Summer is here!

At the first sign of temperatures rising we know that summer is coming. That means for students all around the world, that long summer nights and lazy days are coming. For working people, it means leaving the coat at home and letting loose in the evenings because the weather is beautiful with the sun shining for longer hours.

For me, summer means my brain gets to relax a little bit and I get to be my hyper-creative self. Up until last year, summer also meant I get to perform in festivals and theaters. I spent most of my summers performing and teaching in different locations and environments. Some of my memories are spending more time in the studio rehearsing then changing and going to dinner at one of the various amazing restaurants in New York. A lot of administrative work was done before the festivals. With every festival tour I arranged, I became more efficient at working on what needs to get done. Press releases, fundraising campaigns, marketing material, personal invitations to presenters in the area, costumes, hiring lighting designers/technical directors, planning technical and dress rehearsals, videography, grant writing, and then the logistics as a tour manager as well. Some of these included: booking and reserving transportation, housing, and scheduling of all the rehearsals and performances.

Some pictures from Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2013:

Summer brings back nostalgic moments but it is also a time to create new memories. Last summer, I went traveling to Milan, Barcelona, Valencia, Granada, Seville, Lisbon, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Stockholm, Malmö. It was an epic summer of travel for about a month with friends and also part of it was solo travel as well. When I returned, my friend and mentor from New York came to visit Singapore so I showed her around town and even got to take her dance classes. It felt like an extended vacation and taking her class was like a homecoming to my previous life in New York. As I look at how different my life is now from a couple years ago, I probably could write a book!

Lisbon, Portugal

Milan, Italy

A year later and I'm living in a different continent. Living a different life as a postgraduate student. Many new friends. I'm spending this summer with a little bit of travel and going back to Singapore to visit my family and friends as well as teach my students a bit of dance as well.

Swiss campus grounds