The Royal Dance-Off (TRDO) Duet @ Singapore Poly - 7th Feb 2015

I've participated in The Royal Dance-off (TRDO) Chapter 3's and Chapter 4's Group categories for the past two years, but this was the 1st year TRDO had a Duet category. It has crossed my mind to join but I never knew who to do it with, so I was really excited when Clarice asked if I wanted to join with her! I didn't think I would get a chance to dance with an O School instructor either hehehe.

But of course, Clarice being Clarice, I was really nervous and stressed when I 'realised' I was going to be dancing with her. I got to know her more through last year's O School Recital because I was in her item, but before that I already knew of her as a really amazing dancer! :)


Heats - 11th Jan @ Scape Ground Theatre:
This piece that we came up with for Heats had a lot of explorations, we tried many different things together (sometimes really stupid) and it was really fun!! I looked forward to every rehearsal and we were pretty productive in general although we spent most of it laughing haha. We came up with the concept of a Past (me) and Present (her) self, and how each self attempts to manipulate and convince/get rid of the other.

(Photos credit to Poey and respective photographers)
















Results time! Judges Kay, Ryan and Jeffrey making their speeches:







Thanks to those who came down so early in the morning to support us! :D :D :D Juliet:



Jo:



And some of the #teamhaunted girls!

We got into the Finals! Heheheh so happy:











With the rest of the 14 finalist duos, where we were debriefed and informed about a twist to our Finals' item: each of us were given a black chair to incorporate into our existing/new choreographies, and it was up to us to interpret the usage of the chair:



For those who are curious, here's our Heats' piece (taken by Windy)! I really like it hehe:


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Finals - 7th Feb @ Singapore Poly Auditorium:
For our Finals' piece, we decided to come up with a totally different choreography using a new song. We came up with the concept based on the song we chose (I'd Love to Change the World - Jetta), which kinda depicted the rich and the poor. No prizes for guessing who was who..... hahaha. The chair was painted blue because it represented the Middle class/blue-collared workers.

It was really tough at first, partly because there was a 3rd party - the chair - to take care of, and it wasn't easy to do a choreography with it within such a short time frame. The chair felt like a burden initially and it created many bruises on me. It also trained my strength and stamina A LOT hahaha.
We took many sessions to settle just the first few seconds of the song and we were honestly quite drained and inspiration-less. I panicked about 2 weeks into it because we were using up more time that we should, and I told Clarice I didn't feel excited nor confident at all based on our progress. We also had thoughts of just incorporating the chair into our existing Heats' choreo but it didn't really make sense either based on that item's concept.
But somehow along the way things got better, we got used to the chair, and everything just fell into place. We only managed to finalise the whole choreo 2 days before Finals and I also pulled my hip flexor muscle a week before (told you I was jinxed....), but I am glad we made use of whatever we had to come up with this piece :)

(Photos credit to Poey and Shutterjem Photography)




Clarice very nicely took this photo of me and posted on her IG hahahaha. My dirt makeup was the joke of the day sigh:



Group shots before everything else!:









4 hours before the competition began - during stage run, my hip flexor muscle injury came back and it was worse than before. I was so scared I couldn't make it because it was hard for me to climb up stairs, to lift up my leg past a certain height, much less to dance. I applied Salonpas and took painkillers from Rocio hoping to endure through the rest of the night. Thankfully, adrenaline took over me and I couldn't feel any pain while dancing onstage :')





We were the 11th duo up.
Someone shouted "Clarice bully Wenhui!" while we were doing this hahahaha. But it was honestly very heavy carrying both of them......:























The floor felt more slippery than before, and it wasn't our best run. I left the stage silent, and then whined to Clarice how bad I felt because it didn't go as good as it was supposed to :(











After a games session while the judges deliberated the results, it was time for them to announce the winners! I must say, all the duos were really very strong!!! Those who have watched it would definitely agree with me:





3rd place - Fiona and Beryl! I looooved their item, and I think most of the audience did too:



2nd place - Calvin and Vanessa:



Guess who won Champion? :') All the shots taken were of me crying hahahahah. I was seriously really really happy!!!! It was my 1st time winning a dance competition and like I said, all the other teams were too strong I wasn't expecting anything after the 3rd and 2nd places were announced. I kept telling Clarice: "No more already lah..." Hahahaha.





Such a crybaby:







#teamhaunted!:







Nari and Sandra:



Thank you Windy, for never failing to mix/remix our music when I asked you to (even in the middle of the night)! And also always being there for me:



And Charmaine! You were wonderful too:



And of course, thank you Clarice!! Although you were so mean to me (HAHAHA KIDDING), without your awesome dancing that inspired me, your constant support, guidance and encouragement for me, we wouldn't be here :)



Presenting to you our Finals' piece (recorded by Tee Yien) for TRDO Duet 2015:



Not forgetting, a huge thank you to Ryan and TRDO! New adventures ahead for me!! (Y)


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Had the opportunity to dance this piece again for Project C, but we kinda screwed it up hahahaha. Think: Falling chairs and failed steps...... sorry Ryan. We swear everything went smoothly until the actual performance hahaha.