Carol Cheong

Carol is an emotional dancer and has been dancing for 20 years. She wants to be touched by different kind of music, lyrics and emotions of people. Dance had given her lots of strength and positive energy.

On stage, she wants her audience to feel her emotions and energy. In class, she wants her students to feel dance and understand their own body.

She can be a private person at times but she will never hold back if you talk to her about dance or astrology. She will also share with you her unforgettable dance experiences in Hong Kong from 1995…yeap… you know her age now but she is totally fine with it. She likes good old wine that is smoooooth…you know what she means.

Besides dance, she loves fashion photography, passed her Grade 8 piano exam, practise pilates, wants to learn Wing Chun from Donnie Yen, wants to explore Tai Chi, aspires to master the rhumba and Argentine Tango, loves Italian, Japanese and Thai Food, loves safe roller coaster and will never ever Bungee Jump!

She believes that dance is pure and brings happiness and wants to remind all walking the same journey to never let any negative feelings rob this happiness from you. Happy Dancing!

CONVERSATIONS WITH INSTRUCTOR

1.  You used to be an air stewardess based in Hong Kong and danced at the same time there. How has that shaped you as a dancer/instructor/choreographer?

I travelled to many major cities when I was flying for Cathay Pacific and took

classes from Sydney to London. I had such a great time walking into a foreign studio (as the only Asian student most of the time) and let the dance and instructor took me to another paradigm.  I had not much expectation and just danced freely. That was just an amazing feeling! (SMILE)

I still tell people that I had such a “twilight” experience while taking a jazz class in London.  The instructor was playing some mysterious percussion music. I was still a new dancer and was struggling to go across the floor but the music was so hypnotizing that it just left me mesmerized by the whole experience.

This exposure to different dance cultures and styles had definitely made me more versatile in my dance styles and choreography expressions.
Living alone and training in dance in Hong Kong for 4 years was tough (military style most of the time) but it had pushed me so much and made me a stronger dancer and more importantly as a person.  I was flying about 68 hrs a month and the rest of the time was spent at the dance studio. This love for dance grew so deep that I thought I will not have a life if I stop dancing. I was pretty self absorbed until I fractured my foot one day in class and realized that my family was most important to me. This awakening had changed me and surprisingly enhanced my dance technique and dance style. I guess sometimes when you let go of yourself and good things start to come into your life again.

My teaching style is greatly influenced by my mentor, Rico Tsoi, who had motivated many students to be professional dancers/instructors and choreographers.  His sense of humor in class is still the joy and pain that I enjoyed . Yeap…he trained us to “enjoy” the pain while training…now I remembered why I didn’t feel the pain that much when I was hit by a paint ball that left a bruise (diameter 9cm) on my thigh…hmmmm

2.  Ouch! So was it a case of deep passion that make you decide to return to Singapore?

I will be honest that I had no passion for my flying job and after staying for 4 years in Hong Kong, I need to make a decision to leave the airline or I might get too comfortable with the pay and be “trapped” in the job.

My dream at that time was to continue dance in Hong Kong but practical/financial reasons made me return to Singapore.

I planned to get a sales and marketing job in Singapore .

Bread and butter is still important to survive. Reality bites.

3.  And how does that translate to Studio Wu?

When I returned to Singapore, I gave myself 6 months to try out a career in dance in Singapore. If it does not happen, I will find a job and dance for leisure.

Fortunately, things took off after 6 months and my new journey in dance started in my homeland and it had been 11 years since. Studio Wu started in 2002 and it had been “wow….weee….ahhhh….yeah….Wuhooo…”