Four Movies, One Musical, And One Ballet

In a matter of two weeks, I have watched four movies (more than that actually, but I am only going to speak on the better ones), one musical and one ballet. What an "achievement"! It has been so long since my time is filled with consecutive activities like this.

 

The first show I watched was of course "Life Of Pi", the 3D version. I must say, Ang Lee really managed to capture most of the description in the book. The movie followed as closely to the book as possible, including the last part where the Bengal Tiger story overrules. Even though like the book, the movie also lets us question which story is more true and whether is Pi just blessed or he really had a guardian angel, these questions are still unanswered no matter how many times I read the book or have now watched the show. But the essence of the story is that, people all chose to believe the more implausible story, simply because it sounds more amazing than the other one.

 

The second movie I watched was "Back To 1942", another China war show. This time, it was about the Henan famine in 1930s before the war when Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek was still in charge before he fled to Taiwan. It was a heart-wrenching story on how people escaped the famine, hoping for a better life, but yet it was nothing but an illusion. Many people died along the way. The government was not doing anything except pandering to the Japanese, they took the grain that was already scarce to the people just to feed the military, and when the people reached the border of the next province, they were turned away.

 

Mr Pianist himself was a war reporter who reported on the actual sitaution of the famine and how the local government was doing nothing or refusing to do anything. The article was published in Time magazine, and when it was translated by the Chinese press, Generalissimo Chiang suspended and closed down that particular Chinese publication and published another translated version that downplayed the actual famine situation.

 

When I watch biopics like these, it makes me feel so lucky to be born in this era. Yes, we may have no money and struggling to make a living, but at least we are not starving until we had to run away and die along the way, and eat anything, snakes, grass, cats, just to survive.

 

The third show was "Intouchables", a French show based on a true story about an invalid man in a wheelchair, and how he found his jolly life again after engaging a caregiver from the slums who let him view life from another angle, instead of the usual uptight aristocratic way. This is a really touching show which I hope would win Best Foreign Film for the Oscars next year.

 

The fourth show was of course "The Hobbit". The first part was on how the dwarves crashed into Bilbo Baggins' house, and how he followed them to try to retrieve back their kingdom. The movie followed the book closely, and Peter Jackson, again, showed his perfectionist streak by making all the sceneries and settings perfect. Many of the scenes look familiar as I visited the exact places and locations when I was in New Zealand a few years back.

 

The musical was "Jersey Boys", and it was above average at best. The story was on the beginnings of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, and even though the songs are great and I enjoyed them, somehow I find this musical overhyped by winning several Tony Awards, because it is not in the calibre of other musicals like Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables, which I am still waiting for the movie to be released!

 

The ballet was "Sleeping Beauty", a new version of the fairy tale. Even though it was a great ballet and this rendition was really good, I find the last part too draggy. The first part was on the three fairies, the witch and the curse on the new baby princess, and then the princess grew up and she was pricked and the whole palace fell into a deep sleep. 

 

The second part was on a hundred years later, the prince heard about the legend of the castle and he went to hack his way in, saw the princess sleeping, kissed her and she awoke. The third part was actually on their wedding and their coronation as the new king and queen, but a lot of unnecessary details like the individual dances of all the "guests" at the wedding, could be totally cut out. It made the whole ballet too long. The cherographer(s) should have just done the ballroom ballet, the couples' dance, and a few twists and turns, instead of doing every individual dance. 

 

Still it was a good rendition, although it was the longest ballet performance I have ever attended, longer than even Swan Lake. I believe the Dance Theatre was trying to showcase their performers' talents, but it kind of backfired because many people went off during and after the second interval and did not even come back for the final scene. I also saw many people going off during the final scene as it got too long.

 

All in all, I have had a great time seeing all these great films and performances! I think this is going to be a good Christmas ahead!

The Chingay Parade

Today is the day of the Chingay Parade. As volunteers, we were given free tickets to watch the entire parade. It is the first time for me watching Chingay so I brought along my camera. Unfortunately, the place is too far away and the dance movements were too quick, hence most of my pictures turned out blurry. :-(

But the dance sequence was spectacular! Everyone there really showed the passion for dance! Imagine being clad in costume and heavy makeup, and move, jump and dance around in tropical weather like this is no easy feat!

