Read lots of blogs from other sources
How come dancing become like tt?

Time is 12 Mar '06, I supposed to be doing tutorials & rushing proj but i end up blogging... Maybe becos too stressed, so found ways to de-stress a little... As usual visit all the blogs which i can find...

Read interesting things or rather, NOT so interesting things abt dance.. From many ppl's blogs, i gather info/ feedback tt they v happy to participate in Dance in Unity 2006 AKA He Wu Gong Ming. Well, on one hand, the entries expressed their self-proclaimed passion and interest for dance, on the other hand, they mentioned tt they didnt enjoy it due to the politics involved in DI. Maybe they r referring to me, maybe to others, i dunno. But i really think its kinda ironic; If u all proclaim to be passionate in dance, den it shouldnt hurt to practise ur dance steps, turn up for practices punctually, listen to instructions to help make the completion of tasks more efficient... If all these were done willingly & automatically with initiatives, there wont be any unhappiness.. By right, u dun need any supervisor eg. like me to go ard telling u to prac ur steps, it shouldnt be e case where dancers come to DI den juz sit/sleep ard, chit chat w/o any contribution at all... Mind you, u r preparing for a perf..

Dancing is a simple thing, why complicate it? I reckon tt ppl spread malicious remarks abt those who give out instructions. Pls lah, dun be childish, every1 can help in DI as long as u want. nobody is bringing in any politics. If u simply yearn to be the person giving out instructions, volunteer to be leader for the perf lah, aft all DI appoints leaders on event basis. If u dun wish to help, then be kind to those who volunteer to help, stop spreading malicious remarks abt them. It's on ur part tt u dun wish to cooperate, dun malign others to be guilty of bringing in politics into DI. Wah kau, anyone unhappy can simply go verify with Mr Low, c what kind of comments he give u? ask him DI gt politics or not? Bottomline, if u dislike the situation in DI so much, why come?

Maybe i m old, i seriously wonder what kind of thots students nowadays haf? Nowadays, volunteering to help becomes equivalent to 'trying to act big' or 'Playing politics again'. Sigh, all these comments are so childish =( if u unhappy wif the instructions, challenge him lah, then discuss and decide on a way to complete the task most efficiently...
This is the case in NHDS now lor. Nobody volunteers to do anything becos of e malicious remarks tt may surface, therefore nothing gets done. Everyone withdraws from completing tasks, everything is in a mess. Those holding leadership posts do nothing, the rest dun volunteer to assist for fear of losing friends.... What kind of friendship exists nowdays? The moment u step up as the exco committee, u lose friends... WTH? those also called friends meh?

Tired of writing... Got lots more to say but damn sianz liao.... DI lidat, NHDS oso lidat...

Stop

NYJC Drama Perf 我们的白云岗 06

Well, time is 5 Mar Midnight, i juz returned from NYJC. Went there to watch their drama concert called 我们的白云岗, the equivalent of SAJC's 阳光幼苗, which is actually plays put up by students from their sch's respective Chinese societies. Its a yearly event in their sch and apparently Yiting is in NYJC involved in this production, so she asked me, den i say okie lor, aft all the tickets $8 only.

I went there and watched the 2 plays put up. Sorry to all readers, if u r not interested in Theatre & Drama, u will find the following content v boring cos i m going to critique and analyze the NYJC works. So if its not ur interests, u may stop reading, sorry abt it... =)
Cos its my interests to critique plays/dances/movies etc whenever i finish watching a perf.
N/B: Is critique & analyze, NOT criticise, its diff, pls get this clear...

There r two plays: 很狠爱、身边
The 1st play is relatively poor and has commited some common mistakes in Drama. Becos 1st one was not so good, the 2nd one aft the intermission, lifted the audiences' moods, and i felt my $4 well-spent aft watching the 2nd play. =)

A common mistake tt all school plays commit is tt students tend to revolve ONLY ard family, studies & BGR issues, having watched so many plays in my life, i felt a little bored... Honestly, tt was my personal opinion but sch plays always like tt.. Take note of my point the next time U step into a school drama perf & u will really notice it. Next, they r always staging plays of the Naturalistic Theatre aka Theatre of Realism (these r technical terms). This is so even in NTU & NUS. =( I dun expect students in sch to stage Avant-Garde plays but at least can try some alternatives like Poor Theatre/ Forum Theatre/ Absurd Theatre? Esp genres like Poor and Forum are v popular in Singapore now, why dun students try? Why dun teachers encourage as well? Juz try, aft all, theatre is a place for creativity. Cut off the Naturalistic Theatre, i mean every sch is putting up the same type of theatres, dun u wanna differentiate urself?

Next, the pitfall of Naturalistic Theatre. If u wish to put up a play of Naturalistic genre, Get the fundamentals and critical success factors (CSF) right. A play of such genre requires CSFs such as an FULLY-dveloped plot, well-written sentences with high literature value. Well, sad to say but the 1st play didn't get these factors. It's plot was half-developed and left audiences guessing to the extent tt they didnt even know the play ended... The dialogue was not impressive. It was too verbal with little/ no literature value.

Yes, it can be argued tt the playwirght wanted audience to haf freedom in their interpretation hence deliberately didnt want to develop the plot. But tt is where the pitfall is: U r not staging Avant Garde theatres, u haf to take care of the CSFs if u want to stage such a play genre. Develop the dialogues, dun leave audience guessing.. U can reveal e plot via a more subtle way but no guessing... For this pt, 2nd play did better than 1st play. There were so many audiences who were thrown off the 1st play tt they starting talking among themselves. (a rude thing to do during perf anyway, not respecting e performers at all)
The lessons here: Be sure what genre u are staging, what u wish to achieve out of this perf.
CSFs are CSFs, they cannot be ignored. Eg. if u r staging Poor Theatre, ensure tt ur actors r well-trained in movement and body expressions, cos Movement is the CSF of PT.

Next pitfall of both plays, there is too much scene cuts. House lights switch off/on too frequently, bringing too much disruptions to the advance of the plays. Each lightout is approx 20sec which is actually v long for a lightout. On top of tt, these lightouts are not due to the exchange of props/ change of costumes. Which means the lightouts can be done away with. (Esp more so if it was just to signify a change from Act1 to Act2) In Naturalistic Theatre, lightouts are minimal as they r considered disruptive.

Lastly one of the fatal pitfalls, Actors' usage of stage space is too limited and constraint. The decor of the stage occupied half the stage, and actors only act in e other half, didn't effectively explore the space on stage. For this pt, 2nd play did better than 1st play.
eg. Forestage Left is home, centre back is sch, forestage right is home dining table. Thereby when the actor leaves home from the left, he walks to centre back to attend sch, comes back home and walks to forestage Right to haf dinner. There is more utilization of space.

The lesson here: Actors dun juz act in the frontal stage, realize tt the entire stage is a 3-D space for u to explore. The tools for an Actor in Drama & Theatre is his body, his voice, his senses, his stage. Make full use of the stage.

Overall it was a commendable effort but can be improved. Sch plays usually make these similar mistakes so its not exclusive to NYJC only. I sincerely hope to see more theatres of other genres put up during sch performances......

Wah piang this entry took me 2 hrs =p

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