The Other Half

In my last post, I talked about school and how I spent my CNY. So it made sense that this update would be about my current status in dance and some other random stuff.

So what have I been doing in the world of dance?

As some of you know, I signed up for Ryan's LA/Lyrical Hip Hop I course, which actually commenced last Monday. I was just on time for the class and I went in to the studio. To my surprise, I find 5 other recital mates inside! Apparently, Felicia, Jia Xin, Kai Yin, Kelvin and Cherie also signed up for the same course! I thought I would only know Andrew in the whole class (Andrew is one of my graduated seniors, for the ppl who don't know), since he signed up with me.

Instead of "Hi!", the first thing I said to my recital mates was "Did you guys planned to come together or something?", to which they replied "No, it was all a coincidence". It was a pleasant coincidence, that's for sure. I haven't seen my recital mates in like ages, ever since the O School Recital last December. I learnt that there would be more recital mates in the class if the course have not been fully booked so fast; Farah and Helena wanted to join the course too!

Anyway, I think the course has helped me alot in improving my dancing. Unlike his open class, where he would be teaching the choreo very fast since he expects you to know the fundamentals, Ryan actually take alot of time to explain the details and mistakes in his course. In just 2 sessions, he already taught a handful of techniques and a choreo, and he wants us to practice for the next lesson. Guess I need to hit the PE studio tomorrow. Lol.

On top of the course, I still go for Ryan's Lyrical HH open class as usual. Last Thursday's choreo was probably THE hardest one I've learnt so far. He used the song "Angel" by Natasha Bedingfield. I tell you, even the pro ppl in the class have difficulties in learning the choreo, so you can infer that a noob like me totally died in that class. I forgot some steps here and there, and I couldn't catch the rhythm for some parts of the choreo. Just wait till he uploads the video on Youtube.

As promised, here's Ryan's choreo to Britney Spears' "Circus"--



Can't wait for his next open class!

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Oh, I have a Sec 4 junior who's actually interested in Hip Hop! He actually asked me to teach him! LOL. My initial reaction was O_O because I think maybe I shouldn't be teaching him because I'm unsure of some of the fundamentals and I'm afraid I'll teach him the wrong stuff. But after some thinking, I guess maybe there's no harm in exposing him to Hip Hop. Plus, he's interested in Popping too! And he actually wanna go to O School and learn.

It's hard to find a junior from the High School Section who's actually really interested in Hip Hop. Most juniors are interested in BBoy, because they wanna learn all the power moves and show off, but they have no idea what Bboy actually is. For retards ppl like these, who doesn't boter to find out what bboy really is about, I happily defer them to the MAD Bboys coz I'm quite sure the bboys would have a "good" time giving them a crash course.

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I found out yesterday what a small country Singapore really is.

Last Thursday, after Ryan's open class, I found out Cherie actually knows Hiroshi, which is my Geog Tutorial classmate.

I was studying with Ie Ching at KAP when I found out my OGL's ex-boyfriend knows Ie Ching and they were from the same class! I totally went O_o'''.

Then today Jin Xiang told me Heng Yang, who's one of my Malaysian Scholar junior, and also happens to be in my junior class, is actually his cousin. That one I said "WTF?!" in the middle of a lecture. Thank god Miss Lim didn't catch it.

The connectivity between ppl in the modern age is quite extraodinary. Ppl that you thought have no connection whatsoever between them actually turned out to be friends or relatives.

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Let me introduce a new game to play on your PSP, if you have one. It's called "Dissidia Final Fantasy". It's a new game from the geniuses which brought Kingdom Hearts series and the Final Fantasy series, SquareEnix.

This is really a dope game! The game features an all-star cast like Cloud & Sephiroth from FFVII and Tidus & Jecht from FFX. What's cooler is it's battle system. Check out the gameplay video--



During my free time, in-between lectures and tutorials (and sometimes even durng tutorials!), I would even play this game. It's freaking addictive coz it's damn fun. Mum, Dad, relax, I still got finish my tutorials before I start playing. Haha.

Anyway, I guess that's all for today.

It's another day of school.......

