Do you feel like dancing? 1st KL International Dance Festival

A note from my darling friend Peter Ong, who is organising the fantastic & exciting....ta-ta...read on!

Hello KL!!!!

There's been a massive storm brewing & it's about to rock the Klang Valley like never before…..

The 1st KL International Dance Festival is here!!!

The first of it's kind in Asia to bring together a wide variety of dance forms under one roof including

Lion Dance, Hip Hop, Tap, Capoeira, Middle Eastern Dance, Break Dancing, Shuffle, Jazz, Ballroom, Latin, Salsa, Argentine Tango, and many more...
This is a celebration of music, of dance and of life.

For one week only, 4th -10th June 2007, dancers from all walks of life will descend onto the Berjaya Times Square Shopping Mall Concourse to share the passion for dance with the whole world.

There will be workshops for beginners every day from 12-7pm which is FREE for anyone to attend. Also, FREE performances every night for the public to enjoy!
Workshop schedule HERE

No registrations, no fees...just come as you are and be prepared to have a blast! There will also be featured performances and showcases at night all week including a mega percussion jamming session with the Tugu Drum Circle on Wednesday and a Latin party featuring Salsa and Argentine Tango on Friday right after a sizzling Middle Eastern Dance showcase. Bring your dance shoes...heck, just come as you are! It's going to be the biggest dance party of the year, so be there!

INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS FEATURED
AT THE 1ST KL INTERNATIONAL DANCE FESTIVAL - 9th June

· DanceSport , which will include the prestigious IDSF World Ranking Open for the 1st time in Malaysia which will see couples from all over the world vying to maintain or improve their world ranking positions. It's going to be a tough battle for many of them which makes it all the more exciting to watch!

· Middle Eastern Dance, which has taken the world by storm. The girls are getting ready to shimmy themselves right to the finals so make sure you're there to witness this exotic and graceful dance form on the competition floor for the 1st time in Malaysia!

· Hip Hop Teams who will battle it out in the Concourse area...so make sure you're there to cheer on your favourite!

· Shuffling , the latest trend to groove the country...want to know what the fuss is about? Come on over and check it out.

There will be dancers from 20 countries coming together for these Championships so you'll be guaranteed of a good showdown...and the price to watch these exciting rounds in the Berjaya Times Square Concourse on Saturday 9th of June is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! That's right, in line with the workshops and the performances throughout the week, spectators for the heats in the Concourse can come in for FREE!! Just make sure you arrive early to get a good spot.

Gala Event: Featuring the finals of the World Ranking DanceSport Championships
+ Middle Eastern + Hip hop & Shuffling championships


For those of you who don't fancy hanging around the Concourse all day and only want to watch the best of the best, the Finals for all Championships will be the main event at the Gala Dinner in the Manhattan Ballroom of Berjaya Times Square Hotel on the Saturday 9th of June at 7pm. Tickets for this exciting Gala Dinner are still available at RM380, RM250, and RM150 but they're moving fast. It's going to be one of the hottest Gala's in KL this year with many international dancers, so don't miss out!

Attention ALL Competitors!!!

If you feel like you'd like to get a shot at the cash prizes which total to
RM65,000 , then go to
www.thedancespace.com.my

and sign up on-line QUICKLY! Who knows...you may be the best dancer in KL and may walk away with some cash prizes and a medal to prove it. So come strut your stuff!!! We're waiting...and so is the rest of KL. Get on-line today and take up the challenge!

Astro will be recording the entire event and will be featured in a special delayed broadcast. Also, watch out for the HITZ FM cruisers - if you want to compete in the Championships, you can hunt them down and show them your moves. Your entrance fee will be waived!!!

For more information, please visit www.thedancespace.com.my
and keep watching the site for updates. See y'all there!

For Gala event tickets, please call 013-388-0821 or 016-333-2288 or 016-357-1899 and reserve your seat.

Thanks for your support KL! Let's have one helluva party in June!!!!!!

Sleepless in Wikipedia-land

I can't remember starting when, but I've become a serial-Wikepedia-reader-in-the-night-time. I find myself awake at 3am a lot, glued in front of my PC screen, reading things off Wikepedia.

It was easy to get hooked, I needed to find out some general information about something, that must have been months and months ago; J had told me about the wonders of Wikepedia like ageeees ago but I only caught on ages after that....

If you're a user of Wikipedia you'd know that you can hardly ever complete reading an article without ending up wanting to know more about other things that are related to the root subject that you were researching on...

So here I am, night after night, in my room....reading endless chains of article about anything, and everything.

