Dance - Performance #2

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My body wasn't feeling so good today. We did run of fast bit as warmup. decide to go further with the "prayer ritual" push the boundaries and interact with audience. Did the run, I actually felt more energized than thursday. but as I did my flip, I banged my arm in the wrong way and it hurtttttt. As I did the ocean bit, I was really in quite abit of pain but i continued to do it. no stopping now. the ending bit, I tried to drag out my ending more, tried to feel the pull, tried to feel the transcendence but my energy level stooped. NO STAMINA STILL?! yes. afhan was there and I explained the whole journey of my piece to him. said I looked ready.

feedback. VERY GOOD. today was an awesome day. broke into groups to discuss changes audience would make. more distorted beginning again. get REALLY deformed. and maybe side profile to be turned other way. use of not only hands. but fingers, parts of the face. maybe USE hand to initiate movement in other parts? we only got to that part.

but overall. it was awesome :)
let the pictures talk

Dance - Performance #1

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Its satisfying to know that you only have to do the run once. arrived almost 6. warmed up, run through the ending bit. go in to work on lighting, positions with the light. realise that Kat is more organised than Kent who didn't book panggung sasaran before that to work in the space with his dancers haha. people come in. Aida explains the program. Kat talks about the piece. I do the run and I AM ENERGIZED.

I feel like...ok....it isn't such a good run that I did. And Kat says I could have dragged out the ending a little bit more. But. its done. I did the best I could, GRATIFYING.

Overall, it was ok. phew. tough work but, its nice to hear people reflect. One feedback I liked was this guy ken who thought that I could look more distorted in the beginning, like literally SPLAT on the floor. makes you wonder how much you could have ventured into a limp beginning eh? then that could change my initial movements as well. WELL, as i said, "work-in-progress" ;)

Another thing I liked was, how, this one lecturer asked me to explain the sounds that came out of my body. Like what was it for? I literally pointed out my whole journey of the dance and BAM the recognition displayed on her face was priceless! like itty bitty pieces coming together :)

Dance - do you feel the nerves?

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Today we rush costume while doing a full run before the performance. We are joined by yoke pin, the producer of this whole workshop who....apparently hasn't done much producing work in this project at all. I find out that it isn't her fault. Musn't judge yes?

So anyway, today we try out the some shirts to replace the shirt that wouldn't do (mine) I bring a bunch of stuff that DOESN'T work while I try on Kat's stuff. She has this really cute white button down but it....buttons in a weird way. In the end we settle for a grey long sleeved top. :) simple yet nice. After yoke pin sees my first run, she comments that it looks like a high energy piece, something which I might not actually have....yet again, I get so tired after each run. but then, she gives some good feedback, how sound initiates movement and how in the end it seems more controlled, thats me taking control of my energy and spirit. parallel? I would say so :)

It was honestly, a really tiring day. School stresses out my brains and now contemporary dance stresses out my body? phew! but i still do it...only 1 more days left of this ;)

YES I FEEL THE NERVES.
the day after is performance day 1

Dance - Kat in KL

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Today Kat is gone and I think I feel so lazyyyyy. Time to slacken? HEE HEE HEE. i admit. I did consider, but.........with all the effort Kat put into the project. I just couldn't. I meet up with Aida in USM and bring the suggested costume we discussed on tuesday. a white shirt and pleated skirt. I do a full run for Aida with the whole outfit. My legs shaking at the end btw, and she gives me feedback. Saying how she likes the ending bit :) i'm glad. Today, she picked out something AMAZING, transitions, when I don't realise, she sees it. And I'm so glad that I came for today. She pinpoints the part where I make a loud humongous bellowwww and go into my froggy bit. She says : what makes you want to stretch and keep your body close to the ground? I say the resonance of the sound I make. She suggests looking as if I had my ear to the ground to listen for that resonance. I try it. Wow, I feel it and she says it looks great. b^_^ thats what I call great collaboration. A real work-in-progress project. Next we take a few pictures with me in my costume as a "poster" for this workshop >_< gahhhhh I didn't know that she was going to do thattttt.... but i do it, for Kat's effort.....yes? ;)

Dance - at USM

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Today is our first day at USM. Kat picked me up and we settle into panggung sasaran, where my REAL performance area is.

