Monday, December 18, 2006 . 5:31 PM
Everytime that i meet with challenging situations, i learnt more about myself.
I can't ....CAN'T believe that the things that i was so worried about are finally over.
Thank you all for being so wonderful, for wishing me all the best and encouraging me during these period of time.
Unfortunately, most photos are with derrick at this moment in time, he's like so anxious to upload the videos and analyse them so i juz lent my cam to him for now. I'll be posting the photos and videos up soon.
Friday i took leave to rest at home and it was very much needed rest. ALl i can rem was that last week was terribly tiring. Thursday had to practice one last time, full dress rehearsals. Friday i just slept and slept the whole day, i was that tired. ANd since i know it's a long night ahead better rest more. During Thursday's practice, there were still many things to improve on, those small little techniques and stuffs ...so ya i was pretty worried how friday would turn out.
In fact, i was really worried abt Friday's as it's a competition. Sat is a performance so ..not that big a problem lar. For competition, pple really judge you for what you do. There were supposed to b 10 couples competiting but 9 turned out onli, the last one didn't have a air tickets to come here. Obviously they forgotten how tickets can run out during dec. The competition was supposed to start at 10.15pm. I was there since 8+pm. 9pm the DJ would start playing salsa music. Oh it's at Union square btw, besides Amara hotel. THis place plays salsa music every nite, but hte dance floor is bloody small, and everyone is like crowding around to dance. B4 10pm it was still manageable the crowds, as in you still have space to dance, but it's not difficult to hit someone on ur sides. Like i've said before, you need to warm up before u can perform, and my warmning up i mean u can do stretching excercises but u def have to b dancing around to get ur bodies warmed, balance steadied etc. So for that 2 hrs we were dancing around there. SOcial salsa dancing and performance are really different, even the judges who were present thast nite(from overseas one lar..) they also shared tips regarding performance salsa and social dancing salsa the next day. I must say there are really many gd social dancers around..in union square. It's teh very 1st time i've been there so yeah it opened my eyes up to them. But like my instructor said, it's v easy to b a social dancer, all those little movements they do, he can teach me it's v easy, but to b performance dancer not everyone can make it. Anyway, xenbar sent 5 couples for the competition. I know how gd they are. After checkign out the social dancers themselves ah. I was feelign alittle intimidated aldy. It's like i was thinking alittle lousy of myself. But no choice, since im there, might as well juz die gloriously.
We drew lots as to who dance 1st etc. I was so sway to drew the 2nd last one. I donoe...i preferred somewhere in the middle, then at least u know i can just relax. WHen the competition started, everyone was like crowding ard teh bloody small dance floor, pple literally had to stand on chairs to watch the couples. It was quite a chaotic mess lar actually. Even the performers were like scattered ard, not like in one place designated for us, and everywhere was crowds. I was so thirsty but yet i was stuck in this corner bcos i can't make my way back to my bag aldy. I didn't even get a chance to watch them perform, too many pple, somehow tall guys always like to crowd infront ah...... -_- a few of us were busy practicing somewehre at the back.WHen they called for mi and derrick, we still had to push our way out to the dance floor. Even tho i said i think i conquered stage fright right, i was still nervous. Everyone was juz crowding and staring at you, and to make things worse video cameras all over the place. I told myself to just relax, and prayed before i went on the dance floor. I was not very happy with my performance. Personally i felt the timing was out, as in, in salsa, we have 8 beats, the 4th and 8th beat is silent, as in it means u have to drag n pull ur steps. 1,2,3 drag,5,6,7 drag. It's hard to master....and in nervous state, i obviusly didn't really drag enuff lar. WHich means im faster than usual, derrick had to keep pulling mi to b slower. It's not obvious to outsiders anyway, just me and derrick. ANd i know that my balance wasnt v gd at some parts but then again, obvious to mi onli. During and after our turn, everyone cheered etc ...felt gd when it was over, the other contestants from xenbar were like encouraging as well, got chance to really talk and make frens. And then the whole place was packed like sardines lor, i donoe how they can actually dance in this kind of environment.
One pic of how crowded it was....
By the time the competition started it was like 11pm leh and we waited till 12.30am before they announced the prize giving ceremony. I wished i could have gone off earlier than that man. ANyway, onli the top 3 would b announced, the rest of us gets consolation trophies.
sorry ah..lazy to rotate pic..please tilt ur heads.
1st was indonesian couple.2nd was a couple frm xenbar and 3rd was indonesian again. The next morning, derrick was at xenbar for many of the classes taught by the judges. And teh gals from xenbar who participated in the competition told him that they were impressed by me, that im so..stable, not nervous. I was quite shocked by that, bcos i know how nervous i was. There were students n other pple who came up to him and told him that our dance was very gd.Then i felt quite comforted.
