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DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS: Youngsters such as Sean Shagaran, Keola Ho and Jaydn Koh are into hip-hop, while heartland couple Ten Ng Kiong and Suzanna Chan (above) are into ballroom dancing. -- PHOTOS: BETTY CHUA FOR THE STRAITS TIMES
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A LOW murmur is coming from a function room at Toa Payoh Central Community Club (CC) one Sunday evening: 'Five, six, seven, eight... five, six, seven, eight.'
Suddenly, a man raises his voice and chides: 'No chicken wings, please.'
The scene is a ballroom dancing class where a group of aspiring dancers - most of them middle-aged types - are learning how to foxtrot.
And no, someone isn't firing up a barbecue at the sidelines. The said 'chicken wings' are really a reference by the dance instructor to a student's drooping elbows in her stance.
'KFC,' whispers security supervisor Ten Ng Kiong, 56, much to the bemusement of his dance partner, housewife Suzanna Chan, 46.
The Mandarin-speaking pair, who have their own respective spouses and children, have been dancing together since meeting at a social dance class at Sembawang Community Club about 1 1/2 years ago. Since then, they have taken eight dance classes with various CCs, travelling from their Nee Soon neighbourhood to Toa Payoh and Sembawang.
Now hooked on ballroom dances such as waltz and foxtrot, they attend two classes a week but are looking to take up three more.
Quips Mr Ten: 'My wife doesn't like to dance, but she can't stop me.'
Madam Chan adds: 'My husband, daughters and mother-in-law all support me. I do it because it's good for the mind and body.'
From the heartlands to the CBD, dance fever appears to be ripping through Singapore. Indeed, as the Republic continues to up its hip quotient with a growing nightlife scene, integrated resorts and an upcoming Formula One night race, its denizens, too, are dusting off their inhibitions - and dancing shoes.
The scene here is thriving, with more dance classes being offered at all levels, and to people across all economic and social strata.
Among the genres of dance that are now popular among Singaporeans are ballroom dancing, line dancing, hip-hop, salsa and Lindy Hop.
And that's excluding the more 'exotic' types popping up, such as belly dancing and pole dancing.
An essential social skill
All 105 community clubs under the People's Association (PA) offer dance classes ranging from ballroom to Latin dance to hip-hop.
The number of sign-ups for these activities has been climbing steadily, says a PA spokesman. Though no absolute figures are available, interest in ballroom and Latin classes has been increasing by as much as 25 per cent every year, while the demand for hip-hop classes more than doubles yearly.
A LifeStyle check of eight privately-run dance studios of different niches throws up a similar picture. At Shawn & Gladys Danceworld, a long-time establishment that teaches ballroom dancing, its instructors teach up to 600 students a week, compared to half this figure five years ago, says its owner Shawn Tay, 50.
Jitterbugs Swingapore dance studio started out 10 years ago teaching Lindy Hop once a week from a rented room in Singapore Chinese Girls' School. It has since upgraded its premises to the much swankier Millenia Walk, where more than 60 mainly jazz and hip-hop classes are conducted a week.
And just last week, the inaugural Singapore Asian Open Dance Championships 2008, a ballroom dancing competition at the highest level, helped drive home the message that Singapore may well be experiencing a dance revolution.
Organised by The Hour Glass boss Jannie Tay, an avid ballroom dancer herself, it was a Dancesport event - the name given to competitive ballroom dancing activities - and part of an Asian Open Dance Tour series that spanned seven host countries last month and this.
Of the 170 competing couples, some of whom were the world's best, 40 were Singaporean.
The explosion of interest in dance can be credited to several factors, say those in the business.
For one thing, being able to shuffle your feet in some form has become an 'essential social skill', says Shawn Tay. 'A lot of people have to attend company functions these days. It would be embarrassing if you don't know how to dance; it's almost not sociable.'
Adds Ms Aleena Tan, 53, who runs Sunny Low Dance Studio: 'When you go to corporate events, you don't want to be a wallflower.'
The influence of goggle box talent quests such as So You Think You Can Dance and its local equivalent The Dance Floor, together with dance-related movies such as Step Up 2 The Streets, have given people a 'broader vision of what dance really is', reasons Jitterbugs' chief executive officer Lim Sing Yuen, 46.
'It's no longer just ballet, ballroom or cha-cha-cha. There are so many different kinds of dance now.'
Singaporeans are also getting more opportunities to discover their rhythm and musicality at a younger age, points out Ms Carol Cheong, 34, co-director of dance school Studio Wu, which specialises in street style dances such as jazz and hip-hop.
She credits efforts by the National Arts Council (NAC) to introduce dance into the school curriculum. 'Many of our students join our classes after getting exposed to some form of dance in school,' she says.
Indeed, under the NAC's Arts Education Programme, 93 dance programmes are made available for schools ranging from primary to tertiary institutions, says a spokesman. Last year, more than 300 bookings for such programmes were made.
sandral@sph.com.sg
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