Life of a Professional Dancer: 24 Hours with Shen Yun Performers!

Hi everybody, my name is Sam and welcome to 24 hours with a Shih Yun Dancer. So the first thing I do in the morning is always coffee. Did you know making coffee is a good exercise to get your body warmed up in the morning? It trains your forearms and upper body. You can also do some leg workouts at the same time, just to get your whole body worked out. Now it's best to do this when your roommate is not here because this will obviously wake him up. So after I make my coffee, I like to do a quick warm up stretch and it's because when we get into the theater, everything happens so fast, I have like no time to like calm down and do a nice stretch. So I do it now, it warms everything up in my body and it feels really nice. So you may have noticed in the previous videos that we always wear a suit when we travel around and it's to look more presentable. It's also to respect whoever we meet and I think because we look more presentable and we respect them, it also shows that we respect ourselves. So we always try to look nice and professional in a suit. Oh! One more thing. Most important thing, you can't look presentable without a nice pomade in your hair. So I would say this is like the most important step of my morning routine, the most absolute. You have to get this done and that's the height of my hair. What you want is to increase your height, overall height. So what you got to do is you got to go up first, get that volume up there, see how much higher I am, how tall I am, okay? And then you got to get the nice split down the side right here. Push everything down on the side. Yes! I think that's pretty good. What do you guys think? Last step. Let's go! Now it is about 8, 10 a.m. and right now, we're having breakfast. Some people like to eat a nice omelet and stuff, but me, I like to stick to a cup of coffee because I've been intermittent fasting from the night before. It's just how I keep my body in shape because it also is good for my digestive system and also it helps me heal better. But yeah, so only coffee for me in the morning. Let's get on the bus and head over to the theater where we're going to have class, okay? Okay, we just finished class and I want to talk about the importance of having class on tour, but let's get Will to tell us because he's the teacher. Will! Hello. My friend, my teacher. I think for every dance company, it's very important when touring to have a warm-up class. So we have our company class, right? And it's basically very simple. It's like your car. Before you push it, you know, before you want to redline it and make it go fast, you have to warm up the engine. So that's basically what class is. Everyone has to get their joints warmed up, get your muscles all stretched out, loosened before you're on stage and ready to go. That's it. So right now, it's lunchtime and we always say the food is really good and I just want to talk about the catering team that actually makes the food for Shenzhen. There's multiple teams and my dad is actually on the team in California and I know how hard it is from his experience, what he tells me to make the food because basically you're making food for a lot of people. There's no kitchens in the theater, so you have to make the food somewhere else and you have to drive as fast as possible to the theater to present the hot food to the people and they make three meals. They make lunch, dinner, and after the show food. So it's very, very labor intensive. After lunch, we did some standing meditation and you know how I said our schedule is really hectic? So this is how we kind of like take a breather, take a break and like kind of calm our minds down so we're not that stressed is some meditation. This time was a standing meditation. We also do a sitting meditation, but now we have to go spike the stage and get ready for the tech rehearsal. Let's go. We're rushing to our next schedule, which is to walk the stage like I said, but the thing is I want to talk about our schedule actually. So as you realize, it's pretty hectic because everything is scheduled so rigorously and so tied together. But then I actually like that because you know what to expect next. Everything is like scheduled and the right time. So everything is very organized. It feels kind of like an army. I don't know if that's a, I've never been in the army so I can't say, but it feels pretty good actually. The side stage here, as you can see, there's a lot of space. So if you want to tumble, you have a lot of space to prep when you're doing your technical movements. And the legs are also very long. So some theaters are different, but this one, once you run off, sometimes you have to run off one leg and you have to go right back on from a different leg. So you have to be quick when the legs are longer. You see this? But sometimes it's also shorter. So that's why we've got to walk it every single time and go through our dances. I'm not going to show you my stuff, but I have to prepare all of my headpieces, shoes and costumes. And this year I have 15 different costumes. That's a lot. Okay. So I have to go through every single dance, make sure everything's