The Results

Okay, so the results of the competition.

Before I get into that, let me just say; remember in my previous post (not sure who reads my blog but..) I was saying how winning doesn't really matter and all that matters was the entire experience of taking part? Well... that was true, until I woke up that morning of the competition! Lol! All I wanted at that time, was to be able to blow the judges away and WIN yo!!! Well, at least top 3 lah. :)

I guess we can't really help feeling that way, we did after all worked hard and gave up a lot of time for this. So it's just, nice to know that all your hardwork wasn't in vain you know?

As I've said before, this was our first time entering a competition. We really didn't know what to expect; Will it be cacat? Will we be awesome? We have absolutely no idea. And so, we all stepped into the hall that Saturday morning looking all confident but inside, each hiding the butterflies that had already begun to flutter in our guts.

It was almost exactly like the scene from Glee during Sectionals; We entered the hall, walked passed other groups of choirs that was already there, all in different costumes and all busy exercising their vocals and practising their numbers. I had very mixed emotions at this time, I was both excited and, intimated.

Before this, I thought the competition was just amongst other choirs around Klang as there are many good ones here too, but to my surprise, even choirs from Johor and Kelantan came down just for this. And to my bigger surprise, one of the judges is an Acapella expert who flew all the way down from Sri Lanka! And with people coming from south and east and even overseas, so much for starting in a kecik-kecik Klang-y competition dulu hey?

We get to watch other choirs perform while we wait for our turn. And it was pretty nerve-wrecking because you get to see how good the other choirs were. And some of them really were great! I have to give props to especially the choir from Johor, called the Johor Bahru Chamber Choir as I thought they did a fantastic job with their Acapella numbers.

When it was time for our turn to perform, I can't even begin to explain how the butterflies in my stomach was having such a ball of time and how cold my hands had turned. My cousin who accidentally knocked my hand even mentioned that my hand was literally as cold as ice!

While we did try our best with what we have, I knew at some level, we wouldn't win after our performance. There were other choirs that indeed were just better than us in terms of skill, control and dynamics judging from the performances that day. That was okay really, but I really really hoped to get at least top 3. I was worried because I knew there was a huge chance of us getting 4th place.

Then it was time for the results.

And guess what?

We got 3rd place!!! :D WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!


We may not have won, but I'm so glad nonetheless to have gotten 3rd place! It's definitely not only such a fantastic feeling to hold the trophy but so encouraging for us first timers.

hehe :P

We have so much more to learn, but I'm so excited to grow with my choir mates together all the way! Go Renaissance Choir Selangor! To many more to come! :D

xoxo

Competing First Timer

As you know I'm part of choir.

After being a part of my beloved choir for 6 years, we are finally taking part in a competition for the first time.

Well, it isn't a huge competition, it's just one in Klang. (Start kecik kecik dulu laaaar... ). But it is a competition nonetheless.

I could still remember so clearly the day we discussed on whether we should take part in this, and all of a sudden, tomorrow's already the day of competition!

I'm surprisingly not nervous (maybe not yet), but I am very excited about it. I really am excited to see where do we stand exactly out there in the world. Or at least in Klang. HAHAHA! Well, it is one of the main reasons why we joined in the first place. I really want to find out if we are surprisingly really good or do we really suck compared to others! Haha!

That's why if you ask me, I really don't even know what the prize is exactly. Because it doesn't really matter actually. All that matters really, is the experience for all of us to go through the highs, the lows, the hard work, the chemistry, the exposure, the nerve wrecking feeling before stepping into the stage, and hopefully the feeling of accomplishment after the performance.

If you guys are curious, we are gonna be singing 3 songs namely:

1) Love is the Answer (Nice, meaningful song)
2) Oh Brelidy! (Quirky but sometimes can be annoying Chinese song)

3) Dahil Sayo (Philipino Love song, but really difficult!)

I love Dahil Sayo! It's such a beautiful song and knowing the meaning just makes it even more heartbreakingly beautiful, I just have to share it! Hehe.

