Rain.....

~ Rain by Rosas from Belgium ~

The last dance concert that I'd watched during the Spore Arts Fest... Sigh... The journey there was already a let down.. Silly to hv taken a cab to the Esplanade. To think that in the morning, I was talking to my fellow Jedis about the ineffectiveness of the ERP to limit the number of cars during peak periods and that the only result to commuters is the hole in their pockets.

Was stuck in Orchard Road for close to 30 minutes. In the end, I got fed up watching the meter move it's way up (reaching $16), and I walked out at CHIJMES and walked to the Esplanade. Was late 20 minutes.. hence was locked out fr the theatre.. damn.. wasted $$.. my laoshi was wondering why I wasn't there. Was a bit disheartened that despite paying for the tickets and paying so much for the cab fare, all I could see was little figures prancing ard on the television screen outside the theatre.

A few seconds later, an usher told me he'll take me to the "'viewing room", then he led me to through this dark walkway through to this little mysterious rm with a little glass window and a bench wide enough to sit 6 people. I was the first one there.. the other late-comers started streaming in after me..

Well, I thought the view was not bad.. It was equivalent to those who paid for the stall seats. But the sound system spoiled it.. it sounded like music coming out fr a school's PA system. Well.. can't blame anyone except myself for making the wrong time judgment and forgetting that CTE and Orchard Road are always jammed.

Maybe I wasn’t in the mood after a long meeting, maybe I felt alien in that little dark rm, maybe I wanted to be up at the Circle 1, where my other dancers were and I had no one to discuss the dance with, maybe it was the irritating journey I took to reach the Esplanade, maybe I’ve already watched the best performance thus far.. (See previous entry), maybe I’ve already missed close to one-third of the show..

Maybe it’s all of the above .. Hence, I didn’t quite find the dance fantastic… However, I admire their skills and stamina though. There was no interval so just imagine performing for 1 hr 10 mins. It’s no wonder that they looked as if they were drenched in RAIN after the vigorous dance performance.

One critic wrote: As refreshing, pure, adaptable, and necessary as water, “Rain” washes over you and evaporates.

I wasn’t refreshed after the dance. On the contrary, I was washed by a sense of anxiety with the thought that the school holidays has come and gone like how the rain washes over you and evaporates....

Best performance thus far...

20-06-2006 What a date to watch an almost perfect dance concert...

Thorougly amazed by the choreography, the techniques and totally moved by the music to the point of tears.. But this triple bill has a deeper signifiance.. .. the meaning behind each dance is so subjective. I was beside my dance instructress who told me that the beauty of dance is in how the audience view the meaning... there's no fixed meaning behind each dance... it all depends on how you interpret it and how you are moved by it..

Similarly, life is like that... There's no fixed rule... you just go with the flow.. and interpret what happens in your life as it unfolds.. no point over planning.. no point being bothered by what others say.. some people jus thrive on other's pain...

After each dance, my laoshi n I got into a mini discussion abt the dance.. here's our take on it...

#1 Bella Figura

This piece moved me so much esp the part where the two 'bella figura' (beautiful figures) were seemingly so near yet so far... two figures in their truest and barest form.. face to face.. hands almost touching each other.. yet the avoiding the touch through the undulating curves of their bodies and the sinuous arcs of their arm and torso movements. .. perfect balance.. strong emotions..

#2 Safe as Houses

Best dance performance I've ever seen thus far... It's almost magical.. sets, props, music, costume, and essentially the dance.. the movements..

Can't construct any meaning out of it.. all I could think of was how amazing this piece was as I sat in amazement figuring out how the dancers disappeared behind the 'rotating wall'. It had a 'Matrix' feel to it.. almost surreal too.. I was simply so excited about this and yet all I got was 'Ya Nice'.... Maybe it's just that simple.. It's simply nice.. There's nothing more to say...

#3 Walking Mad

Was tired by the time it reached the third piece... Luckily, this piece was rather entertaining at the beginning.. but in a similar fashion, the joy n fun seem to be just a facade.. behind that energy at the beginning... we slowly see heartaches being revealed.. couldn't make out the meaning behind the ending.. where the man jumps off fr the fence..

