Crucial Moment for Our Dance Careers | Peek Inside the Shen Yun Dance Assessment

I was practicing and I hurt my heelies again. Think negatively, then you might gonna like actually collapse. Everyone's career is on the line. Hey, welcome back. We're the 3 Musketeers. My name is William. I'm Sam. I'm Jisung. And we have an important dance assessment coming up. And to put it simply, our dance career is on the line. We have a dance assessment every six months. The performers are evaluated to see if they meet the professional standards required to be a Shen Yun dancer. So we're gonna introduce to you some of the content of what we're tested on. Yeah, and Jisung's not here because we don't need him. Right. Why is Jisung not here, by the way? Because we don't need him. He's actually busy right now, so... The first thing is Shen Dai Shou. And this is probably the most difficult thing that we're working on right now. And what Shen Dai Shou means is the body leads the hands. Right, and this is a technique that we use when moving in classical Chinese dance with thousands of years of history. Shen Dai Shou is actually very unique to Shen Yun, and it takes many years to master. That's how difficult it is. Every year, we have over 100 performances. With Shen Yun having 7 troops, that's over 700 shows in a year. With so much experience and everyone being professional, why do we still have dance assessments? Well, as artists, we know that there's always room for growth. And the dance assessment is a great opportunity to learn from each other. Hey, I want to talk about the most stressful part, and that's flipping. So during this test, I have a back handspring backflip. That's really scary for me because I actually ruptured my Achilles, and it was doing that exact move. Whenever I practice this move, I have flashbacks of when I ruptured my Achilles. So I always have a lot of anxiety when I practice, and it's really hard. But you just have to believe and stay positive, okay? So yeah, let's do it. Let's see how this turns out, okay? The next point is Shen Fa. And what that is is basically the requirements for all your postures and movements in classical Chinese dance. So it's basically the position of your arm and which direction your body should be in, should be facing. Sometimes when I'm teaching, I get really, really depressed actually because I see that the students aren't getting how to do the movements. I know that the problem is actually not with the students. It's with the teacher. The reason that the students are not doing well is because the teacher did not teach them well. So I do feel a lot of pressure. So that's why I do get very, very sad and upset and maybe even moody during class sometimes. I actually started growing white hair after I started teaching dance. True story. And I have just a few strands here. They're just sticking out. You might have noticed it in our videos before. The next point is Shen Yun. What is that? It's the emotion behind a movement. And why that's important is because in classical Chinese dance, we require that every single movement be driven by inner meaning. It's your own understanding of the Chinese culture and the arts. And through that understanding, you translate it into movements. For example, you do a single move. You just come down. Right? This is just a move. But if you put your spirit behind it or whatever you have in your mind or how you feel, put it behind a move. It feels completely different. Okay, Will and I are going to do the same move. We're going to raise our arm and see if it's different. Okay, ready? 3, 2, 1. Okay. Tell us if it gets better in the comments, okay? This is not a dance movement, actually. It's not like a standard movement, but just for example. And that's really interesting because even though we're all doing the same move, every single person does it a little bit differently. So it's really enjoyable to watch. Yeah, even though we're in sync, it still has a little bit of a different feeling. So it's like a signature feeling that everyone has that's different. Kim, Kim, Kim. There's only a couple of days left before the test. How are you feeling? Pressured? Of course, pressured. For sure. There's a feeling that you're at the edge. Then if you kind of try to think negatively, then you might actually collapse. I have to make sure that I'm mentally strong. All right, raise your legs up. Another big component of classical Chinese dance is flexibility, because many movements require a lot of flexibility just in order to do it. And that's why you have to stretch every single day, just like these guys right here. I was practicing, and I hurt my heelies again. And it wasn't that major, but it was a pull. There's a lot of pressure because we're getting closer and closer to the test, and I haven't really practiced any flips because of that. That's what's been stressing me out these few days. That's why it's even more important to keep positive. The other two guys are pretty stressed out, too. Okay, I know it seems like I'm kind of sad right now, but we just have to believe and stay positive, okay? And one more thing we're tested on is our technical moves. Yeah, and these moves actually have roots in Chinese martial arts and Chinese opera, and they have thousands of years of history. So these are all the flips, leaps, and turns you see. in classical Chinese dance. All the exciting stuff. When you first start learning classical Chinese dance, these