SINGAPORE GOT DANCE: LOCKDOWN 2010

Hey guys! It's been one week since Lockdown 2010...
And I was thinking randomly about the current Locking scene, so I wanted to take the chance to post my thoughts about the event...

Firstly, Lockdown is the first locking event in the past 2 years.

It started off with Ian(Chunky) organizing a solely-locking dance battle event, which was held in NYP Blk E studio, with K-Lock, Fong, and Cee Kay being the judges. I still remember being a contestant at that time, and Jin (my partner) just started locking for 3 months or so (because he was watching Show Luo on TV)

And 2 years later, the both of us (Lock Out Loud) are actually on the judge panel, along with Aga and Boui from the Swift Lockers (Taiwan, Max Studio), looking at the younger batch of dancers dancing against each other, and showing everyone the best that they can possibly do. It's really been a long journey.

THEN THEN THEN THEN THEN!
Firstly, a big thank you to Aga and Boui for coming down all the way from Taiwan to support the locking scene in Singapore. You guys have inspired not only the dancers who join the battle, but everyone who was there at the event.

I would like to share a quote that I remembered Aga telling everyone after the top 16 battles.

"Open your heart to the music, not your mind."

Sometimes, dancers spend much time trying to think of moves to follow the music, and they end up anticipating the beats and stuff like that. I feel that dancers should firstly learn how to enjoy the music first, because that's the reason why we wanna start dancing. In addition, Aga also mentioned about trying not to listen to the same piece of music too many times, because then it becomes memorizing the song, and you're not dancing to the songs but rather dancing to what you memorized in the song.

To sum it up, basics and techniques are the fundamentals of dance. Do not forget them, and keep practising them as if you are never good enough to master the technique. Dance to songs that you enjoy, be it popping, locking, hip hop, house, or other genres of songs. Never dance without the music, because that would be just practising steps. "Dancing is moving along to the music, not memorizing steps and executing them along with the music."

Next, I'd like to thank all the people who came down for the event. You guys made the event possible, and without you guys supporting the event, it would not have been a success. At the same time, I'd like to take the chance to credit Sha and Mel for pushing their juniors to join. We had a number of SDZ representatives for Lockdown this year, and we had a representative, Wei Sheng, who made it all the way to the finals against Diane. Good job! Keep it up!

Last but not least, i'd like to thank the people who helped out for the event. They are namely Dj Smoke, Ian(Chunky), Michael, Fong, Kenneth, Jin, Ceekay, Mian Bao, and the videographer (who was it i cant remember sorry). And definitely not forgetting the support we had from Ben, Elke, Chris, and the Malaysian lockers who came down to support the event! We'll definitely be looking forward to the next Lockdown *everyone looks at Ceekay*

Here's the link for the showcase that we did with Aga and Boui. Do check it out! LINK

Last but not least, R16 South East Asia Urban Arts Festival will be held in SG! Do check it out @ http://r16southeastasia.ning.com, registration is $20 per category. There's 1-on-1 popping, locking, beatboxing, and 2-on-2 breaking! Or similarly, just type R16 on Facebook, you'll be able to find it :D