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First of May. The end of our week break from the Shen Yun tour in Europe. The break itself was brief, spoilt and refreshing. I did some things and couldn’t do many others. Like visiting any Seftoners, for example...except Janita, since she was working as a receptionist at the Nido Theatre. I was lucky enough to be able to watch the Shen Yun group in Sydney for their last two performances. It’s a very different experience to be watching the show that you perform. As a dancer on stage, you must be completely focused on the dance, become the character you are enacting, and coordinate with your fellow dancers on stage. As an audience member, you experience the complete theatrical effect unfolding before you, from the music to the dancers on stage, from the backdrop to the lighting effects, and the MC’s insightful explanations and corny jokes (btw, Ben was a great MC). Basically it’s just sit back, relax, and enjoy. Unless you’re a dancer yourself, you don’t really think about how tiring the dances must be, and everything just seems so simple and elegant. All the techniques seem to be executed so easily. Then you walk out of the theatre and begin wondering how they do it.
Yeah, I’m talking about a performance that I’m part of, but that is indeed my experience. If you’ve read any media reports on the audience reviews of the show, they all talk about the choreography, the colour, the costumes, the backdrop, the divine messages, and the energy. But now that I’ve watched the show myself, I’ve come to understand their state of mind when giving these reviews. Chinese culture - it’s something so rich and diverse, because it’s a semi-divine culture. And Chinese dance - it’s also very rich and broad because you can use it to express almost anything. And that includes revealing the true picture of the persecution of Falun Gong in China.
After Shen Yun left Sydney, I didn’t have much opportunity to do what I wanted to do. Monday-Friday, people at uni with differing free days, few recreational facilities around my house (which is why I had a very strong urge to drive without my Ls), hardly any space to practice dance, and people staying over at my house for temporary residence. That included Kylie and Monty, so I was mainly with them. Kylie came back from NY on the 28th for a work visa at NTDTV, so she’s joining Manying and Antony and Eric and anyone else who ran away to the US for that reason. Haha
Biggest regrets of break:
1. Not being able to meet any Seftoners
2. Not being able to get my Ls (cause it was only a week)
3. NOT GOING TO MCDONALDS OR HUNGRY JACKS OR SOMETHING =O <-- I can’t believe this happened. omgosh asian parents and their love for Chinese restaurants -_-“”
But it was a good break, away from the daily routine of get up, dance, eat, dance and sleep. lol
Backtracking to the Europe tour. Europe is a nice and boring place..I mean, it’s all about culture and buildings and art. Being a place of historical significance, it was also very educational..or would have been if we had gone for that purpose. I say boring because, well, I wasn’t exactly “bored” in the strict sense, but I know other people had no interest in looking at old buildings and walking around busy streets without any food to buy. I thought the architecture in many countries was amazing, how every building was crafted in so much detail, with statues and different designs in a balance of symmetry. I guess it was a taste of Renaissance art; it was way better than just reading about it or looking at photos. Sometimes you really have to experience something for yourself in order to fully appreciate it. But then again, I think we’ve been to too many countries, and sometimes I can’t remember what happened where.
Fascination of buildings aside, chocolate was the best thing to enjoy. From famous brands to local ones, we had way too many kinds to choose from. Lindt had a wide range of unsettling flavours...I mean, who would really want “chilli chocolate” or “90% cacao”? I tried out the 90% cacao and my conclusion is that it is inedible. It’s not even chocolate anymore, just some really bitter stuff you’re trying to chew on.
As for the performances, the European audience members were very enthusiastic and we often had more than one curtain call. Every day there was a VIP reception, and those who attended would bring positive and inspiring feedback. A notable one was in Linkoping, Sweden, where a vocalist wanted to meet one of our singers at the VIP reception, and they ended up singing “O Sole Mio” together. Too bad I wasn’t there, but I managed to find some footage online on NTDTV. It was pretty cool =)
Tour ended really fast, though, because in 2008 when we toured Asia, we had something like 130 shows in 4 months, whereas this time around we had something like 50 shows in less than 3 months. We also had bus ride after bus ride as we country-hopped all over Europe. And bus rides aren’t very fun.