*updated 27 jun... The news review (Straits Times 22 Jun 2006 LIFE pg 6) mentioned that "in its last scene, there was a stand-off between the female and male dancer - a salient shorthand for the tight rope of our sanity. The man wound himself around the resistant woman, at times laying his head upon her feet and at others encircling her head and neck with his arms. Dinally he stopped, scrabbled dejectedly up the fence and leapt off into the abyss.. " ~ too profound.. still don't understand...

Whatever it is, this is the best dance concert I've seen thus far. If Nederlands Dans Theater 1 ever comes to Singapore again, I'm sure to watch their performance. And if I were to visit my sis in Netherlands next yr, I'll make sure I catch them there as well.

Photographs by John Ross

Little Luxuries of life..

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY......

Transported back in time to 1827...

Good decisions are not easy to make...

Lamb shank in Tom Yam Sauce... ~ Objectionable to some gourmets.. But from two different worlds they meet, the fusion is potent..... almost irresistible..... simply unforgettable...... ~

Burp! And it's finished....... now for some consequences to pay........ ~ $$ & image & health ~

NOPE! Meal's not over yet... I hope....

Pandan Tiramisu with sago in coconut cream and sesame seed biscuit ~ An acquired taste as time is needed to accept the beauty of this unique creation..... ~

Ahhh the little luxuries of life... but at a heavy price....... LWKUA

To be truly free, there needs to be restrictions....

bODY_rEMIX/gOLDBERG_vARIATIONS
Choreography and Artistic Direction ~ Marie Chouinard

Watched this unique dance at Victoria Theatre, the place where Dance Sync did their debut and final performance.. Superb technique, creative choreography but unnerving music....

This dance can be aptly considered as unique to the point of being strange... I mean, who would imagine using crutches, ropes, prostheses and harnesses as props for dance.. At times, the props liberate their movements, at other times fetter them, and at still others create them. As a result, what we see is a series of unusual bodily shapes and gestural dynamics.

Oh and did I mention the female dancers (as usual the males were not) were erm... in the buff.. so lots of jiggly actions going on.... Grrrhhh.. much to the delight of this old man with binoculars, sitting near us... He freaked us out man... Each time the girls come on stage.. up comes his binoculars..and I hope nothing else too. (This is not CRAZY HORSE or some LUPSUP bar lor !!) Well for those who are interested, there's an extremely short video clip of some of the dances.. Be warned.. it contains nudity which you can hardly see.. keke http://www.mariechouinard.com/flash.html

Anyway, some of the movements with the props echo the human condition ~ of brokenness, of strength, of passion, of love, of lust, of hopelessness and of hope ~ The choreographer is truly an aesthete beyond norms.

I know it may sound ridiculous, but there was one part when a dancer was running in big circles as if she's in a race.. she stopped... but some others came on stage and started pushing her to run and whenever she tried to stop.. they did that again.. In that short moment, I believe a lot of the audience can feel and imagine what it is like to be her too.. Sometimes, we just don't wanna move on and run the race that others keep tellings us to, as there's so much pain n agony. . and there's a limit to what our body, mind, heart and soul can take.

I was rather excited about the post dialogue session with three of the dancers...

Haiz.. but being the typical local, I didn't dare to go up to the mike to ask questions. So the Ang Mohs and the "Ang Moh speaking" locals (you know what I mean) who were there, were the ones asking the questions and interacting with the Canadian dancers.. I just listened.. and formulated the questions in my head.. Darn wanted to ask why was there a need for nudity and were some parts meant to be suggestive?? What sparked the use of the props? No one asked. I didn't dare ask too. Perhaps some questions have no answers or are not meant to be answered. That applies in life too.

Anyway picked up something from the dialogue session. Internalised and rephrased it to make more sense out of what was exchanged in VT tonight... Rather oxymoronic but it's starting to make sense to me..

To be truly free, there needs to be restrictions. Full freedom is overwhelming.. When a kind of guideline, or system is given, (be it in the form of rules, religion, principles, values) we try to understand how it works and learn to master it. With that mastery, we can then ride on the 'restrictions'.. and the more we explore within the boundaries, the more challenges we find in attaining a sense of freedom. That's when restriction forces us to push ourselves to the extreme.. and when we figured out how.. we'll be fully free..

