Jointly reported by:
Sophia Ng Szu Fei Sr2ScB
Lai Siang Ching Sr2ComC
Today is Lunar New Year’s Eve. Due to the Movement Control Order (MCO) amid the spread of COVID-19, we are not allowed to go out to celebrate Chinese New Year. However, after the reunion dinner our school will still be celebrating the Spring Festival Gala online. It is a new experience for all of us. Later, we will have a few interviewers to share about their experience.
Firstly, the Co-President of the Drama Club who was also the main person in charge of the event of the drama club that went online is Liau Wen Chi. There were two videos that the drama club had performed which talked about how friends can gather safely and a song about the journey of the heart of a person during the MCO. Liau Wen Chi said that she was quite disappointed with the feedback of the audience because they were more focused on whether they have followed the SOP but not their videos. In some ways, Liau Wen Chi thinks that it is also their responsibility to think of that so that the audience will not be worried about this problem. About the second video, the drama club had also faced some copyrights problems. In addition, there was not much time for preparation of this production so they need to do it rapidly. Of course, they have done it successfully after that.
Next up was performer of the Chinese Club, in the Spring Festival Gala, Soo Zi Ming. They had performed the “unprofessional crosstalk”, which contained some festive lantern riddles and a few Chinese dad jokes. They performed this “unprofessional crosstalk” as they had learnt it in the class. Although they had some disagreements during their preparation, eventually they were solved which concluded the success of the event. They were on cloud nine about the outcome because they had put a lot of effort in it. Besides that, Soo Zi Ming had also thought that he could perform better by adjusting his emotions and intonations. Of course, calmness is the key to any successful events.
We were lucky enough to witness a top-notch performance by our school’s Guitar Club under the guidance of our beloved Teacher-advisor, Yong King Lih. They had performed “Mission Impossible”, the piece of music they had represented the school in the international competition organized by Persatuan Chopin. The orchestra consisted of six performers which was smaller than usual. Each of them was responsible for different parts of the music such as the melody and rhythm. Ms. Yong played as an auxiliary performer for the music. She had mentioned that it took them a hasty long time to record the performance as they first gathered during November last year due to the song’s difficulty. Yet, they were satisfied with the results as the Co-curricular Department had requested for their participation in the Gala. With high hopes, she wished that the students were able to enjoy such ample performance. She longed for a classroom for her fellow students, and ended the interview by wishing everyone strong health and prosperity.
Lastly, the interview ended with our Chinese Subject Teacher Mr Goh Meng Soon. He was also the Teacher-advisor of the Diabolo Club and they were part of the Gala too. The performance was more lively and festive compared to the previous years which had a strict and professional ambience. Each segment of the video consisted of different stunts which symbolized Chinese sayings for the well-being of students amid the pandemic. He mentioned that they had only started to prepare by the end of January as the students were pressured by the daunting amount of school homework. Although the internet had eased our lives, it was still hard to coordinate with each member when problems started to arise. Mr Goh said there were still rooms for improvement as it was their first opportunity to organise such a creative performance. Creativity requires perseverance and also hard work to fulfill one’s dreams. He hoped that the school members could do so during hard times like this.
The interview had come to a good end when Siang Ching and I were still deeply dumbfounded by their diligence. The Spring Festival Gala was the serum of hard work, deeply enhanced to this short 4 hours video on YouTube. As the Chinese saying goes, “Ten years of practice under the stage, one minute of performance on the stage,” The underlying meaning had to be thought thoroughly, to grasp the real intelligence of our ancestors. We are proud with the Chinese culture and our great traditions, forever and eternally. Happy Lunar New Year of the Ox!
