One of My Likes : DANCING

Come to think of it, so damn ironical, how did i become a dancer?
I guess is really Mr Low Ee Chiang's credit.. He changed me totally, (from a boy grad from pri sch) to a teenager. He changed my perspective of Dancing totally...

Right till Today, i wouldn't dare to say i know Dancing... In fact, i dunno how to dance.. Till today i only know how to RESPECT A PERFORMANCE & put in my best effort for the performance tt's all.. My everything, Attention, Heart, Soul, Energy, Mind, Blood, Tears.... I believe a Performance (in this case dance, 4 e rest of this entry whatever i say refers to dance but actually applies to all performances, eg. Drama, Music, Singing, Visual Arts etc) has its own soul & life & emotions. It can feel ur sincerity towards it. Be it a choreograped dance, a playscript, a composed tune, a painting, even one of the things i enjoy doing - Chinese essay writing etc.

Simply Becos it can feel ur sincerity, the effect differs for everyone.. Precisely becos the sincerity is maybe not 'pure' , (is Pure a correct word to use? i hope it express my exact thots though) some ppl dance but cant touch the audience/ even fellow dancers on the same stage...
Tt i think is unprofessional... Professional is this case i dun mean the $$ u get, or the high level standard u show during the dance, i mean the discipline & purity of effort u put into the performance...

When i ended my NS trainee phase, i started going back to Mr Low D.I., n NHSS... when i 1st went back, i saw a few pieces of dance... I knew they werent serious when dancing so okie lah, i can dun bother abt the standard, but sometime later, one of the same dance was done by the juniors, when i saw it, it was really way below the lowest 'acceptable' standard... Back then, when i got to know Zhenyu, Sam, Kai Wei & fellow Shin-13 ppl, we decided to name to dance "Comedy"...

Come to think of it, so funny...
Funny is becos i cant cry/laugh (Ku Xiao Bu De)
Dunno is wanna laugh it off, as in juz treat them childish or should i really go scold them??
Actually, if given the benefit, i would choose to scold them, really.... I sincerely can feel how tt dance would feel, being 'danced' tt way, the comedy way...
It's so Disrespectful & Insulting... =(

Yes, a dance does not haf to be serious all the while, some dances r 4 pure entertainment, u haf to create laughter effect, if audience dun laugh, u r considered a failure, yup!!!
But what i wanna say is tt standard is really way below the lowest 'acceptable' standard.
Why? Becos wanting to create the laughter effect is oso a so-called serious thing to do, if u r serious in acting it out, PERFORMING to e best of ur ability, the dance can feel it, it will juz gel into ur actions & rhythm, creating the effect u want 4 e audience... Imagine a clown in the circus dun even respect his juggling items, can he bring laughter & entertainment to the audience? He not even respecting his own job as an entertainer....
Tt's really why i dunno wanna laugh/scold?

Okie lah, dun touch too much on this comedy issue liao, aft all its over...
Let's move on:

Why touch on Performance effort, Respect, Soul & Emotion of Dance?
Why i consider myself dunno how to dance?

Mr Low say b4, he last time go Indonesia/ Japan, there the ppl Ji Ben Gong not v good one, yet their dance can touch him, as in leave a lasting impression... He told me b4 got 1 whole dance abt 10 min in Japan, the dancer ever since music start nv move a bit at all, until end of 10 min...
This may sound stupid, but it left an impact in his mind.. Actually 10 min dun move at all is damn tiring lor, i dare say, more tiring than moving lor... The whole dance no motion, no action.... Only lighting colors & music gel together, can u imagine it? I can... truly a piece of Art i would say...
Being able not to move at all is also a technique in dance...

Plus Jeff Tan lah, showed me the KYTV production, wah lau the dance i oso stunned by it...
KYTV is a grp in Singapore doing theatre productions, something like Theatreworks & TNS..
Anyway, the dance is part of a drama in the entire production, only take up 3 min only..
The solo dancer doing it has no dance background, the impressive part is she keep doing the same dance steps for the entire 3 min... Wah Lau like robot like tt... Hey, is totally continuous hor, no stop in betw.. Only abt 2x8 of action, repeat 4 3 whole min leh... Can tahan ah? Impressive is tt her actions keep repeating but she doesnt seem tired, her hand/leg angles all v accurate & same as b4.. This is what i mean by professional.. The discipline & strictness, every single motion oso put in full effort, even repeated steps muz be totally same, juz like as if they were photocopied...
If some1 reading this still dunno what i saying, i explain explicitly...
She is behaving like a clock, so her hands & legs r as though minute & second hands, every single motion is so stirct & disciplined, she hits the same angle everytime... The 2x8 action repeats 4 3 min... Plus legs oso got action hor, legs oso hit same angle lor...
Impressive to u? Well, at least it impressed me greatly i would say...
KYTV is Kill Your Television... U may wish to check up on this grp, they r a bunch of frenz grad from La Salle & NAFA, came together start a small arts company, tt's all..

No dancers inside, all grad in Visual Arts, Audio Arts, Music Techinician etc but totally no dancer but yet impressed me...


Hence, a dance really has its own soul & emotions & life... It can feel ur sincerity.. Tt's y diff dancers dance e same dance can give out diff effect, it's not external factors, not tt the dance steps changed or wat, its INTERNAL.... If u dun haf a feeling for the dance, it wont haf a feeling 4 u too.... Heard tt NHSS 88th anniversary dancing Forging Ahead (editied Version), i wonder how it would be like? Haf not seen the dance yet....

As 4 myself, i dare say too, i long time nv feel 4 a dance liao, recently oso no new productions, how to feel?? The last time i feel for a production, as in really feel, not only serious (i always haf been serious in my performances, tt's the bare Min i do, above tt is then stirctness, feeling 4 e dance & understanding the dance) is last yr 2004 at Victoria Theatre.

The production on Kopitiam & Bottled up (Yun Niang)
Esp Yun Niang, so fortunate to be able to cooperate with more serious dancers like Ade & Yunyun, Wei Yun etc (They were really professional lor). Tt i think was really the last time i actually sat down, felt 4 the dance & understand it, talk to it...
Yun Niang is a modern dance abt bottling up feelings, the whole dance focuses on Suppression. Hence ur actions muz haf explosion effect (Bao Fa Li), Not juz pure energy, ur actions muz haf slow, motionless, Suppression den explosion...
2 Analogies: An arrow on a bow, pulled with full force but remain motionless 4 veri long, unreleased.... Eventually it's being released
A bottle of highly active chemical? (maybe potassium being put into H2O), but the cap was nv released, activity rate in the bottle is v high... eventually cap was released...

I crave for more productions ah.... Hopefully one day i can once again put in my 100%...
Waiting for dances to surface....

Okie lah, dun drag the entry,
End Here,
Continue as another entry next time...