Project Dance Penang

Project Dance is a movement of dancers seeking to positively impact culture through artistic integrity. Its desire is to see every dancer nurtured to their fullest human potential for their own well being and their contribution to the world. It offers training, education and performance opportunities for dancers worldwide who desire to dance with integrity to inspire. Project dance was born 11 years ago out of a desire to serve the people of New York City directly after the events of September 11.

Each year, thousands of New Yorkers stop to watch the concert held on a temporary stage on the corner of 44th Street and Broadway. This event has also been replicated in other cities around the USA and internationally in Toronto, London, Hong Kong, Manila, Sydney and Brisbane. Project Dance is not a convention or competition but rather a life changing experience for dancers who desire to perform with integrity to inspire.

This year, Project Dance will be held in Malaysia for the first time. The event which will be hosted in Penang from December 9 to 11 is open to all dancers and dance enthusiasts. Master classes, workshops, motivational forums and a free all-day dance concert at Queensbay Mall are among the many exciting activities to be staged. Choreographers and dancers from the USA, South Korea, Nigeria, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia will be taking part in this event.

Dance genres that will be showcased in Project Dance Penang include Argentine tango, ballet, street dance, lyrical jazz, worship dance and Korean traditional dance. There will also be master classes on hip hop, popping, locking, bboy, krump, girlstyle, soul, lyrical jazz, contemporary, tap and theatre dance (Broadway style). For more information, call 012-4129272 or 012-4853272 or check out projectdancepenang.blogspot.com.

Yes You Can, Samantha Tan!

Samantha Tan, 26, was born and raised in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Originally trained as a rhythmic gymnast, she made the late transition to dance at the age of 18 when she took up ballet, jazz and tap. Within a year of dance training, she had won the Encouragement Award at the 8th Solo Classical Ballet Competition 2004 in Kuala Lumpur. In 2006, she went to England to further her dance studies at the famed London Studio Centre where she graduated with a first class Bachelor of Arts degree in theatre dance.

Currently based in London, Tan made her West End debut at the original London cast of High School Musical in 2008 at the Hammersmith Apollo. She has acted in The King And I twice with two different companies - at the Royal Albert Hall in 2009 and at the Curve Leicester theatre early this year. Tan has also performed at the Brit Awards, danced in many stage shows in Britain and appeared in several television commercials. Other than that, this talented lady has even acted in two Harry Potter movies.

Tan has recently been accepted into the three-year Masters in Fine Arts acting programme at the prestigious Actors Studio Drama School in New York. Whilst she is thrilled with the opportunity that has come her way, she is at the same time saddled with the task of trying to raise the money for her lessons in the Big Apple. In order to raise the necessary funds, Tan has set up a blog (refer www.samanthatan.co.uk) and sent out appeals to several Malaysian individuals and companies to seek funds to help finance her studies.

The response to Tan's initiative has been encouraging, with donations totalling US3,700 from all over the world collected so far. Better Malaysia Foundation, which was founded by tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan, awarded her a partial scholarship of US20,000 a year, which is more than half the annual tuition fees of US34,000 a year over three years to help defray her studies. With that donation, she needs another US45,000 in fees and an additional US50,000 for cost of living and other expenses in the US over three years.

Rhythm Tappers @ Malaysia Showcase Rhythm Tap At "Tap Raiders" Show

Fans of tap dancing in Malaysia were recently treated to an eye-opening performance of rhythm tap at Schokalart Salon-Lounge at SohoKL @ Solaris Mon't Kiara, Kuala Lumpur from November 14 - 16 2008. The show called Tap Raiders was directed by Toh Kong Eu, the founder and first artistic director of Rhythm Tappers @ Malaysia. Toh, who studied tap dancing in the USA under various masters like Savion Glover, Diane Walker, Brenda Bufalino, Barbara Duffy and Van Porter was an engineer with a petroleum company before giving up his job to become a rhythm tap artiste, choreographer and teacher in Malaysia.

Tap Raiders showcased seven items performed by teachers, students and guest artistes with choreography by Toh, second artistic director Pang Shueh Miin, Diane Walker and Leon Collins. The show kicked-off with an acappella tap performance by an octet of dancers. During an interlude, Toh had the audience in rapt attention with a solo performance. He later performed a duet with Phang (pic) to a beautifully choreographed number done to a funk style with some fusion of swing. Actress, model and accomplished tapper, Jojo Struys who was a guest artist, also performed a duet with Toh. Their improvised routine incorporated elements of street and hip hop.

Tap dance has historically been a highly individualistic dance form that allows the dancer considerable artistic, stylistic and interpretative freedom. As a result, there are many different styles of tap dancing that exist today due to its natural development and growth. Examples of tap dance genres include rhythm, flash, classical and show (Broadway-style) tap. Most tap dances that are performed on the major concert stages in the US today can be considered as rhythm tap. Rhythm tap in itself is also an extremely broad category since elements of other dance forms (and also different styles of tap) are usually present in tap dance.

Rhythm Tappers @ Malaysia aims to promote tap dance as an art from in Malaysia. Their goal is to create awareness, understanding and appreciation of rhythm tap via performances, workshops, lectures, demonstrations and word-of-mouth. Contrary to popular belief, one can tap dance to any style of music or groove. Rhythm tap is essentially looking at tap's original essence - rhythmic expression with an emphasis on the musicality and expression of tap. More importantly the message is that tap can co-exist with alternative music forms like pop, hip-hop, funk and R&B. The aim is to present tap as an exciting and hip dance & music form.

Best Wishes As Usual,

Dance Aficionado
Dancesport Malaysia