Thoughts aft viewing SAJC Rapture '05The day is 24 July, i juz went to Kallang Theatre to view SAJC Rapture'05. On the whole, i seriously learnt alot... Though these things i already know but when i see it 4 myself in real life, it still has an impact. N/B: Daryl's cousin is in rapture as well, as part of SAJC dance alumni, since she's 2 yrs younger than me. She's oso a NH Dancer & SAJC Dancer, ie. she walked thru rather similar steps with me in Dance, juz tt Zaki only came in as instructor when i was JC2.
Yesterday, had a talk with her, & on top of it, i watched Rapture, which made me had thoughts abt 'Dance' again.. Basically, She compared Zaki & Mr Low together, NHDS & SAJC Dance respectively. I told her it was unfair 2 compare these 2 becos the mechanisms in both schools r different. In NHDS, students who join r mostly unwilling.. Next, out of all those students, at most a 20% has exp in dancing. Out of the 100+ students in NHDS, maybe eventually only 20% will wanna learn how to choreograph a dance. Hence, the mechanism tt Mr Low puts in is: To transform a non-dancer into a performer (it's not even a dancer, juz a performer, a person who has exp standing on stage, know what is stage presentation etc.) Amidst this, he inputs values into the minds of students, making them mature etc.
In SAJC Dance, as the members r all willing parties + ppl with dance exp + ppl with high level of technique & passion*, they r usually easier to teach/control, easier to absorb dance steps, easier to choreograph a high-difficulty dance for them. Becos they will try their v best to learn, the choreographer can input his 'ideal' choreography w/o worries tt dancers cannot perform e steps eventually.. So out of 40 dancers in SAJC, maybe abt 80% were already dancers back in sec sch dayz. Hence, the mechanism in SAJC Dance is: to transform a dancer into a better dancer. In other words, emphasizes on elitism. This mechanism interests many dancers cos dancers would love to enhance their skills.
Hence, the mechanisms r diff, i told her, it was unfair to compare. Mr Low was not there to train elites. He was there to arouse teenagers' interests in Dance & performing Arts.
Apart from this conversation with her, i had new perspectives when i viewed Rapture '05.
Earlier i mentioned passion* becos these qtn came to my mind: What is a good dance? What is a good dancer? Why Dance? What do u get out of dancing? What is passion?
Well, unarguably, the dancers in SAJC were better than NHDS those ppl but it's becos of selection of dancers were diff. SAJC Dance consists of dancers who were already dancers in sec sch, & participated SYF before etc. So, its no surprise.
My thoughts:
1stly, haf to ans what do e performers & choreographer wish to get out of e dance? This will directly affect the answers to rest of e qtn. If e choreographer wishes to put up a perf juz for his dancers to gain exp, den of course e standard expected is diff. If e dancers juz wanna build bonds & friendship via e dance, den it is oso diff. As compared to: e choreographer wants a 'ideal' standard, eliminates his choice of dancers via auditions, dancers vie for the limited vacancies & train v hard, then e standard expected will be v diff from e 1st case.
2ndly, what is passion? All along i thot passion was passion for dance, yesterday i was proved wrong... Passion oso got differentiation. Passion for learning dance itself (eg. Shi Jian ppl learning Mr Low's things, juz pure like for e learning), passion for performing (regardless drama or whatever, like DI with Shi Jian currently), Passion for attention seeking (eg. dun care like e piece of dance or not, as long as can stand in the front-centre can liao, oso can term as seeking for applause). Passion for being able to knock out others in auditions and remain e elite (though i think this is obsession =p)
These differences in ans to e above qtn will emerge diff kinds of dancers in this world.. The elites, the medicore, the not so good but still enthu ones... My answers to my v own qtn r: I belong to the third cateogory, I hope to learn NEW things out of a dance & i really mean NEW. I haf passion for learning e dance steps itself, (its okie eventually dun get to perform, i mean i learnt quite a few types of Quan Shu in Wushu but i nv get e chance to display them anyway), I haf passion for performing (regardless with Shi Jian drama or with Vierte Gekijio)...
My opinion is tt applause is given depending on who is the audience... Whether the dance/ dancer is good or not depends on who is ur audience & their individual likes too.. If e dancer above is ur child, & e audience r full of parents, applause will definitely be great, their appraisal of e dance will definitely be different... After yesterday, as always AGAIN, i lost track of myself, i dunno what is a good dance/ dancer liao... Sigh, lost again...
Yesterday, some dances put up by SAJC belong to e Entertainment sphere, some belong to Artistic sphere... Apparently, so many clapped when the E-pieces were put up, n when A-pieces were put up, the volume of applause dropped significantly... Their own students put up an item , claiming it to be a Hip-Hop Dance & many cheered.. Honestly, i ponder: the applause was given becos e music used was one tt audience were familiar (eg. Destiny Child), or was it becos of e dance itself or becos ur frenz r dancing in it? I seriously dunno cos when their guest performers (3 grps: NUS Dance Ensemble, VJC Dance Club & an outside breakdance troupe called Floor Technique grp) put up performences, the standard was quite good but the vol of applause dropped significantly...
Esp the Floor technique group.. Wah lau, since they cheered so loud for their SAJC Hip-Hop dance, i initially thot they were into Hip-Hop. But when FTG performed, they did quite alot of high-level difficulty stunts(both breakdance & Hip-hop) which in my opinion were more high level, yet nobody cheered.. End up only me, Zhenyu & Daryl cheer, as if only we knew the difficulty level of those stunts performed... Pls lor, i really ponder: Does applause really represent e standard of e dance?
After yesterday, i got lost again, as always....
How to differentiate a dance/ dancer? Why do some ppl dance?
All tt was mentioned above r all my personal opinions, making them ineligible for negligent misstatements & defamation..
Mind in Chaos
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