Siu Yu
Dancer, Goodnight Show
"Just be yourself and go for it. The stage is yours. The bigger your heart is, the bigger the stage is."
When my team lost in the round of 40 shortlist in Goodnight Show - King Maker II, I was devastated. I had been dancing for about 10 years, but I lost to someone who had just learned to dance. In that moment, I thought, how could I possibly lose at the very thing that was my greatest strength? I began to doubt myself. Did I have what it takes to participate in the competition? Did I have what it takes to pursue showbiz? It was an extremely low point for me.
My performance also made me the target of criticism from viewers. I read all of the comments online - if it was a fair comment, I would reflect carefully on it; if it wasn't, I wouldn't take it seriously. A lot of netizens attacked me, calling me ugly or arrogant, but I think I only came off that way because of the way the production team edited the show.
Those who know me don't think of me as arrogant. I often think I'm pretty lousy, but I seem confident when I perform because I can't show that I'm scared. Viewers attacked me for singing badly or waacking (a style of dancing), asking how I stayed in the competition for so long. My team got a lot of hate when we beat another team.
And yet it is because of my experience with the competition that I learned how to respond to setbacks. It reminded me that there are a lot of things in life that won't go the way you want or expect. Sometimes it comes down to being in the right place at the right time, and I have to be ready to take advantage of opportunities as they come up. When the moment is right, you just have to go for it. In spite of everything, I am also grateful for the netizens. I think I was pretty resilient to begin with, but I definitely think I've got stronger because of this experience. If people didn't think I was worth it, they wouldn't even waste time, energy, or attention on me, but many of the netizens still spent so much time talking to me - it just showed that they hadn't totally written me off. While I got attacked incessantly online, I also met so many people in the real world who would tell me, "Add oil!" Of course, I'm not trying to gloss over the situation, but I've learned that there are many ways to see something.