The whole show lasted around two hours. Because it was full of people, we ended up being sweaty and hot. This is what comes of living in the tropics, the humidity itself makes everyone perspire! At times I wish I live in more temperate regions, so even with hot weather, it is not as sticky!

In any case, I managed to find some good pictures of the procession and the fireworks at the end, so enjoy!

The Flyer at night

The first procession - Convoy of Harley-Davidsons

The second procession - Antique cars

My favourite - the Star Wars' procession!

The light bulb found in our goodie bags

Fireworks at the end

White Swan, Black Swan

This is by far one of the most intense movies I have ever watched! How did it lose out to Social Network during the Golden Globes I really cannot fathom! This is more of a psychological drama, where a ballerina who pushed herself too much, and started hallucinating about others trying to take on her role, and in the end she killed herself, thinking she killed the person who was "tormenting" her, before realising everything was in her mind, and her "tormentor" was in fact really herself.

But this show took on a new meaning for me. I have always loved the ballet "Swan Lake", and ever since I watched it two years back, I have always been awestruck by the gracefulness of the main character.

But this show brought out the essence of the ballet - Swan Lake itself is on the beauty and gracefulness of the white swan, and the jealousy, sensual, and backbiting of the black swan (the alter ego of the white swan). The white swan represents purity, sweetness and wholesomeness, whereas the black swan represents deceit, lies and lust.

I never really saw it that way, as all along, I thought the white swan is the good one and the black swan is the bad one, and the ballerina who took on the role just needed to ensure her dance steps are perfect, but after what the ballet master in the show remarked, "We have a perfect 'white swan', and a perfect 'black swan', but trouble is, who can play both?", I started to reflect on this point.

How true! Yes, even in staging a ballet, drama and expression are important. One can glide around gracefully and elegantly as the white swan, and one can piroutte sensually like the black swan, but who can actually do both and bring out both qualities at the same time? This kind of symbolises that humans have many faces, sometimes the good surfaces, and sometimes the ugly surfaces, and yet not many people can be both a Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde at the same time without repercussions to the mental well-being.

And that is the overall essence of the show. The main character could not do it. She could not surface both her white swan and black swan qualities, which was why she kept pushing herself and met her tragic end, even though she managed to achieve a breakthrough in the end and the show was overall a great success and received a standing ovation.

I give the movie a standing ovation too! It is one of the best movies I have watched! I sure hope this will win the Best Picture at the Academy Awards! Incidentally, seeing all the ballerinas piroutte and gliding so gracefully, makes me really yearn to want to dance again after so long! Maybe I can start to lose some weight too by doing that!

Third Chingay Rehearsal

I went for the third Chingay rehearsal earlier on. This would be the last rehearsal before the Lunar New Year holidays before the actual performance.

This time round, I helped the participants with their makeup. After the makeup class last week, we had to re-create the look. Hence, the participants applied lots of powder to their faces and drew the lines where the makeup was to go on.

After helping out and almost making a disaster, I realise that I still have lots to learn where my makeup skills are concerned. I am not able to do other's makeup properly and effectively. Seems that I need to enroll and refresh my makeup skills again!

The next rehearsal will be after the Lunar New Year. Looking forward to this long "break"!

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First Chingay Volunteer Meeting

I just came back from the first volunteer session for the Chingay parade. Apparently this is the first time the school is involved in Chingay, so the coordinators had no idea what to do or what went on as well.

When we went for the briefing, we were given a T-shirt and the group we would be taking charge of. Then we boarded the bus to take us to the venue.

Dinner was catered, and the dancers were called to practice the steps and procession. Since there was nothing much for us volunteers to do, we just sat around chit-chatting or watching the procession trying to get together.

The dancers came back after an hour or so, but only for a short break, before going off to practice again. Around nine at night, the coordinators told us volunteers to go off as it did not make any sense to stay on since we were only there to help look after the belongings, which were all huddled in a circle and one person was enough to keep an eye on them.

Just as well we went off when we did as it had been a tiring day and we had to attend a Cathechists' meeting first thing tomorrow morning to kickstart the new term.

Next week will be a makeup class where we will be taught how to apply performance makeup, as we would need to help the performers do makeup as well. Looking forward to that!

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Volunteering For Chingay

I will be involved in the Chingay procession next year, not as a dancer but a volunteer. I suspect it will be something like what I did for the Youth Olympics a few months back.

