In this episode of the podcast, we speak to Eli about how he co-founded the Sinostage dance studio with his wife in Chengdu. Since opening over a year ago in the Poly Center, Sinostage has grown to become a landmark within Chengdu’s urban dance scene. Find out why top-tier international dance instructors now make regular trips to Chengdu to teach at Sinostage.
We also discuss Sinostage’s upcoming Arena Dance Battle, which competitive dance teams are flying to Chengdu from all over China for. That battle is this upcoming Sunday, May 24th inside the Cynn hotel.
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Topic Discussed
2:00 What kind of dance is popular at Sinostage- 4:00 The inspiration for starting Sinostage
- 5:30 The role of community in Sinostage, and of design in community building. Mentioned: Mojo Designs
- 10:00 The origins of the Poly Center studio
- 11:30 Hip hop in the dance studio, and hip hop’s influence on current dance styles
- 15:30 Zak joins the podcast, gives his impressions of Sinostage’s early days
- 17:00 Overcoming the challenge of finding good teachers
- 18:30 Dancers working in clubs versus becoming teachers
- 20:00 Has Eli ever participated in a dance class
- 20:30 Dan talks about his experience in a class
- 22:00 The gender breakdown of students
- 22:20 Zak asserts how international Sinostage is
- 23:00 The importance of social media
- 25:00 The most popular dance video, Shaolin
- 26:00 The specifics of social media in China, Sinostage on Meipai
- 30:00 Periscope and Meercat
- 30:45 Arena 2015 Dance Competition
- 32:00 The competitiveness of Chinese dancers
- 35:40 The teams participating in Arena 2015, the prize for winners.
- 38:30 The challenges for dancers to get visas
- 40:30 Attitudes of Chinese parents towards dance
- 43:00 The average age of students
- 43:30 The issues surrounding sexuality in dance
- 45:45 “The alchemy of globalization”
- 46:15 The Arena Block Party, May 23, at IFS antiquity plaza 3-5pm
- 47:30 Arena Competition Ticket Giveaway info
- 49:00 The future of Sinostage
Songs Featured in this Episode
- Kount x Harrison – Knight Life by The Kount
- RL Grime – Reminder (feat. How to Dress Well)
- fwdslxsh – su.re th.ing on Trapdoor Records
- The Weeknd – Or Nah (Remix)
Got an idea of what we should record our next podcast about? Let us know in the comments and if you like what you heard, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and stay tuned for the next one!
If you want to see more of our dance videos, you can find them on our Youku channel: http://i.youku.com/u/UMzg4NTE1MDY4/videos/view_1_order_2
Also, one thing I forgot to mention when we discussed the Shaolin video is that the editing was done by Jonathan Shih, who is the videographer for the Kinjaz. He can be found on Instagram https://instagram.com/jyshih21/
Now that the Sinostage Arena battle event has come and gone, I can say that it was one of the most exciting things that I have seen in Chengdu this year. Amazing achievement not only for Sinostage but for Chengdu and for China’s dance community.
The Sinostage Youku page has a lot of videos from the event, but here’s one from the winning team from Beijing: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XOTY0NTEzNzU2.html?from=y1.7-2