology.

Zachery plays a techno-cult leader in his performance "Morningstar," using jerky movements and full white makeup to highlight growing concerns about artificial intelligence. His message is simple but powerful: we still have control over AI's future if we choose to use it.

"There's a lot of fear that AI is an inevitable and uncontrollable thing," said Zachery. "I want people to realize that we have the tools to rein it back in if we don't want that to be our future."

The young artist's journey to this moment began just three years ago when he discovered butoh through friends. Fresh out of Temasek Polytechnic with a fashion degree, he fell in love with the Japanese avant-garde dance form for its raw expressiveness and freedom from convention.

Now he's one of two artists selected for *SCAPE's Experimentation Ground Residency Programme, receiving $10,000 in funding and months of dedicated space to develop his work. The program specifically seeks artists under 35 who push boundaries with experimental forms.

Zachery choreographed the entire performance himself, rehearsing three to four hours twice weekly since October. He brought in fellow artists for stage and costume design, building a collaborative vision from the ground up.

Why This Inspires

What makes Zachery's story remarkable isn't just his artistic skill. It's his proof that young creators can bridge ancient traditions and cutting-edge concerns, making both more accessible to new audiences.

Festival director Charles Kang praised the work for its "bold and original exploration of how artificial intelligence shapes human belief, behavior, and identity." By supporting experimental artists like Zachery, *SCAPE is investing in fresh voices tackling today's toughest questions through unexpected mediums.

The performances run January 30 and 31 at *SCAPE Ground Theatre, part of the annual COMMA creative arts festival. For Zachery, it's the biggest platform of his career and validation that his unconventional path has merit.

"Doing this full-time is a dream of mine," he said. With this kind of innovative thinking, that dream looks increasingly possible.