Actually it was my dear who signed us up for this. I did not know we would get selected so when the notice came that we were put down as volunteers, it was kind of a surprise. But I still decide to go ahead because how many other times can one have this kind of opportunity?

A brief overview : Chingay is a dance procession held on the first weekend after Chinese New Year to celebrate the Festival. Some people liken it to a mini Mardi Gras but I feel there is no basis for comparison. Still the procession will go on for about the whole evening.

We have received our volunteer dates. There would be three rehearsals before the actual procession so I foresee myself busy again in January and February!

Hopefully this will be even more fun than the Youth Olympics!

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Dirty Dancing!

I am now hooked on Dirty Dancing, after I got so captivated by it in the movie "Heartbreaker". I know it is rather an old movie, with the late Patrick Swayze in it. But when I saw how the guy moves, he is so oozing of sex appeal that I want so much to dance with him!

Now I need to go find the movie and learn the steps! Hopefully I can attempt something just as outrageous!

Giselle - A Ballet In Two Parts

I am never a fan of the ballet "Giselle". I always prefer "The Nutcracker" and "Swan Lake", the two very famous ballets worldwide. Those two are the equivalent of operas whereas "Giselle" to me is the equivalent of an operatta, the former on a bigger scale and the latter on a smaller scale.

But still, it is a good ballet performance. Hence we went to watch it on the last day of its run. And it exceeded my expectations! I find it even better than "Swan Lake" and "The Nutcracker"! Even though it is a ballet performance, the dancers danced a story. One can even feel all the emotions of love lost, hurt, betrayal and fear.

Giselle is the story of this peasant girl, whose mother made wine. It was summer and the whole village was off to the vineyards to pick grapes for making wine. In comes this Count who disguised himself as a peasant. He fell in love with Giselle and she reciprocated his feelings too.

Giselle had a suitor who was jealous of the newcomer. One day, he accidentally stumbled upon the sword of the Count, bearing the royal crest and went to expose his identity. The Count himself was already engaged to a lady of nobility, who came to the village looking for him. Giselle was heart-broken when she found out and died of a broken heart.

The next scene showed the poor villager at Giselle's grave. It was late at night and he was afraid of the ghosts. There was a saying in the village that when a girl died of a broken heart, her spirit would come back as a vengeful ghost. At this part, the ballerinas were able to just tiptoe and pointe around. Amazing! I always wondered how they managed to balance without falling?

All the spirits came out to dance. The Count, remorseful, went to cry at Giselle's grave. She had become a spirit. But their love was so strong that none of the spirits could touch him, so the Count and the spirit of Giselle danced together.

Morning came and the spirits had to go. Giselle had no choice but to bid her lover a tearful goodbye. Hence ended the ballet on a touching note.

The Singapore Dance Theatre outdid themselves again! I am sure going to support more of their productions! Now I only hope the next upcoming one will be just as good!

Masquerade!

The ball last night was a smash! It was held at the Tower Ballroom of Shangri-La hotel, and we were put in a table full of old couples. Masks were provided, but wine was not, so if we wanted to have wine, we would have to buy it. And if we wanted fancy masks, we would have to buy them too. Hmmm... makes me wonder why we spent so much on the entrance tickets if everything was not provided!

Anyway, the start of the dinner was speeches by the organising committee and chairman, then dinner commenced. It was a buffet spread outside the ballroom. In true Eurasian (European) tradition, ladies went first. The men went later.

It was a big spread, there were nine courses, plus carving station, plus soup and roll, plus dessert. So all in all, everyone had a feast!

Then there were lucky draws, which were not so lucky for us. The dance floor opened around ten and dancing started. I must say, the two differences between a typical Chinese dinner and an Eurasian dinner are that :

One, people are more dressed up in an Eurasian dinner. If we go to any Chinese dinners, especially wedding banquets, somehow people deem shirt and jeans as appropriate wear. Even when the dress code indicates "Formal", people would somehow still come in shirt and jeans. Or shirt and pants.

But for an Eurasian dinner, everyone was dressed up. Ladies in elegant evening gowns and bling blings, men in suits. As in long-sleeve shirt, tailored pants, jacket and tie. Nothing less. There was even one in a bow tie!

Two, people like to dance after the dinner. I heard that in an Eurasian wedding, dancing is a norm. Whether they are young and old, everyone would dance after dinner. But for a Chinese dinner, everyone is just there for the food. They would leave after the food, without participating in anything.

