2017 — A year of exploration (Part 1)
Back from Japan! Totally amazing experience that I can’t put into words.. My first time there and I practically got mind-blown, even when I missed out a number of things in the itinerary.
Following what everybody does, I’m gonna take some time to reflect on my milestones this year, focusing more on my learning points/thoughts throughout these events and also to cover what I did during the trips :D
Milestones
- Sending EV Schools for Singapore Youth Festival
- Trip to Taiwan
- Singapore Dance Delight 2017 — Farcross house competition piece
- House dance sharing
- Alphacamp Web Development Bootcamp
- Danzation 2017
- Trip to Tokyo, Japan
Dance, Dance, Dance!
The first half of the year was pretty much dedicated to my dance life. As I started 2017, I had left my previous job as a Project Manager (PM) in an IT Start-up and joined EV Full-Time. It was months of teaching dance to students, and it got even more intense as we approached SYF, where schools would showcase their dance piece like a competition.
Multi-tasking with different schools was a challenging feat and I don’t know how any instructor can ever cope with 3 or more schools, because 2 was pretty much reaching the limit for me. The preparation process and additional training sessions drained my brain juices like a running tap.
But it was such an enjoyable process with #teamEV 😃 Having a team that pushes, supports and have fun with one another really creates special memories..
Then came my trip to Taiwan! It was mainly a dance trip with dance friends, and what brought us there was this event called Ocean Battle Session (OBS). After watching videos of their 10th anniversary last year, we just couldn’t resist… and so we went.
Taiwan is like an appetizer to the Japan experience, cold weather, great food, awesome culture and endless stuff to shop! For my very Singaporean soul who never really traveled much, this dance trip was damn dope and eye-opening!
Some places we covered:
We spent 2/3 of the trip exploring, shopping and experiencing different places, 1/3 was dedicated to the OBS event. Their 3 days of dance was super impressive to us who were practically noobs in dance events…
- 1st night — Waacking & House prelims. Cypher and audition was great but I didn’t get in — it was pretty nerve wrecking 😆
Watch my round here: https://youtu.be/sAGUIyRQnZY?t=18m21s - 2nd night — Prelims for Locking, Popping and Hip Hop categories. Funkstyle in Taiwan is so big that their auditions alone had around a hundred people.. compared to just 40~50 for House!
- 3rd night — Top 30 Rounds, Judge showcases and cypher time! Probably my favourite because I got to house around the entire dancefloor and dance with everyone — best moment was a house circle with everyone just partying together. Pretty awesome.
Easily my favourite battle (spot me inside getting hyped!):
Step one #TeamSingapore HAHA!
All in all, I came back from the trip with awesome memories, dope new clothes, and a satisfied tummy…But what’s most memorable is the event vibe and us having fun together. There’s just so much fun things to do when you travel with friends haha! Next time I head back to Taiwan, definitely gonna go experience Kaoh Siung and join Max Party (another dance event)
Then came Singapore Dance Delight, one of the biggest competitions both locally and internationally! Winners would represent Singapore in the finals in Japan! What an opportunity right!
I’m lucky enough to have joined this 3 times so far — each getting into finals with my teams.
Volume 4 & 5 — All Out Crew (Urban)
Volume 6 — Juxtapose (Waacking)
But for SDD Volume 7 this year, sadly, we didn’t get through to finals :( but the support & happy reviews (from seeing a house piece in this competition) from our friends really made everything worth it — we enjoyed the journey! It’s so rare to have someone to compete with (in House Dance) so I’m really thankful for that.
Check it out here:
Hope to see more of other local house dancers doing their thing on stage, in the clubs or just anywhere with music…more events maybe :)?
While we’re talking about House Dance, I’m just glad I got the opportunity to share
1. House Courses w/ EV Dance
2. House lessons w/ NRA
3. House workshop w/ SMU
4. House sessions w/ all of my dance friends!
It’s not a lot, but I guess I just need to grow from here! Looking forward to more opportunities in 2018 😁
To Be Continued on Part 2!
Thanks for Reading! I’m Kelvin, I code, I dance, and I eat. Find out more or contact me at kedanco.com
