Dance Diary Part 14 - Merlion International Ballroom Dancing Championships & Johor Stars of Tomorrow International Dancesport Championships

I'm sorry to have put off this long to write about my S'pore/Johor championships. Truth is, Sem 5 had already started and boy it's TOUGH!!! I'm working around the clock even when it's only a few weeks into the semester! It's crazy, with all the IMS presentations to prepare, the community medicine project, household surveys and SPSS stuff which I had totally no idea how to operate... No wonder people say that sem 5 is the busiest semester ever! And EOS 5!!! OMG i dun even wanna think about it yet. I totally should've started studying earlier.

Nope I'm not gonna elaborate further about my semester, this is my DANCE diary, so imma get back to my competitions instead. So as I mentioned earlier, these 2 back-to-back competitions gonna most probably be my last competition for the year, so I had to make the BEST out of every single moment... and guess what, I think I DID! I did have a great time; dancing, competing, watching people dance and bonding with my studio mates... It was just as awesome as I wished it could be, and I can say that at the end of the day, I'm indeed a very contented girl. =)

For starters, OMG!!!!!!! I FINALLY WON SOME MEDALS!!!!!!!!!! *squealing in delight*

My 1st ever dance MEDALS!!! 2 bronze, 1 silver. (not the ones on the left, those are for running and table tennis.. lolx...) 

Opps, sorry, it's pretty hard to contain the excitement, but I'm gonna back up a little...


THE DAY BEFORE (5/8/2011) 

Had brief lunch in JB before heading off to Singapore. Good old wanton mee! =)

The magnificent Singapore with it's many skyscrapers!

So we set out the day before to Singapore, which believe it or not, was my FIRST time there, and my FIRST experience of visiting another country aside from our faithful Malaysia! O.o Singapore was just as I expected; strict custom, tall buildings, everything was like neat and tidy as if living in a box. And our little hotel was situated somewhere called V Lavender or something I wasn't really sure. It was a pretty nice hotel though, especially love the big screen window in our room! We girls ended up camwhoring by the window, with the magnificent Singapore skyline behind us.

Our hotel

Me and my roomies in our oh-so-sexy poses

You gotta love the wonderful big screen window behind me with the amazing city view!

In the evening, we went by the insanely-crowded MRT to City Hall 2 stations away to have our dinner. The food was like pretty exy especially if you do the conversion, and silly me only brought 20 dollars cuz I was expecting hawker food, so I ended up just having Burger King. Fast food rules!!! haha... It was pretty late when we got back, and after fussing around preparing the stuff we needed for the big day, we called it a night, sharing a king-sized bed between the four of us. Was quite a cram, but we were too tired and fell asleep with no problem at all!

With the WLD group at the MRT station heading to City Hall for dinner. (spot me? =P)

THE SINGAPORE COMPETITION (6/8/2011)
Waking up at 5am was a torture. But I wasn't going to grumble about it, for this was THE LONG-AWAITED DAY. And so we were all up early, preparing ourselves for our 'battle', as Aunty Merle always put it. That word kinda worked up my nerves, to be honest, but guess competitions are indeed, like a battle; and the dancefloor, a warzone. Anyway, up side of it, it kinda got my spirits boiling too, to go all out for a battle! But make-up was quite an ordeal, for I do really suck at it. The only few times I really put on make-up were for my previous competitions and also performances. Normal days? Nah. imma just let my face go au naturel! =P So with that little practice I've had, it was quite a struggle. Took me 5 hours to get ready!!! *gosh! but at least I was pretty much the same speed as the other gals too... lolx!* Thank God though it wasn't anything people would call a great artwork, my completed competition make-up was still fairly presentable. =P

The competition was held in this country club ballroom which was pretty magnificent too. And the dance scene was just as much of a 'battlefield' as I had in mind, with armies of competitors from all around the world. Unfortunate for us, when we arrived, the first few competitions had already started, which meant the warm-up session was over, and we missed the chance to test the floor. The dancefloor was HUGE, with brightly-polished wooden flooring, quite the best floor I've ever seen. Thank god it was good too, not too slippery or rough, really great to dance on!

Rumba in action!