Just like the dinner and dance of companies, I always wondered after the sumptuous dinner, where is the dancing? Nobody would bother to stay back to dance, everyone would just leave after dinner. So whenever I wanted to stay back and dance, in the end because no one else would be dancing, everything ended just after the dinner.

So I really enjoyed myself last night. Since it was a ball and the dress code indicates "Formal", I wore a black strappy evening gown with straps down the back, which was bought from Macy's in Los Angeles, paired with a crystal necklace and matching earrings, and a gold silk shawl.

When we reached the ballroom, we chose our own masks. So I got a red one with feathers on top, and he got a silver one which I remarked made him look like the Phantom. I even saw one that looked like Zorro!

Me in my new hair (he said I kind of look like Cleopatra here)

Me with the mask

My apologies if the photos look blurry, as they were taken with the iPhone in dim lighting. We started dancing after dinner. A variety of songs were being played, so we did the salsa and the cha-cha-cha.

Then the countdown started. Everyone popped the party poopers and blew whistles the minute 0000 was reached. Then ballads started playing and slow dancing started.

I have never had so much fun on New Year's Eve before. All the accounts I read of balls, dancing and partying, now I got to experience it for myself! If only more locals are interested in things like that, life would not be boring after a while!

Swan Lake

Last Friday we went to watch a full ballet. Swan Lake is this year's Christmas ballet event. The Singapore Dance Theatre always has major performances during Christmas seasons, by professional dancers. Last year was The Nutcracker.

It is the first time I actually watched a ballet performance with someone, in the past whenever I wanted to go for a ballet performance, no one was interested. Hence I went to watch The Nutcracker on my own last year, although it was not too bad a version.

Initially I asked him if he would be interested to go to watch a ballet performance, and he said why not? He had always wanted to watch musicals, operas, dance, etc. I was so happy when I heard that, so we went to the performance together.

Tchaikovsky had outdid himself again! I enjoyed Swan Lake more than The Nutcracker. The former is a love story, with more advanced dance steps (especially the thirty-two pirouttes, where the ballerina actually stretched one leg up in the air and twirled thirty-two times on tip toe with the remaining leg!), the latter is a Christmas fantasy story, more light-hearted.

Swan Lake is actually a folktale that originated from Germany. The prince came of age so the queen wanted him to choose a wife. He said he would only choose someone he loves. The queen gave him a crossbow as a birthday gift so he and his friends went hunting.

When they reached the lake, there were a flock of swans and cygnets swimming and waddling along. The biggest swan transformed into a beautiful woman. The prince was captivated by her and she told him that under a spell by an evil sorcerer, she had to be a swan by day and a woman by night. Only the vow of undying love could free her from the spell.

The prince started dancing with the woman, until the sorcerer came and fought him off. The prince declared his love for her and promised to free her from her spell.

The next day was the birthday party of the prince. The queen threw him a big bash and lined up beautiful ladies from all over the country as prospective matches, but he was not interested in any. Then the evil sorcerer (disguised as a noble) arrived with his daughter (disguised as the beautiful swan girl).

The prince was very happy and started dancing with her. He then told the queen that this was the girl he wanted to marry. The father of the girl (the sorcerer) asked the prince if he would declare undying love to her, and he said yes. Hence his vow to the swan girl was broken and she could not be freed. Just then, the prince realised his folly and he quickly ran out of the palace.

He went to the lake where he met the swan girl again. She forgave him for his folly. Just then, the sorcerer arrived and they started fighting. The prince managed to defeat the sorcerer and the girl was finally freed. The prince then declared undying love for her and they lived happily ever after.

Tchaikovsky wrote the ballet in four acts. Act I was the coming-of-age of the prince, with the birthday present from the queen. Everyone in court was busy preparing for the prince's birthday celebration.

Act II was at the lake, with the swans, and the prince dancing with the swan girl. Act III was back in the palace at the prince's birthday party, where he met the girl whom he thought to be the one he fell for, and they danced together. Act IV was back at the lake, where he realised his folly, defeated the sorcerer and got his girl.

This was really a great performance! Kudos to all the ballerinas and male ballet dancers! I hope next year's performance would be just as superb!

The Walk And Turn

The Tango class is progressing pretty well, although I am still a little out of step. I will not say it is entirely due to my partner, who seems nervous holding me. I guess I need lots and lots of practice too, especially since I was told whenever I took a step, it seemed to be either too big or too small.

