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