By Eila and Ibrahim
On the 21st of July, 2021, members of the Batch Project Dance Committee conducted the second-to-last dance workshop with beneficiaries from our partner, the Singapore Association for Mental Health (SAMH). The workshops, held over the last two weeks, were the platform for our freshies to show off what they’d learnt by teaching their funky moves to the SAMH participants. Though not everything ran smoothly due to unforeseen circumstances, members of the BP dance committee seem to have taken their obstacles in their stride, thus making the outcome a beneficial one for all. Justina, one of the freshmen affected by these challenges, reflected on how she and her fellow contemporary dancers “joined the hiphop team instead [of the contemporary team] as participants learning the dance together with the SAMH clients”.
One of the hip hop dance sessions was very memorable and Justina enjoyed herself a lot. One of the SAMH participants was very outgoing and participative. The first part of the two-hour session consisted of a little ice breaker, using shapes as a descriptive tool to keep the ball rolling. This participant was very amusing and shared how he was a rectangle since he has been lying down the whole day, causing everyone to break out into laughter. The rest of the session focused on imparting basic yet groovy hip hop dance moves to the participants. According to Justina, both participants and organisers enjoyed themselves throughout the hip hop dance segment, which was definitely a stress buster and an excellent way to boost one’s mental health.
On a personal level, Justina had a meaningful and awakening journey. Prior to the session, she had subconsciously expected the participants from SAMH to be very quiet and introverted and was mentally preparing herself. To her surprise, the participants were far from her expectations. In fact, they formed the most ideal of participants - chatty, easygoing and entertaining. Justina recounts how because of how well they got along, they might have actually spent more time talking than dancing. Yet it was an amazing session as apart from getting to know them better, they were able to dispel her assumptions struggling with mental health. The dance was a good social activity to alleviate stress and start new friendships while educating others about mental health.
The journey of the BP dance committee over these past few weeks – from the initial mass briefing on June 13, to the total of twelve hours of learning dance moves, to actually putting those moves to use – has definitely been an interesting one. From our conversations with our friends from the dance committee, as well as from previous articles, it appears that these shared experiences have definitely been fruitful for all. Even as we are documenting the journey of the dance committee, we are heartened to see the joys and great stories expressed by those interviewed. It is testament that creative expression through dance forms are useful in improving mental health and increasing awareness especially youth as ourselves. More than take this as a one-off engagement, what we can do as youths is incorporate creative expression, be it through journaling or dancing into our daily life, as a way to improve our mental health, which is more than crucial during this Phase 2 Heightened Alert.
Aside from the dance committee, the other batch project committees will be wrapping up their own projects soon as the end of Batch Project 2021 looms ever-closer. We hope that everyone has taken something away from these shared experiences, be it some groovy dance moves, an increased awareness about mental health, or simply having met the people they will be spending the next few years in university with. We look forward to the start of school with newly found friends.
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