CCA Previews ’22: Raffles Modern Dance

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By Soon Jiawei (22S03D), Chairperson, Chang Zixuan (22S03P), Vice Chairperson, Jolene Koh (22S06R), Secretary, Treasurer and Wardrobe Mistress.

About us:

Raffles Modern Dance is a bonded community (for illustration purposes: you can imagine bonds as strong as covalent bonds in diamond) consisting of a group of dancers who explore, appreciate and deepen our understanding of contemporary dance together. Our instructor Mr Goh Shou Yi not only teaches us about the intricacies of Dance, but also about body awareness when dancing. Under his guidance, dancers grow into passionate and confident individuals.

*Us after a practice session! *Picture taken in accordance with SMMs during the prior phase of Covid-19 measures.*

Here’s what you can expect from a typical CCA session: We start off with some cardio and strength-building exercises to warm our bodies and also strengthen our technical foundations. The rest of the session typically includes learning and performing set exercises and new choreography or preparing for upcoming events. We really enjoy every CCA session, as we get to discover our bodies and express our emotions through the speech of movements. We aim to become dancers who dance to express not to impress.

This year, our senior batch participated in the 2021 Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) while our batch choreographed a dance piece from scratch, to be filmed for the Arts Expression Week showcase (postponed because of Covid-19). We work on these dance pieces during our CCA sessions. When we are not preparing for any events, CCA sessions are used for honing our techniques and learning new pieces from our instructor instead. In response to the Covid-19 heightened alert this year, CCA sessions were moved online, where we watched dance performances and danced our hearts out at home instead.

CCA sessions are held twice a week, on Mondays (4pm–6pm) and Wednesdays (8am- 11am). Nearing performances, practice durations will be lengthened and their frequency increased to three times a week, with an additional practice day on Friday.

Myth Busting 101:

Modern dance is not for guys

There may be some stereotypes about modern dance that it is more suitable for girls than guys. However, that is NOT TRUE! There is absolutely no shame in joining our cca just because you are a guy. In fact, our instructor is definitely one of the coolest male dancers we have met. So please don’t be afraid to join us! Follow your passion and explore the beautiful paths modern dance can bring you to. Feel the love you have for dance and what your soon-to-be co-dancers have for you when you join our family <3

Modern dance is the same as Street dance

Modern dance is a very expressive and abstract style of dance that breaks free from the structured dance technique of classical ballet. Its movements are more free and flowy. A fusion of other dance styles like ballet and folk dance, it draws inspiration from everyday movements. On the other hand, Street dance is an umbrella term for a large number of social dance styles such as: breakdancing, popping, locking, house dance, waacking etc. Here are some snippets of our dances, just to give you a better idea of what modern dance is like!

*Pictures taken in accordance with SMMs during the prior phase of Covid-19 measures.

Modern dances only use music with no lyrics and modern dancers always dance in plain clothes

Modern dance may seem abstract and simply… incomprehensible sometimes. But we assure you that that is not true! During CCA, we dance to (cool) pop songs such as Run Boy Run and Purple Hat. So join us to groove to some of your favourite songs~ We get to choose our own dance costumes too :)

Join us!

Everyone is welcome to sign up and no prior dance background is necessary. Here is the information on our auditions: Auditions consist of learning a couple of short routines and an improvisation section. After which, dancers will be selected based on their ability to pick up choreography quickly, and their overall performance and bodily awareness. (For the concerned, flexibility is definitely not a must, REALLY!!, as contemporary dance emphasises fluidity of motion, more so than the height of a raised leg!)

No matter who you are, we would really love to have you join our Modern dance family <3