First we determined my performance space, put chairs to determine my boundary (will bring in duct tape next time) walked through a full run to determine where to place the audience. Last tuesday we experimented on positions and we decided the ending bit to be in the left top corner of my performance space. And another round of experimenting, we changed the ending completely. This time, yes i do the "ritual" the ear thing again and again, and then after a while go into the 7 points, that somehow progresses to become more aggitated as I realise my 'ritual' really does not cleanse me at all, and I'm fighting my way through trying to sanctify myself by the scrubbing and I breakout with a loud STOMP. something so heavy and grounded and impactful that people realise that my confidence in myself has grown, and I grow more to a point where i find peace. and its drawing me higher and higher, my hands lead me to this place, my body rises and I transcend. the lights dim. IT IS AWESOME.

We get so into it that we LITERALLY lose track of time. I get home around 11pm with an exhausted satisfied body. I feel the transcendence of my piece. and it is gratifying :)

Chinese beading - last for midterm

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more flowers?

Today i continue with my flower beading skills. tedious abit, the same but in a slightly more advanced method. Today wenlu came. Doing a 5 petaled flower is easier than it looks. The spacing has to be even and the distance of the edge of the petal to the centre has to be just about right. I later tried doing the 5 petal with a pearl in the middle and....HMMM....didn't look too great. gotta refine it when term starts

MRC Heritage Walk

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We were passing around this paper during TOK and I saw heritage walk and went "what is this?! is it a walk? I WANT IN!" So........I guess you could call it being proactive. I started rambling about it and now on 11 oct, sunday morning we have wenlu, janice, iyune, shaeny, gen, me, ryu, yitong, adam, jack, maiki and chihyao coming for it :) i started something big. heheh

Anyway, we get to the walk at 715am, register, get a purple band and go walking. Never done POWER WALKING before so its a first yea? ;) always a run, but never a walk. something new for me i suppose. it was hard.....kinda, to JUST walk. especially when so many ppl around you are just running and running to get it done under 1 hour to get the lucky draw. but OBVIOUSLY. its such a short walk, surely you can get it done. and we did! :) walked all the way, POWER WALKED, and still made it for the eligibility of the lucky draw. the form said walk. so i walk :)

it was for charity, for the redcresent society of Penang Branch so I guess the RM30 we paid for did not go to waste.

lucky draws were drawn and guess what?!
I WAS 2 NUMBERS AWAY FROM WINNING A BIKE.

ARGH

all in all. a day of great bonding with the Uplands ppl, healthy, entertaining, FUN

Dance - Back at square one

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Today Kat brings in the music that she first created with Yasu. :) and honestly, its nothing like what I expected! haha! The most thing that annoyed me was how loud the HINDI music was! hahaha yes. it was the ending and I felt like leaping to my feet, shaking my feet, hips, and neck like a Bollywood dancer. Kat said that what I taped for her was abit not like what she wanted and so she didn't bother listening to those beautiful random bits of conversation I caught in math class. oh well. she said she liked rosy's "I would like to have silence here please" haha. So, whilst she was waiting for the morning azan prayer, she caught this awesome game show thing, lame but so amusing! its like standing on a platform between two pools of water and trying to arrange their bodies to fit a "wall" which was coming at them with body positions that were really really awkward. haha. so lame but i laughed alot.

