U.N.I 2011 - Choreography evaluation & Self-Reflection (PART II)

Now let's move on to PartII. Internal evaluation of the whole exp in U.N.I.
Honestly, wat m i doing all these for? Yes, i know e ans but then e issue is here. Who's there to receive wat I wish to give out? Sometimes its just 吃力不讨好.

Your Wedding is an item to my liking. But with it, it also brought abt some issues. Duh, =.= whats new? Which performing item didnt give me issue anw? Now I really gotta re-emphasize again, How much I really 敬佩 Lao Shi.

Its easy for certain ppl to come up with items n just talk cock all the while, n leech into ppl's productions. But honestly, having done AHA since 2007 till now n U.N.I 2011, I learnt tt having a BLAST in a concert ain't the most successful story. The MOST DIFF thing is CONTINUITY & SUSTAINABILITY. Link this to Soccer. Chelsea had some good seasons, but the one tt really sustained is Man U. N in this aspect, Im like Mgr of Arsenal, I always look out for unpolished diamonds, try to bring them in n groom them, but honestly I may not (may only, not definitely not) match up to those ppl who bring in established dancers into their items. Im happy with what Im doing, I like seeing ppl grown & improve. Tt's really a purpose in Life n more meaning in the item rather than just *COUGHING up an item to present.

Mr Low, my Lao Shi has sustained his SYF awards for the past 20 yrs n its how he managed to groom the students. Many students of the established schs may be MUCH better than his students, but truth be told, most of them gave up dancing later part of their life / they just cluster into a small cluster.

IMO, If u r a chef, n u r given v v v good ingredients to start with, it doesn't deserve as much applause as e chef who is given medicore ingredients yet able to whip up a dish tt's as good as yours.

At the end of the day, Its the CONTINUITY & SUSTAINABILITY tt really determines. Its a reminder to me, nv be contented with just a BLAST in 1 concert, showing tt I can sustain in the LR is definitely more impt. 虚怀若谷


I didnt comment on my own Choreo for the whole of this post is becos, I dun really know how to start. I dun really know HOW well I could haf re-coooked the dish to make it better given the ingredients I haf. I believed in terms of optimising the ingredients, Lao Shi would have done a better job than me.

Now the qtn lies: Did my Dancers LEARN things from me? Did they improve? Similarly to as a Choreographer, my work is subjected to the comments / decision by audience, My role as an Instructor is also subjected to the decision by my dancers, only they will know whether they learnt anything or not.... Im not in e position to comment....

At the end of this item, instead of the usual critiques, I only wish to thank my dancers/ Actors; its becos of u all, tt's y I cld stage this item... To me, being able to stage this item is then the most impt fruit I have reaped in this whole exp. THANK U V MUCH, MICHELLE TAN. Girl, your acceptance of the role as Female lead really meant alot to me (otherwise I wld haf to re-choreo everything with an imaginery fig).... So did the Ring.... =)

Your Wedding 你的婚礼
Dedicated to you...
On your Wedding Day...
You moved on, and I'm still Waiting...

Ever wonder what it feels like when u have to attend a wedding as the best man n even play the Wedding March for e couple when the one getting married is e Love of ur Life?

See you in your Wedding Dress......

U.N.I 2011 - Choreography evaluation & Self-Reflection (PART I)

Time is June 2011. I ended the journey with U.N.I 2011, choreo-ed a piece tt I really wanted to express. Your Wedding, 你的婚礼. The synopsis is as follows: Dedicated to you... On your Wedding day... You moved on, and I'm still Waiting....

This Choreo experience with this new batch of students didnt turn out as wat i expected. Some things were missing n of cos I was faced with disappointment. But wat can i do? I know e concert is not their priority, but yet sch performances is. So its quite a bit diaozz.... =( Outside events shld be more fun than sch perf? I rembr when I was a student, It was so fun doing outside perf, cos back then it meant ----> U were good enough to be presented OUTSIDE, n not just in SCH to (ur frenz) a Safe & Comfortable audience.

Anw, Your Wedding, this item consisted of an acting segment with Sam & Michelle, a Lyrical Contem (The Face), a Solo part (Without You - X Japan), an acting segment Sam & Michelle, wrapped up with a Lyrical Hip Hop (Wedding Dress). Thats the full structure of my piece in U.N.I 2011.
(Performers: Sam, Michelle, Vanessa, Siqi, Misa, Yoke Kay, Si Ning, Sin Zhi, Eugene, Xuan Hao, Myself)

Choreo-wise, this was the 1st time I presented something I wanted. Perhaps in terms of dance steps, I simplified a little due to the customization for e dancers, but in terms of idea, it was exactly what I wanna do. So this time rd, I shall not comment on my own Choreo. Instead, I will drop some comments tt r given to me by Audience.

