Setting up a dance studio is never an easy task – not only is it already financially demanding and requires full commitment from all involved, but the highly competitive environment means that the studio has to stand out in some way above the rest, and take time to patiently build up its own community and loyal fanbase of students and dancers.

One studio that has successfully braved the odds, surviving even the tumultuous COVID-19 pandemic years, is Converge Studios. Founded in 2016, the seven-year old dance studio now operates across 2 branches in Dhoby Ghaut and Potong Pasir, and has become ‘a sanctuary for dance enthusiasts of various levels and experiences’. Employing 40 genre specialist instructors conducting more than 50 open classes a week, the studio has always aimed to make dance accessible, and as their name suggests, for dancers to come together and congregate with some of the best and most relevant in the industry.

This weekend, the studio will be performing their annual dance showcase – Converge Recital. Playing at the National University of Singapore’s University Cultural Centre, this edition of Converge Recital plays on the idea of ‘For’ (punning on it being the fourth edition), and looks at the motivations and objectives of dancers – why they choose to continue dancing, and who or what they’re dancing for. We found out more about the upcoming performance, as well as the studio’s origin and philosophy when we spoke to co-founder Nash Tan.

“We keep doing these recitals because it’s not only good for the studio, but because it helps prepare our dancers for a proper performance as well,” says Converge co-founder Nash Tan. “We make sure the process is professional, where the final members are put through a formal audition process, and we assess whether they are ready to perform both in terms of skill level and whether they can face a 2,000 person-strong audience while on stage with the spotlight hitting them. We don’t want to end up a case where we prematurely put them up on stage and the production ends up causing them more stress instead.”

Speaking about the growth that Converge has seen over its lifespan, Nash tells us about how the founding team initially struggled with teething issues, and the passion that led to its birth in the first place. “The story behind finding our team was really simple – I used to be in NUS Dance Blast, and you end up making friends from there who stay in touch with each other even after graduation, and you build up contacts and have this strong core group, which ended up becoming Converge,” says Nash. “We first thought of getting our own studio in 2016, because in Singapore, you want to carve out your own space instead of constantly borrowing the very limited timeslots that existing studios have, it’s really about having that freedom to plan and have your own space to do that.”

“In that process, we were very ambitious and started out with a space on Cecil Street. Renovation and rent was expensive, and we started out with too much space for too few classes, where the supply exceeded demand. There were even cases where there would be one student assigned to one instructor, and we ended up combining the class into one,” he adds. “But eventually we decided to resize the studio, eventually changing up the contract when we renewed it, and once we built up our student numbers and reputation, learnt how to manage the space and the studio properly.”

Speaking about how much dance has changed since the studio’s beginnings, Nash speaks about the rise of digitalisation, and how the pandemic affected things. “I think of the ‘missing generation’ of dancers who got stuck at home during the pandemic, because so many first experiences with dance is at the clubs, and it’s had this ripple effect on people doing it professionally and of course, the businesses that need dancers,” says Nash. “Things have recovered since then, but now, so many youths are also very much in the online world, and I think that dance is important for bringing them out of it, and helping them with their mental state with a community and sense of camaraderie.”

“Even beyond that, dance also helps instil a sense of character and discipline when they train together, where if just one person is late, everyone has to wait. What you get out of all the training is some degree of recognition and validation you’re doing something right, which we try to do with mini-performances and in-class as well,” he continues. “All of this contributes to goal-setting and self-development, where we encourage our dancers to never stagnate, to look at others and learn from them, and motivate them to keep improving. Even when you’ve gone past the beginner stage, you cannot let it go to your head, or else you’ll end up with a big ego and won’t be able to grow any further.”

On the rigour and demands of the supposedly ‘judgmental’ community, Nash reassures us that everyone is here to help each other out and become better together. “There are times students do have difficulty developing trust and can feel quite isolated when they don’t know anyone, but our instructors at least are quite friendly and have learnt to spot these students in distress, sometimes even running recitals just to help the newbies open up more,” says Nash. “The training and performance that goes into a recital helps align the dancers to the same frequency and develops some friendship, and helps them feel less fear. As for judgment, everyone is already busy judging themselves, and one must remember that it’s not about comparing to others, but about learning how to use constructive criticism as a driving force to better yourself instead.”

“By nature, dance is performative, but everyone is really struggling in their own way. Different people are struggling at different points, and if you keep that in mind, it becomes easier to let go of the fear of being judged, and keep up a positive mindset,” he adds. “It comes down to positive mentality and being able to capitalise on your skillset and hard work to get to where you are – let’s say even if you’re financially challenged, you can work for school programmes or train students in schools, and earn some extra money that way and find yourself employed because of dance. It just takes optimism and some effort to pull yourself out.”

Most important of all for a dancer then, is to ensure that they never stop, and even for a studio that’s found stability, Converge too intends to keep up the good work, develop themselves further, and move with the times. “We are in a state of constant evolution, where our motivations have changed over time, what we fight for no longer exists, and our team has shifted here and there due to being in different stages of life and having different priorities,” Nash concludes. “You do sometimes ask yourself why you do this, and seven years isn’t a short time at all, especially considering the relatively short lifespan of a dancer’s professional career. But we always learn to pivot, and most of all, to find intrinsic meaning and purpose in all that we do to keep on keeping on.”

Photo Credit: Converge Studios

Converge Recital 2023 plays on 16th and 17th December 2023 at the UCC Ho Bee Auditorium. Tickets available here. More information about Converge Studios available here