Sa buhay ko'y labis
Ang hirap at pasakit, ng pusong umiibig
Mandin wala ng langit
At ng lumigaya, hinango mo sa dusa
Tanging ikaw sinta, ang aking pag-asa.

Long have I endured in my life
The pain and sorrows from Love arise
Then you came and redeemed me, my dear,
My only hope in my darkest fears

Dahil sa iyo, nais kong mabuhay
Dahil sa iyo, hanggang mamatay
Dapat mong tantuin, wala ng ibang giliw
Puso ko'y tanungin, ikaw at ikaw rin

Because of you, I yearn to be alive
Because of you, ‘till death (you) must realize
In my heart I know there is only you
And ask my heart, you’ll know that this is true

Dahil sa iyo, ako'y lumigaya
Pagmamahal, ay alayan ka
Kung tunay man ako, ay alipinin mo
Ang lahat ng ito, dahil sa iyo

Because of you, I found happiness
That to you I offer this love that is so blessed
Though indeed I may be a slave for loving you so true
It matters not to me, ‘cause everything’s because of you

Well, will be posting the results of this competition next!

Cheers everyone! Have a awesome weekend!

A GLEEful Workshop

Yeap, you saw it right. I've just attended a GLEE workshop. :) It's actually one of our latest addition of experiences in the RedRibbon Days family and I had the chance to go try it out. So I'm now officially a Gleek!

What really drew me to contact this performing arts school in the first place was not only the fact that it's a GLEE themed musical workshop, but also the fact that they get facilitators from the West End to run it! Isn't that awesome?! It's freakin West End! :D

When you were much younger, do you remember the things you aspire to do?

When we were kids, we will always say, "I wanna be a doctor! I wanna be a lawyer! I even had a silly cousin who said "I wanna be a garbage collector!" And he seemed pretty serious about it mind you. Hahaha. Well, I've always had many ambitions, and one of it was definitely to be a Broadway/West End star. Don't laugh laaah. :/

Although that ambition has changed now, I can't deny the fact that I still love the theatre, singing, music and well, the arts. Hence the reason why I am usually one of the few amongst friends who are willing to spend that extra cash on watching musicals, orchestras and even just being a part of a choir (yes, I am in a choir), for 6 years now.

I have to admit, I was feeling a bit iffy about attending this 6-days-workshop at first because it is mainly targeted for kids below 18. My worried mind had me picturing myself standing tallest and looking so sesat amongst little girls and boys. Or worse, the only one with a fully grown body and boobs! Oklah, boobs not that big but that's not the point! Anyways, but I thought, oh well, what the heck, life's too short, and just like the saying goes on my RRD T-shirt, "Life is a sum of experiences", and keeping that in mind, I decided to just go for it.

On the first day, I don't really know why but I had butterflies when I first entered the school. Maybe because I guess I didn't know what to really expect. As I walked to the entrance, all sorts of paranoid questions flooded my brain , "Will I enjoy it? Will this be a waste of my entire week? It's 6 days you know? Will I be the only 23 year old schmuck there amongst 8 years olds?". Will I, schmill I.

After being very warmly welcomed at the registration counter and meeting lovely Shanthini for the first time (the PIC whom I've been dealing with prior to this), I went straight up to the dance room where the workshop begins!

Before anything else lemme just explain a little bit on how the workshop works. All students will be divided into 3 groups - Juniors, Seniors A and Seniors B. This is basically divided by age, so I was in Seniors B.The facilitators for the Senior groups were Grace who will be handling dancing and Nish for singing.

Grace, Sue, me and Nish

Grace is the one from West End. And I was really so excited to meet her because she has been involved in one of the biggest musicals of all times, Cats and many others too like Oliver and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! I have to say, I really salute them, for their patience and their passion, because handling a bunch of children and making them learn and remember steps and lyrics to 4 performances really. isn't. easy. at. all! 4 performances in 3 days! That's insane! And you know how kids are, they're always either are just too playful, plain blur, hard to control or just have a very short attention span! But that's what makes them so cute! Lol.