well anyway, after hearing it, we tried to arrange a last bit. and because the "prayer ritual" was supposed to be most prominent, we used Afhan's hand behind the ear motion as a guide. Today was a FULL DAY of EXPERIMENTATION. we had no clue where to start it. how the journey of the prayer would progress, where it would lead to and why it would end the way it is. But as we were doing the "ritual" it DID develop. Because somehow, rituals always end facing down towards the floor, and the 7 points of the prayer, we found it essential for me to drop to the floor. the 7points being the toes on 2. knees on 4. hands on 6 and forehead on 7. we spent so long just experimenting this. what happens, how does the body respond to this action and so forth. In the end, it evolved to a process of cleasing, and rituals always signifies. from splashing water onto face to literally scrubbing the "dirt" of the hands, legs and face. then somehow the hitting hand impulses would come and wow, Kat got this great inspiration! stomping. I like it. But I couldn't get the sound that she got with her feet. amazing. she did indian dance before! hah! not fault on my part :P So we ended up getting this feeling of release from the stomping, I fling my arms as if splashing in a pool of water, but it is a joyful event. something which I don't think i portray much in but, give it a try. NOPE. i do it wrong. but then I am determined to know how!!! i've come all this way to give up on a good ending? NO WAY. I ask kat how and what is her feeling? I forgot what exercise she gave me, but it was one that we had done previously. and I managed to understand her. I try it and she decides. ok....why don't you just continue in that movement, stomping around, looking happy. while i dim down the lights and the music and blackness on stage and its the end :D

i like it.
i'm so happy I managed to capture the stompy feeling she wanted :D

Chinese beading - NEW STUFF YES!

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Today's chinese beading was the happiest so far!
I learned the exact patterns I wanted! I flower! and the scaled. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

it looks gorgeoussss and required the good taste of the seamstress to determine the colour of the beads and sequins used.EXACTLY WHAT I ENJOY AND AM GOOD AT :)

i know there's only 2 patterns a day. but slow and steady wins the race right?

take a look for urself

dance - after the changes

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I was excited today to see what would happen to my piece since Kent suggested that she "tone down" my piece. too much of self hurting and pain. :) am I going to rest more? haha. turns out NO. *sigh*

we did a lot of stuff, since the feedback of last sunday. first was the idea of positioning, staging, or blocking, whatever you call it. Now here's the new plan.
Aida thought watching my first part from the side to be better, so now, we have a thing called the "fake audience" and the "real audience" the fake being the initial one and the real the position of the audience on the real day.

So we start from the same corner, but switch the audience. I start out at the same part, but as I do my froggy bit I travel diagonally to the end, encountering a "brick wall" and fighting against that, I push and push till it propels we to the same end as my beginning position, i flip flip flip and turn to face the real audience as I do the floaty bit. Now here's the confusing part. I have to face my real audience for my first sequence, but for the 2ns time, I have to face my fake audience. Hard to get my bearings when I'm exhausted and dizzy? I know. haha this is all structured so I can end at the same position I started and....... we didn't have time to complete the ending....will do that this sunday :)

TODAY I ACTUALLY ACCOMPLISHED SOMETHING.
the floaty bit. before that, kat told me her inspirations on legalism and stuff. and somehow, it touched me. and then as we did the floaty bit I felt comfortable. i felt it! and it connected. something in my soul and body connected and what I wanted was shown through my body. Here's something that we set though. I need to at one point get the hand up movement, go into backwards scurrey, use triceps to block face, remember interaction of hands with body, freeze and release. Next I need to pick up the pace, get the 2/3 rhythms, and from a fast beat move into 2nd backward scurrey, however, with shadows of the initial relaxed phase. Then everything just picks up from there, spins and flips and arms flying in the air BOOM. stutters of words pop out of my mouth. and this is hard to describe so I won't. that basically ended it. :)

change has come

Dance - seeing the other choreographer

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We met at 1pm at Cleo's place. I come in and Kat tells me that Kent and his 2 dancers and 1 vocalist is going to come at slightly before 2pm. my heart drops. so fast? We just changed the sequence and i'm about to show it to someone already? Nvm, in my head I know I can do it, although it might be hard.

I tell Kat that i'm more comfortable doing the sudden gasps after my head roll and plus it looks better. She looks at me do it and fair enough :) she accepts. The wonderful cooperation between us both. healthy teacher student reputation. Then so we rearrange it all, the gasps after that and a sudden stretch to go into froggy bit and naturally, the struggle comes anyway. The rest stays the same.

Now for the ending, we desperate try to find an ending for me, and I tell her that I love the balancing bit before my flip and so we settle flipping once more after my sequence into a holler, another flip that goes into my balancing bit for that as an ending. As soon as I finish one full run, Kent appears and after him trail im 2 dancers and vocalist. I'm nervous, but the movements and how I am going to present it forces the evil emotion out of my mind, the 90 degrees angle on my heel and the ocean feeling.

