Remember my last last posting where I spoke about being involved in a tap performance? Well, here is the newspaper article on it (you won't see me in it as the picture only focused on the centre-side dancers but you get to see some of the dancers and the kind of costumes we were wearing) and also a link to the video if you are interested. Cheers!
Talk about the power of the press, even though this is, IMHO, not a review proper. :P
This is the video-site
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The Star Online > Central
Thursday August 25, 2005
Dance expression best conveyed with passion, pride
Story and photos by CHIN MUI YOON
NOTHING quite quickens the heart and captures the imagination the way dancing does!
There are many expressions of dance and the Federal Academy of Ballet (FAB) believes that the best way is to convey it with passion and pride.
Its recent annual Dance Extravaganza 2005 was staged to full crowds over the recent weekend at the Civic Centre in Petaling Jaya.
The girls are seductive and naughty in Outrageous wearing sheer black veils and sexy outfits.
Some 600 members from FAB’s five dance centres treated parents and guests to a graceful spectacle of performances.
They represented the full spectrum of dances offered by the centre – ballet, modern, tap, jazz and hip-hop.
The youngest dancers kicked off the show with their graceful flights into realms of springtime splendour, of swans, fairies and flowers.
Lovely ballerinas in Voices of Spring.Wearing turquoise tutus, the little dancers performing Horn Concerto were absolutely adorable while Colours in the Wind had the older girls painting the stage in swirls of brilliant orange and green.
Flowers and ballerinas blended beautifully as seen in the Flower Girls presented by 13 children and Waltz of Flowers with arches of colourful blooms. A glitter and a shimmer shone in Fairies, as the dancers lit up the stage with their starry tiaras and fairy wands.
A memorable presentation came before the interval during the Rhythm of the Tambourines choreographed by Sandra Christian.
A vibrant tap dance performance in My Prerogative.
Oozing confidence, the girls gave a bold, delightful show with smart claps and clicks of their shoes. [Bloggernote: they are talking about us, the tap dancers. Though it was not clear at first. I remembered the the tambourine dancers did not clap with bare hands]
The excitement went up a notch after the break when the older and more seasoned dancers took to the stage.
Naughty and bold were the words for Outrageous while Party was a colourful burst of fun with tunes from the 60’s in which the girls were saucy, naughty but nice.
It wasn’t all about female dan-cers, as little Ronald Tan was a charming little fellow in his dance Le Piccadilly.
Jason Lim’s dedication to fathers, Gone But Not Forgotten, was on a higher level with its melancholic expression.
Johann Strauss’s beautiful tunes accompanied Voices of Spring, where the lavender-clad dancers flitted like butterflies across the stage in this classical ballet.
“We have always worked with themes especially when presenting a show to raise awareness but this year, it’s all about happiness and just a pure expression of dance,” said FAB’s veteran principal of 38 years Lee Lee Lan.
“We love sharing our joy of dancing across borders where our dancers have performed in Europe and Asia. Proceeds from the Dance Extra-vaganza this year will go toward the Kiwanis Club of Bukit Bandaraya for their aid towards various educational needs of urban poor children.
A picture of grace and beauty in Waltz of Flowers in which the dancers twirled around with flower-entwined hoops.“Through the years, we have witnessed FAB’s evolution from offering pure classical ballet to modern dance, hip-hop and even dancing for senior citizens.
“Dance is a timeless expression of the self. There is nothing like dancing that balances and brings out the best of both the left and the right sides of our brains. Hence, our dancers range from just two and a half to 80 years old!”
© 1995-2005 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd (Co No 10894-D)
