Speak to My Finger

On 28 October 2011 morning ...

I was kinda panic when I read the program that the SG members have to perform during our visit to a high school. I don't think I would be afraid if the whole group is performing together, but it is by contingent. I somewhat felt grateful that there were three Malaysians including myself in the SG. And we certainly had no idea what to perform since we could not extract any of our NDP or performances for port-of-call for the short cultural performance.

I had two concerns: choice of song and my short-term memory. We were far away from our beloved team member who teaches dancing, and we could not consult him what to perform. We were too dependent! And we were left to our own devices. What I worried the most is I might not remember the dance steps!!!

The three of us cracked our brains to come up with a performance. Joget, the most popular Malay dance, came to my mind, but I don't like it and often got my footing wrong even though it is very easy to learn. I instead suggested Bhangra dance - belongs to the Punjabi - because I simply love the energy burst in the dance. Luckily my team members agreed and we had a very suitable song for it!

We choreographed the dance in the hotel room in a night and perform it the next morning. I was anxious, because that was the most spontaneous dance and shortest practice I ever had in my life! The most interesting thing I had to do was to dance with my long skirt! The costume for this dance is usually pants because we need to do some kicking in the air. It was one hell of an experience.

During the performance, the audience could sniff some suspense in the air because we paused for a few seconds when the music was fading, and then the next minute we blasted our energy jumping on one foot while kicking and holding our scarf.

Our audience be it the program admins or the students was stunned for they have never seen such fast movements. Even my SG members were wowed.

Later, we explained to the audience that Bhangra dance was chosen to express our happy feelings to be in the school. For your information, Bhangra dance is a happy dance, therefore it is often performed during happy occasion like weddings. =)

We were glad that the audience loved the dance. We invited the students to dance with us at the end of our visit, but they were too shy.

And the rhythm of the song is tu tu tu ru ~ tu tu tu ru ...

Spinoff: We received positive feedback from PYs about our dance, and we were happy when our beloved member/ dance teacher praised us. I somehow felt ... ~phew, we did it!