What do you enjoy most about 2016’s performance season?
I don’t think there is a “most” that I enjoy about 2016’s performance season. I enjoyed the challenge that every role brings and I enjoyed the fact that I could be dancing on stage for an audience.
What is your most memorable performance in your life?
I find it difficult to pick just one, but a performance that is very precious to me was the first time I performed on stage. It was in 2000 when I first danced with SDT in its production of Coppélia. I was cast to dance as a little boy, and that was also the first production I performed on stage with my mother.
What do you think is the most beautiful aspect of ballet?
To me, what is so beautiful about ballet is that it is made up of many different aspects altogether. It can be full of passion and is incredibly powerful, but at the same time it can be very graceful and elegant. Dance is a very physical art form, but more than that, it is also full of soul and spirit.
What motivates you to keep dancing?
Knowing that there are places that I haven’t been and achieved with my body, and that there’s so much more than what I have achieved motivates me to keep dancing.
How has dance changed your life?
I have been dancing since I was young, so it has been a big part of my life. Over all these years, dance has taught me the meaning of many things – what is discipline, what is hard work and dedication, what it means to let go, how to work as a team, how something powerful can also be so beautiful, and many more.
Favourite costume, choreography, dancer?
Favourite costume: Wow, it is hard to pick a favourite. But to name a few, it will be Incomparable Beauty by Ma Cong, Serenade by George Balanchine, Organ Concerto by Nils Christe, and Lambarena by Val Caniparoli.
Favourite Choreography: Again it is hard to pick a favourite, but I enjoyed working with Ma Cong and dancing his movements. I enjoyed Blue Snow by Toru Shimazaki, and I love dancing Serenade by George Balanchine.
What do you enjoy most about class/rehearsals?
This may sound a little fundamental, but I really love the feeling of starting class with pliés and tendus. I like feeling my muscles warm up and start to work – just using my feet in every tendu, really massaging the floor. I enjoy improving my craft every day; truth be told, some days are harder than others, and sometimes it can get frustrating, but that is just part of life.
I also enjoy working with choreographers and seeing how the piece comes together, to see how every joint supplies; how in every rehearsal, little things are being pieced together to make a masterpiece.
What is your greatest fulfilment in being a dancer?
I think my biggest fulfilment is being able to share part of my heart with the audience, and to be able to touch the audience’s heart and soul through movement.
Interesting fact about yourself?
I can’t cycle!
Biggest dream or desire? (Travel, where? Things to do, what? People to meet, who?)
I would love to travel the world. I believe when we travel, we see more things, our perspective gets wider and changes, we understand more; we grow as a person. I wouldn’t say this is my biggest dream or desire but I would like to live life to the fullest, to have an impact to the people around me, to be a bright light to people.
