Testimonial
Some of our students' testimonial sharing their thoughts and experiences as a JBA team.
Liu Xingyu, 15
Grade 8
My second home -- the ballet studio. Spending up to around 8 hours a week in the studio dancing, sometimes even up to 10 hours or more during holidays, is just my way to relax after the hectic week in school. However, it is not just the ballet studio itself, it is about dancing, together with my ballet teacher.
Ms Pang has definitely been one of the most dedicated teachers I have ever met. From spending gruelling hours in the ballet studio for her entire weekend just to teach class by class all the way to spending time to plan lessons for us, I can really see her dedication to make us better dancers. Ms Pang puts 100% effort when teaching us, sometimes even 200% effort :) During lessons, she will not hesitate to correct us when we make mistakes in our technique or artistry to allow us to improve as well! It can really be seen that Ms Pang wants the best for all her students and wants them to be able to see themselves doing well :)
Having been taught by Ms Pang since 2011, I really trust Ms Pang during all of my lessons with her! Ms Pang cares for our wellbeing, never ever pushing us overboard when we have injuries, but instead encourages us to push ourselves bit by bit so as to not hurt ourselves further.
Dancing in the studio with Ms Pang as my teacher is undoubtedly the best time for me to be able to relax and immerse myself in something that I really enjoy. Every single week, I look forward to ballet lessons the most and can’t wait for Saturdays and Sundays to come. As Ms Pang always says, “Leave your worries outside that door, and come into the studio with a big smile on your face.” I have never enjoyed ballet as much as how much I have enjoyed for the past few years, and Ms Pang has definitely played a huge role in making me love ballet so much now. Her endless encouragement provided me with motivation to want to work hard and strive for improvement.
I would like to thank Ms Pang for your hard work and can’t wait for my next ballet lesson! I would never have grown to love ballet so much without Ms Pang! :)
Victoria Liang, 16
Grade 8
Ms Pang has been my ballet teacher since 2009, and I can safely say that those 12 years of weekends have been spent well.
Ms Pang is caring, kind and amazing! All these years, I always see Ms Pang prioritize our mental and physical well-being over everything else, never forcing us to dance injured and even helping us with our smaller injuries, teaching us how to properly take care of ourselves. Just from the way she teaches and treats her students you can tell Ms Pang truly cares for us and wishes for all of us to reach our full potential. A class with Ms Pang is never dull or wasted, she helps us improve at both our technique and performance while never being too harsh or demeaning. Over the years I’ve learnt so much from her, from how to dance a step better or life lessons.
Her classes are like a breath of fresh air after a tiring week of school and tests; the studio is a safe haven where I can relax and dance my heart out. Her dedication towards teaching us how to perform and love ballet is very admirable. Not only will she teach us the dances and techniques but also about the era they were choreographed in, the places they were performed in and who performed them. She teaches us about ballet from every aspect, historical, emotional, technical etc.
Ms Pang makes ballet even more fun and enjoyable than it already is.
“When I was preparing to audition for Dunman High’s Direct School Admission (DSA), I was quite lost and panicky as I had very little time to prepare. Ms Pang helped me choose a dance she thought I was more suited to, and guided and polished it. Eventually playing a big role in helping me get into my dream school!”
– Victoria Liang, 16
Germaine Teo, 42
Adult Level 2
I started with J’aime Ballet Academy for adult classes after a 20-year break from ballet, initially just with the intention to keep fit in middle age. However, Ms Pang has blown me away with her dedication and passion for ballet! Even with the adult learners (both beginner and intermediate), she always takes great pains to explain each movement with clarity. With a well-balanced teaching approach, Ms Pang emphasises on the technicality of each exercise without neglecting in the artistry in every movement.
I also appreciate how she corrects and nurtures every student, gently pushing each of us beyond our individual limits. Her in-depth knowledge of human physiology and working safely with our unique bodies has also been truly enlightening. I have never learnt so much about ballet and myself before, despite having taken ballet for many years in my youth!
J’aime Ballet Academy is definitely an inspiring and safe place to pick up, or deepen your love for ballet. 💓
Janice Ng, 41
Adult class level 2
As a mature adult learner with no experience in any dance, I was inflexible, could not remember steps and choreograph, and had no flair for basic balletic expression.
But Ms Pang was unfazed. She patiently and adeptly helped me develop in all these areas and I’ve had my first stage performance at the JBA biennial event.
