Like the Naked Librarian, I am a fan of our museums. They are so incredibly innovative and creative with their outreach programmes. I can only take my hat off to the museum staff for their sophisticated, insightful and thoughtful approach in curating the programmes.

Last weekend, as part of the inaugural Night Festival, the sky outside the National Museum literally danced with graceful ballerinas, twirling acrobats, giant painted balloons and a large floating ship. The aerial dance called “The Dancing Sky” was performed by Studio Festi, an Italian group famed for its outdoor theatrical performances and their creative use of light. One of the most eye-popping segments was that of a piano suspended 9 metres above the ground with the pianist playing away with an acrobat doing stunning acrobats tethered to 2 large cranes on either ends of the museum. It was a truly surreal sight and I could hear the gasps of astonishment and surprise from the audience gathered at the museum grounds and across the road at the SMU campus. A friend of mine who was with me commented that the performance would have been pretty spectacular with the piazzas as the background in Italy. Well, I think our National Museum has a beautiful neo-classical type of façade and the dances of the angels blend well with the building too.

If you weren’t at the museum last weekend, you’d have missed your chances of the aerial dance performances. The good thing is National Museum has a host of other exciting programmes this coming weekend. Local party powerhouse Zouk will present The Beatnik Picnic, a sprawling party that will run from 6.30pm till 2am in the museum grounds. There is also a 100-man street percussion performance as well as the night bazaar featuring flea-market stalls, traditional game kiosks and food stalls.

The main highlight will be a light installation by an Australian arts group who will transform the National Museum and the Singapore Art Museum into colourful spectacles.

Will I be there? You bet.