Photo | Foo Chee Chang
A RARE scene occurred after one dance team came out for its curtain call bow at the Modern Jazz Dance concert Dancetitude 2009—hands were gesticulating high up in the air among the audience instead of the usual applause.
Mr Patrick Loo, the Resident Instructor of Modern Jazz said at the curtain call that “waving of hands” is the more appropriate way to show appreciation for the dance team Redeafinition, made up of members who are hearing impaired.
The 15-member team, all with varying degrees of hearing difficulty, seeks to increase deaf awareness, through the “universal language of dance”.
Their appearance in Dancetitude 2009: Stories through dance, on August 22nd, came as a surprise for many who were just expecting a conventional hip-hop dance concert.
“I found their dance segment emotional and very touching,” said Chew Zi Yan, a 21-year-old student majoring in Architecture in National University of Singapore (NUS).
He added: “I think a lot of effort has been put in by them to make this happen, especially when they cannot hear the music they are dancing to.”
Other items in Dancetitude 2009 drew praises from the members of the audience as well. Alongside NTU’s Modern Jazz team, the concert also featured performances by dance teams from SMU and NUS.
According to 21-year old Melissa Ng, the President of Modern Jazz, this year’s concert is unique because every dance item tells a different story.
“The production this year moves away from the typical item approach and instead has stories woven into the concert," said the third-year student from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information.
“Hence the story theme is very strong in all the items and engages the audience from start to end of each story.”
The stories ranged from depictions of familiar scenes in the MRT, such as seat snatching to youths blasting music through their MP3 players, to treasure-hunting adventures of pirates and two Bombay princes feuding over a princess.
“I thought the Indian dance featuring a love story in Bombay was fascinating,” said Wong Zheng Hui, a 24-year-old student studying Computation Biology in NUS.
“The conflict presented in the story was intriguing and dance moves were well executed.”
Ng said that this year’s turnout was the biggest compared with the four different productions they have had so far. Ticket sales amounted to 1406, exceeding the projected target by around 200.
“I am grateful to the point of tears because all the students worked so hard for this,” Mr Loo said.
“Every piece is my favourite, and I think tonight they have demonstrated the spirit of NTU —the will to keep practising. I believe by keeping this ethic the dance team will go very far.”
