A Fervent Servant

yay... So mum messaged to say she's touched down safely in melb... So i take my essay and walk off to sch... Oh gosh it's a hot day...

Never mind that, i submit my essay and decide instead of tramming down to meet my mum at lygon-victoria, i'll take a nice slow stroll....

So i reach lygon-victoria and i call her and oh my gosh, she's STILL clearing customs... That means it's prob another 45 mins till she's here at least... Gahhh. So i asked her to ring me when she gets on the starbus and then i'll know it'll take roughly half an hour to come to the city... Sigh. The long long wait. And then we'll walk up lygon in this heat. thankfully everything, almost everything, is sheltered. :)

But thank and praise God that she arrived safely. Yay. Now jus to get her here and back home and then i'll have mummy with me for a week before she goes to tassie. :)

Yay. Hehe

~ Joel Tan ~
--- Sent from my E63 ---

Posted by Joel / Rui at 10:50 AM | 0 comments  

hahah funny how i blogged about it being chilly and now here i am, bloggin how hot it is...

that's melbourne for you. :)

today was SO hot... was going to die... hannah's place was a fiery furnace la. was so worried my place would be as hot. but thankfully it's not. :) Auntie rina and mama came today so we were running around settling some stuff like handphone plan and all. :) but wahhhh so hot can.

mummy's coming tomolo! yay! hahhaa... i guess i'm just glad that she'll be able to come up and see for herself what my melbourne life is. :) awesome.

Posted by Joel / Rui at 10:49 PM | 0 comments  

Need I say more? Consider this... it was DOUBLE the temperature yesterday at this time of the day... then last nite it dropped to 13... and now at 10am, it's 15.... 

Don't you just love melbourne weather? It's like the PMS of all countries...

So yeh, pack wisely [however u can] for here if u're coming.

Posted by Joel / Rui at 10:04 AM | 0 comments  

Oh My Goodness... dripping perspiration can!
It's so hot i kept falling asleep in the tram back just now. :S gosh. haha

Bad time to come mudder, bad time.

Posted by Joel / Rui at 2:03 PM | 0 comments  

So I come up to Phyllis on a Sat morning market trip and since it's her birthday yesterday, i extend my arms out in an embrace and say HAPPY BIRTHDAY...

AND SHE SAYS HAPPY BIRTHDAY back to me!!! Like what the heck... Talk bout not paying attention! Haha but she realized what she did instantly and we laughed about it... It's like she's wishing me 9months in advance.. Haha

I've got such retarded friends. :)

~ Joel Tan ~
--- Sent from my E63 ---

Posted by Joel / Rui at 10:15 AM | 0 comments  

So last night, Hannah's 2 friends [Rachel and Tim Walsh] went to audition for So you think u can dance. It's a really cool show [biggest and most popular dance competition show in aussie] that we were all hooked on when it was airing. This is Season 3 and we're looking forward to it coming to the tele soon...

So yeh, we managed to get into the auditions and it was very free and easy. very open concept and we just felt like we were treated to a really lucky experience... it was cool coz the dance floor was just this big flooring and there were cameras and lights everywhere.. but yet it was so simple.. no big setup or anything... jus the three judges [TV STARS!!!] behind a desk and dancers on the floor one by one... :) it was so awesome coz we were so close to the front... like there were prob a max of 40 people in that area and we were just sitting so close to the judges and all... During the break, i was sitting there facebooking with my phone and one of the judges [jason] just came up to the seat in front of me and was like talking over me to this other girl who was sitting 2 rows behind me and asked her to inform this other lady to be at the studio at this date and time... felt so... like i was part of the crew and all... being so close to people we see on tv.

i know i know, dun idolize them... i'm not..it's jus like.. wow... i'm so into the set piece and the whole audition experience that it's like i'm not watching the filming of a show, it's like i'm IN the show itself... well i was coz the camera does pan the audience quite a bit. haha and it zooms in on expressions we have and stuff. :) so it was pretty weird too... to think u were being watched... there's this camera they have on a long beam that sweeps the audience, flies in where the dancer is dancing and dances with them by twirling around them and all [it's REALLY flexible and versatile... the camera on the beam] and sumtimes it'll come to the audience and jus film us. and it's weird coz it's like the camera is literally in your face [or half an arm's length] in front of your face and what u gotta do is ignore it and jus try to watch the performance without looking into the camera... haha.. weird and nerve wrecking too.

but yeh, it was neat... watching some of the dancers.. some were really good and some of them were so-so... we went thru 20 dancers that night i think.. went on from 8.40 to 2.30am... hahaha but it was WELL worth the whole 4 hours... and tim and rachel were the last 2 dancers... tim danced lyrical and GOSH it was SO blardy good... ;) he did 3 pouriettes and it went straight into an arabesque... and it was epic awesome... so good. technique and all... he was given some advice from the judges and then matt lee [one of the judges] asked him how much he wanted the ticket to top 100 [the best kind of ticket they gave out] and he told him he wants it so much.. and that he'll work so hard coz he's already spent a whole year training and working on some stuff he was advised to change last year... and he was really cute about it all... and matt lee pulled out the top 100 ticket and we just ROARED in applause... we were SO happy for him. ahhaha... then rachel came out and danced. the judges were torn.. but it came down to sending her thru choreo first.. but that was still friggin awesome. :) so cool to actually know them and they know me... and to see them dance... so well.... :) awesome experience.

