Take a bow....

Received an SMS this afternoon from an ex-JC dance mate who's curently teaching at Alphaville.

Hi! Can I have your home address? Recommending you for Alphaville Contribution Award.. To be collected on College Day 20 May (Sat)

HUH??? What's that all about??

Oh.. I realised that it is due to the fact that I've been dancing for my alma mater for so many years... On second look at the message, I noticed a KEY WORD.. "Recommending" Hey! This means that I may not be awarded... haha need not go for their Speech Day or College Day to collect a plaque or a piece of paper... keke.. one Speech Day a year is enough for me!

Then I did the stupidest and the most depressing thing.. that is to count the number of years I've been dancing for the school ........... 10 YEARS!!!!!! (Crap.. that's long... Double Crap!! Kinda revealing my age!!!)

Hmmm.. decided to track my "Dance Career" (Hey! It's like more than the number of years of education some of my padewans are receiving!)

• 1996 -- JC 1 Dance Member
• 1997 -- SYF Dance (Gold) Performed in Dance Presentation Opening Night at Kallang / Represented S'pore to perform in Korea for the 3rd ASIAN Youth Festival
• 1998 -- Silent Vocal II (School Hall... Hey! That's our debut.. low budget then)
• 1999 -- Training & rehearsal for the next concert
• 2000 -- Silent Vocal III (NYP auditorium) (Haiz.. backed out fr this.. helped out in make up n lighting instead)
• 2001 -- Training & rehearsal for the next concert / Danced for the Alumni's 1st AGM + dinner + concert
• 2002 -- Silent Vocal IV (Alphaville auditorium - Brand new and free!! Why not?)
• 2003 -- Training & rehearsal for the next concert
• 2004 -- Colours of Emotion (Self-choreographed - Victoria Theatre) / Juvenescence (Alphaville's 20th Anniversary Concert - Kallang Theatre)
• 2005 -- Qi (七，棋，启，气) (Victoria Theatre)
• 2006 -- Take a bow and retire???

Wow.. how time flies... really loved dancing with this group, even though some dancers may have come and gone. After 10 years, only 3 dancers from the pioneer batch remain (though the rest still support in other ways). Hey come to think of it we DO deserve the award man!!!

The last time any dance member from my batch received that award was in 2002. If I'm not wrong, 3 girls were awarded the Contribution Award for performing in three consecutive Dance Alumni concerts (1998, 2000, 2002). Haiz, I didn't receive it as I chose not to perform in 2000. Was too overwhelmed by the idea of travelling all the way from hostel in NTU (in the far west of S'pore) to Alphaville almost every alternate night.

Anyway, award or no award.. I see this Contribution Award in two ways:

1) Finally after 10 years of dancing, they recognise my efforts...
2) It's about time I take a bow and retire from dance NOOOooooooooooooooooo...........................

10 years seem really long... Yet, it all passed so quickly... Sometimes, if you do have a great love or passion for something, you can be doing it quietly in the background for so long and you won't even feel like it's a drag. No one may ever notice. But really, does it matter? Do prestige and recognition matter that much?

Perhaps in time to come... perhaps 10 years later... someone out there will realise what you've been doing all this while and recognise your efforts or come around (then again maybe not).

Personally, I feel that what's more important is how your heart feels when you set out to pursue this love and not what others perceive you to be. Ain't that right? Sometimes, people do start out feeling this way when they start out with their passion be it dance or anything else.. but as time passes, as pressure builds up, as others start criticising what you are doing.. you waiver and change your love for the passion you once had.......That's so sad.. so painful.... Will I waiver?? Should I really retire and GIVE UP dancing?

Btw, the dancer in the above pic is moi... maybe it's time to take a bow and move on.... Maybe I have to... perhaps 7 years later I would...