In His Element

Nico Andre shares why dancing is his never ending passion. His beginnings, his struggles and his commitment to something that makes him whole.

Story and Photos by Beatrice Bautista
Additional photos courtesy of Nico Andre

A room of experienced dancers and judges. Loud music, the quirky commentary of the emcee, and the smell of hard work fill the air. It’s not easy to dance under such pressure, but he listens to the music, feels the emotion of the song, and his brain starts working. He begins to move his arms, legs, and whole body to the music in a precise and planned manner. He’s dancing. The pressure is no longer as prominent, he is in his own world… in his element.

Nico Andre, 28, a cabin crew in Singapore Airlines, was lucky to find the love of his life 12 years ago; dance. He has been dancing since 2011, starting with K-pop, and quickly moving to animation — a subgenre of popping.

Popping is a dance style where one suddenly tenses and releases their muscles to the beat of the music, giving the sudden ‘BOOM’ effect of a dancer. Animation, on the other hand, is when the dancer seems to be dancing frame by frame, similar to a stop-motion animation.

“Animation looked really cool. It looked very easy to execute and the effects of the style were impactful,” Nico said as he recalled seeing his first video of an animation dancer. He first learnt animation by mimicking the moves of dancers on the internet back in 2012.

In 2013, as a Year One in Poly, Nico joined a street dance club, Foreign Bodies, in Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP). The club enabled him to learn popping and animation from seniors.

To grow his dance experience, he often gives back to the club by choreographing popping pieces for various performances. Nico puts his all into his performances. He’s living proof of hard work and determination.

Nico Andre and his Nanyang Polytechnic Club Crawl 2014 dancers. Photo courtesy of Nico Andre.

He would spend hours, days even, preparing for a performance. Once he taught his dancers the choreography and formation, he would record the practice runs and repeatedly watch the videos. He analyses each move with extreme precision. Nico doesn’t stop at general comments, rather, he would focus on every individual to help them improve.

“I would stay awake imagining how to make the piece look better,” he said with a glimmer in his eye. Dancing is definitely something he enjoys, but it’s more than a simple pastime. Dance has made him a hardworking and caring man for other dancers, be it if they are new, or seasoned.

Being in Foreign Bodies blessed him with many irreplaceable bonds. He became part of a crew, PureTaboo, that consisted of his friend, his mentor, and of course, himself. Nico felt a sense of belonging to this crew and always felt the synergy between the three of them. He didn’t feel as lost in the trio as compared to dancing solo. “PureTaboo brought the best out of me and my friend,” he said, reminiscing.

Nico Andre (left) with his crew, PureTaboo. Photo courtesy of Nico Andre.

Working as a flight attendant is interesting, as Nico gets to meet different people — passengers and aircrew. His job is always different and has taught him to adapt to different work styles. However, if he had to choose between his job and dance, he would go for dance… 100 percent.

Dance is many things to Nico, one of which is his coping mechanism with work or personal matters. After a 12-hour flight, the cabin crew would typically go home to rest. However, Nico is different.

“I would touchdown, go home, bathe, then go dance. It’s very tiring, but it is what I love.”

In 2018, he choreographed a piece under Foreign Bodies’ Open House performance. The choreography was in a very cheerful popping style, different from his forte of expressionless animation. However, it took his mind off the rough time he was going through.

“Dance is my way of destressing,” he said defensively, justifying why he didn’t deal with what he was struggling with. He ran away from his problems by dancing, and it helped keep him sane.

Though Nico has choreographed multiple dances, he sees himself as more of a freestyle dancer. He likes creating things spontaneously, finding freestyle more authentic than choreographed dances. Freestyling can be done leisurely or for competitions. Nico does both.

Since 2014, Nico has been joining battles — a type of freestyle competition where dancers go head-to-head in a dance-off and the winner is established by the judges. These battles could be one-versus-one or done in crews.

Imagine training consistently and doing your best in a competition to be outdone by someone of lesser experience than you. He struggled to get past auditions in battles when he first started, while his juniors in Foreign Bodies got further than him. He would question if he was a good dancer and desperately desired to improve.

It would be impossible for Nico to go without challenges in a decade-long relationship with dance. The thought of quitting had crossed his mind. His main reason was the feeling of incompetence.

“I want to be known,” he said looking down, trying to hide his embarrassment. Nico holds himself to a high standard. That added pressure he puts on himself only enhances his feelings of incompetence.

Despite the lows that sometimes bring Nico, he wants to keep it in his life. “Dance was, still, and will always be my passion.” If he quits, all his efforts would go to waste.

Nico Andre battling in Pop In Progress 2016. Photo courtesy of Nico Andre.

Furthermore, the Singapore popping scene focuses more on the upbeat, groovy popping instead of the emotionless animation style he prefers. He’s since opened his mind to different styles of popping and found himself passing auditions.

In fact, he won a one-versus-one external battle, Pop In Progress, in 2016. “This battle was a big win for me because it was the same year I started opening my mind to learning other popping styles, helping me win.” This fuelled his motivation to keep improving, along with the external validation he’s received, but most of all he wants to keep dancing.

“Everyone is born to be good at something, and deep down, I feel that I am supposed to dance.”

The world is ever-changing, but dance will always be Nico’s constant. His passion has blessed him with personal growth and valuable relationships. It’s his getaway, his passion; where he’s home.