Dancer Jeremie Gan is thriving at Singapore Ballet
MALAYSIANSKINI | At age 16, Jeremie Gan made the difficult decision to leave home to go to New Zealand for his diploma studies in dance.
“It all stemmed from a scholarship that I got at the age of 11 for a week’s summer school programme in Melbourne. After that week, I told my mum I wanted to pursue dance professionally and she encouraged me, leading to international competition in Hong Kong at 15 (Asian Grand Prix) and obtaining a place at the New Zealand School of Dance for the following year in 2014,” said Malaysian-born Gan, who is now a ballerino at the prestigious Singapore Ballet.
“The journey has been amazing, to say the least. Pursuing dance has opened up so many opportunities for me and allowed me to network with so many incredible individuals from a myriad of backgrounds and industries. I will always be grateful for dance for providing me with such an amazing journey thus far,” said Gan.
He had just finished performing...
MALAYSIANSKINI | At age 16, Jeremie Gan made the difficult decision to leave home to go to New Zealand for his diploma studies in dance.
“It all stemmed from a scholarship that I got at the age of 11 for a week’s summer school programme in Melbourne. After that week, I told my mum I wanted to pursue dance professionally and she encouraged me, leading to international competition in Hong Kong at 15 (Asian Grand Prix) and obtaining a place at the New Zealand School of Dance for the following year in 2014,” said Malaysian-born Gan, who is now a ballerino at the prestigious Singapore Ballet.
“The journey has been amazing, to say the least. Pursuing dance has opened up so many opportunities for me and allowed me to network with so many incredible individuals from a myriad of backgrounds and industries. I will always be grateful for dance for providing me with such an amazing journey thus far,” said Gan.
He had just finished performing Peter and Blue’s School Holiday, a children’s ballet made by Singapore Ballet’s artistic director, Janek Schergen, in which Gan performed the lead role of Peter.
Recalling what drew him to dance, Gan said that it all went back to a time when he would sit in the corner of the studio at his mother’s ballet school.
“I was a little kid, and seeing all the other ballet students dancing around in the classes looked so much fun. It helped that my mum decided to let me do ballet and grow up with one of her classes throughout the levels, all the way to Advanced 2 in the RAD syllabus.
“What attracted me to the ballet was the sense of freedom I got. I love jumps, and the feeling of being suspended in the air is the closest experience I would get, akin to flying like a bird.
“Not being grounded by gravity and being in full control of your surroundings in the air - that was what ballet offered and what drew me to ballet itself,” explained Gan.
Lockdown challenges
Gan was in Singapore when the Covid-19 lockdown period began in 2020.
“It was too risky to head back to Malaysia as I had a job here (which I couldn’t do remotely) and the guidelines for travel kept changing, which made things unpredictable.
“It got better during the later stages of the lockdown as things were less restrictive and we dancers could enter the studios again for classes and rehearsals with key differences in place, like wearing masks while dancing and no physical contact, which meant no partnering in ballets,” he elaborated.
He began his studies for his BSc in Business and Management at the University of London. Gan said it gave him something to focus on and feel like he was doing something productive and was working toward a goal.
“I just submitted my final graduation papers last Friday and I’m waiting for the results in July when I will officially finish my degree, fulfilling the wishes of my late father,” said Gan.
As a professional dancer, he said staying in shape is also of paramount importance.
“On the one hand, the years of training meant that some things came back to muscle memory faster than expected.
“On the other hand, little things that I never thought of as being hard, such as finding my balance in pirouettes and my stamina, were much harder to recover. The stage felt much bigger than I remembered.
“I was performing Momentum on the Esplanade Theatre main stage and realised that the distance across the stage was quite vast. This is what happens when we all have been stuck at home dancing in a small space for too long,” Gan elaborated.
To stay in shape during the lockdown, Gan made sure he had a routine. After waking up in the morning, he would be conducting his ballet lessons, do some conditioning work, have lunch, and then revise for his studies and upcoming exams.
“It was a good time as well to offload some of the physical pressure on my body, allowing any aches and pains to resolve.
“Night times were spent catching up with friends from all over the world on calls. It was funny how we were all sharing the exact experience of staying at home during the lockdowns and having nothing to do!” said Gan.
The sense of productivity was something that Gan found very hard to cope with during lockdown.
“I tend to be someone who finds fulfilment in purpose, and losing the dancing aspect of myself felt like I was not being as productive as I wanted to be or as I once was.
“It helped that I had my BSc studies during that time to allow me to channel that excess energy into another avenue. This morphed as well into me giving out free online classes on Instagram Live for people all around the world to join in,” Gan explained.
With restrictions now lifted, Gan is thrilled that Singapore Ballet is back in full force.
After Peter and Blue’s School Holiday, he said the next few months are going to be exciting with world premieres and classical ballets. This includes the world premiere of Quiver by Tim Rushton; the light-hearted story of Coppelia; In the Glow of the Night by famed Singaporean choreographer Choo San Goh; and The Nutcracker which is perfect for the whole family.
Gan’s favourite
Gan named Alexander Campbell from the Royal Ballet and Anthony Huxley from the New York City Ballet as his favourite dancers of all time.
“They have this cleanliness in their technique while still maintaining a sense of freedom in their upper body. A lot of dancers are either precise in their technique but look rigid and uncomfortable to watch, or have great artistry at the expense of their technical clarity. To be able to have both is amazing and I feel those two show it off during their performances.
“Of course, I cannot forget about Singapore Ballet! I look up to all my colleagues here, who are all fantastic dancers and a joy to work with. They inspire me every day, both in the studio and on stage,” said Gan admiringly.
His favourite ballet of all time is SYNC by Nils Christe.
“It is a behemoth of ballet and it captures the audience’s attention for a solid 40 minutes. Performing it is amazing as well.
“Nils Christe’s ballets are always super precise in their musicality and SYNC exemplifies this with the entire company on stage, giving this sense of community not found in many other ballets.
“In terms of favourite ballets that I would like to perform it would be David Dawson’s ‘The Four Seasons’.
“It looks so cool with the lighting, the sleek unitards and the style of movement that is athletic but so beautiful at the same time. I hope we get to perform some of Dawson’s works here at Singapore Ballet in the near future!” enthused Gan.
As happy and fulfilled as Gan feels with his career, he said people still have the wrong perception of what he does.
The most common one is that it is not a career.
“So many individuals have come up to me saying that what I do is not an actual job.
“When I tell people I am a ballet dancer, the standard reply would be ‘So you teach ballet then?’ This cultural shift in mindset would take time, but I can see it happening, albeit slowly, with people coming to the understanding that you can have an illustrious career in the arts and dance as a professional dancer.”
His plan for the future is to be the best dancer that he can be with Singapore Ballet and to uphold the company’s name both locally and on the global stage.
“My personal goal as a dancer is to increase my skill set. This includes being exposed to a wider range of dance styles by different choreographers to enhance my performance versatility and continuing to refine my technique and artistry, which itself is a never-ending process in pursuit of unattainable perfection,” said Gan.
Singapore’s art scene is far more vibrant than Malaysia’s. But Gan thinks that it will change.
“Malaysia has a vibrant arts scene with a lot of potentials. Things like Short+Sweet Malaysia and BOH Cameronian Arts Awards are really, in my opinion, helping to spur the art scene forward in Malaysia.
“I hope that this will continue encouraging the country’s wider cultural attitude towards the arts, with the general population seeing it as a venture worth supporting and funding.”
Malaysianskini is a series on Malaysians you should know.
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