It is hard to get the steps just right actually. That day we learnt how to dance eight steps together. Step left, right, front, back, turn, right, back and then back at position. It was the turn that was quite a problem, as my partner had to take me on the swing, without making me feel unbalanced.

I guess perhaps I am not that good a dancer in the first place, which is why it is hard to dance together. Or maybe he was nervous and uncomfortable holding me, and vice versa, since I never feel that comfortable holding someone I have no feelings for in such close proximity.

Still, I must learn how to dance the basic steps at least. Our instructors told us that there is a social tango dance party this weekend, and invited us to attend. Perhaps I shall go, then I can practice my steps even more, and perhaps dancing with different people can help improve my technique?

Side Side Step!

Our second Tango class on Sunday went pretty well. We learnt how to be in sync with our partners by shifting our weights to one foot, then moving the other foot. In other words, the men have to be the ones moving forward, backward or sideways, with the women just following along. She must be able to sense and know where he would be moving with her eyes closed.

So we started moving along with the music. Was it my imagination or did I sense that he still seemed pretty conscious of holding on to me? Despite that, we moved along pretty well, except at certain times when I could hardly feel which direction he was moving.

We learnt the steps to go forward, backward, side, and the criss-cross of one foot over another foot. Pretty easy steps actually. The way to go about is to hold on to each other, then the man will lead the lady into going forward, then backward, then side, and finally back and she would cross one foot over the other one.

So it is up to the man to decide which direction to take, be it front, back, right side, left side, and which foot, whether right foot or left foot. He has to let his partner know in advance which foot and which direction by putting his weight on the foot he does not intend to move.

Perhaps the reason I could not feel it sometimes could be because he does not weigh that much more as compared to me? Obviously I am still lighter, especially in light of the recent weight loss programme(s) where I have almost gone down to my desired weight, but he is not that heavy in the first place. Hmmm... really must practice more!

TANGO!

We went for our first Tango class today. I first came across Tango after watching "True Lies", and found it fascinating, especially with the rose. Then I watched some ballroom dancing segments and found Tango rather interesting. Since he is interested as well, we signed up together.

There are only about seven of us in the class (perhaps more, but maybe the rest did not turn up). We have a pair of instructors teaching us, one male and one female. Apparently, Tango is a social dance with close bodily contact, so we have to ensure we are very close to our partners. As with most dances, the man will lead, and the woman will follow, but the man has to ensure that his partner is close to him at all times, with her arms bent comfortably on his arms and shoulders.

That was the first time we were in such close proximity with each other. It is a bit nervous for both of us as he had never held me that close before. I am not one who is comfortable having such close bodily contact with someone I have no feelings for, which explains why I put a lot of jerks off since they always think I play hard to get.

But of course, with him it is different since we have been meeting up quite frequently. I was a bit nervous at first since it was the first time he was holding me and I am not sure just how he would feel. But the initial nervousness faded away as we tried out the dance steps and he tried to lead me. I became more and more at ease. That should be how people dance - being at ease and comfortable with the partner.

We kept changing partners. Since there was a variety of heights, we had to adjust accordingly to the height of the leader and try to follow through. All in all, it was an interesting lesson, and from the looks of the demonstration at the end of the class, the successive lessons will get more interesting. Really looking forward to the next class!

Taking Salsa Again ....

I started Salsa lesson again tonight. This time round the class has a more balance mix of males and females. And this time round, the students seem more beginners than the previous time where there were students who actually know how to dance.

Initially I thought of going with him but he had already completed beginner's Salsa, so we signed up for Tango together, which will be starting around end of September. So I am taking Salsa and Tap on my own. I had to refresh my memory on the various steps and beats and rhythms. Perhaps because I have already gone through a few lessons (thus not totally ignorant), somehow I seem to be able to catch the beat easier this time.

Once we managed to get the hang of the steps, we started doing partner dances. The guys have to rotate whereas the girls just stay put. I ended up dancing with five guys, all whom have different ways of dancing. It is hard to keep up with a couple of them, as once they step out of line (out of step actually), the entire dance will be disrupted and I end up being confused over which step to take.

Luckily the guy agreed to practice with me some times, as he wanted to refresh his steps too. Hopefully this time round I will be more able to catch up with the class, and to dance well for once!