Lil Kash whom I like to call bookworm. He's always so blur but he is definitely one of the cutest lil boys I've seen! I'm gonna miss this cutie pie!

Grace working her magic on the kids

You must be thinking, "Why only 3 days? Isn't this a 6 days workshop?" Well let me break it down for you.

Monday - Wednesday: Learn all the steps and songs

Thursday (Clean Up Day): Just to 'clean up' whatever parts of the performances that are still unsure or not very good. Sound check & 1st run

through on the stage.
Friday: Full Dress Rehearsals!

Saturday: PERFORMANCE

And you would think, that a workshop for kids will be easy for us adults. Here I thought, "Aiyaaahh... dance steps for kids, kacaang puteh laaaah...". Hehehe. Boy, was I wrong! Half the time through steps I'm be squeezing my brain juice dry on what step is next. In fact, some of the younger ones seem to remember the steps much faster than me! Malu sial~

And speaking of younger ones, you must be wondering whether my worst fear came true? Well, the answer is yes and no. Yes, I was the oldest there and no, because it was alright. :) There were 2 others who were 20 and the rest in their teens and tweens. And they are all lovely girls.

See? I kinda blended in pretty well right? Hehe.

Oh and I haven't told you what were the Glee numbers that we did, did I? Ok here goes, we did:
1) Lean On Me (singing number)

2) Vogue (dance number)

3) Bad Romance (singing & dance number): No pic yet sorry!

4) Jump (finale: singing & dance number)

All of us in pyjamas! This was fun! :)

I was glad that they had Lean On Me and Jump, because they were one of my favourites from Glee. When I heard that we were doing Bad Romance, immediately I thought, "Oh no... Gaga!" And immediately, my worried mind came up with another picture. A picture of my bosses and colleagues giggling non stop when they see me attempting to do Gaga! And you know how Gaga is, she is all pyscho, deranged and saucy at the same time. And that's so not Theing! Nooooooooooooo!

Haih, I guess situations like this had to come one way or another don't it? Being in theatre is precisely not about being you, it's about getting into a character! Every single tiny detail, from how you hold the fan or how you walk, it all matters. This definitely wasn't easy, so Grace really drilled us a lot on this aspect.

Although the entire workshop did not really focus much on technics as I had hope, but nonetheless, they focused on another very important value not only in theatre but everywhere else,- confidence. Being in a group with self-conscious girls all in their teens, you have to agree that confidence and self-esteem does play a huge role. Being a leader in a choir, and also a person who deals with confidence issues myself, I totally understand how it feels like for both sides of the party. I understand how frustrating it is sometimes to be the 'facilitator' that tries to bring people out of that shell. And on the other hand, I understand how it is actually so difficult to break out of that shell and not worry about what other people might think of you too. It is definitely not something that happens overnight, but it is certainly so important to instill this at a young age.

I can't say how glad I am to also see how much my Seniors B group have grown just in a span of a few days! From girls who just wouldn't even stand and hold a mic properly in singing, to women who 'gleeked out' like fashionistas in Vogue. Remembering the steps was also always one of the biggest problems, but on that day, everyone of us just gave our best and didn't have a problem in remembering the steps at all! :)

I'm so glad that I decided to go for this experience and in fact, didn't have an ounce of regret at all. I'm glad of not only of the things I've learnt and observe throughout this experience but also of the new friendships I've formed as well.

After experiencing this myself, I can confidently say that if I have kids, I will surely take them for summer workshops such as these because I can't describe how much more priceless things they will gain from this rather than just bumming and playing video games at home.

So I really would like to take the opportunity to thank Kim, Shanthini and RedRibbon Days for this wonderful experience! I will never forget this. :)

In my next post, I'm gonna post more pictures and yes, videos too of the performance. So please be kind and not laugh pretty please?

Well, till my next post then! Cheers Gleeks! :)