For Low Mei Yoke, dance has always been more than just movement—it’s a lifelong pursuit that has also been the glue keeping her closest friendships strong throughout the years. Now, with her latest show, Dance With Me, she’s inviting audiences into a deeply personal and heartfelt reunion, and to watch the power of friendship on display through dance and movement.

Playing as part of the 2025 Huayi – Chinese Festival of Arts, Dance with Me sees Mei Yoke reunite with her longtime friends as they come onstage and dance together. All trained dancers in their own right, the performance sees Mei Yoke, together with Selina Tan, Thong Meng Lan and Jean Lee, reminiscing over their wild halcyon days, thinking back to the fire that drove them and fearless dedication towards achieving their dreams. 40 years on, they are left wondering how they’ve changed in both mind and body, as they utilise their wealth of experience to rediscover the power of dance, embracing change and encapsulating life itself in the way they move.

Speaking to Mei Yoke, the co-founder of Frontier Danceland spoke about her original foray into professional dance and the idea for the project, which first came to mind after her performance for Frontier Danceland’s MILIEU 2023. “Some of my closest friends came to watch me in that performance, and it made me realise just how many years we’ve known each other – since we were in our teens,” says Mei Yoke. “We knew each other from various dance practices and circles, and somehow became like sisters to each other, sharing that same passion for dance and wanting to go professional. All of us decided to head overseas to try to get into a company, some of whom were on scholarships, and some of us not, but we all wanted to do something together. In the end, one of them made it to Hong Kong Dance Company, another made it into Hong Kong Ballet, another ended up in America, while my own funds dried up after three months in Hong Kong and I returned to Singapore.”

“I felt a bit envious and wanted to go see the world and get exposure, and it felt a little like a personal failure on my part, because I knew how difficult it was to build up a reputation in Singapore at the time. But a good opportunity came about when I was given an opportunity to fill in for a senior while freelancing as a dance instructor, and that gave me the stepping stone I needed to establish myself in Singapore,” she adds. “So really, while we all had very different paths, we all ended up finding some degree of success, and what’s most important to me is how we were brave enough to pursue our dreams in such an uncertain environment. We really gave it our all – I even missed my sister’s wedding because I was in a performance!”

Mei Yoke has enjoyed enough time in the limelight to consider her a key figure in local dance and a pioneer choreographer in Singapore, but ever since the closure of Frontier Danceland, there still remains an itch to keep moving and stay dancing. “I thought I’d take a rest after working for so many years, and stayed active by going to Zumba and yoga classes, but it just wasn’t the same as dancing proper,” says Mei Yoke. “So that’s why I decided to round up my friends, and plan to do something outside of our line dance classes and afternoon teas. I knew it would be hard – all of them have their own families and busy schedules, and were afraid they might be stressed, since it’s been so long since they last danced. But they agreed to make some compromises and adjustments to their schedule, and so the project began.”

And with that, the ladies started their journey of rediscovery and learning how to work with their bodies again. “In the past, we would follow exact choreography from an instructor and focused on precision and very little improvisation, but these days, the norm is to become more individual and explore one’s own style and capability, and in our development process, learnt how to dance with each other again,” says Mei Yoke. “A lot of it comes down to communicating with each other and taking the responsibility to care for each other’s feelings, and to stay active so we’re ready. In our older bodies, there are a lot more limitations, where even standing for long periods can be very hard. And we recognise that we can no longer do the things we did as 20-something year olds. So we focus a lot more on just doing what comes naturally to us, to the best of our abilities, not worrying about what the audiences think, and evoking that sense of warmth and camaraderie we share.”

The performance itself does follow an overall structure, with little moments of improvisation from each dancer, and essentially acts as an invitation to play within a given frame. “My friend Ong Yong Loke from Hong Kong is assisting us on concept and choreography, so he provides the big picture for us, while we worked on what we could do within that,” says Mei Yoke. “He was a little hesitant at first because he didn’t know my friends that well, but he’s been integral to helping us adjust our choreography and tie it all together. In that sense, I could relax and fully express myself rather than lose sleep over the performance, and remain in the right frame of mind to ensure we’re all comfortable onstage together and converse properly.”

On the appeal of dance today, Mei Yoke laments the difficulty of growing an audience, with many of the performances with filled theatres finding success either because of the young performers with a strong following from their friend group, alongside much more affordable tickets. “When I was running Frontier Danceland, we always had a healthy audience because of our dancers and students’ connections and families, but sustaining and growing that audience base can be hard,” she says. “And even beyond the ticket prices and not knowing dancers personally, contemporary dance can still be intimidating for the general public because no one wants to feel foolish if they think they don’t understand what’s going on onstage. But to me, well, you never have to understand every single thing happening onstage, and just enjoy what you can instead.”

At the end of the day, the show must go on, and Mei Yoke and her friends can and will continue to move regardless of the scene and the amount of support they receive. “As dancers, we just feel the need to keep moving. As you grow older, it also becomes so much more closely tied to health, and every time we go for a checkup, somehow there’s a new condition that the doctor diagnoses,” says Mei Yoke. “Ageing is inevitable; we will grow old, we will deteriorate, but we have to maintain ourselves and slow down the process, by moving more and exercising more.”

“It’s also a reminder for us to get out there and meet others and continue to interact so our mental health is kept in good shape too. To me, as we move into the new year, I wish that all of us can stay healthy, and peace and enjoy life even while there’s so much happening around the world,” she concludes. “To me, to maintain this decades-long friendship and somehow still be able to come onstage and perform together, we’re really so lucky to be able to have this platform to showcase that, and that alone fills me with so much gratitude and joy.”

Dance With Me plays from 7th to 8th February 2025 at the Esplanade Theatre Studio. Tickets available here

Huayi – Chinese Festival of Arts 2025 runs from 7th to 16th February 2025 at the Esplanade. Tickets and full programme available here