Here's the preview of the Singapore Arts Festival 2012 that I saw today as part of the media preview. The festival official opens from 18 May - 2 June 2012.

This year, it's held at the Esplanade Park. The nearest MRT station is City Hall, just walk past the Padang and you can see the park.

The whole park has been converted into Festive Village. All the performances at the Festive Village are free. Don't confuse them with the ticketed performances at the Esplanade during the festival.

We were given a few short previews of the performances the public can expect. The first one is called XII - In Search of 13. It's about searching for the next icon or personality that best represents Singapore. Shown above is Mr Merlion in the boxing ring ready to take on any contenders.

The contender here is the Hungry Ghost Festival. Then they proceed to fight it out. The performance is quite funny. These are professional actors who are really good in their roles.

For parents, there's a small Kids Arts Village within the Festive Village. You can find many activities for kids in the different cabins. There are also kid performances, such as singing which we saw, and other games.

Here are some even smaller kids singing.

The crowd was going "Oh, so cute!", "So cute" non-stop. Mostly parents actually.

There is a woman sitting on a horse sitting on a big chair.

Next is an unique performance is called Flux. It's a slow dance of two centaurs, basically a man and woman wearing black on their horses. By slow dance, I mean moving of just the upper bodies since it's quite hard to dance with the horses. I'm amazed that the horses are quite cooperative when signaled to stand and lay down.

This performance runs on limited days from 18 - 23 May, starting at 8pm. Don't miss it. It happens on the platform right beside the Festive Cafe.

This is another dance which is more action-packed. It's called the Bridge Cafe Project and you can watch it inside the comfort of the air-conditioned Festive Cafe. It starts from 6.30pm to 9.30pm.

It's a short dance segment by Oyaji and youth. Oyaji is Japanese for “uncle”.

It's pretty entertaining to watch. By the way, the cafe does serve actual drinks.

These are just a small selection of performances available. The full program list is available at the website of Singapore Arts Festival.

Don't miss out the fun. There are activities for young and old.

More photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/teohyc/sets/72157629759695058/detail/