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For most 18-year-old men in Singapore, Friday afternoons mark a break from the rigours of national service training.
However, for Leo Cheng, this time is spent exchanging his combat boots for ballet slippers, as he practises in intense six-hour sessions in a dance studio.
“They are really not that different. Ballet has ties to military history,” the 18-year-old said, noting that ballet was used to train soldiers in the Soviet Union during World War II.
Cheng is an accomplished ballet dancer. Last year, he became the first Singaporean to compete in the prestigious Prix de Lausanne, an annual ballet competition that attracts over 1,000 elite dancers from all over the world. Out of these participants, fewer than 80 are selected to compete.
His impressive performance earned him a contract offer from the Birmingham Royal Ballet, one of Britain’s leading ballet companies.
However, he declined the offer after being notified of his obligation to complete 24 months of national service, a mandatory, full-time military service that every male citizen and permanent resident in Singapore must complete upon turning 18.
In rare cases, the government permits elite athletes to defer their national service to represent Singapore in major international competitions. Despite encouragement to postpone his enlistment, Cheng believed it was essential to serve his country.
Although pausing his career at such a crucial time was disappointing, he embraced the challenge and brought the determination he developed in ballet to the military.
“This mindset of not quitting when things get tough mirrors the army’s core values,” he said. “Also, the military helped to improve my strength and taught me responsibility and self-care.”
Grace meets grit
Born into a family of ballet dancers, Cheng started training professionally at age 11. Having been shaped by the demanding world of dance from an early age, he views the current challenge as a necessary rite of passage.
Still, the dancer is grateful for every bit of practice he gets and understands that this sacrifice is the foundation for his career.
“And I am very lucky. Being a dancer is a rare career nowadays. Unlike a nine-to-five office job where one is stuck to a desk, dancing opens doors and gives me the opportunity to travel the world, perform on international tours and meet important people,” he said.
While serving the army has its challenges, he noted that ballet is also punishing. He explained that the dance form forces the body into unnatural positions. That is why professional dancers spend long hours training their muscles to adapt to things they are not built to do.
“Most people don’t see that side of it. They only see the final product on stage. We can spend three months training just for three minutes on the stage,” he said.
“It is all about making the impossible look effortless. We can’t exactly show the audience how hard we’re working because that’s not enjoyable to the eye. So when people watch us and think, ‘Oh, that looks easy,’ it means we’ve actually done our job perfectly.”
Dancing beyond stereotypes
The dance form is also a means for Cheng to connect with the audience.
“Many people think I’m an explosive dancer, but I’m more of a romantic, stoic dancer at heart. I am drawn to the storyline,” he said.
The dancer added that he does not enjoy competing to do the best tricks on stage. Rather, he sees dance as a narrative medium.
“I love cinema, and I want to make the same impact on my audience that a film would,” he said. “It’s a storytelling process where you walk the audience through the acts and tell the story with your body.”
Beyond the stories he tells on stage, Cheng hopes to rewrite the narrative of masculinity.
“Today, we see much more diversity in dance, but people still misunderstand male ballet dancers. Many think ballet is not masculine, but we have these powerful masculine Russian and Soviet dancers in history,” he said.
“I feel that ballet for men is a display of true masculinity. It takes a lot of strength and drive to show pure passion from the heart to the audience.”
Even if he were not a ballet dancer, Cheng said he would still be drawn to the arts.
“I would definitely try to be a Broadway dancer,” he shared. “I love jazz, and I am a good singer.”
Until he can officially resume his dancing journey, Cheng is taking things one step, both marches and pirouettes, at a time.
