Dancers who dare: Yuvei, CY & Ginnie
“Who run the world?”
Welcome to the third instalment of our ‘Dancers who dare’ series! This time round, we spoke with three of our female graduates from our flagship “The Legacy Experience” (TLE) programme to learn more about them and their experience with us. We hope that their dance journeys inspire others to pursue this art form and encourage those who may be struggling in their own journeys.
About Them
First up, we have Yuvei! Starting with Classical Indian Dance at the tender age of 4, dancing has always been a huge part of her life. Possessing a deep appreciation for the Arts in general, Yuvei also spends her free time drawing digital portraits and crafting customised acrylic resin rings (check out @only_artsis on Instagram and grab yourself some exclusive pieces 😉). She’s recently picked up swimming as well, starting some mornings as early as 630am (no cap…) with some laps at the community pool.
Next up is CY, the youngest of our interviewees who, as she says is typical of Asian families, started her dance journey with Ballet.
Her current focus is on Breaking (she just recently got her first power move: the Windmill 💪🏻) after discovering her passion for it during her first genre course in TLE (more about that later). Her hobbies include creative work (drawing and design, outside of her schoolwork of course) and Netflix (certified hobby for SURE).
Last but not least we have Ginnie, a final year ADM student at NTU.
Similar to CY, she started her journey learning ballet for a few years (although she wishes she could forget that fact 😖) and started learning K-pop dances after stopping ballet. Apart from creative work, one of her biggest hobbies is ‘Bullet Journaling’, and sometimes singing too!
“What aspect of Dance do you love the most?”
Dance is Art
For Yuvei, Dance is Art.
Each unique movement blends together to form a piece of art, similar to music as songs are essentially a collection of notes and harmonies brought forth by the artiste’s vision. Her love for art spurs her on and pushes her to continue dancing even at times where she’s feeling burnt out and questioning why she should carry on with it.
Community
Through dance, Ginnie has gotten to know a lot more people and forged close bonds with fellow dancers. She also cherishes that out-of-body experience she gets when dancing, as she feels one with the movements and music.
“I feel like a superhero”
“That moment when you’re dancing, and you feel transported into a different time zone. When time just slows down and you’re moving so slowly on the inside, and then speeds up and accelerates. When the light is on you and you’re in a completely different world and oh my gosh I feel like a Superhero”.
It’s a magical moment for CY where she connects so much with herself, and it’s a precious moment between her and those around her that can’t be replicated anywhere else.
“What about TLE stood out to you the most?”
Yuvei
Being from NRA (New Revolving Age, a dance CCA in Ngee Ann Poly), she had already heard about the instructors at Legacy and thought that they were “super amazing”, in terms of their abilities in their own crafts. So having the opportunity to learn under them was a huge attraction.
She was also unhappy with her dance situation at the time and was convinced by her friend (who was a beginner) to give TLE a try since it allowed them both to sign up together at different levels.
CY
When she first started going to studios for open classes, it was a lonely experience, either going alone or with one other friend. Seeing people attending classes with a group of friends made her think “I want that too”, and she felt that TLE was the most prominent programme among all the studios to house dancers and groom them individually while providing a strong community. Till this day, when she looks back on her time at TLE, she realises that all the friends she has made from day 1 are still here with her, and she is not alone anymore.
Ginnie
Back in JC, Ginnie wanted to join a street dance CCA but because of her timetable, the teacher-in-charge rejected her due to a clash in timing which, as she pointed out, didn't make sense at all as she didn't have control over the timetable that was given to her (sigh…).
Her frustration fuelled the fire within her and made her want to train even more, and when she graduated from JC, her friend introduced her to TLE, a programme with weekly training sessions and a comprehensive structure that would allow her to consistently work and satisfy that desire to improve.
And speaking of structure ~
“How did having a structured programme and learning different genres impact your dance journey?”
Yuvei
“Since the programme is structured to fit your dance ability, people won't feel so pressured when dancing in a group with similar skill levels. For genre classes, a lot of people would want to do specific genres and don’t put a lot of consideration into exploring other genres like house and other under-appreciated styles. So I feel like ever since they started these genre courses, a lot of people are starting to appreciate these different styles.”
In her case, House was a specific genre that she unexpectedly had the most fun with (shoutout to Aju for introducing her to it and for all the practice!), and she’d never have known if she didn’t experience it during TLE.
It also helped to significantly improve her footwork which was never her strong suit.
“So I feel like the structure allows students to figure out which styles they really like, and I feel, as dancers, we should really explore all styles so we know which styles we personally love, and not just what is cool or what other people like”.
CY
“I can get very overwhelmed at times throughout my dance journey, especially when I don't have real time feedback on how I'm doing. With a structured programme, you know that your training is in control. You're not the one deciding your training so you can really trust your instructors to cater to you and you can always go back to them for advice on how to apply different moves and techniques in your own dance journey”.
Having a structured programme also helped her to focus on areas that she didn't realise were important, like missing pieces of the puzzle which her instructors (being professional dancers) were able to point out.
By following in their footsteps, it gave her a much more in-depth training experience compared to just observing everyone else (like an open class setting).
In terms of learning different genres, the first genre course she chose was Bboy because she’d always wanted to learn it (especially because there were cute guys Breaking in her church 😏) and have the ability to do power moves like Windmills and Flares.
“Being able to see Bboy as an option for the first time pushed me to just go for it. After completing that part of the course, I ended up joining the Breaking item in the Co-Exist recital. Then when I went to poly, I found a CCA dance group called ‘Mighty Nomads’ which did Bboy, and since I was already in TLE which is kind of like being in NRA, I decided to make the leap and joined that CCA and got more involved in that community till now”.
