The Slave Princess

I wanted to bore all of you with my past one week's rehearsals but I'm, you know, not that bad. So instead I'm going to make it as short as possible and hope I wont go nuts about it.

Honestly when I looked back my diary, I wasted a lot of time flipping back pages. I stopped on 17th June, yup, that's the first day of my rehearsals at Taman Tun. Forward to 2nd Dec, it has been half a year long of practices and gathering. I'm now still missing it and hope time can be rewind.

Istana Budaya is a big and cold place. Help students, remember the first week of college where it was like freezer to us, well maybe it still is till today but try to imagine the coldness plus us in leotards and tights. Brrr....COLD!!! The first day at IB was cold and foreign, and it was the first time every character was in the rehearsal. Usually those who are missing are the teachers (Ms.Liew, Ms.Rowena, Ms.Mark, Mr.Wong), Mr.Choo and presenting---Mr Joseph Gonzales. Do not know who is he?? He is the director of Akademi Seni Budaya dan Warisan Kebangsaan. Go google about him. If you still recall, he and Mr.Choo was one of the choreographer in 8TV's So You Think You Can Dance. Besides that, I'm sure you still remember Suhaili also known as Sue in the same programme. But I would also like to present Elynn Chew and Bryan Chan. Yup, highlight on Bryan Chan. Let me show you some pictures of him.
Now you see why I emphasised on him?? Look at his body!!!! Look at his muscle!!! Look at his big eyes!! Look at his height!!!And the most unbelievable part is, he started ballet at 18 years old and now he is majoring ballet in Singapore Dance Theater!! I really admire him. He was so cool and matured and....*drooling*....

Anyway, enough about him, let me show you Mr. Joseph.
I think he had ballet background but majored in contemporary. He was a joker all the time doing stunts like above. Missed him already...during the 2nd day, I was chatting with him when he suddenly asked if I want to become a professional dancer. Then he asked how old am I and end up with his eyes popping out from his eye sockets. He can't believe that I am 19. Lol

Ya, IB was cold. Did I mention that already? But I'm sure I haven't told you that on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, our rehearsals were from morning 10am till 11pm. Ok, the stage was huge!! I stood in the middle of the stage during break and I can actually feel people clapping and the sound vibrating in the hall. I am so proud to be there and I want to thank my ballet teachers and friends who encouraged me to take up this challenge. I was just trying out during the audition but never could have guessed that I'll have a second audition. Grateful, I will cherish these moments forever ^^

On the 1st night of the show, clearly all of us including the soloist was very very nervous. Somehow knowing I'm not the soloist calmed me down. The VIPs for the day were the King and Queen of Negeri Sembilan, Menteries of I-donno-who and many ballet teachers. Before the show, we all gathered on the stage and ms. Lee (the choreographer) asked us all to shout out loud and make a circle and run in and out. While shouting as loud (and as high) as I can, I nearly cried. Most of us actually cried (my eyeliner was waterproof so no worries) but the tears did not flowed down. It was an emotional scene for most of us. The show was splendid and when it ended after the protocol of sending the royalties out, we were relieved and happy and I was on top of the world!!

On the 2nd day before the show, we were given a "slave princess" t-shirt, a stalk of flower and the programme book. After the shouting period (not as loud as previous day), we started our show. This night was almost full with people but somehow the soloist did not do as good as the 1st day. Of course I was having a little tiny wit of fear in me that day because my ballet teacher and few other friends were among the audience. Bryan was not doing that fantastic too maybe he was under a lot of pressure since his director was among the audience too (Director of Singapore Dance Theater). By the time the curtain came down, most of us were not that very glad because we knew the next day is the last day.

On the 3rd night, most of us were sad but busy taking pictures. I was the 1st person to bring the programme book and asked everyone to sign, which was followed by the others. On the last night, the house was FULL!!! All tickets were sold out. The show was a blast, a great success and all my other ballet friends came and gave us support after the show because they were not allowed to the back stage. After packing, we had a short party with food , drinks and songs going on. More pictures taken and more people dancing with the music. We had a short candid version of the slave princess featuring Mr. James Quah, the vice president of The Dance Society, Suhaili and Raymond. The night ended with Mr. Sunny (the president of The Dance Society) giving a farewell and appreciation speech. After that, my hectic life that had schedule entitled rehearsals of SP ended.

