Yuan Ching Secondary's First Cultural Nite Concert 2006

It's exactly 25 hours after the Cultural Nite concert started. Now, I am going back to the beginning of the day, when all there was was just the drama members sitting in a simple circle going through the first draft of the script, followed by the character bonding, costume matching, reharsals, choreography, make-up and finally, the actual performance itself, last night, 8.45 pm.


I left home at 6.46am for school, whereby the trucks were already being loaded with the props, and performers ariving one by one. Departed for Victoria Threatre at 8.17 am, with Darren recieving new from Haziq that the return flight to Singapore was delayed ,so we could only expect him after 4pm that day.We arrived there only at 9.11 am. The dance members were already going through their steps and positioning once we arrived. While they were practising away, we were taking photographs of the area while taking a short tour of the area. Soon, we were back, joking and clapping away at the audience area. We were even making fun of Damien, Sean, Steven, and others.We thied out the stage for the first time, with Zhon Rong doing the lights and sounds for the first time too, and we sort of messed up, as expected, since we were not really used to the arrangement and technical properties of the venue.

We had lunch at 12.52 pm, and as a result of the tightened wire, I could not yet really bite that hard, so I passed the chicken and greens to Hong Yong. After that, we went back the the audience corner, this time to watch the mock run-through of the whole concert, leaving out the 20 minutes intermission.This time, things were better, except that the careless mistakes from the previous few reharsals were present, and that the lights and voice projection were still a problem. The good thing ws that the tablos were very real, when we saw them from the closed circuit television, used to monitor the performance going on stage.

During Dinner, I managed to finish everything, as the food was not so difficult to bite, as compared to lunch. We went back to the changing room, to notice that the opera characters were having their makeup done, which was really good. The professionals really live up to their name. We, too had our make-up done, and fortunately, was not as thick as the dancers and opera members.

7.35 pm. The actual performance begins. The band has started, and everything was proceeding very smoothly, just as expected. during the 20 minutes intermission, Darren and some others, including me, made the rounds to ensure that we were ready for the final showcase of our performance, which everyone had worked so hard for. The second bell rings, and the GOH, together with the principal, vice-principal and Mr Liew pass through the back stage to join the audience. The music cue sounds, followed by the curtains. Things went very smoothly, the sounds, lights, enteries, exits, voice projections, actions and music were very precise and accurate, which were much better than those we practised before this very moment. Before we knew it, it was time for the finale.

Around 9.15 pm. We took our bags, and headed to the stage for the photo shots. We cheered briefly for eveyone, Drama Society, Band and Dance. I then joined up with my cousin and left for Old Market for supper. I met Augustine, Yong An and someone else walking in the direction of Street 7 before receiving a lift, again by my cousin's parents, back home. I arrived at my doorstep only at midnight.

That, was the day I will always remember, for there are moments like those which people might only dream of doing...