here and just checklist, mental checklist. I don't have a list that I write down. I just have a mental checklist. Go through each dance. Yep. And I have everything. So I'm all good to go. Preparation is key. Blocking is very boring. We just set the spacing. It's like horizontal lines, diagonal lines, triangles, circles, all that stuff. It's not boring. Okay. So let me tell you, we average about 10 formations per dance piece and we have so many dance pieces. Think about how many formations there are. So if you don't block the stage properly and you mess up for one, it's going to be bad for the audience to watch. Right. Especially the audience that are higher up. They see all the formations. So we have to watch that. Right. So that's important. Okay. But not exciting for me. Okay. Fine. The music's on now. The spokeless is going right now. But Sam, for tech rehearsals, what's important is that how long the curtain is, how long it takes for the curtain to come up, and even the amount of time it takes for the light to come on is different for every single theater. So we had to go through it. So we have a feeling of what it's like before the actual performance. And then when you actually perform, you're very confident. I'm blocking the singing sound. All right, guys, it's time to do makeup. Wham! So, finished makeup. I wish it was this fast in real life, man. Yeah, makeup is like my least favorite part, like Will, because we sweat a lot, and then we put on makeup. And that does not mix well at all. But we still have to do it because under super bright lights, this is the only way the audience can see our eyes. It was pretty hard at the beginning to do Musketeers and the show at the same time. And now I think I've struck a balance. It doesn't have to be like one or the other. I only can do one well. It's more like I can do both well. I just have to make it seamless when I record. That's my personal feeling with these vlogs. Yeah, I hope you guys enjoy it though, because we really want to show you what our lives are really like, because there's not that much content online. Right? So, you support. Like this video. Good job, Sam. See, he supports. All right, see you guys later. Have dinner now. Bye bye. Okay, right now it's before the show and everyone's warming up. And if you listen closely, you can hear that everyone's warming up, including our pianist and our orchestra. So it's time to warm up. Let's do some jumps. We finished the show, but the day is still not over. We still have to strike right now. My job is to do the shoes, do these wardrobes right here behind me, and put everything in the truck. So today I have an excuse for not working. I'm going to film everybody, right? Is that allowed, Will? I don't know. Usually you don't do much work either, so just do what you're doing right now. What? So I'm going to be a good person, I'm going to help this guy out. Here, let me help you out. You never help, Will. What do you mean I never help? I'm such a... Because you're recording a video. Okay, so... You just pretended to help. I helped you enough. Hey, Andrew, what's your job for Strike? I load the truck. Load the truck. What's your job for Strike? Eating? No, I do... Hey. I'm heading up. Just Sam's talking. You're busy, right? I don't have my fruit tray. I'm sorry. What do you do for Strike? I go and I carry the projectors, and I pack them, and I pack the boxes. I'm busy filming people today, so... This is your contribution to Strike. You're filming people. That's my job. You're slowing us down. I'm trying not to. Okay. All right, you keep not doing that. Okay, I'll try my best. Because honest people are always up for honest work. Oh, nice. Hey. Good job. People help us faster. Right? Yeah. It's less work for every... The people who are actually going to work, so... That's true. You're right. Yeah, and then... I mean, it's not like we're very, very tired that we can't do anything, you know? We still have energy to help, so why not? Everyone working after the performance, definitely the biggest thing I think is it keeps people grounded, okay? So it doesn't matter how great of a dancer you are or like how amazing you are, your technical skills. But at the end of the day, you still got to help out. So it kind of keeps you grounded. You don't become all like overconfident and arrogant and whatnot. So that's one reason. One of our principal dancers, he has a lot of pieces and he's working the hardest right now in Strike. And also Sam Poo, he's really, really hardworking too. And he also works a lot, taking care of the shoes and the truck later, man. Hardworking man. Keep at it. Keep it up. You got this. I didn't do anything today. I feel kind of bad. I'm just filming. All right, man. Got to get the honest work done. Yeah, I'm going to take off my makeup now. All right, guys. You know how hard it is to lose weight when the food is so good? Okay, this is not dinner. This is supper after the show. Look at this food. I didn't get too much. I got some Korean fried chicken, which is really good. Jisung would love this. We're finished. I'm running around asking people why it's important for street artists to help out in Strike. What do you