B-boying and hip-hop dancing for recreation

UTAR Sungai Long Dance Club showcasing their cool moves at KB Block entrance

The UTAR Sungai Long Dance Club held its recruitment showcase in style on 24 October 2018 at the ground floor entrance of KB Block. Friends, supporters, staff and students started gathering about half an hour before the showcase was due to start at noon. Word got around and many more showed up in anticipation of a good showcase. They were not disappointed. It was an impressive show of talent, skills, musicality and teamwork.

The showcase started with individual student b-boying in their own style, with invitation open to other dance enthusiasts in the crowd to join in and perform. Two b-girls joined as well to the cheers of the crowd. The final performance was a team effort with about 25 students dancing in rhythm to a mixture of hip hop and contemporary style.

The Sungai Long Dance Club chairman Wong Yew Chien explained that, “It took us about 3 weeks’ of practice to put up this showcase; staying behind after class and practising from 7pm to 9pm three days a week. The dances were choreographed by students and committee members of the club, Leong Tsien Chi and Chai Ching Suen. We had a lot of fun and it was a good break from studies.”

The Sungai Long Dance Club has about 1000 members and the club conducts free dance classes for all interested students on campus. The free dance classes are taught by students Sze Hwei (k-pop), Gabrielle Tan (b-girl/girl-style) and Jing Heng (hip-hop free style). The free classes are held every Monday and Tuesday from 7pm to 9pm at Level 7 concourse area KB Block.

Yew Chien commented further that, “Dancing is a fun recreational activity and a good form of exercise to not only relieve stress but also showcase your talents. It builds good team spirit and patience when dancers teach others how to appreciate music and move to the rhythm as a group. Students learning to dance will in turn make new friends, discover hidden talents and develop more self-confidence.” Yew Chien himself loves b-boying and he develops his interest and talents looking up to his b-boy role models who are Poe One and Ken Swift.

The Sungai Long Dance Club basically aims to cultivate the dance culture as a form of recreation in addition to other sports and activities. It also aims to break stereotypes that only dance studios produce good dancers. University students among themselves do produce good talented dancers as well. Dance is also not only restricted to the Arts, many engineering students in the club are also good dancers. Yew Chien himself is a Year 2 Civil Engineering student and he invites all students from different faculties to join the dance club.

The dance club members have also performed for several functions and events inside and outside the campus as a group. In July 2018, the Sungai Long Dance Club held a dance competition titled “Untouchable Dance competition” with participation from Singapore, Australia, and Thailand in addition to Malaysia, attracting more than 80 participants who put up an exciting showcase of professional dancers.

The Sungai Long Dance Club aims to keep its members active with more events in the future.

Ardent fans and supporters anticipating the b-boy and hip-hop dance showcase by the UTAR Sungai Long Dance Club 

Chai Ching Suen dancing to the hip-hop rhythm with cheers from Wong Yew Chien 

Chan Yi Han from CFS proving that b-girls can join in the groove too 

Jesse H’ng from LKC FES break-dancing with his power moves and freezes 

Ho Yu Sheng from LKC FES (Actuarial Science) b-boying 

The UTAR Sungai Long Dance Club members dancing in unison to hip hop and contemporary style

Wong Yew Chien b-boying 

 Sungai Long Dance Club Members