Heartbeat

Wow, I haven't been to my own blog in like...........ages! In case you're wondering--

NO, THIS BLOG NOT DEAD!

Lol. Though there are quite a few things going on in my life, but it's not like I don't have the time to blog, but I think maybe it's because I have gotten used to not blogging for some time already. So after realizing this, I decided I would update as often as possible.

With the renewing of my commitment to this blog, I decided it's time for me to change the blog title. Readers of this blog would remember the old title -- "Don't sweat the technique!" -- which means not to focus too much on the technicalities of life and just live it! Interestingly, since the starting of this blog, I've had quite a number of people asking me what that phrase meant. Lol. There you have it. Haha.

"The Dancer's Rhythmic Heartbeat"

It took me a while to think of that title. I wanted this change of title to signify my journey and growth thru dance. When I just started dancing about one year ago, I am always told by Daniel, my hip hop instructor who's now in LA, that I shouldn't think too much of the technique and just...you know...dance. Fast forward one year later, I have understood what he meant.

Dancing is not about impressing others. Yes, impressing and entertaining people comes with the package, that's the role of a performing art. But as I continued dancing, I realized dancing is about materializing the music using one's body. To feel the music, dance, and touch others -- that is the true purpose of dancing. It's music made visible.

Now, whenever I listen to songs, I would subconsciously move my body to the music. On the MRT; on the bus; in my room; it doesn't matter where, but I couldn't really stop myself. When the music comes on, and the rhythm kicks in and resonates with my heartbeat, then I would start to move my body. I bet there are many dancers out there that share the same "problem" too.

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CNY was quite a blast this time round.

Drank some booze, visited lots of relatives, and gambled a little here and there. It's part and parcel of the joy of CNY. Contrary to the popular belief, no, I don't feel more relaxed and recharged even though I had a few more extra days. In fact, I think it's even more hectic than the previous year's. The amount of travelling was insane and my legs were going numb with inactivity. I think I almost fell sick actually, but thank god I didn't.

The food and snacks were delicious as usual. (What do you expect? It's Malaysian food. Lol.)

But the biggest surprise actually comes from my grandfather. My grandfather (my mum's father) was quite sick when I last saw him. But now, he actually out on quite some weight and is active again. I guess miracles do happen. I was quite relieved to see him well and active when I went back to my mum's hometown.

One of the interesting thing that happened during CNY was I finally got to learn the truth about my extended family. It was really a very long story, and I would like to typed it out on this blog, but maybe some time later. My dad broke the story down to a few parts and told me and my bro. Suddenly, everything makes alot of sense.

Last but not least, I got to celebrate CNY with my close Malaysian friends this time round. I guess I won't be seeing them till the June holidays.

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School is a peaceful affair. Somewhat.

I think this year I get along with the guys in my class better, though sometimes the CT rep tend to target his insults at me for no reason at all. The amount of tutorials given (especially from the geog teachers) are more, and the pace of the lectures are getting faster, coz this IS the last year of JC afterall. Surprisingly, the stress is not as heavy as I thought it would be. It's inevitable that JC2 students will experience a certain stress level, but it's not as high as I expected to be, at least for now.

I seriously think I am becoming some kind of a mugger. Lol.

School would have been peaceful............without the massive influx of JC1s, that is. Their orientation has started the past Monday. Hardly a day goes by without their cheers and screams disrupting tutorials. I bet that's how our seniors felt too. It's commonly agreed that many of the high school guys in the new batch of JC1s are posers. Most guys also find, the pretty girls can be very pretty and the ugly ones are on the fugly end of the spectrum. Lol.

Watching the soon-to-be JC1s going through orientation is kinda nostalgic. Makes me wanna go through the whole orientation again and play the awesome OG games like slippery slope and dodgeball. Funnily, looking at the juniors, I don't really feel like a senior -- yet. Probably the realization that it's our final year haven't really sunk in yet.

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I actually have lots more to blog about, but I guess this is enough for today. If you managed to finish reading my wordy post, then kudos to you. Not many people can do that, you know. Haha.

Till then, may you find your own rhythm in life.