Time Management

Some time last week, a friend accused me of having way too much free time, when he heard I not only blog, but keep a personal journal as well. I will not consider that as having too much time since these are things I really like doing. In fact, I view those who have nothing else to do but to scrutinise people's blogs and posting all kinds of nasty and insulting remarks are the ones who really have way too much free time.

Who is he to comment anyway? He does nothing except watching discs, movies, playing computer games and the occasional dining out and badminton games. I am not saying these are a waste of time because everyone is entitled to their own ways of living, but I do not think it is justified to say I am too free when my time is tied up with all kinds of other activities. In fact, too much free time is just what I do not have!

Contrary to those who think I really am too free, my time is pretty tied up, especially for this half of the year. Besides work which takes up a huge portion of my waking moments, I have school, which I have to attend three hours per week. I revise my lessons at least one to two hours per day. I have to do research, self-study and my own reading up, and that takes up at least another two hours per day.

I go for movies every weekend. Most of the time, I will watch two movies. If time allows, three, if not one. I do my own fair share of dating, dining out, entertaining and socialising. I chat with people online or through messages. I listen to music on my ZEN, or my Phillips three-in-one clock-radio-cd player, read whatever books I can get my hands on, surf the net, check mails, write / blog and spend time with my loved ones.

I sing three hours a week due to the church choir (used to be more when I was still under the Lyric Opera), go for mass an hour a week, and come March, will dance ballet and pilates three hours a week. Lately, I have been told I need to play for mass as well, so I need to take an hour a day practising the pieces.

Plus, I am involved in ad-hoc activities like more masses during the week during the Lenten season, meetings and activities for the church choir, and daily routines like sleeping (which I average about six to seven hours per night), eating, cleaning, shopping and travelling. So how can anyone ever say I have too much free time?

Why am I doing so many things? Because I enjoy everything I am doing. Some people asked why am I studying again, especially since I am no longer a teacher, since the course I am doing is one of the few part-time courses recognised by the Ministry? Can I not study just because I am no longer a teacher? Why can I not study just simply because I like it? Besides, this course is not exclusvely a course for teachers, unlike the one I took in NIE! So the next question will then be why I must do this course, why not more "practical" ones like Business? Because I do not have a business mind, and I love English Literature! Is there even a reason why I need to further my studies?

What about reading? I live to devour books and words. I cannot imagine my life without books. And even when I go out with my friends, or watch a book-to-screen movie, I would inadvertently compare the stories, and people around would always wonder what on earth I was talking about. Sad to say, I hardly meet people who really read. I do not mean just academic reading or comics, but real books like classics, like inspirational stories, even innocent children's books.

I cannot imagine my life without writing too. It is an outpouring of all my thoughts and feelings, especially for someone who lives more on her heart than her head. Which triggered off dislike by a lot of people, because, well, do I really have to say so much? Why not? Why can I not say so much just because some people do not like it, as long as I like it? Why must I conform to writing or blogging about mundane things just because people like it, just because then I would then put on a more positive facade instead of the uncontrollable weirdo, die-hard romantic and failure in life?

With all these, came music and movies, the former the food for the soul, and the latter, an observation of human nature and life's lessons in moving pictures. One simply cannot express the feelings after listening to a touching piece of music, or watching a great movie. I have people telling me, if I like listening to music, why not heavy metal pieces? If I like watching movies, why not slapstick comedies?

Why not? Simply because I find heavy metal music too loud and gives me a throbbing headache. Slapsticks are funny but meaningless. They do not tug at my heartstrings, unlike love songs, ballads, slow rocks, even classical and new age, or romantic comedies, historical epics, or intense dramas.

And is it absolutely necessary for me to attend church? If you have no religion, do not speak to me about not attending church. Who is to say your ways are right and my ways are wrong? I went through so much to get baptised, so never again will I take my religion for granted, which I had for a big part of my church-going life.

Then what about dance? Is it really necessary? What use would that be in my life? Must I do something just because it would be useful in my life? Can I not do something simply because I love it? Dancing is fun, it helps me keep fit and slim. I do it for the sheer purpose of enriching my life. To be really mean, I would say I prefer my life to be enriched by activities, rather than do nothing but stay home and watch television and movies, and let my brain rot and disintegrate, causing premature senility.