I perform it O_O

Feedback - it was hurting! >_< too much hitting in the floaty bit. The song sounds religious. Could only hear one word in my line. High energy piece. Should tone down abit. Not convinced of the ocean bit.


looks like we have work to do.
After that I watched Kent's piece and......here's my view on it.

Its creepy. The dancers hair was waving down. ghastly. although the title was life and death i saw more death, drugs and tobacco. Apparently the part I thought was a happy part was when she was high on drugs. the blocking was good. Good timing as both dancers had to at some point be in sync. BUT they interpreted all the movements differently which gave it a non synchronised feel.

As me and Kat gave feedback, Aida was furiously writing down notes. AFTER THAT. she blasted with her interpretations and wow. insightful. I leave but before I go, Kat gives me a tape recorder to record "mindless chatter" haha. Careful classmates! U might go into my dance piece!

cheers

Dance - kat's back

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Kat came back today and its a thursday so we're back at the swimming club. This is the first time I'm seeing her and I'm excited to see what England has done to her. hehe. TURNS OUT. ENGLAND HAS CHANGED HER THOROUGHLY. we changed the whole sequence.

wow.

Partly because Aida kept questioning the reason behind each move of mine that we decide to re-evaluate the whole structure of the dance. After much discussion, here's what it is like.

My starting is still the same, but after the starting I go into my froggy bit, transistion by falling during the light on my elbows and shoulder and struggle starts there. Midway froggy bit the sudden gasp for air is inserted and my pivot down to the ground, bellowing to the middle of the earth. This whole process illustrates my first discovery of ENERGY boilign within me, I try to get it to lift me off but fail and find this energy trapped between the ground and my midsection. After a while, frustration pushes me into a sudden burst of energy and I twirled up but it pulls me down and anger calls out my voice and I'm hollering to the centre of the earth to bring back that energy. It doesn't return and I retaliate by struggling. I push and pull, hop and twirl but again, energy pushes me off the floor and flings me back. I do the windmill flips countless times until I reach the middle of my performance space and I am suspended in a perfect balance of my ocean. My ocean bit begins and words of my lines are spurted out of me. This escalates to go into my sequence and it ends awkwardly by the side with me in my dead ballerina hang.

Time runs out.

we have to stop.

this time the dance seems so much more tiring. My stamina needs to be built MY STAMINA NEEDS TO BE BUILT. argh

Sunday we're showcasing what we have to the other choreographer :)
He and his dancers will get to see my work and I will see his.
*gulp* a bundle of nerves

Dance - with aida

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Aida again :)
at the club again :)
BUT at this cozy yoga spot where its really great. the jungle sounds are there, and the sea and the wind. great for a performance. hehe

Aida's cutie son was a bit restless so we decided not to work on things that needed her full attention. So i chose to work on the floaty bit which actually required ME to feel in the moment and to internalise everything and translate that into movement.

Sometimes I feel like I WANT to do it right. feel it. but I still can't hear my body. Can't feel where to go. and how to do it. No creative juices. Then Aida catches a glimpse of me and suggests I make my hands a little wavy-er and left myself balance on one leg alone, increases the look of floating she says. I do it and nail it! somewhat. haha. technique is just to lift up. as my ballet used to do. lift and slowly draw a line from the bottom of ur toes to the top of ur head. and slowly tip over and let one leg fly off the ground. tadaa. floaty ocean feeling.

you can do it too ;)

dance - change of date, change of location

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Today I worked with Aida since kat is away. We didn't want to go to Cleo's place because of the door that gets stuck so much so we had a change of location. FLEXIBILITY is what I call it. hehehe. we head to the swimming club.

Today was a hard day, just working on my weak sequence. I always get tired and my focus gets lost so we worked on that. The floor was not done properly so my skin got torn off. Luckily I had a bandage on :) thank you bugy. I really tried my best to focus, but what to do when the body is weak? anyhow, I pressed on and did it. Some parts felt better. I almost vomited at the end and got dizzy. :P

no pain no gain.