I like that Ms Pang’s classes provide a sense of progression and achievement, and she meets us where we are individually and challenges us. Besides working on the syllabus and technicalities, Ms Pang takes care to incorporate meaningful conditioning exercises depending on the focus for the week. Her lessons are always interesting with interjections of her own curated playlist and at times props that help illustrate her points and aid our learning. She also makes time to impart us other useful tips such as foot flexibility and strengthening strategies.
To further our growth as dancers, Ms Pang works hard to organise workshops by renowned guest teachers. She also arranges for us to attend ballet performances together where we get some fun time out together and at the same time gain exposure to a myriad of works.
After a long day at work and with the kids, I find myself looking forward to every lesson with Ms Pang. Her teaching is clear and she is very creative in using metaphors and imagery from daily life to help us visualise and remember the fundamentals. That said, Ms Pang doesn’t cut us any slack and she is very sharp in picking up our areas to work on and you can be sure that nothing escapes her eyes or ears! Her quips are en pointe and we often have a laugh at ourselves when she gives us corrections. Yet, she doesn’t stinge on her encouragement and we are motivated to challenge ourselves harder. She gives time to small details that make a difference in artistry and this helps me appreciate ballet on a new level.
It has been a most enriching and enjoyable dance discovery journey with Ms Pang and I always recommend her classes to my friends for both themselves, as well as their kids.
Thank you Ms Pang, for helping me grow in strength, flexibility, confidence, and a love for ballet!
Sana Matsumoto, 7
My daughter, Sana, has been in Ms. Pang's class since she was 5 years old. She was very nervous at first because Singapore was her first country to live abroad and Ms. Pang's lesson was her first lesson in Singapore. Ms. Pang teaches students in an easy-to-understand manner using many examples that make it easy to imagine the movement of ballet, and sometimes with jokes to attract students' interest. My daughter wasn’t good at English and was worried about language barriers, but my daughter got used to the class very soon. Now she seems to have a lot of fun attending Ms. Pang’s ballet lessons. The kindergarten teacher my daughter attended was also surprised and complimented by her very lively activities during her dance activities in the kindergarten. I am very grateful to Ms. Pang for teaching my daughter the fun and skills of ballet and for giving her confidence through her ballet!
私の娘、サナは5歳からMs. Pangのクラスに参加しています。娘は初めての海外生活がシンガポールで、そしてMs. Pangのレッスンがシンガポールでの最初の習い事でしたので、通い始めはとても緊張していました。先生は小さな子供でもイメージしやすいように、多くの例えを用いてバレエの動きを分かりやすく教えてくれ、時にはジョークを交えて子供たちの興味を引き付けながらクラスを進めてくれるので、娘は英語もまだ上手ではなく言葉の壁も心配でしたが、先生のおかげで娘はすぐにクラスに打ち解けました。今ではレッスンに通うのがとても楽しくて仕方ない様子です。通っていた幼稚園の先生も、娘がダンスの時間にとても生き生きと活動することに驚き、そしてとても上手だと褒めてくださいました。バレエの楽しさやスキルを教えてくださったのはもちろんのこと、バレエを通じて娘に自信を持たせてくださったMs. Pangにとても感謝しています！
Lim Qiaozhen, 14
Grade 6
I have been learning ballet in JBA with Ms Pang since 2013. Ms Pang is a very passionate and dedicated teacher which cares about her students’ physical and mental well-being.
Ms Pang uses different strategies and examples to teach her students. She not only ensures her explanations or examples are easy to understand but also create an enjoyable and fun atmosphere. For example, she uses items like a bouncy rubber ball to describe jumps, she also names them like “Boing Boing the bouncy ball” creating lively classes.
Every start of lesson, she would ask “How’s everyone’s bodies? Feeling alright?” to make sure that no one has any injuries. Whenever someone has injured themselves, she would always try giving advices on how they can take care of it and what they should avoid doing. She does not pressure them to perform activities that would further injure themselves.
Over the years, under Ms Pang’s guidance, I took part in several competitions This exposure taught me how to express my love for dancing, allowing those feelings to move through my body, a way of communicating to the audience and the examiners.
Ms Pang has played a big part in developing my passion for dance. I always look forward to weekly lessons. Ms Pang would always tell her students to leave our worries outside, which is what I genuinely feel whenever I step into the dance studio. After a long week of school, dance is a way for me to de-stress, for me to relax my mind.
I am very grateful for Ms Pang’s expert guidance since I joined JBA way back in 2013.