Saturday itself was rather tiring. Bcos we were at kallang theatre by 3pm, full dress rehearsal till 6.30pm. The moment i stepped onto the stage area (as in the backstage + stage), i was immediately reminded of my sec sch days when we used to perform alot. The backstage area is ...really quite a familar place to me, so i felt instant comfort. It wasn't intimidating or anything. I loved the backstage, it was one of the biggest backstage i've ever been, offering lots of space for practice etc. The local performers were assigned to 2 dressing rooms, so i was with all the other xenbar gals. TO tell the truth, i tot this whole thing would b so boring. Bcos i don't really know the other pple, and it's rehearsals how interestng could it get. But it turned out to b so fun, bcos i talked to many pple, i dont' even know how it happened. THe rehearsal itself almost made mi wanna sleep, bcos we waited for like 1 hr + before it was our turn to take the stage. WE had to survey the stage for ourselves, it's always like that. U feel much betta after u know the stage well, and where u gonna stand and start dancing, the lightings, how the theatre would look etc. The feel of it. Then we went off to change n do the makeup. So i joined the rest of the xenbar gals in the dressing room doing our own makeup. Yes we do our own makeups, just like in the past we used to do our own thick stage makeup for dance performance. They did just like what we all used to do, thick foundations,eyeshadows, and fake eyelashes. I almost forgotten the thing abt fake eyelashes until i saw them..and gals being gals, we like to comment and talk abt makeups haha.. i hate makeups. I suspect it's also becos in sec sch we used so much thick makeups that when i grew up i onli rem that foundations are evil. No gd. Hahha...I hate foundations, i never puts them. SO even for this performance, i didn't put foundation, but i made sure my eye makeup is loud enuff and lots of blusher. Yew. ANd u know the worse thing is when i walked out with that makeup on my face to go eat at kallang river there, nobody gives a hood...like nobody is staring at mi, which means my makeup looks normal instead of stage make up lar. But wah lau it's the thickest i ever had in my whole adulty life. WHen i went back i piled on more blusher and eye makeup. Some girl borrowed my lipstick.
THe performance started at 8pm. The 1st part of the show would b performed mainly by xenbar pple, group performances. Then 2nd half would b the oversea performers,me and derrick and other xenbar couple performers. SO we had lots of time to do nothing, while we waited backstage. IN fact during the whole time waiting on sat, i was very calm. I don't know y. IT was fun as well, bcos there were many encouraging words being exchanged b/w performers, which totally reminds mi of sec sch oso lar. During the waiting time, while everyone was getting themselves busy, practicsing their routines, we were warming up by.....dancing bachatta, argentine tango, waltz and of cos social salsa then our own routine.Was fun siah.
The suddenly it was our turn, it kinda caught us both off guard. Just before we went on stage, we had to tell the person in charge to feed back to the person in charge of the lightings to please off the side lights which were super strong n blinding..we just wanted the top lights.Then off we go!! Im v satisfied with my performance, bcos it's one of those that i totally was relaxed and everything went smoothly as practiced. Usually when ur nervous, things tend to go wrong and ur standards drop, usually when u dance in public. But i felt it was like as practiced. Mainly cos i was relaxed thru all the dancing(playing ard) in the backstage, and i knew from experience in sec sch days performing that .. i won't b able to see ANYONE in the theatre bcos onli the stage would b lit up, it almost meant that u could treat it as if noone was there watching you. So very happy. WHen we were dancing, all the pple in the backstage were crowding around the side curtains(the audiences can't see them, but i can) watching us...When we finished and moved int othe back stage, the other oversea performers were like telling us our dance was v gd etc... was really v encouraging seriously.
Later on, we went back to watch the others dance, the gd thing is that now we can relax n just enjoy, the indonesian couple who came 1st the previous nite was chatting with us praising us etc. Pple don't believe that i've onli danced for 5 mths. Another guy came up to me, and said he would like to have a chance to dance with me later. But i rejected him hahaa...i don wan to dance with strangers plus, im not going for the post performance party and neither am i going for sunday's big party too.But wat a compliment siah.
WHen the whole thing ended, i tot i would b like so relieved everything has ended but i found myself actually not wanting to stop dancing. I asked to b not b dancing for 3 weeks rite? but i found myself wanting to dance, everything is like in my head. Argentine tango, salsa........everytime i move my legs i juz feel like whipping up some moves. haha...crazy. But i'll stick to my plans of not dancing ..juz to rest and catch up with my frens,family and rabbit.
I realised that under mental stress, i can react badly as such having short tempers and not wanting to think about other things. I onli wan to focus on finishing up what i need to do, the rest later on then think.Mayb ah..im really a da xiao jie at heart. I behave like one.
|
