From Dancer to Financial Consultant | I Went to Arts School
Aprillia, a former dance and film student at SOTA, reflects on her journey from the arts to the world of finance. She shares how her passion for dance started, the lessons she learned along the way, and how she found her path as a financial consultant.
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00:00If I knew all along that I was going to do business,
00:03why did I even come to SOTA in the first place to pursue arts?
00:07Does it make this entire 4, 5 years journey,
00:11like, did it not mean anything?
00:13I think I thought a lot about that.
00:15My name is Aprilia.
00:16I studied in Dance and Film in SOTA.
00:19And currently now, I'm working as a financial consultant.
00:22Oh my god, sorry, I look at the camera.
00:24Okay.
00:25Wait, wait, wait, we start from the top, okay.
00:31So the first time I actually realised that I fell in love with dance
00:34was when I saw a couple came to my primary school
00:38to actually do a Latin ballroom dance performance.
00:41And then I started taking up Latin ballroom as a CCA in primary school.
00:45Yeah, it's just a very sassy dance.
00:47I don't know, I just love it.
00:50I love the music.
00:51I love the costumes.
00:52I love the thrill of competition.
00:55Constantly honing your craft to be better.
00:59I did that throughout most of my primary school.
01:01A lot of performances, competitions.
01:03And I used that to actually audition for SOTA.
01:06Yeah, so I got in via the non-ballet route.
01:11I remember the dance audition.
01:13I think they said that ballet is like the foundation of all dance forms.
01:18Debatable.
01:19Up till that point of auditioning to SOTA,
01:21my worldview is just Latin ballroom.
01:24We were introduced to ballet a little bit.
01:27We were taught how to point our toes and all these things
01:30which I never ever learned.
01:32Like, your gut is down, you're learning a new genre.
01:35Yeah, it was very eye-opening.
01:36I see a lot of people from different genres.
01:38All of us trying to learn ballet at the same time.
01:42Yeah, it was quite cute.
01:45The whole reason why I told my parents I wanted to go to SOTA in the first place
01:49was really because I wanted to be a dance teacher
01:51or to have my own dance company.
01:53I think along the way, I realised I learnt a lot more about dance
01:58than just Latin, you know.
02:01I learnt about what it takes to be a dancer.
02:04I think discipline was really at the core of what we were drilled into having
02:10through the little things.
02:12Like, making sure you reach on time to your classes,
02:14cannot be late,
02:15straight up, cannot slouch.
02:17Hair must be tight, straight.
02:19We know we always have to use gel.
02:22Any hair out of place will be singled out.
02:25There was always this subconscious thing of
02:29needing to stay slim
02:33or being in shape.
02:35I think that's the unhealthy part about dance.
02:37Even though it's not a healthy thing to fit your body type in a certain way,
02:41I understand how much we will need to depend on our bodies as dancers, right?
02:46When something gives way, like when I dislocated my shoulders,
02:50that's going to be a constant, reoccurring thing.
02:52Our bodies go through a lot.
02:55Yeah, so from all these little things,
02:56I think it ingrained a certain level of discipline in me.
02:59I know that if I were to do something, it needs to be right,
03:02it needs to be proper.
03:03I can't do things shoddily, like I can't be half-assed.
03:11As much as I'm a very competitive person,
03:13I think one thing I did not enjoy was the competition during SOTA.
03:16If you're not the cream of the crop or if you're not the top,
03:19it's going to be really hard to be in this space of dance.
03:23After a while, I would say I think I adapted from it quite fast.
03:26As much as I love performing, as much as I love competing,
03:29I had this mentality of, yeah, it's okay.
03:31Maybe dance is not what I want to pursue as a career.
03:35Thankfully, SOTA had many other things that we could explore outside of dance,
03:40and I'm really grateful for that.
03:42It really helped me to see that if this door closes, another will open,
03:46and there are so many other things that I can pursue.
03:49So while I was studying in SOTA,
03:50I was also at this very big side thing that I was pursuing.
03:54I was the chairman of the youth organisation,
03:56and I was exposed to events planning.
03:59So that was something I realised I really enjoyed doing.
04:02I think in Year 3, Year 4, I knew I was going to pursue business.
04:05It's always about starting my own company.
04:11So currently now, I'm a senior financial consultant.
04:15I'm entering into my fifth year of the career.
04:19I chose insurance in the end because my mum
04:23was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was in uni.
04:25So I really understood how that could help families,
04:28and I think I'm very interested to go down that path.
04:32Really, this one thing to find your own self-expression,
04:35like wanting to be able to do something that's yours
04:38or own something that's yours,
04:39wanting to express yourself through the things you do, I feel.
04:44Yeah, in many ways, the arts has helped me
04:47or shaped me to be the person that I am today,
04:50and eventually to be the consultant that I am now.
04:55Whenever you encounter difficulties or when,
04:57let's say, your body's down, your body's injured,
04:59you don't just give up on the item,
05:01you still have to perform anyway.
05:02It's the same in all aspects of my life,
05:04in my career, even at home.
05:06That builds some kind of resilience in me as well
05:09when I face any challenges nowadays.
05:12One thing that I face a lot in my career is rejections.
05:14I eat rejections for breakfast, that's what they always say.
05:16This idea of giving up doesn't come to me so easily,
05:20and I think all of this is really from dance.
05:22In my work, for example, preparing files for my clients,
05:26my husband would say,
05:27like, why do you spend so much time, you know,
05:29doing all these things for your clients
05:30when maybe to them, it's just a portfolio, it's just a file?
05:33But to me, it's just all the little things
05:34that I was trained since young,
05:36that little things matter.
05:38From when I was young, when I was in university,
05:40little things matter.
05:41From your performance, your angles of your fingers,
05:43the angle of your head,
05:45all these small things that make the big picture, right,
05:47you don't just look at the big picture.
05:48So I guess in the way I see things now,
05:50like because of dance, I'm able to have this quality
05:54that I can bring to work as well.
05:56It's not just what you learn,
05:57like you don't just learn how to dance,
05:59you don't just learn how to play an instrument,
06:00but what comes with that, yeah,
06:03discipline, like honing your creative skills,
06:07thinking outside of the box,
06:08like all these, it's very hard to learn through other things.
06:28I'm quite happy with where I am now.
06:31I had my child last year,
06:32so I haven't been dancing for a very long time.
06:34Yeah, I mean, I still really find ways
06:38in my life now to still enjoy the arts.
06:40And I still keep in very close contact with my dance community.
06:43I mean, dancing just makes me happy,
06:45so being able to do it as a passion or a hobby
06:47is good enough for me.
06:53Definitely want my son to have an arts background.
06:56I will be trying to expose him to different things,
06:58see what he likes.
06:59We'll send him for all the baby ballet,
07:01hip-hop, like all the baby hip-hop classes.
07:04It's so cute.
07:05Yeah, we'll do all of those.
07:08Camera!
07:10Camera!
07:11Dad!
07:13The arts also has a way of making you really reflect a lot, right?
07:16To look within, look deep into things.
07:19Don't just look at things at face value.
07:21You need to be flexible and adaptable as well.
07:23From everything that you've tried,
07:26there will be something that you would have learned,
07:28and then learn to use that in your next endeavour
07:31or next thing that you pursue.
07:33Yeah, yeah, yes.
07:34All skill sets are transferable, I feel.
07:36And I think it will be a great opportunity
07:39if you've been given to pursue the arts,
07:41like, just take it.
07:43Yeah.
07:44And we're done!
07:45Yay!
07:46That was great, thank you so much.
07:48Thank you, thank you so much.
07:50Yay!