(N/B: There r always 2 schs of thots.
1) Jeff Chen once taught me: 你做你自己要做的东西，不要管观众的意见。观众是今天会把你捧上天，明天会把你摔下来的.
2) Last yr when Cloud Gate Dance Theatre was in SG, During the post-perf talk, 云门舞集 - 林怀民 said of their item: Wind Shadows is a new work, n he himself as e Artistic Director cld not know wat Audience's response is as this work Defers from the usual works of Cloud Gate. He said: U r the Audience, U be the judge & decide whether we did a good job or not. If its not, It means we Failed for this proj.)

This means even Cloud Gate is v mindful of the audience's comments, & accepts e audience's response when tt they r demned to haf failed. As for Jeff's idealogy, he disregards what the audience thinks at all, even if audienceship is cui, he oso bo chap... These r the 2 schs of thots.

COMMENTS / REACTIONS
1) Night 1 : So sad.... =p (This audience commented at my ending when I dropped the ring & Michelle walked away in darkness, I felt so happy, knowing tt they think its sad.... Haha)
2) Night 2: OMG! Your item is so Tragic...
3) The WD routine is damn hard leh...
4) Wah the WD routine how to do one? Tt part, the hands hands one (refering to e precision part) So fast?
5) When WD music came on, Audience started to talk among themselves n anticipated e MTV dance. (Nv did they expect a faster / more complicated dance.. =p)
6) Crazy dance, squeezed so many things in 2 min, (quoted by a fellow dancer) =)
7) Ur dance item itself is worth the Ticket px liao
8) Can see that ur item dancers r more Disciplined n professional
9) Ur item & 童趣 r the only items that is understandable
10) 'The WD choreo was the best choreo she ever saw....' =)
11) U chose the correct Female Lead, she's so pretty..... So pretty that my dance steps not impt liao.... -.- Hahahaah
12) Ur Female lead is so Pretty, u chose the Correct Person, It beautifies the entire storyline...
13) Congrats on last night's wonderful performance. Could see Liu Lao Shi's shadow in many of the students' choreography. Yours dont really see any, rather original
14) The WD dance Beats were COOL... (IKR, otherwise why wld i choose tt song? LOL)
15) Hey, didnt know tt U can choreo Modern Dance piece, thot u Hip hop all along... -.- IKR
16) Impressive dance, Very COOL.....

How come Audiences always like to use the Word - COOL ??

Harsher Comments/ Learning pts:
1) Ur item a little shallow, v much in the face to tell the audience.
2) Ur item a little empty, could fill in more movement language, no ups & downs (not enough) in the whole emotional ride.
3) Candles can be put to better usage

U.N.I 2011 - Production evaluation

Time is June 2011. U.N.I 2011 has just ended on 10 & 12 Jun 2011 at PA Black Box Studio, with a total audienceship of 240 pax, rather close to my estimation. With a total working crew (includ dancers) of abt 50 pax, i wonder if the production can be considered a success.

The interesting issue here is, Ever since I was "unplugged" by Jeff Chen back in 2004/05, I nv go to Sch productions anymore. On 30 May, I decided to go for 1 with Vanessa n it was an interesting night for us. Both of us agreed that "Heng ah, Lucky we came to watch a production tt is so near our own date of perf, so tt we can really experience e grd n abosrb alot alot more learning points w/o banging the wall....". =p

So, based on the audienceship of say 1000 pax, a working committe crew of 40 pax, plus 3 CCAs worth of dancers, I sincerely wonder which Project yielded a better return in terms of working capital investment. Comparing both projects, which one wld haf given a better yield?

It wld deinitely been better for DI to stage 3 shows instead of 2. If it staged all the way from Fri-Sun, I believed this proj wld be a better yield in terms of working capital return.

This Journey was definitely a tiring one. I pushed for it to go thru, w/o the cooperation of many; There r some leeches always hindering e progress of e project. Somehow, these ppl really dun understand. They behave like leech n just wanna hop on the bandwidth of the project n yet nv contribute. =( Sianz...

Im personally a little glad tt this proj pulled thru n I think there r some success points in this whole proj.
1) We injected new energy into the Space in Obox. Previously no one wld take it as a performing space, but we r now the precedent who energized the space.
2) We knew our limits, strengths, weaknesses; We targeted a reasonable amt of audience of the correct audience grp
3) We re-introduced the Idea of U.N.I to the new batch of young ppl. Hopefully it will spark off more proj & interests in e future
4) We completed the proj Fast & Furious (within 4 mths), w/o all the procrastination

Well, Wat im really displeased abt this proj wld be the audienceship honestly. Ideally, I would hope in future, we can charge up a total audienceship of 450-500 pax over 3 shows.

As for the unhappy parts during this proj in DI, I guess it cant really be changed since the working culture there is lidat n there's ppl always there to disrupt the working process flow, guess I can only face it n yet complain abt it every single proj lor. Perhaps till the leeches disappear ba... Shan't chock up this entry with more unhappy stuff...

Next up; U.N.I 2011 - Choreography evaluation =)