Yes, I have time to do all these things, because once the enjoyment is there, one will not think it a waste of time or chore to do whatever that is needed to be done. And to get as many things done as possible within the day, I normally multi-task, ie read, listen to music and exchange messages while travelling to and from work, chat, blog, net / blog surfing and checking emails simultaneously, study and write. Not the best way, but at least a good enough way to get many things done.

Now, if only there can be forty-eight hours in a day, that will be perfect indeed!

Oh Baby Baby ....

I went for a family gathering earlier on to celebrate my cousin's baby's first month. Before that, I went to buy dance gear for my upcoming classes. I bought a leotard (which will be in stock in another two weeks), ballet tights and leather suede pointe shoes. I have gone up a size from XS to S for my leotard (luckily I have not reached M), and the tights are XL, for those 1.55m and above. My shoe size has not gone up though, I am still wearing 3.5! Can imagine just how small my feet are.

When I arrived at my grandma's place, the baby was sleeping in the pram throughout, so peacefully and blissfully, unaware of everything that is going on around him. How I wish I can be like that too, to just sleep and not bother about anything that is going on! As the saying goes, ignorance is bliss!

A baby is really a miracle. One cannot ever imagine that something that started out as the size of a full stop (period) will become something that is so beautiful, so good to look at, a real angel. How in the world can something so heavenly exist? This makes me yearn so much for my own child. I really cannot wait for the day when I can finally have my own family!

My cousin is very protective over her child. She did not allow me to carry or touch the child. I was a bit disappointed as I wanted so much to carry him in my arms and looked at his beautiful form, cooed him to sleep, smile at him. I can gaze at him the whole day and not feel tired at all!

My cousin remarked that her dog has also been rather protective over the baby, as if it feels itself as its "elder brother". The dog is really treated as their son! I always thought I treat my dog very well already, but compared to my cousin, I feel so ashamed, as she even sent it to dog training, bought a birthday cake for its birthday and even doggie clothes for it! Compared to this dog, my dog is like a stray. :-(

On a side note, my brother taught me the radiocommunications code used in the army (as well as internationally). It is amazing that there is a word for every alphabet! So the "new" A-Z will be :

Alpha
Bravo
Charlie
Delta
Echo
Foxtrot
Golf
Hotel
India
Juliet (how can I ever forget this?)
Kilo
Lima
Mike
November
Oscar
Papa
Quebec
Romeo (again, how can I ever forget this?)
Sierra
Tango
Uniform
Victor
Whisky
X-ray (is there supposed to be a dash in between?)
Yankee (with or without the 's'?)
Zulu

In this case, my name should then be Charlie Echo Lima India Alpha Juliet Alpha Charlie Quebec Uniform Echo Lima India November Echo Lima India Mike. Too long for my liking!

A Year Of Fitness

So my youngest brother has finally been called up to serve the country. And he is going to a place where not many of his batch are being posted to. Let's just hope he can be more sensible when he comes out.

I finally have a goal for the year, and that is to be fit! That may not be anything great to many people, but it is something to me, due to my history of illness and proness to diseases, as well as my laziness and disinclination to exercise or embark in any physical sports (except for a few).

So I was thinking, since I have been singing so much, why not take a break and do something to improve my body before doing more voice training? Afterall, if I am physically healthier, my vocal cords and stamina will also be stronger, and my voice can be better perhaps? My slimming sessions will end soon, and besides, I do not want to just depend on the slimming sessions alone.

I have no interest in joining a gym because I do not like sweating away on mundane exercises. I rather do something interesting and enjoyable, yet can lose weight at the same time. Afterall, if I am to exercise, why not do something that I can have fun doing at the same time? Thus, I have signed up for a variety of dance and fitness programmes for the first half of this year.

First up is Adult Ballet. Laugh if you must, but there are many adults taking up ballet, most without any background. The last time I pirouetted was back in 1993, which is a very long time ago. Now I probably have to start all over from the beginning. Ballet helps in improving body physique. I realise I became more bottom heavy when I stopped dancing. Or maybe age plays a part too.

Next is Pilates. My aunt and cousin attended a Pilates class conducted at one of the country clubs, and they were raving about it. I heard about Pilates some years ago, as that is the fitness routine which airline crew has to follow. Apparently, it is more effective than mere sit-ups or other forms of exercises, as it really helps in toning the bottom part of the body, and for someone who have lots of tummy and thigh flabs to get rid of, this is just perfect!