Now to the Cha Cha

Samba  

The competition went pretty well I have to say. Although I was kinda nervous in the beginning, I became more and more confident as the events pass. And I managed to enter finals for all the 3 dances that I joined! Rumba and Cha Cha finals were night events, while Samba finals was finished off by afternoon. I kinda lost my timing halfway during Samba finals, idk was I nervous or what, but somehow it just happened. And hence the 6th placing for Samba. =( *damn me and my bad timing!*

Samba 6th placing

For the night events I gathered up my nerves and managed to give a better performance than my Samba. I got 3rd placing for both Cha Cha and Rumba, which means, my first few medals!!! Weeeeeeeee!!!!!!!! =) =) =) Although I wasn't champion yet, but it was really an improvement to me, considering the lack of practice I had beforehand and how much a black sheep I was. @.@ And it was an International Open event, whereby there are even quite a number of competitors from the 'notorious' China!!!  Lolx...

On stage as 2nd Runner up for Cha Cha

2nd Runner up for Rumba as well (still pwned by the china gals...sigh...)

Taking a break with Shi Teng

Anyway, after that, we bathed and washed up in the club's washroom, and then chilled around, waiting for Uncle William and the rest of our teachers to be done judging the competition so that we can all take our bus to our hotel in Johor. It was around 11plus when we were finally set to go, and many of us were already exhausted. We reached Johor at about 1am, and after checking-in and preparing ourselves for bed, it was already over 2 pm. I fell asleep dreading the thought of waking up at 6am the next day...

My Singapore comp certs! 

WLD competitors' group photo with our beloved teachers!

THE JOHOR COMPETITION (7/8/2011)
So I woke up an hour later than my alarm. *damn my bad habit of resuming sleep after switching off the alarm!* And so I had to bathe and gobble down my cup noodle at supersonic speed to make up for time loss. And then I went to join the girls to make-up. Again. Seriously I was kinda sick of the process. But good thing was that I actually improved from yesterday's practice, and so I manage to add a more dramatic touch to my eyes compared to yesterday. Kinda satisfied with my results, and less time spent too! =)

The bring-it-on-i'm-ready-for-battle stance!!! 

With the other home team gals in the 16 and above solo open category (Note how colourful our costumes are! teehee)

I reckon I'm doing the Cuban break

The venue for Johor comp was much smaller, in some restaurant where they had this temporary dancefloor set up. Managed to make it to test the floor this time, and boy was it slippery! But thank God somehow into the competition, it became less slippery, probably because the ballroom dancers who had their comps first danced away most of the wax on the top layer? haha!

One of my favourite Cha Cha pose. Just lurve how tanned I look for this comp!

Anyway, the competition went really great, and I had a really good time. Was kinda nervous at times, but when the music comes on, I just went all out for it, danced like there was no one watching. There was only one thing on my mind, and it was "I am doing the thing that I love, and this might be my last competition of the year, so I am gonna make the best out of it!" And so I did. Although in the end, I still couldn't manage to get champion for any of the dances, but I got into finals again for all the categories! 4th placing for both Samba and ChaCha, and first runner up for Rumba!!! (obviously Rumba is still my best dance =P)

1st Runner up in Rumba! What a pleasant surprise! =)

My Johor comp certs!

It was pretty late when we were done with the comp. We did not even have much time to remove our make up or bathe, as we were all packing and rushing to take our late night bus back to KL. Chinese medicine selectives classes waiting for me at 8am! It was crazy, really crazy. We left Johor at 1am, only to reach KL at about 6am. I was pretty exhausted by then, but I managed to haul my luggage and all back to Vista, remove my make-up, bathe, and get ready for classes, while other competitors get to stay home and sleep in... Hmm, price to pay for being a med-student I guess! We never really get much chance to rest! But it was all worth it, I would say. =)

One good thing about Johor comp is that dinner was provided! Yummm don't you just love an 8-course meal after a tiring day? Haha!

Table mates! =P

Epilogue
(credits to Stephen and all the other photographers whom I took the photos from! You know who you are!)
I think I'm gonna miss the competition scenes. Joining competitions under WLD is awesome, the great company, the fun we had together, the unity and cheering for each other, the learning and growing together... it's all parts and parcel of what makes the competition experiences great. And the DANCE, the smooth polished floors, the ballrooms, the lights, the photo-takings, the audience, the shimmering costumes... all these memories will be etched into my mind forever and always. I know that I will always love dancing, no matter where I go and what I do. I remember every word Uncle William told me after the prize-giving ceremony of Johor comp. He told me:" Whatever you do, please promise me not to give up dancing!" He said I was improving and getting better, and it would be a waste to stop dancing. I'll surely take these words to my heart, and yes, I will continue to dance. I certainly will! =)

I promise this will not be my last competition!

Till then!!! I'll leave you with,

Life is just so wonderful when there is DANCE!!!!!!!!! 

Dance Diary Part 10 --- My First Competition!!!

