By M.K. Lim
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| Albert "L-Bird" Chuah |
Many would believe that dancing is a talent that certain people possessed. However, only those who have indulged themselves into this industry know that dancing is not based on pure talent alone. All dancers need to practice hard, be creative and optimistic at the same time to be successful. To those who danced in a crew, being able to work in a team is also very important. Equally, being a dance instructor requires even more skills as a dance instructor not only need to have talents and hard work in dancing, but also passion and patience in teaching.
An individual had to really practice hard, make researches and be creative at the same time. A dancer would have to brush up his skills from time to time. There are many genres of dance to learn and one would need to learn different types of dance to know which genre he belonged to. The interviewee Albert Chuah also known as L-Bird is a part time dance instructor. He had been teaching dance as a part time job as he would like to make dance as a hobby and favourable past time instead of work which could be tiring. Being able to work a full time job and to teach dance lessons is a very hectic job yet he managed to do it. Regardless of having a busy work lifestyle, he would still find time to teach his students as dancing is his interest and passion. This determination is not something everyone can do yet Albert clearly proved he is capable of doing so as he has been working both jobs for more than a year.
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| Penang State Street Dance Competition |
Albert grew up in a family where he is the only one who had a passion in dancing. He started dancing ever since from a very young age as he stated that he started dancing the very moment he could stand. The one reason that motivated him to dance was his idol who is the infamous King of Pop, Micheal Jackson. Albert’s very first competition was in a supermarket when he is at the age of 12 and he won first prize. He never had the thought to make dancing as a permanent career as he has always wanted to keep dancing as a hobby alone. However, at a certain time where he was jobless, he went to apply for a job as a dance instructor and after 3 months of proving his skills he got his very first job in the dance industry as a dance instructor.
Albert does not have any education background in dancing as all this while he has been learning how to dance by himself. Not to mention at that young age, he does not have the financial securities to actually attend classes for dancing. Back then dancing classes were very limited and expensive. However, starting from last year which is 2008, he had started to take dancing lessons from instructors in Kuala Lumpur.
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| Asia Dance Explosion |
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| Moving Force |
As a highlight of his career as a dancer, Albert has his very own dance crew called Moving Force. This crew consists of 9 members. Albert recruits members who are passionate and are willing to learn to dance. He does not only see a dancer on talents alone, but also on attitude and willingness to learn. Certainly, his crew has been competing in a lot of different competitions. They have competed in local and international competitions. Local competitions are Gurney Hip Hop Dance Competition, Gurney Street Dance Competition 2008 and I-Dance Competition 2008 and international competitions like Asia Dance Explosion 2008, Asia Dance Explosion 2009 and 6th National Ballroom Dance Championship. They have certainly won many awards such as Winner in Asia Dance Explosion 2009 and 1st Runner-up in Bukit Jambul Dance Mania Competition.
As many have recognized their talent in dancing, they were also invited to perform in big events such as HoChiak Charity and Fun Dinner, Penang International Dragon Boat Festival and the most recent performance will be the 30 hours Famine, Bukit Jalil. However, Albert would never want his crew to over perform as he would not want his members to end up being a performer without passion. He would want his members to be able to dance together, to learn and guide each other and never forget to have fun while dancing. Dancing would not be fun anymore if they would have to face the stress of having to perform too much.
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| Moving Force members [male] |
Being an old timer, Albert is no doubt recognized in the dance industry. He was also invited to be one of the judges in many different competitions. Albert is able to see young talents growing in his own hometown. He felt that the young talent nowadays is very lucky as right now, they have more exposure to different types of dance and they have many sources to find videos about dance such as youtube and mtv. Back in his days, even youtube has yet to exist. Thus, Albert is indeed glad that the dance industry is growing in Penang. Though it may not be as advanced as Kuala Lumpur or the United States but at least it is growing and there are many young talents who are beginning to involve themselves in the dance industry. Albert even has experience in teaching younger children. However, he has to admit that he does not possess the skill and patience to teach children. However, he is willing to teach anyone regardless of age as long as that individual is passionate and willing to learn. Albert also stated that he learned the most from his students. Whenever his student utters a question, he managed to get a deeper understanding of that question.
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| Moving Force members [female] |
Albert believes that he have yet to be called a successful dancer because he still have many things to learn. He believes that dancing is something for dancers to enjoy. As long as a dancer does not dance for fame but for his interest and passion, he would be successful. He said that he like a quote he heard which is “You dance not to impress but to express”. He strongly agrees that when you dance with passion and a strong feeling, you would be able to connect with the audience and thus that is a very great performance because if otherwise, this dance would be merely a dancer with different kinds of steps.
Albert has been thinking himself should he consider dance as a permanent career. He had always believed that he should not take dance as a permanent career and recently he had just justified his own feelings. Perhaps it is because of the way he was brought up, or maybe just because of how he thinks he would still prefer to keep dancing as interest alone. Even if he were to take dance as a permanent career, now would not be the time. He has only see his future in the dance industry with his crew. He would not want to have any fame just by himself alone. In fact, it is his dream to be able to build a place where all dancers get to hang out and dance at the same time. It would be a place for all dancers to gather, meet up, exchange information, to get to know each other better and the most important thing is a place where the dancers will be able to get knowledge if they would want to excel themselves in the dance industry.
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