There are also others like Intermediate Salsa (I hope I still remember how to follow and lead!), Tap Dancing, and Yoga. Perhaps people may think it is madness to do both Pilates and Yoga, but they are two totally different routines.

Yoga helps more of the entire body, so the body must be very flexible in order to twist and turn. Besides, yoga also helps in improving relaxation and spiritual well-being, through exercises and meditation, and I need lots and lots of spiritual well-being right now so as not to be too emotionally worked-up again.

So my time is pretty much tied up. Plus with school starting again in February, I hope I have enough energy left to do everything!

Salsa! Salsa!

My slimming treatments are going very well. So far I have attended three sessions, two of which I was hooked onto the machine and had my fats being vibrated away, one of which I had a firming tummy mask.

The sessions seem effective though, since I have already lost two kilograms! My clothes are getting looser and my tummy bulge seems smaller. What a way to go! This is even better than natural dieting!

I finally started the beginners’ Salsa class yesterday evening, after postponing it a few times. The lesson is one hour long and will continue for eight weeks. My mum signed up together with me, and she was supposed to attend the lesson as well. Unfortunately she was sick so my first brother attended the lesson on her behalf.

It was a pretty interesting lesson. The instructor started off by letting us listen to a song, and we had to get the rhythm right and clap according to the rhythm. Then he introduced the feet movements.

Apparently, there are eight counts to the movements. We started off with the left foot. Tap to the front, back to position, then tap to the back, back to position. The right foot is of the same pattern, except it started from the back then proceed to the front.

We also learnt to bring our right foot to the right and back to position, turned a right full circle, and posed in whichever way we liked. The instructor first started out without music, then when the music was played, the movements had to be faster.

The next half of the lesson involved partner dances. We were told to put our arms at our waist position. So if the guy I partnered with was taller, he had to bring his arms down; if he was shorter, he had to bring his arms up.

The ladies just stood in position, waiting for the guys to rotate partners. I ended up partnering with five guys, including a 1.8 metre tall Caucasian! It was impossible for my arms to stay at my waist level when I partnered with him as his arms could not go any lower than my chest level!

The guys had to lead. We could not look down at our feet. We had to have eye contact with our partners, and then move accordingly to his actions. Some of the guys seemed to have taken lessons before, because they could tell me how to grasp their hands, and how to tap my feet. It makes one wonder why they are in the beginners class in the first place.

Needless to say, the number of ladies outnumber that of men. Thus, a few ladies ended up with no partners. And when my mum comes next week, the ratio will be more imbalanced. As a result, in the following weeks, some of the ladies have to learn how to dance the guy parts as well, as it seems that the men and ladies’ parts are different.

Overall, it was an enjoyable and fun lesson. But perhaps due to my lack of exercise and recent physical condition, I feel extra lethargic after the lesson, with my feet and waist being aching and sore.

Dancing On Stage

Lately the chorus sessions are geared towards the July performance. Our dance chereographer has arrived. As the performane is on a Mozart Opera set during the Romantic era, she taught us a few steps rooted in Latin dance.

There will be a segment when all the females and males have to pair up to dance together. The ladies have to curtsey, while the gentlemen have to bow with one hand behind their backs, as it was in the debutante balls of olden days.

The steps are easy to master actually, since most of us have no dance training whatsoever, so she only gave us very easy steps. The important thing is to keep to the rhythm and let our bodies flowed together.

Unfortunately, because most of us have no background, she called for extra sessions, and the first extra session will be this Sunday at her dance studio. Luckily the session will be in the afternoon, otherwise I will not be able to make it at night due to an important event.

Overall it was a very fun session. Now I remember why I like performing so much when I was young, even now. You have so much fun during practices, and the excitement of being on stage and knowing you are doing a great job, makes all the time, commitment and exhaustion worthwhile!

Shall We Dance?

I finally managed to watch the show yesterday. Richard Gere is still as charming as before, ever since the first time I saw a younger version of him in "Pretty Woman" so many years ago. And after hearing him sing in "Chicago", this time audiences can see that he is one heck of a good dancer as well! The show strengthens my resolve to start my social and ballroom dancing lessons soon. I am already planning how to make time for Tap, Salsa, Tango, Lindy Hop, Waltz, Foxtrot, Quickstep, Cha-Cha-Cha, Rhumba and Jive classes, together with the ballet classes which I will be re-starting soon. Wow, so many things I want to do, so little time!