Hip Hop Dance

Amused.

That was how I felt when I saw the group of Members of Parliament (MPs), who were born after 1965 (P65), doing a hip hop dance on television. I felt the same again when I saw the photographs taken of them being published in the newspapers the next day.

It was reported that the Chingay Parade committee had suggested the dance item for the parade, and the P65 MPs gamely took up the proposal.

As we all know, it is not easy to do a hip hop dance. I mean, how many people you know can do it? And I mean do it well.

A hip hop dance is not the same as mass dance or folk dance. Anybody can show the well-known hip hop hand signal—where you keep your thumb, forefinger and little finger straight, while bending the other two—but beyond that, it is not so easy to do a good demonstration of hip hop dance.

If things don’t go well, you end up looking quite out of place, or even a little gek seh (Hokkien for trying to show off).

I did not watch the entire hip hop dance preview the P65 MPs did, so I shan comment on how well they did it. It would also not be fair to do so at this moment, since the performance is for next year’s Chingay, and the MPs had just had two practice sessions. Furthermore, since they are not professional dancers, it would not do justice to be too harsh on them.

Nonetheless, it puzzles me as to why they chose to put up the hip hop dance.

Some MPs shed some light on why they gladly took up this challenge.

One said that hip hop is popular with the young and learning it allowed them to connect and identify with the younger generation.

Really?

I guess different things appeal to different people, and hip hop does not really click on me. Or perhaps the "younger generation" meant the teens?

I certainly would like to have MPs who understand and share some of the thinking of the new generation. That is why I welcome the P65 MPs when they were voted into parliament. It is good to see new blood and new ideas being injected into parliament.

But performing hip hop dances somehow makes them seem as if they are trying a little too hard to connect with the young. It is like adding "yo yo" to the end of each sentence you make on purpose, in an attempt to sound "hip hop" when you are not.

I would rather the P65 MPs hold more forums, seminars, talks or focus groups with the young adults to find how they feel.

Connecting and identifying with the younger generation through ideas , thinking and discussion, seem to be a more effective method to reach out to them. At least that is how I feel.

On another note, a friend who is also a P65, felt that some of the young MPs have too much of a "fun" image, and they should instead try to be a little more serious, rather than go the other way. What do you think?