It was A.W.E.S.O.M.E. in capital letters! That was how I felt every single moment of it... ^___^

It was indescribable, unbelievable, almost a miracle. It was A DREAM COME TRUE! How wonderful. 

And still, now long after, my heart still flips in excitement when I think of it. Seriously.

Well, to say that I was not nervous at all, that'll be a lie. I had never been to a competition before, only exception was the KLDA one where I was working as a floor-runner. But even that time, I didn't really get to watch the dances because I had to arrange prizes and collect score-sheets ever so often. Hence, I had NO IDEA about many things. Even from the make-up & hair-styling, to how am I going to enter the dancefloor. And not-knowing did make me a little nervous. But I was blessed to have made many wonderful friends there, my 'danceworld family' as we all call it. They were lovely people, and I just have to thank them one by one for all their help and guidances throughout. Not only that, but also for all the fun we had together, and for making my Penang competition trip such a memorable one!!! Cheerio amigos! =)

And did I tell you? I met my beloved Sifu there! On that day as a judge, judging my category somemore. Ishh... somemore just at the moment I was off timing during Rumba semi-finals, my partner told me that she was practically STARING AT ME... OMIGOSH...!!! *cries*
Anyway, on the 1st night before the comp too I met her, at the lobby. And she was pretty as ever. Talked to her awhile, promised her to catch up with her when I am back in Ipoh, and gave her a big hug before saying goodbye. Truth is, I do miss her a lot. Glad that she seems fine! =)

1st day by the beach. Me and my roommates + Shi Teng who was staying with her family.

Me and Kathy

The abundant supply of food our whole room brought to Penang! =)

2nd day-- during competition day event... after our beginners' category was over

I seem to look tanned here, and I love it! =)

Cam-whoring in our room after the competition was over

All the pretty babes of Room 235 in sizzling hot latin costumes!!! ^______^

Here goes my acknowledgements: (lolx)

I would like to thank my wonderful roommates Kathy and Wai Ling for giving me a make-up tutorial the night before the competition. And also to Kathy for borrowing me her blue nail-polish.

I would like to thank Pui Yan for helping me with my lipstick and my hair.

I would like to thank Shi Teng for helping me apply my fake eyelashes and blusher.

I would like to thank Dana for borrowing me her brush.

Wouldn't have done it all without them. I'm a TOTAL NOOB at make-up and hair-styling. Argh... gotta learn next time!!!

And also,

I would like to thank Chloe Gan for the tips and advices for the competition.

I would like to thank Stephen for helping us take photos.  

I would like to thank Gary for providing us with food food and MORE FOOD!!! =)

And thanks to everyone else for the words of encouragement and the warm wishes!!! Love you all!!!

Not to forget my amazing instructors; Uncle William, Aunty Luisa, and Aunty Merle. Great teachers they are, taught us so much through this competition. Cherish their patience and passion. I'm just so sorry we didn't have more time to practice and be better than this, and that we must have dissapointed them... T__T 

I promise we'll work harder, and do better next time!!! 

Last but not least, ahem, my beloved dance partner, Cavin!!! (well, I am so not used to addressing him as beloved since we used to bicker most of the time, but then well yea, deep down, I do love him a lot! *as a friend lar, what you think?!! lolx...* ) Afterall, he is THE ONE WHO MADE MY DREAM COME TRUE!!! ^___^ For this reason alone, he deserves my wholehearted gratitude. He wouldn't know how much this means to me! =)

And this whole experience wouldn't have been complete without him. Brilliant guy he is. A way faster learner than me; I am amazed!!! There are so much for me that I could learn from him. I'm so blessed to have met him. Really.

Me and my partner Cavin

Nope, we didn't win. (mann, if we did, I would've slept hugging my medal for months!!! lolx...) We went through to semi -finals for Rumba (which made us really happy for we didn't expect to go any further than heats!) but for Samba we were out just after heats (from the feedback, it was due to lousy floor strategy, started too much to the corner, out timing in the beginning somemore... sorry!!!) 

Nevertheless, the entire experience itself was priceless. So many things I'd experienced throughout the competition. Everything was so new to me and my partner, that very often, we were amazed even by the smallest things; like young children exploring the world for the first time. It was indeed, an EYE-OPENER for both of us. And we enjoyed all of it, greedily and eagerly taking in every single detail, not wanting to miss even the slightest moment.

So many great dancers there were! And we can't help but to feel so lucky to be in Malaysia's biggest competition, to get to witness all of these. We watched, we cheered. For the young and for the old. For all were good. ^____^

After competition. Danceworld family photo!!!

