The past 2 days was very fun for me! Haven't felt so alive since the start of Promos. The past 2 days was sabbatical days, and as I've said before, my sabbats this time was Street Jazz!
I remembered hearing rumors that Studio Wu opened a branch over at SMU, which is directly opposite of OSchool (obviously to increase competition between the 2). But the last thing I expected was having a sabbatical course at the new branch! When I saw the address for the venue, I instantly guessed that it was held at the new branch. Turns out I was right.
During these 2 days, the sabbaticals started at 9.30 a.m, though we were supposed to be there by 9 a.m. Apparently, New School Hip Hop and Street Jazz were conducted at the same place. During the first day, I arrived there to see that many MAD ppl were there, especially the bboys. Other than them, I also know most of the ppl there. So this sabbatical is also more enjoyable because I'm dancing with my friends! Chuan Khim, Dominic, Wang Yi, and Jason were also in the Street Jazz sabbat.
The sabbatical itself was 6 hours each day! We danced from 9.30am to 12.30pm, had an hour lunch time, then continued till 4.30pm. Damn tiring, but damn shuang. It's like taking 6 Open Classes in one day.
Our instructor was Sheila. I think she's a damn good instructor. She really takes her time to teach us the techniques and helped us clean them up. And she's a really good dancer too! Her hip movements are damn good! But she can get pissed off at times when she feel that some ppl are not putting enough effort, but that rarely happens. Although she was having a very, very bad sorethroat (she lost her voice completely today), she still persevered and teached us seriously.
We did warm ups and learnt jazz techniques for 3 whole hours! It was damn tiring on the legs. But I think I've really learnt alot through the sabbatical, and I got a sense of what jazz and street jazz is like. I've picked up some new techniques to add to my dance vocabulary too!
We also learnt a choreo of about 12 8-beats too! Sheila taught us damn fast and incorporated some of the jazz techniques into it. Then we were split into groups to perform, and also create 4 more 8-beats on our own. My group had 8 ppl in it, and all of them were guys. Males were a minority in the sabbatical, so we all grouped together.
After hours of practising, we were all told to perform in our groups during the last hour of our sabbatical. Sheila invited the teachers-in-charge to come and watch us. Apparetly, they weren't the only one who got invited. The ppl from the sabbatical next door, New School Hip Hop, all crammed into the studio too to watch us. It was quite pressuring actually, with all the ppl (especially the MAd ppl) watching and everything.
We were the last group to perform. Although there were some screw ups here and there, I think we did quite well, considering that most of the ppl in our group never danced before.
Me and Chuan Khim did a puppeteering part to fill one of the 8-beats. I was inspired by the "Bleeding Love" Choreo on SYTYCD, so I decided to create a choreo that involves Chuan Khim "puppeting" me. Although I went slightly faster during the performance, I think the crowd loved it anyway. They were cheering like mad after we finished performing. And the MAD bboys were all cheering "Chuan Khim!". Personally, I think it was damn freaking cool to pull it off with Chuan Khim. (Ego, ego. Heh.)
The roar of the crowds further reminded me why I couldn't wait till OSchool Recital. I can't wait to finish learning the choreo and performed it on the stage with my beloved dancemates. When you hear a crowd cheer, you really felt as though you have did your best to entertain them. I like that feeling. Especially if the crowd is big, which OSchool Recital will surely have.
Overall, the sabbatical was very worth the time. I wouldn't mind doing this for 5 straight days, like high school sabbaticals are, but too bad JC sabbaticals only have 2 days. I really admire Sheila for her effort. I'll definitely learn Street Jazz from her again next time, when I feel that I have learnt alot for Hip Hop.
Till then, may you indulge in all that (street) jazz.
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