Ginnie
“Structure is really important. When training alone, people tend to get very lost cause there’s so many things to focus on. TLE helped us to stay focused on the important points and really build up our foundations which gave us the ability to pursue anything we wanted to in dance.
Being a structured programme, the instructors in TLE are able to monitor your progress closely and really get to know you. Even compared to attending open classes regularly, there's a huge difference when your instructors are specifically assigned to your class in TLE.
“Learning different genres also helped us to gain enough of a foundation to pick up things much faster. Like, in my MJ training in hall, if the teacher starts teaching house or in training, if people start doing a different genre, I can keep up because I have that little bit that I have learned to help me. I can also understand the genres more which helps me to better appreciate performances for different genres.”
“Any standout ‘community’ moments throughout the programme?”
Yuvei
“You can really experience it during recitals”.
A big part of TLE is allowing students to have an actual chance to perform on a stage and showcase all that they’ve learned during the recitals for each intake, and it’s usually during the preparations and rehearsals that students encounter their most memorable community moment.
For Yuvei, it was during the last show of the previous Co-Exist recital, when Japh (one of our other TLE graduates featured in our previous blogpost who was very reserved at that point in time) spoke some words to their group which affected her emotional core so much that she couldn't stop crying even during the dance because she was so touched.
“I was just dancing and smiling with tears coming down my eyes. Recitals are really the point where you can bond with people, because during classes everyone has their own goals but when it’s time to perform, everyone has a common goal, and you bond over it. As dancers, I feel like the main thing we want to do is perform for people.”
Ginnie
“Some of my most memorable moments were during both Co-Exist recitals I joined. The first one was in 2018 where the crew that formed became my core circle of friends in dance. Even though we have not been dancing together because we are all at different phases in life and pursuing different things in dance, I feel like at any point in time when we all meet, there's still that same sense of closeness.
It's really like I’ve found my family in dance.”
Even in the most recent Co-Exist, she felt awkward at first when rostered into Seb’s item because she wasn’t close to him and her CO-IC Elaine. Once practice began though, everyone quickly bonded together and began to identify themselves as a part of Seb’s group, and she felt extremely blessed to be dancing with all of them.
CY
Apart from the recitals, there are other milestones and events that set the stage for precious moments of community.
For CY, the “TryYourBest” freestyle battle started out as a source of stress, because it wasn’t an element she was very comfortable with, plus it was intimidating because they mixed in TLE students from different levels.
“For me specifically, I had people from A/B class and I remember I was the only D class there so I automatically became the leader of the team, even though I had never freestyled before. And I was also the youngest member in my team; the next oldest member was like six years older than me and I had to lead them. I really didn’t want to disappoint or fail to live up to expectations.”
However, it all started to change the moment she met the rest of her team during an open session at Legacy’s main studio. It started out pretty awkward, but she managed to break the ice and said “guys let’s just take it easy, not try to impress anyone and just do stupid things”. Panning across the room, you could see that her group was really doing the most stupid things and simply having fun.
Everything clicked, and in that moment she thought “wow this group is special”. It was an unlikely group that came together, but the chemistry matched perfectly and they all began going for open classes together, even supporting CY by joining her collab classes and opening her up to new friendships.
“What was your experience like at Trainee Crew?”
Yuvei
“It was a different experience compared to TLE. I feel like people would think it’s scary because the instructors are so good, but it was actually a very refreshing experience. I feel like if I had never joined TC, I would have been stagnant and unable to really push myself. The instructors were really friendly and supportive.
Whenever I made mistakes or didn’t understand anything, they really took the time to help me out. It also allowed me to better understand people in the main crew, elevating my relationship with each of them.
Overall, it was an experience I do not regret joining.”
CY
“The training we get is on a totally different level compared to TLE because you're dancing with your teachers and there's this undeniably strong energy that they give off.
It pushes you in different ways, and I think that dancing with them makes you really focused because you want to improve and do well, but at the same time it’s such a fun environment. Everyone is cheering and laughing and making jokes.
One stand-out moment I remember happened during a crew shoot, and it was the first project where the five of us in trainee crew joined in with the instructors. They gave me a solo Bboy segment which really stressed me out and I remember the floor was terrible (sandy) but I just told myself to go for it. Long story short, the routine I came up with couldn’t work in the end because the videographer had different ideas of how to shoot it, and I kept messing up my routine and having to do more takes while everyone else was killing it with their own segments.
Thankfully, there were other instructors with me telling me not to be so stressed out, and I remember Keegan was there too being like “you just need to change this one step and end at that freeze and you're good” So I went back in and managed to get it in one final take and there was this “Tiak” sound when it ended and I held that freeze like Keegan said and everyone just went “DAAAMMMNNN” and were all cheering and screaming and it felt just so blessed to be surrounded by those people. It's so different from anything I've ever experienced.
It's a very contagious energy and something that pushes you to work harder.”
Ginnie
“TC is really a space to explore, in the sense that when we go to training, we’re training with our teachers; with them and not from them. When training first started I felt the need to keep up and it was a big struggle because there were a lot of things I couldn't do and understand.
However, as I progressed through, I realised I had a lot of space to explore and understand myself and understand what I can and can't do. One highlight was getting opportunities to teach open classes ourselves, and really having the freedom to teach on our own, and having that strong community presence gave me the confidence and ability to do it.
Being in TC also helped me realise I am capable of so much more than I thought. There were a lot of iconic choreos that came out of my classes and when I watched the playback I’d be like “oh I can do this?” and it made me want to push further.”
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