00:03So I danced with New York City Ballet in Lincoln Center. My apartment is only seven
00:09minutes walk and it's lovely to have a place that it's very close. When I moved here I didn't have
00:15much stuff besides two suitcases and this apartment have nothing in it. That was the
00:20moment I was like I want something that it's me. My name is Chen Wei Chen, principal dancer with
00:29New York City Ballet. Welcome to my 345 square feet studio apartment in New York City.
00:44I moved to New York five years ago and before that I was dancing with Houston Ballet for 10 years
00:49and luckily I was able to recruit with New York City Ballet right after. And so when I find this
00:55place I remember it was during my lunch break. I scooted down here. I was like I want this place.
01:01Although it wasn't the newest in the building I think I can do something with it. A few years later
01:06I was like okay now I finally saved enough money to renovate it. So I was like who can I
01:12ask for help?
01:13I met Josh Green through SAB Ball Gala School of American Ballet. I knew that he has such good taste.
01:20When I reached out to Josh he's like your budget couldn't do much but let me think of it. So
01:26he
01:27includes all the furniture here and he also helped me to design the whole places.
01:45So this is my little apartment. Welcome in. This is the entryway and you can see the two big closet
01:52right
01:53here and on your other side is a bathroom. For this side I put a lot of equipment and also
02:00my art supply
02:01while I have some time I will use the ballet shoes and put the paint on and make art and
02:08express through
02:09a different way. I dance on it, I slide on it, I turn on it and so you could see
02:15the color. It's
02:16reflect a lot of color from how Josh designed this place.
02:26This apartment is almost similar size as my bedroom in Houston. Everything I need is in this room.
02:32Kitchen, living room, dining room, bedroom. With Josh Green's design I really see the benefits of
02:39it to have a big stuff and hiding all the small stuff inside to make my room much bigger. This
02:45is
02:46my dresser. I keep a lot of my ballet stuff. Since I will be traveling, I will have my makeup
02:51kit here.
02:52I like to do my makeup myself since I know what to do for my face and then it saves
02:57a lot of time.
02:58And then you will see the resin. You have to get it if you go dance in a stage that
03:04is not familiar.
03:05You don't know where it's going to be slippery. This is a pair of pointe shoes. It hurts so much
03:09that I couldn't even move. The guys normally don't wear but huge respect to all the female colleagues.
03:15This is a famous dance belt that the guys wear so that it covers your private place. Some dyed shoes,
03:23wire shoes for the shows. If I spray my ankle or anything, I will always have this ready,
03:30wrapped up and still go on stage. The show never stops. Surprisingly, you could fit almost everything
03:36right here. Vacuum stuff there, you know, electronic stuff. A lot of stuff I don't use but I think
03:41that's just the family culture from China. I should keep everything in case I need it.
03:46Talking about minimalism, it's always ongoing journey. It's something that I have to keep
03:53reminding myself to donate or get rid of stuff. I do love this texture of the drawer. It's the texture
04:00I would never choose before but now it's like gave me the feeling of vacation near the beach vibe.
04:08The other big storage item, it's right here and it's also my bed. So it's lovely that nobody knows
04:15that I storage a lot of a jacket hoodie here that I usually give to my friends and students. Right
04:21behind me, there's a side stand. It was a built-in and it was designed by Josh and I really
04:27love that
04:28color and how it fits right next to my bed. It's like another storage room and also very functional.
04:34Able to put all my favorite books out there and reminds me in Hong Kong where my grandparents live.
04:40Their living room have two beds there but they have a lot of stuff so I wanted to do something
04:47different even though my bed is the center of the whole studio apartment. I wanted to make it much more
04:53neat and clean and embrace the big item in this small space.
05:04This is my bedroom also it's my living room right here. I love this couch. Josh embraced the green
05:10and how big it is so I could actually lay down here in a relaxing afternoon. Before I designed this
05:17place
05:17I told Josh I was like please leave a space for me so I could stretch so I could teach
05:23online. When I teach
05:24ballet class I will put the camera right there so that they could see my whole body for the demonstration.
05:30Meanwhile I also do some YouTube channel interview. I will put my phone record me and my guests asking
05:37questions right here. On the top of the couch there is my painting. So I actually made those arts right
05:44here
05:44and I use the ballet shoes to make those shapes and I draw with my foot better than my hand
05:50and usually
05:51I will move the things away and you can look at the carpet. It's also where I stretch and dance
05:57as well.
05:57This chair is very functional. It either could help me to reach out to some places or also it could
06:03use
06:04as a bar for me to dance and I would put the camera right there move this away so there's
06:09a distance I
06:10could dance. This furniture it seems very light but they're actually very heavy which I kind of
06:17like because I'm a big guy so I don't want it to knock over with this little space. So right
06:22here
06:22it's an art studio, dance studio and also a recording studio.
06:32So this is my kitchen and the dining area and also I use this for work as well. I'm always
06:38hungry so
06:39it's good that the kitchen is right next to it. I cook a lot to survive because this space is
06:44very
06:45small, smaller than it looks. I use only one wok. As you can tell I use it a lot and
06:51this wok I can
06:52you know boil the water, cook a noodle, make soup, fried eggs, fried rice, everything in one. Funny enough
07:02it's also a storage room that I put a lot of salsa water there. This microwave and I'm not using
07:07it for
07:08storage because I use this much more often than you think. My friend got me the tiniest cooking tray
07:15because everything's tiny. I haven't used it yet. Why? Because I use my microwave much more than my
07:22stove. This is supposed to be storage, do you remember? It's very tall up there and how do I get
07:28up
07:28there? My dear friend he got me this to stand up to reach out and of course this I usually
07:37use when I
07:38wash my dishes. And this box is supposed to be all the snacks that I have. Right now it's only
07:44have the
07:44rice cracker. So I do have an air fryer there. I use once. I go out almost every day. I
07:50think that's a good
07:52practice to always go out and make connections, to re-link with your friends through dinners.
08:04I think Josh was the choreographer and I was the dancer inside this apartment. At the end of the
08:09day I'm the one who is living here. I'm the one who is dancing. This place is so relaxing. It
08:15really
08:15set me up in the best way so I could recharge 100% before I dance on stage. I like
08:22small space much
08:23more than I imagined.