One reading leads to another, and another, another one, one more, one more...

about a famous book, a singer, a celebrity, a historical event, world, history, scientific surveys, movies, technology, country, a song, an author...

I can't quite explain it but it feels a bit like as if I'd grown knowledge-thirsty overnight. It's not like a fabulous handbag from a flea market which I can show off to friends, but it's a private nice feeling I get when I'm reading about all these whatever-things...around the clock whenever the need arises, to know about something, something that has an entry on Wikipedia.

Try it, `google' anything on Wikipedia today, you might just get hooked like me.

Right now I'm reading the production notes on the film Fight Club, this morning I was obsessed with information on Edith Piaf.

A day ago it was about song cycles, and Beatles.

Two nights ago was the novel Trainspotting.

Two weeks ago it was all about the iconic Irish writer Samuel Beckett.

Some time back it was history of China, history of human sexuality....

Curiosity is giving me sleepless nights. It's funny how an interesting book at hand while I'm lying in bed can send me to dreamland pretty fast while I'm able to stay awake for a way longer time (when I should be snoring away), straining my eyes at 3am, reading about homoeroctism on dear old Wiki.

Enuf said, I best finish (a tough order) up my readings this time round and get to bed.

afternoon in denial but with great music

With exactly a week left before I leave with Dama for our Perth run of Butterfly Lovers The Musical, I refuse to panic over the packing for one week stay and making space for shopping in my luggage, I spend the whole afternoon sorting my music folders on the PC.

It's a tall order, to get all mess sorted in one sitting.

Apparently I have Anita Baker, Carole King & others in the wrong folder. I made a few new folders, soul & RnB, retro & eletronica. The easy folders I have had for ages are stuff like choral, operas, Chinese oldies, classical (vocal), jazz and musicals.

Eventually I gave it a rest, for today. Though some of them are still in the wrong folder, and more new folders are needed, it's a great feeling knowing I have great music in my disc.

I name you some of the great great people music I got here...

Nina Simone
Herbie Hancock
Quincy Jones
Eva Cassidy
Aimee Mann
Damien Rice
Etta James
Shirley Bassey
Carly Simon
Carole King
Erykah Badu
Anita Baker
Chaka Khan
Jill Scott
Alanis Morisette
Chet Baker
Stan Getz
Bjork

The list goes on and on, really, with the wealth of this music next to me, I feel that we don't ever need to complain about feeling lonely and restless - for great music is the medicine for the soul.

It makes me go crazy just thinking about the possibility of singing just one great song from each of these great musicians, what kind of musical substance and maturity is needed to be able to represent these great array of music...I dare not assume.

Am in planning of two performances (vocal) for the second half of this year. Putting a repertoire together is a great task of having to balance, and settle with what I'm dying to perform and what I could do potentially well.

Truth is, it looks like what I could do well is quite limited (especially the classical repertoire front) and what I love to perform is quite endless, at the moment. I really like the torch songs and the deep deep blues of people like Nina Simone and Billie Holiday, but to do a convincing rendition of say, Stormy Weather...I don't know what it takes, perhaps my not knowing and the lack of confidence is the issue.

Anyway, a note of self-plugging, stay tune to my performance calendar for my performances in July and August.

Just this week, after months of irregular eating hours and very bad diet, I went grocery shopping and prepared meal, my first proper (self) home cook meal in a long time.

Monday
- salad & ABC soup


Tuesday was sandwich day...dark rye bread with looots of butter and strong cheddar. Wednesday I made pasta with pesto mix of chillies & tomato with tons of vegetables...yesterday I made lentil soup.

Oh ya, with all this happening, I still managed to squeeze in an appointment to.....finally, got my eye brows DONE, tattooed!!!

The trade name is now really, eye brow embroidery but the beautician Leslie (he is fantastic, really) explained it's all the same thing, calling it tattoo or embroidery, same technology, different marketing positioning.

Anyway, I endured the pain and now I'm prepared to endure comments should they come my way. So far what I've heard are things like what if I don't like the shape in future, what if the shape goes out of trend...what's next? Facial surgery?

Well, the color of the tatto will fade in time and I don't think any well-shape eye brow will ever go out of fashion if I don't follow trend at the first place.

...pictures of the new brows on the way :)

We freelancers...

Still waiting for a new housemate to walk into my flat.

Listened to friends' lament over house-moving deadlines.

Hoping to move into a `house' of my own one day, to house permanently, my wonderful bundles of clothes and bags.