Sadly as I do not own a camera, not many pictures were taken. But then again... every single scene and sight are already imprinted in my heart. =)

Dinner outing after competition

3rd day --- CRAZY FUN BY THE BEACH!!!
We played beach volleyball, raced each other, tried to throw each other into the water, buried PuiYan in sand, swam in the pool... it was a wonderful time! Great bonding too! =)

The danceworld hot babes hitting the beach!

Thank you, dear Father. For all these. I knew You had plans, and that You ALWAYS give me the BEST plans ever!!! Thank you, thank you so much dear Lord... You know how much this means for me. I couldn't thank you enough for all the blessings You've granted me. So I can only promise you dear Father, to try and do my very best to glorify your name. Now and forever, counting my blessings and giving you thanks... Amen, Father. I love you.   

Gotta get going, mountain-pile of notes are awaiting. EOS 3 is beckoning. I've got no time to waste if I still want to survive past sem 3. Sigh... reality, reality. I've come to learn, you always have to wake up eventually... T____T

Till the next year, 18th Penang Championships! *I do so hope I could make it there then!*

In the meantime, what is the pathogenesis of Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome?

p/s: credits to Shi Teng, Pui Yan, Kathy, Seah & Yoong Ruey for the photos! =)

Day 76 - Dance Diary Part 3 - Of Samba and Puke?!

Having Latin two days in a row is darn tiring. In preparation for our Genting trip (yay!!!) from tomorrow till Friday, we somehow had to cram all our lessons with Sifu yesterday and today. And on top of that, Ballroom was tonight too. All these were what made my feet throb... even now.

Lesson learnt --- Never arrange Latin and Ballroom classes together on the same day if you are to learn techniques for both... It... KILLS. Both you, your feet and your partner... =p


For Latin, we started off with a new routine on Monday, after polishing up with our Cha Cha. It was Samba. I hadn't really learnt a lot of Samba, so I though this was a good chance to get myself more familiar with this hot Brazilian dance. Started off with some core strength and hips technique training, samba walk, criss-cross volta, bota fogo...

I find Samba a really captivating dance, very special in many ways. Firstly, it moves around the place a lot more than the other latin genres, and Samba is danced in an anti-clockwise manner. Secondly, the ladies are always on the outer circle, and the men in the inner circle. Many a time, the men are to be sort of a 'shadow' to the ladies. Thirdly, Samba needs nicely executed hips and stomach motions to bring out the personality of the dance, which I think is pretty similar to stomach churning.

And the stomach churning thingy din't do good to me as I had a heavy lunch, and after Samba-ing for half an hour or so, I seriously felt waves of nausea in every move I made. Thank God I actually managed to hold it all back and continued dancing for more than an hour, till the end of the lesson. But I looked really green in the face after all that.


Lesson learnt --- Never eat too much before dancing Samba. This is serious advice. You won't wanna puke all over the dancefloor!


Borrowed the latin clothes from Sifu. 4 similar tops, hand-made. They look nice to me, the four different striking colours on the same black base, complete with soft-flowing ruffles. But the tops were bareback, bare-tummy, bare shoulders... pretty bare all in all. I'm worried no one would dare to wear it... T.T Just hope I could gather enough dancers and train them in time for the coming CNY performance in IMU. It's just about three weeks away from now, and so far, Wei Jin and I hadn't had much preparations done yet, mostly due to Summative 1 & then the sem break in the way. But we decided we'd do some simple group Latin instead, so IMU folks, anyone interested?

*******

As for Ballroom, we finally got to proceed in our Waltz, doing whisks and chasses. But still, a lot of practice was required to get a hang out of it all. And did I tell you? I got myself a new pair of ballroom shoes! It was 2-inches heeled, closed-toed, gold, and made of soft materials. I love the glitter gold fire-tongue-like design at the back, giving a slight touch of glamour to the demureness of the shoes. And these shoes were softer than Latin's, so I got away from the night with only a blister near my soles, not bloody cut-lines. ^_^


*******

Packed for Genting and managed to catch episode 5 of SYTYCD Season 6. This season seems better than the previous, and the dancers seems more talented than ever. And most of the talents were much younger too, most of the good ones only just turned 18. Wow. And one thing I notice about auditions, the judges like to put great ballroom or contemporary dancers straight through to Vegas, but they hold back on great hip-hopers or dancers of other genres. Maybe they have doubts on the latter's versatility... I'm not sure.



I guess if I ever entered SYTYCD USA, I won't even get pass audition. Nigel wouldn't even let me dance for more than one minute. And the best thing Mary can say will be: "You're just not strong enough for this competition... I'm sorry. But keep working hard, and thank you for coming...!"