The First...

Today seems to be a first for a lot of the things I did today... nothing extraordinary.. just incidents that happened to me for the very first time or the first since a long time ago.

#1 First time exercising in months....
Got to keep fit for the trip I'm planning to go in dec.... Something I set out to do before turning 30... Keeping my fingers cross that the trip will actualise.. So decided to go swimming.. It's been a long while since I swam.. but I guess swimming is something that once you've learnt, you won't forget how... Managed to swim 40 laps of breaststroke and 10 laps of freestyle in 1 hr 45 min... Now, I'm paying for it with my sore arms n burnt back...

#2 First time in a public pool (since my JC days)....
Not that I shun public pools. It's just that I seldom go swimming unless I'm overseas or at a chalet or a club. I remembered the last time I was there was because of PE in JC.. Love those days when we had 3 periods (45 mins each) of swimming lessons for PE.. We would take a stroll over n cos I was in the advanced gp.. we were free to swim laps or 'play' in the water... we were pretty much left on our own... Then after the lesson, we would take our own sweet time to bath n change such that we'll miss the next lecture.. keke..
Back then, it costs us 40 cents to use the pool facilities.. It's like $1.30 now!!! Also, the ticket was in paper form.. now it's a card like thingy! (erm.. i think I'm like the last to know abt the changes made at public pools)

#3 First time supporting a contestant fr Singapore Idol (or any idol for that matter)....

Seriously, I'm never into SI. Too much hype..If it's local, I prefer indie bands or gps.. Thus far, my fav local song is still Don't Cry by Naked... Nevertheless, I went down J8 to support an upcoming idol.. an ex padawan.. I guess having contributed much to his alma mater.. it is only right for the sch to lend him the support. Alas, he was too busy to notice my presence (gd for him.. he seems to be having hoardes of fans).. only managed to take a few shots of him. And in that frenzy, my hand shook n my only frontal shot of him was blur.. grrhhh..

#4 First time outing with new camera....
Cajoled my sis to buy a camera at the PC show.. but I used it first!! Tested the Canon Powershot A530 today.. results not too gd.. I guess I'm still trying to fiddle with the manual mode..


#5 First time meeting my 4E2 ex-padawans....
Met up with my 2nd batch of form class.. (now 18 yrs old) The one that gave me the most memories.. simply because I was their form teacher for two years.. n also A LOT OF things happened then.. Lots of catching up.. spoke abt the usual stuff... How are the rest? What are they studying now? Anyone attached? But in that course of the conversation, I found out that a lot of the worries I had for them back then.. were unfounded.. I'm so glad that they hv all turned out fine.. moving on with their lives.. having a ball of a time, having ambitions n goals that they are one step closer to reaching them.. I guess beyond jus the grades at the end of Sec 4, what's most gratifying for a teacher is the knowledge that his/her students TURN OUT FINE.. are useful citizens many years after they left the school. (Well an added bonus is that they still keep in contact with you.. keke..)

#6 First time taking $$ fr my students....
keke.. At the spur of the moment, we decided to go play mahjong at Berd's house.. Call it beginner's luck, I managed to win three times.. and twice i had "5 tai" which I learnt that it meant the highest payout at the 5th level. Been paying in the past a fair bit for their miscellaneous stuff like chalet, bbq, gifts etc, it's pay back time.. nah.. felt so guilty taking their $$ that I offered to give them back.. Anyway, all winnings will go to a donation drive.. aka "A Very Special Walk" under their names... keke.. still haven't reached the quota yet.. Anyway, this is one of my winning tiles.. cool siah.. *Kids.. pls note that gambling is very bad.. do not gamble even if u r 18 and above! I apologise for being a negative example..

*Updated 12 jun 0000hrs (Just to make it a nice number... 7!!!)
#7 First time going into a deep sleep....
In 8 hrs time, there'll be an experience of a deep sleep.. I wonder how that experience will be like.. jus hope it can be prolonged ... as long as possible... For 5 yrs the mouse has haunted me and has been a play mate for me. I've watched it grow and worried abt it.. Now, I'll kinda miss it.. but hope it'll be gone forever... hope the pain won't last. Hope there won't be a second.. I won't be able to cope with it....

Farewell my friend...