let the music flow. / Thursday, 22 September 2011 @ 22:00
Today we were expecting something really fun in class as Ms Pat told us that we would be dancing the whole week. When we got started, we did some stretching as usual. We also had our masks with us, so it added to the suspense of what we had in store.

Then we gathered at a corner of the room and Ms Pat said she would demonstrate the type of dance she wanted us to do. When the music came on, I felt goosebumps as it was so calming and yet creepy at the same time. Ms Pat started to dance in the middle of the room. She looked really graceful and her movements were very technical. However, she suddenly stopped halfway and turned off the music. She said that we were talking and she could hear us, even if we whispered. It was distracting towards the performer if people were talking and not paying attention. I totally understood where she was coming from as if I were to be performing, I wouldn't want people to be talking either.

She started her dance from the beginning once more. Multiple times during her dance I felt goosebumps wash over my whole body. I thought it looked really beautiful, especially since the mask "masked" her emotion. You could tell that there was a story that she was telling.

Then it was our turn, the students to do our dance. The girls were up first. I was genuinely nervous, even with the mask on as I wasn't sure how I was going to do this. But Ms Pat said to just listen to the music and let our body move on its own. We also had to be spatially aware of the other dancers around us. When I first listened to the music, I found my imagination placing me in the olden Chinese days. I felt that I was by the riverside, looking into the sky and playing with the clear waters. I tried to emulate what I thought into my movements and I felt that I was quite successful. When we were done, we received comments from the guys that were watching us.

Later was time for gentlemen to perform. Their music was different, a little bit more masculine compared to ours. When they started, my eyes were fixated on them and a lot of them showed a lot of emotion through their body language even though they were wearing masks. Many of them had a story to tell, you could see it with the actions that they were doing.

Finally, we gave some comments and the class was over. From this experience, I learned how to let loose and let the music take over instead of thinking so much. I love dancing, but not this contemporary dancing genre. I never had any background in this type of dance but for a beginner I think I did pretty well :)

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