I'm writing this book so no one makes the same mistake I made- to go to the Kuching International Dance Festival 6th anniversary (KIDF).

It's not that I hate it, but to conclude, there are definitely some things I regret doing, involving the festival.

1: KIDF                                                           4

2: How we got there                                                9

3: Improvements needed                                               10

4: Inner thoughts                                                   13

Please consider this book if you want to be a dancer.

A note before you read this: I am writing about the 6th anniversary only. Other KIDF festivals might not be the same as written here. Likewise, they might be similar or the same.

1: KIDF

KIDF stands for Kuching International Dance Festival. The basis of the festival is simple. Teachers and students (dancers) from all countries come to Malaysia, Kuching, Borneo Cultures Museum to attend classes taught by teachers of different races. There are breaktimes. The classes are called Masterclasses, because they are actually taught by famous people.

Some of the classes include Traditional Dance, Latin, Chinese Dance, Conditioning, Korean Drumming and others. The teachers are actually trained. (Matthew Balbastro, Mr Wang, Rinrada or Miss Moi, etc.) The classes can be confusing, but you will get used to it.

On the second and third nights of the festival, the entire group of dancers will be invited to perform at the auditorium at the museum. The dancers will be invited to a function room to stay in before performing. It is cold and almost freezing outside and inside, so please be mindful to bring a jacket when going.

You will be invited backstage by some organizers to get ready. Before performance, everyone will put hands together to welcome the VIPs to welcome them. In the end, you will perform on the stage as a dancer and be hurried back to the function room afterwards. You have a choice to see the other performances.

On the final night, all dancers and teachers will be guided into a Party Gala Night for a Farewell Dinner Buffet. Dancers will be invited onstage to speak to the audience and be grateful for the festival. Afterwards, they will all return to their individual hotel rooms for night.

All In Detail (Singapore Perspective: Kaylee Tee timeline):

On our first day (11 August), we headed to our international airport at AirAsia to board a flight to Kuching. When we arrived, it was nighttime and we were escorted to the hotel. We were each given a bag of snacks, including a small canister of Sarawak pepper.

After heading to our individual rooms, we unpacked a few things and headed to sleep.

The next morning, during our breakfast buffet, we wore ballet socks, a green dance top, a white skirt, some black leggings and sport shoes. We were to bring a bag with our ballet shoes, water bottles and other mandatory items.

During breakfast we were given a one-time-use orange bracelet that would not lock again after opening it. You had to wear it all day, all night. We were all given an orange tee with the words 'KIDF' imprinted on them in colorful letters. After that, we headed to the Borneo Cultures Museum, a five minute walk.

At the museum, we were guided through the day's Masterclasses. We started off with Conditioning, taught by a teacher from Thailand. Conditioning was all with music rhythms, exercising and practicing with muscle strength to make us stronger. Shortly after we joined Street Dance, taught by Latte, a great street dance teacher who was a fan of Pikachu.

Then was lunch. Lunch was a thirty-minute period, and then we decided to go to Latin, by Matthew Balbastro. We learnt a lot of Latin Culture.

At around three or so, we went into the auditorium for Korean Drumming lessons. We had so much fun!

Finally, we headed back to the hotel with some dinner.

Day 2, we started with Latin dances again. It became much more interesting after a day's experience.

After the next class, we had our lunch.

We headed back to the hotel with dinner after another Masterclass and started doing makeup and eyeshadow at our teacher's room. We also rested and retied our hair into buns and ate our dinner. Afterwards, we headed back to perform again with fans.

The performance was not great. (More in Inner Thoughts) 

At twelve midnight, we were at our hotel rooms, ready for bed.

Early the next morning, we skipped one of the Masterclasses to rest. The moment we headed there, we took Latin again, then we had some lunch.

After lunch, we immediately did our makeup and dressings in the corner of the museum. We would be a little late for our next masterclass, which was Traditional and Folk Dance. We still made it in time.

Straight after Traditional Dance, we headed to the function room. We started warming up for our dance and putting on lipstick- later relaxing for a while. Then, we started to perform like before and returned to our hotels.

At the Gala Party Night, we all dressed in fancy elegant dance clothes. We had a delicious dinner and some inspiring speeches by the organizer, the teachers and dance students from different countries.

Again, at twelve midnight, we returned to our hotel rooms for a nights rest.

Day 3 was so simple. We woke up, dressed ourselves again, and headed to the airport. We flew back to Singapore, exhausted, and we were finally home.

2: How we got there

On Tuesdays, we would have our dance classes at Hougang, Tang Dance Academy. The moment all of us were present, the teacher started explaining about the festival, and who could go. We agreed to perform our two best dances: Willow in the Wind (the fan dance) and The Left Moon. The following week, we started revising our dances insanely. Soon, we were ready to go.

The teacher advised us to bring PINK. Shortly after, she arranged a Zoom Meeting to tell us what to bring and the different circumstances.

Of course, we were all excited.

Who knew it could go all wrong?