Let me show you some pictures I took on the last day.
Ms. lee Yupin the choreographer and ex professional dancer who remembered my name after 2 years. 2 years ago I went to her ballet school for extra class. She thought my name was Christine and I do not know how. But I just let her call me that for a few weeks till one day I corrected her--My name is Jene not Christine and maybe because of that she remembered me.
Elynn--One of the princess. She's funny and her technique is stronger compared to Suhaili but she's not that expressive. Behold...Bryan!! My friend and I were feeling awkward to take pictures with him. We were actually the 1st. I still remembered how he performed in class, really when he starts dancing, its like there's a spotlight on him.
Suhaili without make up. Haha. She was like--now take pictures meh? I so ugly, no make up. We persuaded her with " natural beauty mar" hahaha, she was actually munching on chocolates too.Mr James Quah, the vice president of The Dance Society. He's good in salsa and funny!! He really is a joker!! He danced funnily throughout the whole party.JS- one of the crew member who turned into our guard. He studies theater and guess what, he is only 21!! But too bad, he smokes . Actually all the crew members smokes, all as in boy and gal.
My 2 ballet teachers that was involved. The left handside is Ms.Liew which is the fierce and strict while the right handside is my ladyboss Ms. Rowena. She taught me when I was small.Mr.Joseph Gonzales--another joker. Some of his works no, most of his performance are in IB so I guess he knows everything about IB.Ms. Ellie Zhou, she's a ballet teacher and last time was a professional dancer. The students she trained mostly end up as professionals who also major in ballet. Some of them are Elynn and Bryan, not forgetting almost all the soloist.
These are the soloist. Majority are under ms. Ellie.This is the stage manager ms. Gan. She's big and loud and cannot mess with but she is actually fun to be with and funny and kind. She can't speak English very well so when she briefs us, it'll make all of laugh. I remembered she telling us--sorry for being loud because I study theater. haha...
These are the guys that dance ballet. Ya, DANCE BALLET. They were not sissy (maybe a little). The guy in the middle learns break dance and he performed (showed off) during the party. Lol
And this is the full cast of market people. Only market people mind you.
This is what my friend did. Entitled "3 of us" consisting of Andrea the gal who edited this picture, Vanessa and I. For your info, Andrea is form 4 and she actually made Vanessa and I angry because she was bossy and keep scolding people. But hey, I appreciate her because as a friend we accept her with blunders and all.

Many people when talk about ballet will imagine a girl in tutu turning around with the hands in 5th position aka a circle over the head. Mind you, for this production, the boys stands out and clearly a few was in the limelight. This includes the crew members such as JS. There's also a few tall and good looking guys but its so sad when I saw them having meeting outside IB and smoking away. All the good images of them just broke into pieces. Why must people smoke?? This includes the gals too!! There's this one gal called Ai Ling and she is so pretty. All of us were shocked to see her smoking too. (Not forgetting Ms. Gan).

Then after the party, went home and study whole night until Monday morning, then sat for 3 papers of Biology continuously. Went home then study for Chemistry throughout the night. Tuesday morning sat for Chemistry 5 then spent 1 hour studying Mechanics then sat for Mechanics mock. Went for ballet class after that and felt weird because my whole body was feeling not in shape. Went home and studied for Chemistry 6 again throughout the night.

So now, I'm practically tired to death because of not getting enough sleep and stressed up because mocks are not going too well and Thursday is my IMU's interview then Friday is my IELTS result day then Saturday teaching and having ballet class. Suddenly out of the blue everything just came tumbling down on me. I just realised my a level's last paper is on 30th January and if I am accepted to IMU, my classes starts in February.

I have No life!!! and I am Going to be crazy!!! and I am Going to be depressed for this week again!!!

heheheh, just emo for a sec ok? I'll be fine don worry ^^
Everyone involved

Want to see more pictures? go to this link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/slave_princess/collections/72157603216163882/