there are 3 kinds of responses... 1. Go away, u're too lousy for this 2. Go through choreo where there's no limit as to how many people get sent to choreo. they'll learn a short choreo piece and get judged again. 3. Top 100. So u advance straight to Top 100 in Australia and dance for your life to get to become Australia's next So you think you can dance winner. :)

I'm SO watching it when it comes out. i can't wait. here are some of the photos. enjoy!

Posted by Joel / Rui at 11:30 PM | 0 comments  

So, it's finally over... After months and months of rehearsals, the production is over... Bittersweet feelings of relief and loss sweep through the dressing room once the first curtain is raised... It's weird coz everyone knows it's the end and with that in mind, have vowed to dance their hardest.

Seems like the audience knew it too and roared into life the moment the announcements were made. They kept the mood alive and the noise to a maximum with all the 'GO YUSUF's and 'GO BRONWYN!'s. The dancers danced hard and gave it all they got... Including Lois, Hannah and myself. When i went out for my hiphop piece, i was shocked to hear the crowd WOOO in unison when my spotlight came on. It took me by surprise but only served to motivate and push me to dance full out without holding anything back...

The ballet contem piece with hannah and lois was great too. The steps jus came thru muscle memory and the lifts were mostly great. The last night was the most awesome one. I caught hannah with confidence and turned her with ease. The fish dive was executed really well too and a small mistake was hidden by a cover up that blended seamlessly into the next step.

Finally, our windmill lift and carry lift after that was one of the best we've done and i must say adrenalin really kicked in and i lifted hannah up so high my arms were in full extension. She had such a long air time i was quite stunned when i put her down. :) seriously, it was such a great piece and i'm glad that it's all over.

Now that flare's over, i'm glad to have the time back to finish off the last week of semester, write my 3k word essay and prepare for exams in 2 weeks time. :) thank you to all who came and supported us and bought tickets and all. :) really appreciate it... So here's to (Davin, Phyllis, Kenrick, Vanessa, Michelle, Much and Robbie) for coming to specifically watch us and thanks to others who blessed us with 'good luck's and 'all the best's :) it rocks to have friends so caring and thotful. :)

Pics are in facebook but i'll choose some and post them here soon. Watch this space. :)

~ Joel Tan ~
--- Sent from my E63 ---

Posted by Joel / Rui at 1:49 PM | 0 comments  

It's finally here. We sit on the night before the production. The precipice of the performance... It's great that we're finally here, not great that some pieces aren't perfect yet including mine... but it's just going to happen and we are going to make it work. :)

It's taken up so much time AND energy [yes loads of that] to rehearse over and over again for these 3 nights where we dance our butts off... Although it feels like another rehearsal, when the crowds come in, the adrenaline would be PUMPED up! we've sold out for Fri and Saturday and Thurs is selling fast.. thank God we managed to sell the tickets coz ticket sales were really bad this year.... till now. :)

Looking forward to getting it done with and performing. This is my FIRST production and that's kinda why it has a special place in my heart... it's quite an experience to finally be doing sumthing i never thot i would... i only took up dance like at the 2nd half of my army life so that's about 1 and a half to 2 years ago... and here i am FINALLY putting up a production. :) i guess u can say it's the culmination of months and months of anticipation. :) never thot i'd ever dance on stage... let alone 2 dances of different genres :)

I'm just glad to be able to share this moment... or moments [coz it's 3 nights] with friends... close friends who man the Lighting [matt's doing an AWESOME job] to sound techs [minglei's manning sound] to dancers [Lois and Hannah and many more i've met thru rehearsing] and audience members [Phyllis, Davin, Michelle, Vanessa, Kenrick and many more]....

Just that this production has taken so much from me... time and energy as i mentioned earlier. every night after rehearsal i come back so tired. no more strength left to shower and do work. and school work has been suffering in a way... and it doesn't help that these weeks before project submissions so everyone's working their butts off and i'm having to excuse myself for flare rehearsals... and time and energy taken away from the gf too... i feel so empty these days... it's like yeh we're on stage together and all but i dunno... like just missing sumthing.... sigh. never mind. it's only a few more days till flare's over... then we'll choing projects [although they should be done by this sunday] and spend time with the gf too... 

ok so here's where i must mandatorially pick up the mood and end on a good note... so...

yay!!! Flare Production!!! Maelstrom 2009. 22nd - 24th Oct 2009, 7.30pm, Union House Theatre. Be there!

Posted by Joel / Rui at 11:55 PM | 0 comments