Dance

In the months leading up to the VIA, I remember being fraught with worry due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In wanting to continue our partnership with Little Bodhi Student Care Centre, it seemed almost impossible considering how many past activities all required face-to-face interactions, which were highly frowned upon, but throughout the process, EJ Dance having been highly motivated to continue working with Little Bodhi, the VIA committee thus decided to make things work and looked towards doing a full out online operation!

In alignment with our objectives in wanting to hold dance lessons for the children, we decided to do so via Zoom, taking from our experiences of having continued dance CCA within our own homes via online Zoom as well. Hence, our programme is then determined to be made up of Zoom student led sessions of origami, crafts and most importantly, dance.

During our planning processes, we liaised with the head of the school, and conducted a ‘rehearsal’ and run down of our activities, where at the point in time, it was highly successful, and we were excited for the day of executing our project!

In between, we made a few trips to the school, getting a tour of the venue, and also handing over the necessary resources for the VIA to be carried out. During which, the few of us that have gone down were surprised, for the centre was a lot smaller than we had anticipated, but nevertheless excited, for the students there were lively and enthusiastic to see us, and even asked if we were going to teach them dance right there and then.

At this point in time, both the organiser and the VIA committee suggested that 5 of us should come down as facilitators, ensuring that our activities can be further supplemented by student teachers! To which the organisers were highly agreeable with, and thus we set forward, armed with our Crafts and Dance lesson plans and Zoom as our main mode of delivery.

Then came D-Day (23rd of November) ! Our first session of VIA on Monday was met with many challenges and issues, for the WIFI lost connection multiple times, and audio was unable to be transmitted clearly for the children. Student facilitators present then had to take over teaching and conducting lessons right away. Luckily enough, we had prepared for such situations, and we were thus able to adapt to the technological malfunctions quickly, albeit with some anxiety, but nevertheless still managed to ensure that the children had fun.

That day, as we debriefed, we immediately devised a new plan, we decided to have pre-recorded lessons instead, ensuring that our friends are able to still remain involved in this process, but also ensure the smooth-running of activities for the children at the centre.

It was heartwarming to see how EJ Dancers were able to adapt and work with such drastic changes within the short span of time with so much dedication and determination, and their drive thus made the second day of execution on Thursday (26th of November) extremely successful.

During the sessions, we continued our plans of teaching the children a short dance routine from Can’t Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake, and also taught them some origami crafts along with teaching them how to draw animals! This VIA project was ultimately the culmination of the hard work and dedication of every EJ Dancer, and as much as it was difficult to have planned such high contact VIA, I would not have been able to do it without the support and enthusiasm of my batchmates and committee members, and especially so the encouragement and support of my teachers and Mrs Nas from Little Bodhi!

In summation, I genuinely cherished this experience as one of the highlights as part of my JC journey and having been a part of the EJ Dance family. Additionally, as this was a legacy project from our seniors, we were really able to see the long lasting impact such projects can have on the children and the centre as a whole, and it really warmed our hearts to have also received a thank you gift from the center.

I am extremely grateful to have been able to embark on this journey, and to see the growth and development we have all gone through especially planning this activity in the midst of a global pandemic. It really highlights how with the right heart and intentions, we will be able to do anything!

CCA VIA Ambassador

THOO BIN XIN (20-O1)