Lesson learnt --- As a dancer, grow in what you do, and try to be more versatile. I realized that I am sadly, not at all a versatile dancer, judging from the hard time I have going through adapting to Ballroom. As Raymond always say, " I DON'T WANT YOUR LATIN STYLE!!! THIS IS BALLROOM, NOT LATIN!!!" These days, I'd come to realize that on this journey, there are still loads I need to improve on. It never fails to amaze me, how there is such a wide horizon to dance, how there are such heights I am yet to explore... so much more.



If this journey has stages, then I'm an infant; new, amazed, excited but afraid. Would I ever be the strong, confident adult I would so wish to be?
I don't know.
But I'll grow.

And we'll see. ^_^



Genting tomorrow! Can't wait,
Christine

Day 74 - Dance Diary Part 2 - Of Heels and Toes

It had been two weeks since I ventured into my new-found dance field, and still, I'm so very unfamiliar with all the mechanisms, or techniques, as we call them. And boy, my pace at picking up Ballroom techniques is ten times slower than Latin, so I ended up still stuck in doing the basics after these whole two weeks. *Sigh... I fail...* T.T


There is one major difference in Latin and Ballroom --- Latin's always on pointe, while Ballroom needs to heel and toe. As a Latin dancer from the start, I admit it's pretty hard to assimilate the heel toe thingy into my steps. Very often, my Latin instinct/muscle memory/nature whatever-you-call-it takes over, and I move forward on pointe instead, earning me more scoldings from my new teacher, Raymond or his partner, Marie.


Raymond is very strict when it comes to dancing, he never hesitates to scold us sternly whenever we did mistakes or were just not up to par on the techniques. He even hits our arms and legs if we were to place them in a wrong position or moved them incorrectly. Harsh training, but I know it was all for our own good. I don't mind it one bit, it really pushed me. And what motivated me more to push myself on even when I was darn tired, even when I made so many mistakes over and over again that I wish to just give up and rest... was what he said at the end of a lesson: " You are one who can dance, that is why I wanted you to do the steps & techniques perfectly. If it's for someone who isn't really a dancer, just steps will do enough for them..."


And so I got up and tried again and again, ignoring the way my Latin shoes were carving bloody lines on my flesh, as I struggle to support myself well "the Ballroom way" in them. Truth is, it isn't advisable at all to dance Ballroom in Latin shoes, as the Latin heels were higher, which means less support as well as difficult rise and fall for Waltz. And the open-toe structure would mean gliding on your toes instead of in your shoes. *No wonder my toes were traumatized at the end of each lesson...sigh*

Note to self: Should get myself a pair of Ballroom shoes asap! (I'm not going to give up on Ballroom, will continue learning it, so yea, Ballroom shoes are essential for me.)

*******

Unlike the stressed, highly driven Ballroom classes, Latin classes were high-spirited and just, full of fun and energy. One thing about Sifu, she's one of the most adorable teacher I had ever met, really bubbly most of the time. And I think the bubbliness is one thing I learnt from her too, aside dancing. Lolx... We could talk about almost everything, and very often, we would send each other laughing all the way on the car to the studio, through lessons, and back home. And as dear Chin Yaw got more familiar around her, it became us three sitting around after class, cooling down in the studio and chatting away.


Well, it might sound like all fun and non-serious learning, but don't get me wrong, it's still a huge amount of learning, plus sweat and blood and a lot of effort. Latin classes were never a breeze, though I find them much more in my comfort zone compared to Ballroom. Over the past 2 weeks, we had got through an intermediate chacha routine, with a split specially choreographed for me, but which I couldn't execute well as I lost my split to Summative 1 in IMU... *long story* Anyway, it was later replaced with some other move. Samba was next, beginner's steps, techniques included. And Samba techniques sure isn't taufu.


Still a lot to work on --- fluidity of executing the routines, interaction with partner, my still-sucky spins, timing, my Cuban Break... and imma determined to regain my split. (Sifu thinks I'm cheating her about doing the 4 splits in cheerleading...grrr...)


I got till next week. Gotta practise my feet off. =p

P/S: Got to visit Sifu's newly-renovated third floor of her studio... (remember the dark-dusty-abandoned-ju-on-hideout-like 3rd floor I mentioned in my previous post? You can check it out HERE...) She cleaned and renovated most of it herself! Unbelievable! So she earned herself another 'title' --- renovation worker, on top of all her previous 'titles' --- dancer, adjudicator, teacher, costume designer, artist, children caretaker, driver... *Simply awesome!*


Gute Nacht,
Christine