Singapore ― Mediacorp artistes Zoe Tay and Zhang Ze Tong have been toiling away in a dance studio every weekend for the past few weeks so that they can be at their best on Sunday (Oct 10).
The duo performed onstage for the President’s Star Charity 2021 (PSC). Tay and Zhang collaborated with trained dancers and two persons with disabilities, including para-athlete Jeremiah Liauw.
15-year-old Liauw was born with Spinal Bifida and moves around with a wheelchair as he has limited use of his legs. However, it was never a deterrent to him from reaching greater heights.
When he was 10, he hand-cycled 25 km to raise funds for Club Rainbow. The teen hopes to represent Singapore at the Paralympics one day. The three performed in a performance which Zhang described as a “combination of modern dance and ballet”.
Zhang shared with Mothership that it is a beautiful and meaningful performance that incorporates various elements such as chairs. Liauw was the only one who performed in a wheelchair.
Both Tay and Zhang have nothing but praise for the young boy.
Tay said: “Jeremiah is really young. He will impress you and blow your mind when you see him perform. I think even Ze Tong, who has muscles and goes to the gym can’t do [what Liauw can].”
Zhang, on the other hand, assured that they weren’t just paying lip service.
“What Ah Jie said is really just stating the facts. Jeremiah is really a champion. Even though he’s only 15, I’m learning so much from him because he’s not a full-time dancer. He’s a student and at the same time training as a para-athlete.”
Mothership asked Tay and Zhang if they were looking forward to performing and both artists admitted that they were really, really nervous. Zhang shared that they only managed to get a hand of the complete routine just a week before they perform.
“Yes! After the full rehearsal, we clapped for ourselves,” Tay quipped excitedly, as they had very little time to practice.
According to Tay, they only started putting on their dancing shoes about a month ago, and they only had four hours a week to learn the full routine.
To give us a glimpse of just how hectic it was, she elaborated: “The two-hour sessions [per day] are very intense. It is such a short period, so we just have to keep going on. And when the lessons end, we have to get out of the room quickly so they can sterilise the room because there’s another class coming in.”
As if they didn’t already have a lack of time, the Covid-19 safe management measures was an added challenge as well.
“Throughout the whole training, we have to sanitise constantly and have to put a mask on for the entire session,” she explained.
“After each session, you can see I was sweating like crazy,” added Zhang.
And the cherry on top for him, at least, is that it takes him longer to grasp the steps as he has no dance background.
“There were some ballet moves, I believe, and there was this triple spin that really caught me off guard. There was a lot of spinning and one-legged jumps that tripped me so badly. As someone without a dance background, I needed to spend more time learning the steps and understanding how everything works.”
But sharing a stage with both trained dancers and individuals with disabilities kept them motivated every weekend.
Tay said:
“We work with trained dancers and the dance is not easy, but the beneficiaries did so well. It amazed us that everyone could keep up with the steps and all the difficult movements. So for Ze Tong and I to join them, we think we have to work even harder because they faced their fears to come out and dance. I think it’s really a beautiful thing.”
If you’re wondering what it was like for them to practice with one another, both of them confessed that there was simply no time to chit-chat and catch up with one another.
Nonetheless, they both still look out for one another whenever they can.
For example, Tay gave Zhang something to make the sessions more bearable.
The actor told us, “Ah Jie was very thoughtful, she gave me a mask that is very suitable for exercising and very breathable. That made my training slightly easier. But that didn’t save us from panting so much after each routine.”
At the end of the day, he reminded us that the performance is not necessarily just to showcase the celebrities’ talents, but also to give viewers a glimpse of what one can do in a wheelchair.
“This dance that we are trying to present is not about Ah Ji and I being good dancers in about six sessions of training. The bigger meaning is what we’re trying to portray to the audience to empathise with the rest who are physically or mentally challenged. The meaning of the dance outweighs the actual performance.” /TISG