~JcZw

Came and went the vaunted music festival of 2005. And what an experience it was.

Emotions inculded excitement... fear... disappointment... frustration... but most importantly, exhiliration.

Sometimes you can just overlook a detail that can be so obvious, and this in turn, to quote the oft-used English expression, "puts the tin hat on the matter". Today I did that, which lead to the frustration blah n all the negative emotions of the day. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that communication would go wrong at such a tense moment of the day. Thank goodness for handphones. And thank goodness for the calm-headedness of the people with me, especially Zeya.

Music fest started with a bang. As the curtains went up, as the lamps blazed with their unearthly glare, as the music started with an oscillating, eerie beat, the event started.

Every person clad in grey, every movement precise, sharp as a rapier and quick as a fleche (okay, bad pun), the dancers sprang into their rhythm. And no ordinary dancers were they either. Every one of them were experienced, after weeks of training which we had seen them endure. The SYF dancers of Victoria Junior College. The very cream of these acrobatic artists that our college could offer.

And what a performance they put up. Whirling, spinning, rolling through the sequence, each one looking as identical as the others. They took the breath of the audience away, giving them a taste of what was to come in the evening. Not quite the culmination of their hard work, of the sacrifice and numerous injuries they may have sustained, but for the audience, it was flawless. Perfect.

And all the more special it was to our class, for Stella was performing in it. And man, it was hard to pick her out. ChuaH, Li Ling, Xun Ai, me, and the rest of the class were searching face after face looking for her. Finally managed to locate her, lose her, locate her again, blahblah. But the dancers moved so quickly, faster than our minds could concentrate, so it was no wonder. We did finally pick her out, alomst indiscernable, clad as everyone else was in their grey costumes, her movements as fast and precise as the rest.

And yes, I think the performance was a great success. Although it was severely eerie... haha.... but nonetheless, a fantastic view. Never would I have though a group of dancers could rival those that the St. John members had put up at our farewell. Now I do.

Firing straight into the main segment of the show. The soloists, with their personal renditions of their chosen songs, singing with clear and pure voices. One could see they had given their everything for this very moment, whether by natural talent, or by sheer hard work.

Then came the duets and group performances. Also as good as their counterparts in the solo sections. And here comes special mention to another performance. One group sang "lang hua yi duo duo". One of my favourite songs whilst in st. john, mainly because it was one of the few chinese songs which I actually knew the lyrics. And with the song came the recollections of the campfires, which I had always looked forward to, packed together in front the seniors struggling to sing along. The farewells, including ours, when many a song was sung through the tears of the estrangement of friends. And just the usualy times, walking along the road with friends, making our way back to school after competitions, singing this song. So this performance did evoke many emotions.

Next were the dances. The group known as "black 5" shone. With their spectacular moonwalks, formations placed without a single flaw, with faultless coordination and footwork, at least, to a non-dancer as myself. Skidding and sliding with controlling grace and coordination across the floor of the stage, seemingly defying Newton's Third Law with every motion. Pity I didn't get my camera out in time to capture the image. I was too engrossed.

Finally the interval. ChuaH and I sped out of the PT searching for old friends. Dawn had come back from RJ to visit us. After 10 stressful minutes, we finally found her in the lower section of the PT. And were we happy to see her! It seems an age since we last did. Still remember her parting words at city hall MRT after we had left the fountain of wealth. "Don't cry". Had I been crying? No, I don't think so, but a lot of people thought that I had been. The hole that losing friends no longer is a sharp pain, just a dull ache, to use a oft-cliched phrase. And it was great to see her again.

Second segment brought the rock bands. Don't have much to talk about them, because I don't really appreciate them. Nonetheless, in my un-professional opinion, I think they did a good job. Haha...

Last were the guest performances by several past music fest performers, I think. Pretty good as well. I think they had the best rock band. The dancers were good too, including a belly dancer from the previous year I think. Although personally I think the best dance still belonged to the "black 5" or the SYF-ers.

Music fest wrapped up at about 10, whereupon we stayed and talked and talked. So many things to catch up on. So many things to talk about the performances.

Grey clad dancers gliding across the floor with barely a whisper of footfall against the boards.

White and silver, moving across the stage to the beat of fast, rhythmic music, wowing the crowd with their grace.

Singers, filling the PT with sweet songs that brought shivers of delight to those that beheld them.

Drummers, who manipulated their instruments with skill and precision, with the knowledge and familiarity of long hours, days or maybe years of practise.

It was a night to remember, a night of exhiliration, a night of friendship and of adrenaline. It was a night of privilege that we had even managed to come and see the show.

So that was music fest 2005. Thanks for all the hard work the performers put in, we really had a great night. And thanks ChuaH and Xun Ai, for being around when I was feeling extremely depressed. I know my EQ wasn't high at all, so all the more thankyou for still trying to talk =) Thanks Zeya again, for helping us with our initial techincal difficulties.

So came and went music fest 2005. =)