MUSE

WHERE WORDS BECOME INSPIRATION

9 725697

356902

THE INAUGURAL ISSUE

FEBRUARY 2016

ISSUE 01
FEB 2016
S$19.95
(inclusive of 7% GST)

+Last Minute Love Notes

+Diamond In The Rough
+Discovering Nepal

Free Limited Edition MUSE Scrapbook

+F

CONTENT
Places
Artea Afternoon

Discovering Nepal

People
The Hipster Blend

Long Live The Longboard

For The Record

10

Art
Last Minute Love Notes

12

I Ink Therefore I Am

14

Diamond In The Rough

16

Moves Like Jagger

18

Keeping In Tune

20

Food
The Future of Our Food

22

History in One Bite

24

12

About The Cover Photograph

Behind the prejudice and stigmatisation against
androgyny, Andreas Chua sways her body with a
fiery passion that warms anyone who watches her
dance. She is the epitome of MUSE: young, talented
and working hard to improve her art form while never
losing the spark in her eyes.
Photograph by Colin Chan

16

EDITORIAL
From the Editor
Before MUSE became what it is today, the concept of this young, new magazine
was still unknown to us for it was hard to find our theme within the colliding
ideas that came from nine distinctive, eclectic minds. Beneath the clutter and
confusion, we managed to discover some common ground: hard work, passion
and creativity. This had sparked a sudden, rare moment of absolute clarity, and
along came MUSE. Simple. Timeless. Powerful.
MUSE is the embodiment of artistic experience, creative individuals and stories of gain and loss. It is an advocate for originality, an explorer of uncharted
grounds and a source of inspiration for every artist, struggling or not. MUSE will
remind you that the richness and fulfilment in our lives come from the Places,
People, Food and Art that are stripped of pretence and exterior faade. In this
inaugural issue of MUSE, we will take you on a journey to Nepal, guide you on
how to make your own Valentines Day scrapbook and explore the trend of hipster cafs.

Kimberly Lim
Chief Editor

I hope that this issue of MUSE will inspire and resonate, following you on the
creative journey that awaits ahead.

Our Muses

Angela Loh
Layout Designer

Auyeong Hui Xin

Layout Designer

Saleha Noor
Sub-Editor

Rebecca Leo
Sub-Editor

Farhan Hamid
Writer

Kyra Tayer
Writer

Chye Ping Xuan

Writer

Colin Chan
Photo-Editor

MUSE 1

PEOPLE

LONG LIVE

THELONGbOARD

Chye Ping Xuan takes you for a ride through the trend of longboarding,
an unconventional mode of transport

whoosh; a snag of wind, as teens crouching

on what seems like wooden handless Segway
barrel by but wait, they are not the brightly
coloured motorised scooters that have taken teenagedom by storm. No, these ones take us back in time to
old school manual-balancing and riding longboards.
Cruising Through History:
According to a Sports Then and Now article published
on February 10, 2014, longboarding emerged in
Oahu, Hawaii as an alternative to surfing, when
lackadaisical waves rendered the latter a bore.
It has since grown in popularity; today, teens are often
spotted leisurely coasting around parks, Straits Times
reported on February 22, 2015.
42 per cent of these avid skaters, according to a survey
conducted by MUSE, picked up the sport in the last
five year as compared to 16 per cent in the five years
before that. Yet for a single sport, its uses vary with
different people.
Nicholas Ma, 18, uses the longboard to explore
Singapore with friends when he can. A longboard
enthusiast and student at the ITE College West, he
credits his board as a cathartic release, because really,
(Whats a better feeling than) watching the world
come to a standstill when the pressures of life are
trying to get you down? he said.
But hobby aside, it is also an unorthodox way of
commute for some teenagers. 18-year-old Mohamed
Dzulkamal told of a friend who lives in Malaysia, and

