As promised...the dance performance for Unity in Diversity. I only danced the first and third part. Enjoy people..
Showing posts with label unity in diversity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unity in diversity. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Reality Check
It was a busy weekend for MUMSA last week, as we had 2 events in succession. The first was the Unity & Diversity show, where MUMSA is again participating with a dance performance, and also the next day, we had our Annual Malaysian Night dinner.
UNITY & DIVERISTY PERFORMANCE
I know I said somewhere that it would be a long time before I danced on stage again, but that was then, when I was what people called a noob, unaware of the joy of performing especially something that you would never think you were capable of doing ever in your life. It falls under the same category as bungy jumping, you never thought you would do such a thing, but you did, and you would do it again.
Dance practices started about a month before the show, and ideas of what we would be performing came pouring in. At first we wanted to do a five piece performance, malay dance, chinese dance, indian, kadazan, and a modern dance which involved hip-hop and break dancing. Yes it sounds scary, thats what I thought anyways. We ended up doing just the malay, chinese and indian dance. This year, it wasn't just 6 dancers, but we had 19, and that made practices fun. Once again, Caroline correographed most of the show, while Hani and Laili took care of the Malay dance. I have to honestly say, that after watching last years show, Hani and Laili made this years Malay dance simple, compared to Elun's piece. But, it was for the best, as Caroline's correography for the Chinese and Indian dances were intense, and the simple start at the start was needed, especially for the dancers who had to dance all 3 dances.
At the end of the show, we won best unique performance, which I think we deserved because of the different elements we showed in our dance.Video of the performance will be posted as soon as I get a better copy of it, as my copy was shot at an awkward angle, so not everyone is seen, including me..hehe.
MALAYSIAN NIGHT 2008
Due to last years success, organisers Lutfi and Jace decided to stick with the costume theme. This year, it was Hollywood, Bollywood & Mallywood.
Once again a video was needed for the night, so me and Lutfi got to work starting on Friday. We shot more footage on saturday, did the editing saturday night till the night of the dinner. I came up with the idea and so it wasn't that great of a video. It was meant to be more, but I think I did not execute it as well as I wanted.
I went to Malaysian night dressed as a gangster, Al Capone style, American gangster style. It wasn't much dressing up really, believe me when I say others dressed up, with make up and props, but me, a pinstripe suit, and put on my normal face, and I'm a gangster (coz people always say I have a unfriendly face).
People who have known me since high school will probably know that I was supposed to sing at my prom, but that never happened, so at Malaysian night, I made up for that, and performed. Hahahhah. It's funny how this year, Haizat transferred from Albany and he asked if I wanted to join him in performing for Malaysian night. What the heck, bila lagi kan. Good thing the performance were watched by friends, and our mistakes while singing were forgiven. It was good, bit nervous at first but by the time the second song came, we were comfortable.
Video me and Lutfi made will be posted up soon as well, and video of the singing will not be posted.
The night was fun, and of course the photo sessions, with all the different costumes. I even got the best dressed, just because Iylia won already for most photogenic. Look at the pictures here
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=150568&l=a21ff&id=673915175 , and you'll know why he should have a clean sweep for the awards.
The night ended smoothly, and kudos to Jace and Lutfi for organizing a great event.
REALITY CHECK
P.S : I am officially tired of it. My efforts have brought me nowhere near, instead has made me bitter. I am switching off. I am officially crawling back into my sanctuary where its safe.
UNITY & DIVERISTY PERFORMANCE
I know I said somewhere that it would be a long time before I danced on stage again, but that was then, when I was what people called a noob, unaware of the joy of performing especially something that you would never think you were capable of doing ever in your life. It falls under the same category as bungy jumping, you never thought you would do such a thing, but you did, and you would do it again.
Dance practices started about a month before the show, and ideas of what we would be performing came pouring in. At first we wanted to do a five piece performance, malay dance, chinese dance, indian, kadazan, and a modern dance which involved hip-hop and break dancing. Yes it sounds scary, thats what I thought anyways. We ended up doing just the malay, chinese and indian dance. This year, it wasn't just 6 dancers, but we had 19, and that made practices fun. Once again, Caroline correographed most of the show, while Hani and Laili took care of the Malay dance. I have to honestly say, that after watching last years show, Hani and Laili made this years Malay dance simple, compared to Elun's piece. But, it was for the best, as Caroline's correography for the Chinese and Indian dances were intense, and the simple start at the start was needed, especially for the dancers who had to dance all 3 dances.
At the end of the show, we won best unique performance, which I think we deserved because of the different elements we showed in our dance.Video of the performance will be posted as soon as I get a better copy of it, as my copy was shot at an awkward angle, so not everyone is seen, including me..hehe.
MALAYSIAN NIGHT 2008
Due to last years success, organisers Lutfi and Jace decided to stick with the costume theme. This year, it was Hollywood, Bollywood & Mallywood.
Once again a video was needed for the night, so me and Lutfi got to work starting on Friday. We shot more footage on saturday, did the editing saturday night till the night of the dinner. I came up with the idea and so it wasn't that great of a video. It was meant to be more, but I think I did not execute it as well as I wanted.
