Shalome John and Trina Chan, two individuals with a common passion who were united, pulled apart, and intertwined, as they realised the key to their friendship — dance.
Written by Shermaine Wong | Photos by Hayley Foong
Have you ever met a friend who is completely in sync with you, where the both of you seemingly understand each other perfectly?
That was the type of friendship that Trina Chan Xiang Yuan, 20, and Shalome John, 19, shared. They first met in secondary school when they both joined the school’s dance club — Dance Society. However, being in the junior and senior groups respectively, they never had many chances to interact with each other, until Dance Society presented a rare opportunity to perform a hip-hop number.
With their shared interest in hip-hop, they started their dance journey together. Their friendship, however, was not instantaneous.
“I didn’t like her at first,” Trina said, chuckling as she recalled their initial difficulties clicking with their equally blunt and expressive personalities. But after spending almost every weekday dancing together in Dance Society sessions and extra practices for the performance, the pair became increasingly close.
However, as Trina’s secondary school education drew to an end in 2018, the pair realised that they would not be able to dance together as frequently as before. To make it worse, Shalome was also set to continue her education in India that very year.
When Shalome returned to India, communication between the two was cut instantly due to the lack of internet. It was a starking contrast from having practices together everyday, to no contact at all, and they eventually drifted apart.
As the two moved on with their lives separately, Trina continued her journey in ITE, while Shalome took a break from dance due to a knee injury.
“For one and a half years, we went on our own paths and grew up not only as dancers, but as individuals,” Trina said. Such growth, as beneficial as it was to them as individuals, was also what would be their biggest obstacle.
In 2020, the world entered a pandemic. With the rising number of cases in India, Shalome decided to move back to Singapore. Then, Trina had started studying Mass Communications at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, while dancing with other clubs. With K-pop being both their new interests, Trina invited Shalome to do a dance cover for ‘Monster’, by Red Velvet, when she heard of her return.
“It was initially quite weird and awkward, since we hadn’t talked for almost two years, and suddenly, we were dancing together again,” Trina said, as the two giggled, exchanging knowing looks. Their reunion was best described by Shalome when she said, “It felt familiar, but at the same time, very different.”
The rekindling of their friendship, similar to when they first met, was not immediate. As they danced together for the first time in almost two years, they quickly realised that their dance styles had developed towards completely opposite ends of the spectrum.
““With Trina, I’m 100 percent comfortable.””
Trina’s style was more groovy and fIuid, making her movements smooth and graceful. Shalome, on the other hand, had strong and powerful movements, making her dance explosive. With differing approaches towards the dance, they struggled to look synchronised.
“When you watch the video, you can see that it was two completely different people, and there were some frustrations from that,” Shalome said, as she recalled her confusion as to why they were doing the same moves, yet could look so different.
“We wanted to be in tune with each other, but we’re not.”
But as people say, time is the solution to everything. Unwavered by their initial divergence, the duo continued to meet up and dance. After much trial and error, the two individuals finally grew to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
They were able to learn from each other, which led them to find the common ground necessary to re-connect. Such understanding and willingness to mutually adapt made their friendship a transparent, safe and comfortable environment free of any comparisons or judgements for them to grow and dance in.
“For a dancer to feel 100 percent comfortable is very difficult, because there’s always this pressure to perform well, even if it’s just your friend,” Shalome said, “but with Trina, I’m 100 percent comfortable.”
Now, the dance duo meets almost every week to dance together. In the last two years, they had built undeniable chemistry with each other and have been working on their shared goal — creating their own dance film. Meanwhile, they also plan to join more competitions to learn and gain more experience.
RefIecting on their journey together, Shalome and Trina would describe their friendship as unique and honest, but ultimately, it was one thing that got them intertwined — dance.