My favorite community dance project that I have done in DMIC (Dance Made In Cambodia) is Ogden, The Fish Who Couldn’t Swim Straight by Gabrielle Yetter and Monnyreak Ket. It’s about a fish who lived in a plastic bag at the fairground called Ogden. Ogden only knew how to swim in circles, but one day he found himself in the river. He didn’t know what to do and was very scared. An eel came and helped him learn how to survive in a new place.
I like this story because I got to dance Ogden and his story is the same as mine. I have just got in to one of the best dance schools in London. It’s going to be hard for me to feel secure and be brave in a completely new world outside Cambodia. But I have learned from this story that no matter where I am, I’m not alone. There are people like the eel to guide me and walk me through this journey. It also teaches me to take risk and try something new. I like this quote.
“Life is too short to be scared and not take risks. I'd rather be the person that's like, I messed up, than, I wish I did that.”
Whenever I dance in a community dance project, it brings me the memories of when I first started and it is also how I got to be a dancer now. The differences between ballet and community dance are:
You get to meet lots of people with different nationality, culture, religion and language. But somehow, we can communicate with our body.
There is no right or wrong movement. In ballet, we have to have a good technique, position, turnout and flexibility.
Everyone has an important role to do. It requires team work, cooperation and helping each other out.
It really doesn’t matter if you are a dancer or not, you can still join in.
We explore our bodies, find out how amazing they are.
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