MUSE 8

skates daily across the Johor-Singapore Causeway

on his longboard, in a bid to avoid the traffic that
jams up the streets in the mornings. He has to
wake up at four in the morning just to get to lectures
by nine, Dzulkamal admitted, shaking his head.
The Ngee Ann Polytechnic student uses the longboard
as a mode of travel around Singapore. In December
last year, he toured around Marina Bay Sands on
his longboard to enjoy the Christmas and New Year
decorations and festivities.
Faster than walking, but slow enough to take in all the
sights and scenes, Dzulkamal cherishes the unique
experience his longboard has given him, and cannot
wait to do it again.
The Experience:
A gust billowing in your face, shivered trails down your
back, a playful tug at your hair and you are flying across
the pavement, adrenaline pounding desperately in
your veins, a proclamation of utter freedom and the
heart-pounding thrill of speed; that is how Kiev Ooi, 17,
a longboarder describes the sport. It gets my mind off
things, he exclaimed.
He had started longboarding as a way to get all his
friends together. This led to several successful trips
spanning 20 kilometres or so, with a probably even
vaster accumulation of joyful memories. Longboarding
with his friends not only allowed them to gain unique
experiences, it also allowed them to share these
experiences and that is not something you can put a
price tag on.

After all, the journey matters more than the destination.

Dzulkamal, who boasts battle scars sustained from
longboarding, too, spoke animatedly of his experience
cruising around the country and enjoying the beautiful
panorama offered by Singapores landscape.

It definitely wont kill you. And as we all know,

what doesnt kill you makes you stronger.

When asked what his most memorable experience

entailed, he gestured to a healing gash across
his forearm, and said, I got it a couple days ago.
He was coasting down a hill when he accidentally
tripped and fell. It can be dangerous, he admitted.
You can fall down and hurt yourself, but really,
you can hurt yourself doing just about anything.
The longboard has been around for a while now,
and despite its recent growth in popularity, remains
a relatively uncommon sport. It seems as though
skateboarding is the more popular choice, with its
daredevil stunts and seemingly gravity-defying actions.
To Kiev, longboardings laidback and easy cruising is
very much underrated and overlooked in favour of the
skateboard, though both are enjoyable.
He views longboarding as a form of peaceful
transportation, an effortless kind of skating that has
always existed in the background, and will always
continue to subtly exist without sudden spikes or
drops in popularity.
The longboard has not only given him a unique spin
on his otherwise ordinary perspective of Singapore,
but has also become a great bonding tool amongst
his friends and him. It has also forged a kinship
between his fellow longboarders and him. I would
definitely recommend it to teens, he concluded.
Nicholas agreed, stating that each individual
will
probably enjoy a different experience,
despite riding on the same board. It is crazy how
a single piece of wood and simple four wheels
can bring so many people together. I would
really encourage others to give it a shot.
It is scary, a little out of most peoples comfort
zone but not life threatening, he added with a laugh

Photograph by Colin Chan

MUSE 9

ART

Diamond In The Rough

Chye Ping Xuan talks to famed dancer Andreas Chua about
her life and dance journey

old white, a flare of black

skirts, and a dizzyingly
bright smile; the sun glared,
the lalang scratched, but still
she posed for the camera like
a goddess her words, joking
but confident. Such was the
unfaltering manner of Andreas
Chua, 27, a rising star revered in
the local dance community.
Sashaying through Mother Nature,
despite its crass demeanour, is
not the strangest thing she has
done, according to her. To date,
with over thirty competitions
and several self-produced dance
videos under her belt, 27-yearold Andreas is unfazed by the less
than glamorous conditions.
Indeed, her experiences are a
treasure trove of adventures, a
history she attributes to making
her who she is today: strong,
unique and sexy.
As a child, Andreas bore on her
shoulders the turmoil of a family
ripped apart. Her parents had
made the life-changing decision
to get a divorce, and suddenly her
world was upturned.
Still, she learnt to take it in her
stride. It (her past) made me
who I am, it made me a stronger
person.
Surprisingly, a young Andreas
never imagined she would
even be a dancer, much less a
contestant on the recent season
of The Dance Floor, a reality dance
competition show on MediaCorp
Channel 5.
It wasnt until 2007, when her
friends mistakenly assumed she
was a dancer, that she was
introduced to the dance world.
She was requested by her friends