Very soon (2 days) we will have a dance exam, and then it will be back to daily training and learning new dances for next year’s tour. Oh yeah, and the upcoming dance competition in June. And taking AP courses now that I’m graduated from high school. It’s gonna be a long, long, busy year.
So here I am, sitting in a hotel in Washington, D.C., with a week of performances at the Kennedy Center awaiting me. The Kennedy Center, I have heard, is the best performing arts centre in DC, and if you're going to perform there then you have to rent the place for at least a week. Thus, we'll be staying at DC for a while.
Tour so far has been quite successful. We began on the 18th December at Philadelphia, went to northern US and a couple of cities in Canada, went back to NY for the Radio City performances, and traveled around northern/mid US. The longest we stayed was at Toronto, for a week; I've mostly been city-hopping and enduring day-long bus rides most of the time. Sitting on a bus for so long could have negative consequences with our dance training, thus our teachers try to give us as much training as they can. So it's been tiring, but our shows have been pretty good with many positive audience responses. With 3 troupes simultaneously touring the world, more people are getting to know about Divine Performing Arts, and the demand for quality and availability gets higher. At one point I felt competent about what I could do, but I realised that I still have a long way to go. In dance, there's no limit as to how much you can learn; there's always something new, and there is always room for improvement.
With all this happening, I still occasionally imagine myself as a student preparing to go to uni. That would surely be a completely different experience. I'm really curious as to how everyone back in Syd is doing with their uni admissions, and how uni will be like. Probably a similar feeling to a primary school student getting ready for high school, but with more individual choice. Well, good luck to all of you =)
After DC is over, I'll be jumping around Europe. Ah, Europe has such a rich history and so much to learn. But alas, it's a shame that I'm not coming back to Australia. I've been enduring very cold weather lately, seeing as much snow as I ever could have wished for. The worst of it was in Montreal, Canada, where temperatures were a ridiculous -26 degrees Celsius. Ever wonder what it would be like to sit in the fridge? Well, I used to, and now I can say that you can't walk around the streets for more than 5 minutes without your hands and face going numb. I think Europe will be quite cold too. It sure is different from all the bushfires, heatwaves and floods devastating the east coast of Australia; it's all over CNN, which is broadcasting live on the TV next to me. "Mass murder"? Really? Who'd create bushfires on purpose?
Oh yeah, I am 18 now. And missing out on a bunch of stuff I could be doing. The legal age here is 21, but even then, I couldn't do anything here since I'm only on a student visa. In Syd, I could've got my P's already, feel like a legalised adult, trying helplessly to find a job, and be forced to vote for the next PM (whenever that is). Actually, I'll still have to vote even though I'm overseas.
Will hopefully post some photos on Facebook before I leave for Europe. Until then!
As you've probably guessed, this post is mainly about NTDTV's Dance Competition that's coming up, well, tomorrow. I'm going to be competing this year, and this is what's been keeping me busy. We are required to do a 2-3 minute dance as well as a 1-2 minute performance of required techniques. We've had these past 2 months or so to decide on a dance, find music, get the dance choreographed (with teacher assistance, sort of), get the techniques dance choreographed, and of course continue regular dance training to top it all up. We've also had to simultaneously learn new dances for next year's Spectacular. All that has led me to today; the day before the Preliminaries. Of course, the whole process of preparing for this dance competition has been quite fruitful already. It is very different to be standing alone on stage as opposed to being part of group dances. Hopefully I'll be able to get over my nerves and perform the best I can! =D
In other news, I took the last of my high school exams last week with good results. But only now do I start learning stuff of the HSC level via AP (advanced placement) courses. The NY exams is more of an SC-level, albeit a bit harder. The new semester begins in August. I'll never get used to that.
Well, hope the trials have pumped you all up for the actual HSC =P
But tomorrow I leave it all - ending my Asia experience and taking a long-awaited flight back home. Finally, I can see people drive on the left of the road where it is correct, defy all types of American-used words like soda or ketchup, and of course see all my friends again. But unfortunately I return at a time where everyone is busy with the halfyearlies, making it hard for u guys to come see the performance, which is a real shame because you're missing out on a lot. But I do know some people can make it, and I'm happy if at least some ppl can come =) tell me which performance you're coming to so I can come out to say hello.
Well, I have not much else to say. I guess I'll guarantee a stunning, colourful, top-notch performance!