technical moves are very flashy. So as a young kid, you might think they're so cool, and you might only practice those. But what's important is that these technical moves is like a firework. It's a flash. So you don't, like a three-minute dance, you're going to have, like, you know, only a few seconds of technical moves. It doesn't make up most of the dancing. So what's really important is still the dancing. That is the foundation for what you're watching, right, for the audience. And one more thing that my teacher actually told me before, if you can do difficult technical moves, it doesn't make you an excellent dancer. But an excellent dancer has to be able to perform these difficult technical moves. And as Chinese dancers, what's really, really important for us is for our hearts to be together. And this reflects both in our class and on stage. When our goals are all aligned, and when our hearts are together, we dance so much more in sync, and you can actually feel the energy when you're dancing. And when I'm teaching, I also feel the positive energy from all the students as well. So what I've tried to do recently is really change my approach to teaching class, and I try to be a lot more encouraging, and I have to give the students the confidence that they need to perform well. And the dance test is coming up in just a few days. Even though I'm really, really stressed, I've learned to be a lot more patient now. And this is the best approach that I've found so far that actually works for me and my class. All right, guys, that's some good news. So I've been practicing, and my foot feels a lot better. And it's the perfect time because tomorrow is the test. And I think a big part of it, recovering so fast, is because I've been trying to keep positive the whole time and not letting the negative thoughts get to me. So still nervous for tomorrow, but I'm gonna get some rest. We'll see you guys in the morning, okay? Any day now. Give me a second, okay? It's been an hour. How much more time do you need? What are you doing? I need to get pumped up first, okay? Give me a high five. Let's go. Let's go. I'm ready. I'm ready. Let's go. I got this. I got this. You ready, right? You ready to spot me? Okay. What are you doing? Dude, this mat is so slippery. What the... Let me get some rods out of here. I'll be right back. It's a mat, Sam. It's not slippery. All right, we're good. We're good. We're good. I'm gonna do it, okay? You ready? I'm gonna do it, okay? What are you doing? You changed your position. You can't do that. You're scaring me like crazy. I thought you were flipping. No, dude. Yo, who is that? I think she's the cleaning lady. What is she saying? I think she said you're a noob. No, no. You think it's easy? You wanna try? I'd like to see... Is she... Dude! She should be dancing, and you should be cleaning. Like and subscribe. Okay, so today is our dance assessment. And it's happening in less than an hour. How do I feel right now? Actually pretty good. I'm confident. I'm excited. How about you guys? I think we'll be okay, though. Sam, you ready? I had a really hard time sleeping last night, actually. But I think it's because I was excited. I'm pretty excited right now. Alright, better start warming up. Go. Yiseng is stretching right now. He's warming up. Look at that flexible boy. You have anything to say? Are you ready? I'm ready. We just finished our test, and how did we do? Okay, don't be too overzealous, but we did alright this time. Let's do better next time, yes. We'll do better next time. We'll do even better. What I really want to do right now is actually tell myself before the test not to worry, because everything will be fine. I remember in the middle of the test, I was thinking to myself, wow, this is not that bad. I'm doing okay. Because the thing is, we have months to prepare for this. So it's actually what you do in those months that prepares you for this test and not what you do in the last few days. Sam of the future, don't worry. Just prepare more in the months before, okay? What are you doing, Sam? What am I doing? Eating snacks, sleeping, watching movies. I feel very stress-relieved now because we're done with... Oh, wait, we have a month to prepare for the show. Yeah. Done. Bye. Overall, we did pretty well. But I have to remind myself, of course, not to be overzealous. Don't get too excited because there's always more room for improvement. I was very, very, very stressed. Now we can take a short respite, get a short breather before our next busy schedule, which is preparing for performances. So we'll vlog more and we'll show you what that is like. Three, two, one. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe. By the way, we're under high stress right now because our schedule is so jam-packed. And you can tell because we all do look a little bit tired. And you can tell I'm tired when my hair is messy. And for Jisung, his mom actually called him. Yeah, my mom told me to... Clean myself up. My mom told me to do your hair a little bit, so make yourself more... Presentable for the camera. Don't worry, Jisung. For other people. Consider other people. I'll teach you how to get this hair. Don't worry about it. And one of my friends actually told me that you might look tired, but your hair is never tired. Now your hair is good. Iron hair. Right. And I need a haircut. I've been too busy. I actually haven't had the chance to get it yet. All right, man. Let's go. All right, let's go.