I went to Malaysian night dressed as a gangster, Al Capone style, American gangster style. It wasn't much dressing up really, believe me when I say others dressed up, with make up and props, but me, a pinstripe suit, and put on my normal face, and I'm a gangster (coz people always say I have a unfriendly face).
People who have known me since high school will probably know that I was supposed to sing at my prom, but that never happened, so at Malaysian night, I made up for that, and performed. Hahahhah. It's funny how this year, Haizat transferred from Albany and he asked if I wanted to join him in performing for Malaysian night. What the heck, bila lagi kan. Good thing the performance were watched by friends, and our mistakes while singing were forgiven. It was good, bit nervous at first but by the time the second song came, we were comfortable.
Video me and Lutfi made will be posted up soon as well, and video of the singing will not be posted.
The night was fun, and of course the photo sessions, with all the different costumes. I even got the best dressed, just because Iylia won already for most photogenic. Look at the pictures here
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=150568&l=a21ff&id=673915175 , and you'll know why he should have a clean sweep for the awards.
The night ended smoothly, and kudos to Jace and Lutfi for organizing a great event.
REALITY CHECK
P.S : I am officially tired of it. My efforts have brought me nowhere near, instead has made me bitter. I am switching off. I am officially crawling back into my sanctuary where its safe.
Monday, August 27, 2007
For Opah
When the date 31st of August is mentioned among Malaysians, we automatically know people are talking about our independence day. This year we are celebrating our 50th year of independence from the British. Despite the various discrepancies throughout the years, I am still proud of this achievement and proud to call myself a Malaysian, a fact that is sadly lacking in our youth these days. Anyway, every year, I celebrate 2 occasions on that date, m country's independence, as well as the birth of my grandmother or Opah as I call her.
Puteh binti Abdul Rahman, my Opah will be celebrating her birthday this 31st of August, and being abroad, this is actually the first time I won't be joining her on her birthday. So, I thought to myself, what would be something special that I could do for my Opah, with me being away, and on a tight student budget? Well, an opportunity presented itself 2 weeks ago when one of the committee members of MUMSA sent a mass text to everyone, asking for volunteers. They were looking for 3 guys and 3 girls that were willing to participate in a performance, a dance to be exact for the Unity in Diversity Week held by Massey in 2 weeks time. I was reluctant to join at first, but then it came to me, how special would this be if I dedicated this to Opah. Anyone who knows me personally would know, how unlikely it would be for mr to do these kinds of public performances. So, I volunteered, and the fact that Iylia joined as well cemented the decision. 2 fools on stage would be better than 1 fool on stage I thought.
The day came for our first practice, and after 15 minutes learning the first step of the whole routine, I started having doubts about my dancing career. That relatively simple first move took me a whole practice to get right, added to that people telling me that my body was too stiff.....of course lah stiff...i'm too macho you know.
Few more practices came after that, and I have to tell you, when you get the moves right, a feeling of accomplishment comes over you, and that leads to the whole performance being fun. Each practice, the choreographers add new moves, which seemed impossible to me at first but, as the saying goes, "practice makes perfect".
On the 22nd, we had our full dress rehearsal, and the last practice before the real rehearsal at the venue, which is at the Globe Theater. So all of us dressed, and I have to say, we don't look half bad. Me in "Hang Tuah" red, Iylia in "Hang Lekiu" blue, and Hadi in "Hang Jebat" Yellow all of us with matching "tanjak". The girls looked the part as well, with gold "sanggul" on thier heads, we definitely looked the part. We went through the routine with full costume on, and everything went well. Nothing dropped, and everything was flowing when all the moves were in motion. Feeling satisfied, we waited till the next day for the rehearsal at the Globe Theater.
We were one of the first groups to arrive and that meant we could rehearse early and go back early. The stage was just the right size, and coincided with how we practiced before. Although there were only maybe less than 20 people in the crowd that night at rehearsal, my familiar feeling of nervousness in front of public places came about as usual. Our song came on and we proceeded with the routine. Everything went well I guess, with a couple of mistakes from each of us, all down to nervousness again I suppose. Clare the coordinator asked if we wanted another run, and we said yes. Second run went better, with me being able to give some facial expression, something i did not do in the first run. Second went better, and all of were satisfied but also decided to go back to Massey to have another practice.
The day of the performance came. All of us reached the theater at round 6.30 and again we were the early ones there. We chilled out in the dressing room, they had those mirrors with the light bulbs all round like you see in the movies. At around 7, the coordinator informed us that we were the 12th group to perform. We all moaned, the tension was killing us, and having to sit backstage and wait would be absolute murder for our nerves. So we chilled backstage, watching performance after performance start and end. We only got fully dressed 3 performances before us. We recapped our routine once again in the crammed space of the dressing room. It was getting closer to showtime.
It was now 2 performances before ours and the coordinators signaled us to get into formation at our entry point. Butterflies fluttering in the tummy like it was going to explode. The last performance before us was about to finish. Everyone restless all muttering under their breath all manner of praises to god, praying that nothing too massive gets screwed up. And at last, the last performance before us was over, and the stage was dark once again, the crowd hushed, anticipating the next performance. It was showtime.
