Singaporean dancer passes on ballet skills to Lao students 

To promote ballet in Laos a Singaporean expert in the field has devoted the best part of three years passing on the finer techniques of the elegant art form to eager young dancers.

Ms Sharon Goh and her students in a ballet class at the National School of Performing Arts.

The wife of the Singaporean Ambassador to Laos, Ms Sharon Goh decided to devote her time to teaching ballet at the National School of Performing Arts when she moved to Laos. Through her efforts, she hopes students will go on to raise awareness nationally and improve their ballet skills and the graceful field of dance.
Ms Goh has been teaching ballet for almost three years at the National School of Arts, which is part of the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.
She said she had around 20 students in her first year and almost 40 in her second.
This year, she and the school have streamlined the programme and condensed the ballet group to the best twenty students.
After gaining knowledge and experience from the classes, students perform a ballet piece at the end of every year as part of their school graduation ceremony with ministry officials participating as distinguished guests.
The students have performed at the Embassy’s National Day Reception and the Asean night organised by the Philippine Embassy.
Students also performed last October at a fundraising showing of the film Dearest Sister, directed by Mattie Do with the charity screening raising funds for the ballet students at the National School of Performing Arts and the Lao Friends Hospital for Children in Luang Prabang.
Ms Goh says ballet is an excellent dance discipline to learn and she has passed on her considerable knowledge to students about understanding timing and how to improve their dance skills for the future. While she has devoted much time to the classes it is ultimately up to the students to develop themselves.
Laos has only one ballet school in Vientiane and last year she took six students from the National School of Performing Arts and Mr Savaeng, a teacher at the school, on a study tour to Singapore.
The week-long tour took them to different dance schools in the island nation so they could learn about the varying art forms. Ms Goh said she wants to complete the picture in learning to dance and there are so many things that she wants the students to discover about dance education in other parts of the world.
She teaches ballet on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with two classes in the morning for children aged from 12-14, and then some prepare for their performance from 12-1pm.
The benefit of ballet dancing is not only learning about dance but also about the disciplines involved in doing your best every time, working on improving all the time, and striving to achieve your potential, Ms Goh explained.
She tells her classes “Even if I’m not feeling my best I will always try to teach you to my best ability, so you must also always try to do your best in class.”
Ms Goh is also on the organising committee of Lao Fashion Week and the Lao Young Designer Project mainly because one of Singapore s leading arts schools -Nanyang Fine Arts - is sponsoring the second prize.
“Education and youth empowerment are things I believe strongly in. With guidance and encouragement, talented passionate youth can develop into self-motivated and enabled adults who become the instruments of change in developing countries,she said.
I feel privileged to play a small part in the Young Designers’ project and to witness the enthusiasm and hope of such youth, with dreams in their hearts and skill in their hands. I am proud of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore for their generosity in sponsoring a course of study for one of the winners of the project and for being the first step in a young person’s journey towards a brighter future, she added.
She said the reason she decided to teach ballet at the National School of Arts was because she received a request from the Director, Mr Touan Mouanchan, after he heard from her husband while on a visit to the school that she taught ballet.
For now, she is working on many projects, including guest performances at other schools, preparing the students for external examinations, and developing a sustainable programme for the school.

By Sisouphan Amphonephong
(Latest Update March 16, 2018)