Speaking of clothes and bags, I just want to report that being a freelance performer is nothing like some of my friends think it is.

People are always saying things like "Oh I wish my life is like yours, you don't have to get up at 7am and drive through madness to work." or "Oh, so nice la your job, just go up there and sing a few songs and get paid..."

Well, if a job of a freelance performer is that breezy and easy, you'd be surprised how come our city is not over run by singers. We are over run by....ok I've decided not to offend any profession here.

I think the difference, differences of a say, ok, take my old job as a membership executive for an association, to what I do now....

Are that, working in a corporation, you can get your employer to send you to all kinds of trainings & workshops to make you a better employee, soft skills, technical skills, you name it, there are companies out there to make you better at work.

Working for a corporation, there's finance department to produce invoices and look after getting debtors to pay up, promotions & marketing department, HR department for training & education...etc.

Working as my own agent and a singer, I have to train myself as PR manager, account keeper, entertainer, secretary, my own singing teacher, stylist, make-up artist, driver....

Basically making it as a singer here in this country, you need to figure out your career path yourself, there's no one in the `company' to guide you through which job to take and which event to drop, what repertoire to start from and how to advance, etc. The singer who can plan it all by himself and execute it exactly is one who succeed.

For young singers who are just starting out in the business, you better be one who can make good contacts fast because who you know makes a difference. In fact, the way that a freelance performer need to make it in the business, to me, is no difference from the way an insurance agent/multi-level-marketing-businessman need to. You get ahead using your charisma, charm, people's skills, talent and without a sales team behind your product, you knock on doors, pitch your craft and close the sale on YOUR OWN.

but yes, freelancers like me do have the freedom of planning movies during office hours, get up after 10am and sleep at ungodly hours....all these to make up for what we don't get for working as a freelancers.

home, hungry and vain

This is what having a break from regular rehearsals did to me....

Not sure if watching too much old episodes of Sex and The City has anything to do with it but suddenly these facts just jumped at me, the fact that I'm a 30-year-old woman who

has too much clothes in her bachelor flat
walks into her kitchen only to make instant noddles and boil drinking water
freeloads home cook food in friends' homes
spends too much time looking good before going out
obsesses over her hair
sleeps at wee hours, skip meals, eats instant noddles at 3am, still watching Sex and The City

Gee, I'm the girl with the bursting wardrobe and an empty kitchen.

While my at-home lifestyle seems dysfunctional to me (not cooking and sleeping too late), I also realise that the last time I was really working on my music repertoire, was last year December...before I went to Loei for my music camp. These days I stuff too many jazz standards in my head for my wedding gigs and launches that I could hardly remember what Mozart looks like.

Oh ya, I also just went to the gym yesterday for the first time in three weeks...my excuse? All my socks went to the laundry and I just got them back last weekend.

Anyway, I feel good making a list of things that I'm not that happy with - so that it can remind me to stop doing that.

The progress so far,

I have gone to the gym, had one intensive session on my Mozart repertoire at home, signed up for a vocal master class, memorizing some new lyrics for my coming wedding gig, still not cooked any decent food, been going out without eyeliner and mascara (two days)...that's about it so far.

So things are looking less depressing, they are looking up.

Ok, now I will stop obsessing over myself and go do some laundry, then I will go over my crazy Rossini aria before my singing class today.

What you've missed - The Beckett people

I am so overwhelmed by the short plays that I've been watching in the last four days at Stor Theatre that I've completely forgotten to tell you a bout them...

sigh, today is the last day of the performance.

KL Ensemble Theatre
presents

8 Short Plays by
Samuel Beckett,
in
"A Bucketful of Beckett: 8 Shots"
directed by Christopher Jacobs

Venue & Dates
Stor Thetare DBP, Bangunan Dewas Bahasa & Pustaka, KL
May 2-6, 2007
Tickets - 6017-616 9568

I have the honour of volunteering as the front of house bitch with Zal. Since the opening I have been going home every night and wikipedia-ed the disturbing materials I see on stage.

Reading all the higher level materials like the theatre concepts of Beckett plays and bla bla bla, I didn't wikipedia the commentary until this morning, and voila!!! Everything is suddenly clear! I spent the last four days getting quite confused with some of the shorts I see every day after I closed the theatre door behind me...stupid of me for not wikipedia-ing the individual shorts.

If you were lucky enough to have make it to the performance so far, you might want to read this if you are still trying to figure out what you saw.

What Where

Not I

Play

Rockaby

Catastrophe

ok, time to get dress and go do my front of house bitch business for the last performance, this round.