It wasn’t long ago that Rui En’s The Journey: Our Homeland co-star Shaun Chen dished on the actress’ hidden boogie skills – she broke into an À Go-go dance on set and even made him groove along. And in The Dream Makers 2, Rui En will give her first onscreen dance performance.
In the midst of filming this week, Rui En attended a one-hour “shadow dance” training session at Danz People studio. It was her second lesson and also her last, as she would go right into action on Jul 31. “I will be filming this scene in front of many people. I’m pretty nervous,” she confessed.
While speaking to Toggle, Rui En let on that in this scene, Zhao Fei’er (played by Jeanette Aw), who is a guest judge at a reality talent contest that is similar to America’s Got Talent, was supposed to perform the dance. However, Fei’er failed to make it to the show in time and Fang Tong Lin (Rui En) unwittingly became a last-minute replacement for the segment.
Known for having high expectations of herself, Rui En repeatedly sought the instructor’s advice and practised the steps over and over again during the dance class. By the end of the session, her cheeks were flushed red from the vigorous and rapid movements.
“Though the dance is only 30-seconds long, the moves are very fast and exhausting. I had difficulty catching my breath. I’m quite stressed, but I’m looking forward to shooting this,” the actress added.
Despite the lack of practice, the 34-year-old is confident of pulling off a credible performance, as long as she is given time to rehearse for a few times before the actual shoot. It certainly helps that Rui En came from a dance background – she took up ballet as a co-curricular activity at Singapore Chinese Girls' School when she was in Primary 5 and continued the classes until she switched to rhythmic gymnastics in Secondary 3.
Getting back into the rhythm after years, the acclaimed actress was fondly reminded of her dancing days. Although her passion for the art has reignited as a result, she sees it more as a form of exercise now.
Rui En suffers “internal injury” from acting alongside Dennis Chew
A month since filming for The Dream Makers 2 commenced, Rui En has had a pleasant working experience so far, apart from the “internal injury” that she suffers from acting opposite her onscreen brother Dennis Chew.
“I have to hold my laughter so much it hurts! But it also makes me very happy. There were times when the entire crew burst into laughter [because of him],” she chortled. “He often injects unrehearsed stuff during filming. That’s good as it trains my reaction speed.”
As the cast is huge this time around, Rui En will be working with other actors besides her main counterparts Dennis, Qi Yuwu and Jeanette, something she is thankful about. “I don’t have to hold my laughter every day. It is extremely tiring to do that and it’s bad for health!” the actress said with a grin.
In addition, Rui En, Jeanette, Yuwu, Zoe Tay, Romeo Tan and Li Nanxing will be heading to Melbourne for 10 days of filming in early September. This marks Rui En’s second overseas filming trip to Australia with Romeo, after their last collaboration on Sudden in 2013.
“We went to Tasmania previously. In this drama, Romeo’s (Zhong Yi Ming’s) love line is with Zhao Fei’er, so we don’t have many scenes together,” she explained.
According to Rui En, Fang Tong Lin and Jason Lam (Yuwu) will be doing a wedding photoshoot in Melbourne whereas Zhong Yi Ming and Zhao Fei’er will join the couple as best man and bridesmaid.
When asked on her travel necessities, Rui En revealed that she would pack all her medicine, both western and TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), because “it is not funny to fall sick overseas”. To look her best on screen, the popular thespian would also bring along moisturising beauty products as her skin is prone to dehydration in foreign countries.
The Dream Makers 2 debuts December 3, Channel 8 at 9pm.