Dancers in the recent comic ballet – Coppélia share their experience
By Ashok Kumar
They have recently been promoted from trainees to Artists in September last year and have danced in quite unique roles in the production of Coppelia, a light-hearted and humorous ballet, by The Singapore Dance Theatre.
Interview with Kwok Min Yi
You were a finalist at the in the Adeline Genée International Ballet Competition. What was going through your mind when you were competing?
I really enjoyed the Genée experience. It was an honour being the first ballet dancer to represent Singapore in the competition. It was a great opportunity to meet, interact and learn from other young dancers from all over the world.
Anything you missed about Singapore while you were studying abroad? Food? Family? Friends?
I missed my family and friends very much. Singapore is my home and there are many people here who love and care for me. Nothing beats celebrating Chinese New Year with my family; the atmosphere and the goodies are too good to miss. The most comforting food is the home cooked food my mother prepares for me.
Interview with Jason Carter 
What is it like performing?
These days, the public is subject to many options for entertainment, a large portion of which is filmed and has the benefit of redoing a bad take. Therefore if something goes wrong, they can do it again. Whereas performing in front of a live audience, if anything goes wrong, it’s all out there for the audience to see, so it makes it very exciting.
Do you have any pre-concert rituals you do before going onto the stage to perform your magic?
In order to get our bodies ready and warm up for a performance, we all take a class, structured to best prepare us for dancing on stage. Usually this will include exercises similar to the choreography that some of us will be performing during the show.