think? That's one of our trademarks in Shen Yun is that everybody helps, not just Strike, also set up. If you pan that way, you'll see Jimmy. Jimmy's one of our principal dancers. He's been dancing for forever. He was helping me with the projection. Your other musketeer, Jisung, was out there too. So, yeah, everybody helps. It helps us get out of where we're going faster. We have a really tight schedule. So, you know, today, for example, was set up, show, Strike. And we usually can get out with like an hour, an hour and a half. We can be packed and ready to go. And we couldn't do that without everybody. We try to help each other. We serve different roles that provide support for the company and for the members. And that allows us to be really self-sufficient, get a lot done with a small number of people, obviously keep our costs a little low, and really keep growing. And I think it's part of our culture also is that you do what you can. And then if you can handle more, you handle more. And that's what we're doing. Congratulations. You have the best answer for this question. Is there an award? Wait, I can't. No, I can't say you're the best answer because that makes other people feel bad. OK, you have the better answer. We're all equal, but mine's a little bit more equal. There we go. Yeah, that's a good point, though. Like, we just get out so fast. We get in, get out. I remember one year in Japan, we were in three cities in three days. So we had a show, strike, pack the truck, we drove like three or four hours, set up, show, strike, drove again overnight, set up and show. Oh my gosh. I haven't done that again since then, but we can do that. And in fact, in one of these Japanese theaters, they said, listen, you guys have to be out of here with like an hour after the show because we're going to close the door. If not, it's going to cost you like several thousand dollars. So we took it as a challenge. And you saw like Milan, he was out there pushing boxes. We're all pushing boxes. And we slammed the doors behind us. And then we loaded the truck up the street. Wow. We were out 40 minutes flat. 40 minutes? Everything was out the door. Left the theater with all our stuff in 40 minutes. That has to be a record. Just for context, it took us 10 hours to get the show ready. I guess that there's some philosophy there. Like, it's easier to take things apart than to put them together. There you go. Demolish your home super fast. Yeah. Putting it together is hard. Yeah. Thank you guys for the good food. It was really good. Thank you. Bye bye. Thank you. Hey guys, how's it going? So we're almost done loading the truck and Sam's been missing in action this whole time. I told you Sam doesn't do anything. Guys, I've been doing some very hard work. I've been interviewing a bunch of people and like, you know, walking around and eating and stuff like that. After looking for a while, I finally found the man, the myth, the legend, Jeffrey Sun. So Jeffrey, you have a lot for the show, but you still help out, right? Is it tiring? And why do you do it? Because you have to work as a group. Everyone has to contribute. Guys, we just finished a tiring day of the show and now we're back in the hotel. I need to rest so we can work harder tomorrow. Alright, good night. Where's Jisung? That's the audience. Oh, Jisung. Jisung tried to do a vlog for this episode. You weren't there. It was pretty sad. How do I prepare for the show? Mystery. Nothing. Mysterious. Nothing special. I'll just go to do the makeup. Bye. Sorry. Disappointing you guys. But I have actually nothing to say. Alright, give me back the camera. Oh no. That's pretty sad. Anyways, we'll get Jisung to do his own video in the future. Oh yes, let's do that. That's it for today. No, actually, I need to go work now because right now I'm making another video. Even though I'm really tired, we just had a long day. I need to record some foley, which is sounds or sound effects for this movie that I'm making for Chinese New Year. Which will already be out. If you guys saw it, check it out, okay? Anyways, I have to go work now too. Work, let's get to work. Bye bye. Good night, yourself. It is the next day and we're actually going to a new city. And we're traveling around so much that I forget which city I'm in. I'm gonna go work out a little bit right now. I always try to get a quick workout in before the long bus ride because sitting on the bus is not fun. And if you don't have a workout in, you'll get fat. I hope you guys like hanging out with me for 24 hours. And I know my schedule looks really tiring and rigorous. But the thing is, I find it very meaningful that I'm able to share the values of my culture with people all around the world. And I actually love my job. And I remind myself every single day to be grateful for it. So if you guys like that kind of content, we're gonna have more of that on our channel. So remember to subscribe. I'll see you guys next time. Good job. Oops. I'm boiling the beans right now. This is not good for my coffee or my beans or my boiler. This is a very bad start to the day. But don't worry. Again, I say, in life, you have to learn. When stuff happens, you just have to continue.