"A&H Dancing" - Allen & Helen

Allen Koh K. M.

Allen's interest in dancing started since 1975. He was a very active youth leader in the PAYM (People's Association Youth Movement) and equally active in the Folk Dancing circle. He started teaching Folk Dancing in the late 70's and was registered with the PA as a Folk Dance Instructor in 1980 and taught in various community centres till 2002. Allen learnt many different types of dances, namely Latin, Ballroom, Jazz, Modern Ballet, Social, Chinese Cultural, Malay and Indian Dance.

He was a dancer with the defunct "National Theatre Club International Folk Dance Troupe" in the 80's; participated in many stage performances locally and overseas.

Allen's interest in Line Dancing started in 1999. He participated in the 1st Asian Pacific Dance Championship 2003 and came in as OVERALL CHAMPION in the Line Classic Diamond Intermediate.

With more than 25 years of extensive experience in teaching dancing (International Folk Dance, Social Dance and Line Dance) both locally and internationally in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, his students had increased significantly. In September 2003, together with his wife, Helen, they formed the "A&H Line Dancing" and was officially launched on the 20 December 2003.

One of the major long term event in the past was the weekly "Line Dance Fun" on Sunday evening at Aranda Country Club. This event has been ongoing since July 2004.

Students of A&H Line Dancing would describe Allen as "a serious and patient Instructor, not only is he good with techniques and styling, but one who has made dancing such a fun and graceful experience".

Allen & Helen would like to thank all their students, fellow Instructors and friends for their support, help and 'fun' dancing together with them.

Helen Koh Chia S. K.

Since school days, Helen's interest in dancing had already started. She took dancing seriously in 1982; thanks to the encouragement, support and guidance from her husband, Allen.

In 1984, she decided to focus solely on dance performances and begun serious training with the "National Theatre Club International Folk Dance Troupe". She started with intensive Ballet, Jazz, Ballroom, Latin and various country dances like Philippine Bamboo Dance, Scottish Dance, Hungarian Dance, Israel, Spanish, Bulgaria dances and her first steps of many thousands to come. Though Helen started her dance training in Ballet and Folk Dances, partner dancing was her true passion.

In 1987, she finally had the chance to participate in the performance of "Singapore Festival of Dance" jointly organised by the Ministry of Community Development and National Theatre Trust. Two years later, she started to teach Folk Dancing and performed in some private company, community club and RC as well as to conduct classes for school teachers. Helen also choreographed a few dances for Folk Dancing.

In 2000, she fell in love with line dancing and discovered many similarily between line dance and folk dance. She challenged herself by participating in the "1st Asian Pacific Dance Competition". She emerged the OVERALL CHAMPION in the Crystal Intermediate. Subsequently, in 2004 she came in as finalist in the "Worlds XII Country Dance World Championships 2004" in Nashville, USA. She felt that participating in competition is not just about winning, it's more about pushing yourself to achieve more. Along the way, she also improved on skills that lead to happier, more productive and even better results in the future.

Helen believes that acquiring a good basic foundation is very important. She ensures that all her students execute their body weight change correctly.

Students describe Helen as a very patient Instructress who always gives her students a lot of encouragements and practices. She is very observant toward students' progression and highlighted that teaching of a number of new dances at one go for beginners is indeed a 'pressure and stress' especially when they are not able to master the basic steps correctly yet.