This is a way overdue post which sat in my drafts since…>.>
I’ve been so extremely busy but I’ll chitchat later.
On to the post(:

What is the world without music?
We are exposed to music everywhere we go and I simply cannot fathom a world without music.
Dance goes hand in hand with music and it is the music that tells you when to move. So basically, dance is visualizing the music in you.

Yfest 2012

As I am part of the ‘budding photographer’ program by Esplanade, I had the opportunity to cover Yfest.
Yfest is basically a youth dance festival and one of the highlights include the Sixteen Dance Challenge in which handpicked selected dancers will get to work with internationally acclaimed dance choreographers Poppin J (Korea), Kyogo Tsutsui (Japan), Kumari Suraj (USA) and Locking Khan (Korea) to form 4 dance crews. These dance crews then work with the choreographers for 4 days to learn the routines and it culminates to a performance at Yfest.

Besides the Sixteen Dance Challenge, there are music performances, other hip-hop performances and B-boy battles!
Since I’m part of the program, I more or less have an all-access pass to shoot the rehearsals, masterclasses and performances.

On to the images!

Yfest Auditions

Kumari! One of the choreographers from USA.

No matter what happens, just keep dancing. WERK PEOPLE.

I have so much respect and admiration for Kumari. Despite her difficult childhood/ life, she found her voice in dance and is an absolutely inspiring teacher of both dance and life. I am a huge fan of hers and am so glad I had the opportunity to meet her.

Poppin J’s masterclass

While the Kids are Surreal

And who would have thought that my cousin dances(: It was just some years ago that I was taller than him and now he’s all grown up and dancing away(: Proud.

Dance for the Deaf

The B-Boy battle was really fun, mostly challenging to shoot, border lining to OMG WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
As compared to the Thai dance, B-Boy battles happens really quickly and  I had to see and predict when they would jump/ roll about, or just act cool on a whole.
Still, it was a good test of my skill and is very interesting visually.

The Sixteen Dance Crew were absolutely amazing and I highly enjoyed the choreography of each team. Each featured a unique style and it was just so incredible to see them come together and showcased what they learnt for the past 4 days.

Hazri!

I even managed to catch up with Hazri a friend of mine whom I last saw dancing while I was shooting during the Youth Olympic Games and it was absolutely brilliant to see him up on that stage!

The choreographer’s item was definitely a highlight of the entire festival!

In the end, I learnt so much about the art of dance and the Hip Hop culture.
That dance is not just a movement or simply waving your arms in the air. Nor is knowing the movement a dance.
Enjoy the music would be the first step to a good dance and I am itching to go back to waltz!

Know the technique and forget it.
Dance comes from the heart.
-Poppin J

And that brings me to the end of my Yfest images!
Stay tuned for my post on Baybeats 2012!