Viva Vertical In House Competition – 16 July 2016

Venue: DPAC Theatre
Date: 16 July 2016 (Saturday) 8.30PM
Ticket price: MYR50

Our annual in-house pole competition is back with the addition of aerial hoop and silk. Students were asked to submit a video (not more than 2 minutes) to be assessed as to whether they would be chosen to compete in the finals.

These were the finalists:-

Aerial Silk Solo

1.         Charmaine Ang

2.         Mindy Yong

3.         Nessie Tu

4.         Tan Yun Ru

Pole Solo 

1.         Lee So Xi

2.         Eileen Woo

3.         Wang Wei Hua

4.         AJ Wong

5.         Noah Yap

6.         Jax Burditt

7.         Teoh Mei Yee

8.         Alan Lim

9.         Fiona Shak

10.       Shernes Tan

They were supposed to have Pole Duo and Aerial Hoop but these 2 categories were taken off from the list as there were not many students who submitted the videos for these 2 categories.

The name of the finalists was announced in mid-June 2016 and they had 1 month to choreograph their new routine and to get their costumes ready.

In preparation for the competition, some of the students had extra lessons with Viva instructors and they trained most of the days of the week. There are also time slot allocated for them to practice during access time.

So on the day of the competition, we started off with our emcee, Samantha Chan Geok Hui giving a brief introduction of pole and aerial and the contestants’ journey to the finals. Also, she introduced the judges Samantha Yee (Miko), Nana, V Lea and Reiko Shalini Soo.

The beautiful emcee Samantha Chan Geok Hui

The judges (L-R) - Samantha Yee (Miko), Reiko Shalini Soo, V Lea and Nana

Sad to say I could only watch the competition from the side of the stage and I must say that the students did put up a brilliant job and having the guts to be on stage. It’s definitely the first time for some of them!

Here are the contestants in action:

Lee Soxi

AJ Wong

Mindy Yong

Eileen Woo

Noah Yap with his comical wiping floor act

Shernes Tan

Fiona May

Jax

Mei Yee

Alan Lim with his Chinese pole act

After the competition, we had some performances lined up by Virginie Laurency on aerial hoop and the Aerial Master group performed a 10 minute routine on silk, due silk, duo pole, synchronized hoop and duo hoop, while waiting for the judges to tabulate the marks of the contestants.    

Here are the pictures of the performances:-

Virginie on aerial hoop

Opening dance for Aerial Masterclass with the song Feel the Light

Cynthia Wong on aerial silk

Squido and Noah Yap on duo silk

Mai Ukaji and Sheila on duo pole with their artistic act

Sun Wei on syncronised aerial hoop with the song from the soundtrack Terminator

This is me on syncronised aerial hoop with the song from the soundtrack of Terminator

Our last dance before our duo aerial hoop and syncronised pole

Me and Squido on duo spinning hoop

All of us as a TEAM

After the performances, the emcee announced the winners. The winners were:-

Winner for Aerial Silk Solo - Mindy Yong

Best Dress Award - Alan Lim

Pole Fitness (Men) Runner Up : Alan Lim

Pole Fitness (Men) Champion and Audience Choice Award: Noah Yap

Noah, a shy young innocent boy came to our Aerial Master class few months ago and has fully matured in his performances. How do I know? Well, we trained together.

When he practiced his pole routine in front of me, I told him that you are going to be the WINNER. I was super right about that. 

His routine was all about a boy hired by his employer to clean the premises. While cleaning, he imagined himself dancing and doing a pole routine. Immediately when he performed his routine, I knew what the story was all about, what he was trying to tell the audience and that itself is unique and good enough to capture and captivate the judges’ heart for the ultimate champion.

Pole Art Runner Up : Mei Yee

Pole Art Champion : Fiona May

Pole Fitness (Women ) Runner Up : Shernes Tan

Pole Fitness (Women) Champion: Jax

Congratulations to all WINNERS on a job well done. For those of you who did not win; always remember you are already a WINNER by performing your routine on stage (that’s what I always tell my ballet students). You have come so far in your journey, pain, sweat, stress and blood! Never give up as there will always be next year. 

Good Bye and see you in next year's competition

  

Malaysian Durian Fiesta 2016 – 29-31 July 2016

Calling all durian lovers, it’s happening now at Dataran Merdeka; the Durian festival from 29 to 31 July 2016 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. This festival is an initiative from Lembaga Pemasaran Pertanian Persekutuan (FAMA), and is a joint venture between Kementerian Pertanian dan Asas Tani, DBKL and Tourism Malaysia.

The stage is set for the launching tomorrow

Since my office is at the Straits Trading Building, I had the opportunity to walk down to Dataran Merdeka and see the entire buzz going on there during lunch time and after office hours.

The durian stores were particularly crowded with the locals and tourists. All you need to do is choose your durians, weigh the durian, pay for your durian and eat your durian (Pilih, Timbang, Bayar & Makan). The choices were:-

(a)        D101 – RM20 per kilo;

(b)        Musang King – RM33 per kilo.

Musang King was sold out during lunch time and they said the next batch will come in the evening. I went again in the evening but there were no signs of Musang King, only D101. 

Entrance to the world of durian

Choose your durian, weigh and pay

Durian put into containers for you if you decide not to eat the durian there. If durian is bad, they will be able to exchange the durian for you. 

During lunch time, the locals and tourists were feasting on the durians for lunch and there were tables and chairs prepared. It was so difficult to find a table. There were also other stores selling coconut juice and other drinks to go along with the durians.

No more tables

Lempuk Durian

Apart from durians, there were also other stores selling durian ice-creams and other food associated with durians. Also, the local farmers brought plants to be sold at the event. There were food trucks, selling local food like lemang & ketupat together with chicken and beef rending, ice-blended drinks, mangos and mangos juices, fried chicken, squid and soft shell crabs.

Selling plants

Food truck selling fried chicken, squib and soft crab shell

Food truck selling lemang & ketupat and rendang chicken and beef

Durian ice-cream

Other fruits for sale apart from durian

Fried mushroom and wedges

Foreigners were having a go with the local food and the prices were reasonable. Go and visit for yourself. This is the food and drink I bought today:-

Lemang (RM10), Rendang Daging (RM10) and Rendang Ayam (RM10). I would recommend these. The beef rendang was very nice and the meat was quite tender. Rendang chicken was a bit tough. Both were not really spicy, it was just nice to my liking. The lemang was good and soft.

Mango juice (RM3). It's fresh but already diluted and no longer concentrated.

Fried chicken (RM7). Nothing to shout about. 

Fried oyster mushroom (RM3). I would recommend this. I added black pepper sauce to give the extra taste from the marinated, battered oyster mushroom

Nasi Arab Lamb (RM10). 

2 durian D101 (RM68). It was sweet and creamy. Worth the price I paid for.

There are other events taking place this weekend:-

     

For more info on the events during the Malaysian Durian Fiesta, please visit http://www.thevocket.com/malaysian-durian-fiesta-2016/.