"Diciptakan seorang insan...." Siti Nurhaliza's voice came on. That was our song, that was our cue to enter. And we did. The crowd applauded, the loudest coming from the Malaysian's who came to support the team, as well as friends of our dancers. I think a visual representation is needed at this point....
So that was the nights performance. Feedback from the crowd was good, and also the coordinators loved it, maybe they tell all the performers that night the same thing, but it was good to hear nonetheless. We did have one thing that the other performers didn't get that night. The Omani Students Association, who had an opening event for thier Indoor Soccer Tournament the next day, invited us to perform and pay for our services. So we must have done something right that night.
That night was definitely a night to remember, because its probably going to be a long time before I do that again, and also, I achieved my goal to do something special for my Opah this year.
Puteh binti Abdul Rahman, my Opah will be celebrating her birthday this 31st of August, and being abroad, this is actually the first time I won't be joining her on her birthday. So, I thought to myself, what would be something special that I could do for my Opah, with me being away, and on a tight student budget? Well, an opportunity presented itself 2 weeks ago when one of the committee members of MUMSA sent a mass text to everyone, asking for volunteers. They were looking for 3 guys and 3 girls that were willing to participate in a performance, a dance to be exact for the Unity in Diversity Week held by Massey in 2 weeks time. I was reluctant to join at first, but then it came to me, how special would this be if I dedicated this to Opah. Anyone who knows me personally would know, how unlikely it would be for mr to do these kinds of public performances. So, I volunteered, and the fact that Iylia joined as well cemented the decision. 2 fools on stage would be better than 1 fool on stage I thought.
The day came for our first practice, and after 15 minutes learning the first step of the whole routine, I started having doubts about my dancing career. That relatively simple first move took me a whole practice to get right, added to that people telling me that my body was too stiff.....of course lah stiff...i'm too macho you know.
Few more practices came after that, and I have to tell you, when you get the moves right, a feeling of accomplishment comes over you, and that leads to the whole performance being fun. Each practice, the choreographers add new moves, which seemed impossible to me at first but, as the saying goes, "practice makes perfect".
On the 22nd, we had our full dress rehearsal, and the last practice before the real rehearsal at the venue, which is at the Globe Theater. So all of us dressed, and I have to say, we don't look half bad. Me in "Hang Tuah" red, Iylia in "Hang Lekiu" blue, and Hadi in "Hang Jebat" Yellow all of us with matching "tanjak". The girls looked the part as well, with gold "sanggul" on thier heads, we definitely looked the part. We went through the routine with full costume on, and everything went well. Nothing dropped, and everything was flowing when all the moves were in motion. Feeling satisfied, we waited till the next day for the rehearsal at the Globe Theater.
We were one of the first groups to arrive and that meant we could rehearse early and go back early. The stage was just the right size, and coincided with how we practiced before. Although there were only maybe less than 20 people in the crowd that night at rehearsal, my familiar feeling of nervousness in front of public places came about as usual. Our song came on and we proceeded with the routine. Everything went well I guess, with a couple of mistakes from each of us, all down to nervousness again I suppose. Clare the coordinator asked if we wanted another run, and we said yes. Second run went better, with me being able to give some facial expression, something i did not do in the first run. Second went better, and all of were satisfied but also decided to go back to Massey to have another practice.
The day of the performance came. All of us reached the theater at round 6.30 and again we were the early ones there. We chilled out in the dressing room, they had those mirrors with the light bulbs all round like you see in the movies. At around 7, the coordinator informed us that we were the 12th group to perform. We all moaned, the tension was killing us, and having to sit backstage and wait would be absolute murder for our nerves. So we chilled backstage, watching performance after performance start and end. We only got fully dressed 3 performances before us. We recapped our routine once again in the crammed space of the dressing room. It was getting closer to showtime.
It was now 2 performances before ours and the coordinators signaled us to get into formation at our entry point. Butterflies fluttering in the tummy like it was going to explode. The last performance before us was about to finish. Everyone restless all muttering under their breath all manner of praises to god, praying that nothing too massive gets screwed up. And at last, the last performance before us was over, and the stage was dark once again, the crowd hushed, anticipating the next performance. It was showtime.
"Diciptakan seorang insan...." Siti Nurhaliza's voice came on. That was our song, that was our cue to enter. And we did. The crowd applauded, the loudest coming from the Malaysian's who came to support the team, as well as friends of our dancers. I think a visual representation is needed at this point....
So that was the nights performance. Feedback from the crowd was good, and also the coordinators loved it, maybe they tell all the performers that night the same thing, but it was good to hear nonetheless. We did have one thing that the other performers didn't get that night. The Omani Students Association, who had an opening event for thier Indoor Soccer Tournament the next day, invited us to perform and pay for our services. So we must have done something right that night.
That night was definitely a night to remember, because its probably going to be a long time before I do that again, and also, I achieved my goal to do something special for my Opah this year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)