Dance - before kat leaves

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Kat is going to england so today, her last day with me before she gets back she lets aida to see me and if possible have classes with aida during her leave.

So I warm up, get into my mode and I do it once through with aida watching. Its interesting, the feeling of dancing when you know someone is watching you, assessing you. its just different. I just felt like the pressure was on.

So after doing it once through i finally heard what others thought about this little piece of dance. and she actually interpreted it quite accurately, the use of sound, the release of the body, the force pushing and pulling. and even my unconvincing floaty part. hahhhahhaha. and one thing she didn't understand, she didn't get the "flip back" at the end. But honestly, I loved it. She felt like, after the struggle, I should TRANSCEND up into the air and end my piece there, but instead I only returned to my original position. Something even Kat never considered as well. Seems like, there is more to dance then just how good something looks. everything has to have meaning, and honestly, what I feel about kat's choreography is GENUINE and HONESTY. all she wants me to do is move the way my body is telling me to. according to the impulses, and to her, that is the most beautiful form of dance, when the body is feeling the movement through and through. As she showed me this, my floaty bit suddenly became genuine and i worked it! But isn't it sad? I cant get it right every time..... :P

sorry kat. hehe. i'm not a dancer. just a retired one ;)

Dance - sept

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We start our dance again with sort of a really clear structure to the piece.
After bali I think she found inspiration and flipped my whole piece inside out. Not that its a bad thing :) it honestly keeps the dance so fresh for me and i have to be on my toes all the time.

so this time my structure is, I still start the way I do, only the fingers, get my surprised gasps of air, and go into my floating in ocean bit. that continues on with spasms of rhythmic changes which until now i still haven't mastered and am telling her! (the only part i am not so comfortable with) thn going into my lines of "from the abundance of my heart my mouth will speak" escalating into my sequence flip flip flip. the balancing flip spiraling upwards and bellowing downwards to go into my froggy bit. then flipping over I end.

:)

It takes quite abit of energy that I don't have to complete this piece and by the time i end it i'm panting and gasping for air. I NEED TO GO FOR A JOG SOMETIME. stamina so way way way down. especially at the part where I start my lines into my sequence. WOW. i can feel fatigue creeping in. but i tahan >_<

Chinese beading - after not coming for so long :P

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I skipped chinese beading for 3 weeks! :O EE deadlines, IA's and drama. It was too much. But today I was really determined to go! and so i did. :)

Today it was quite odd, and I was just wondering how a CHINESE beading class would have nothing to do with global values (as everyone else debated) Ms. Fay, our beading teacher suddenly said that, O in the olden days, if girls didn't know how to sew then they would never get married. But now, sewing is nothing. the culture is changing! and hence! I found it! i'm trying to preserve culture, MY CHINESE CULTURE. and that just renews my energy to learn more and more beading :).

I know I skipped for 3 weeks and this got the teacher abit annoyed and she just didn't give me attention at all. Just showed me a pattern, gave instructions and left me. :( She wasn't like that to the other kids but oh well, I gotta learn independence yea? but in the end i learned this really cool pattern! and i loved it! gonna use it as soon as i graduate! YIPPE!

CHINESE BEADING - not what I expected

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I seriously did not expect this. I thought beading would be like making structured ornaments with beads. not so much sewing. haha. but it was something new that I felt I would never try before. so that was it. I signed up for chinese beading.

First, we did these lame things on sewing a few beads staggered in one line. NOT COOL. but thn ok, I remembered, its always good to get down the basics first before learning something complicated. I WILL BEAR THIS.

Then the teacher passed around these examples of beading patterns and yay! I got excited. I really want to buck down and work on this chinese beading business. Learning some new skills is always better for ur future my mom says. :)

So ok, at first I really thought that sewing wasn't such a big thing for me, in high school and we did and I wasn't so bad at it BUT coming here, I realise I need to be neat! haha....another new thing for me. I'm sloppy here and there, especially with consistency so.....i guess that would be a skill for me to acquire through beading :)