MUSE 16

Photograph by Colin Chan

to compete in DanceWorks!, an
annual anti-drug dance competition,
and although she did not know
how to dance, she agreed to try.
Despite not winning, Andreas
became so enamoured with this
newfound expression, that she
made the decision to drop out of
school to pursue her dreams.
I was just chasing my passion, she
recalled, her eyes glimmering with
zeal, as she gestured animatedly
with her hands, the untameable
movement telling of a dancers
indescribable passion. I was so
into (dance) to the point that
everything else stopped. I didnt
want to stop dancing at all.
She had actively sought out
rehearsals, joined and trained for
countless of competitions. It was
simply easier to stop everything
else and concentrate solely on
dance.
The next eight years was a steep
climb towards success; the struggle
that came with being a young,
penniless dancer, who competed
tirelessly for prize money that
served as her paycheck.
Its hard to survive, she continued.
Especially in Singapore.
Following ones passion is almost
futile in Singapore, observed
Ong Keng Seng, director of the
Singapore International Festival of
Arts, in an interview with 938Live
on October 2015. Even if one tries,
Singapores high cost of living
would force on him the tried and
tested method of doing whatever it
takes to earn a living.
Even with the odds stacked
dauntingly against her, Andreas
persevered and it has more than
paid off, if her first-place awards
are anything to go by.
From
dancing
in
Universal
Studios Singapores parades, to
choreographing for commercial
performances under brand names
such as Chanel and Este Lauder, she
has almost become a brand name
herself, quickly becoming one of
the most recognised dancers.

Chua Yi De, 23, a young dancerchoreographer, and friend of

Andreas, could not help gushing
over the latter, with whom he had
worked with for some years.
She comes across as a very scary
person, he said. She has a strong
work ethic, (and) shes very fierce
about what she wants, as a dancer,
and as a choreographer.
According to him, Andreas is not
one to care about being in the
spotlight, unlike other fame-hungry
dancers hoping to get catapulted
into the world of stardom.
She cares more about theartistry
level, she cares more about the
dancers, she cares more about the
performance, he said fondly.

I was so into [dance] to the

point that everything else
stopped. I didnt want to
stop dancing at all.
- Andreas Chua
In spite of the support most dancers
harbour for her, there have been
criticisms lashed out against her,
one such about the gender fluidity
featured in her androgynous dance
crew Limited Edition.
Andreas,
who
identifies
as
androgynous, describes the term
as a mix of both masculinity and
femininity I look like a woman,
but Im not really a woman
and showcases both styles in her
dances. In a largely conservative
society
like
Singapore,
this
amalgam has garnered some
negative responses.
Unsurprising, as according to a
survey done by the Institute of
Policy Studies, it was found that
society is largely not in favour of
the LGBT (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals
and Transgenders) community a
sentiment reflected by some of
Andreas disparagers.
There have been straight up
negative comments, she said. Such
as This is a group of homosexuals

and they just dont like it. There

are close-minded people; their
comments are really (outdated).
But there are also people who
respect us for having the courage
to go up on stage, do what we
do, and be different. Besides, we
dance our butts off, she laughed
heartily, easily shrugging off the
hate and stigma.
Aside from having to deal with
responses from the public, her
popularity has drawn her a lot
of attention. As she flounced
gracefully through a mall, curious
stares followed, lips moving ever
so slightly to put a name to the
face.
A lady manning a stand stepped
forward boldly to ask if she was a
contestant from The Dance Floor.
I wish people wouldnt recognise
me, actually, Andreas admitted, I
cant misbehave in public anymore.
Its very boring.
Her main motivation in striving for
the best she can be is not the fame,
but the dance itself; the passion
and utter raw emotion she conveys
through movements alone.
Fierce, unique she rather enjoys
styles not common in Singapore;
her current obsession is the
relatively unknown J-setting and
passionate, her performances are
breathtaking to behold.
With the effort she puts into her
work, it is no wonder she has come
so far. I would not say that I have
achieved my ambitions, but I have
achieved so much, Andreas could
not help but grin. One day I hope to
venture out of Singapore, perhaps
do a dance tour or something.
Aside from dance, she spoke of
a desire to dabble in directing,
specifically music videos, reminiscent
of the dance videos she has on her
vimeo page.
But is her overwhelming passion
for dance the one thing she cant
live without?
Apparently not. Its beef rendang.

MUSE 17