walk this way (SYTYCB Part 4)

On Sunday, I joined about 85,000 other people in a nation-wide mass walking event, the One Community Walk, which was organised in various constituencies all around Singapore. Unfortunately due to my poor coordination skillz, I did not manage to arrange to walk together with Sherms though we live nearby! I guess it shows you just how many Community Clubs there are in Singapore! (more than 100!)

So I was poking around the PA website and learnt that the Outward Bound Schools are part of PA! Did you know that? I didn’t! Also, the Old Kallang Airport which was used for the recent Singapore Biennale was once the headquarters for PA.

Back to the mass walking event. I was surprised to see a sizeable crowd already gathering by the time I reached (late, but hey it was 7.30am on a Sunday!) and the walk started soon after. It was rather heartening to see many seniors participating in the event, which would require them to walk about 2 to 3 kilometres around their neighbourhoods.

I noticed that while walking, there were a few moments when I’d catch one of the participants interact with a passerby who was just returning from the market, or an elderly man on a bicycle stopping to let the crowd past. It reminded me of the good old kampong spirit that people my parents age always lament that they miss in the Singapore of today. Sadly, these glimpses have been rather fleeting lately, but at least we can still hold on the precious few that still prevail in this day and age!

But I digress of course. Although I didn’t manage to stay for the entire walk (had to run off for rehearsals), I managed to take a few shots of the participants.

PUT YOUR AIRHORNS IN THE AIR LIKE YOU JUST DON’T CARE!

Hands up if you ever wore a cool bonnet like the one the little girl is rocking!

Leopard print pants for a community walk = FTW!

Backpacks. Because grandmas were the original hipsters, yo!

The juxtaposition of motorcycle, bicycle, human and green man is just too beautiful for words.

I call this one “The Bends”.

This one still wanted her bed, me thinks.

Bonnet girl, you’re back!  Kids, you just gotta love them.

The helpful volunteers.

“There are but many roads to Rome, my friend.”

To find out more about other such events or courses available at the CCs, do check out PA’s new portal, Ourcommunity.sg. The portal is super easy to use and you can search for  based on categories or by CC. You can also recommend it to your friends, parents, grandparents, siblings, I’m sure there is something out there for everyone to enjoy.

This entry is made as part of the So You Think You Can Blog challenge organised by the People’s Association. 6 bloggers, including me, are in this challenge and stand to win an Apple iPad for blogging about our adventures at courses and events organised by PA. I would be SUPER GRATEFUL if you could support me by leaving a comment, which earns me one point per person.

Do also support Sherms who tried her hand at making sushi recently! 🙂

of a feathery persuasion

Sharing a video that my theatre group, Mereka, made for an upcoming performance. If anything, watch for the song! (:

the art of the matter

Went to Art Stage on Saturday and was really blown away by the artwork.

I never used to like contemporary art because I thought it was never beautiful in the way that classic art is (is it even called classic art?),  but I think it’s slowly growing on me. Most of all because contemporary art is very relevant to the issues we face today and makes you think about things…about equality and democracy and repression and free speech and femininity and sexuality and objectivity – heavy stuff, very in your face at times, but so interesting! Ah, don’t know if that made sense, I’m no academic, maybe I should take a class and learn more about this.

Alas, we tried to find the naked man but was told that he was no longer showing…geddit geddit showing? Heheh.

Beautiful bottles, there were whole walls of them.

Psychedelic! Wish I could have a floor like this.

Light effects.

Limbering grace?

Why, I’m contemplating a cactus, of course.

Presenting….Ah Ma!

Metal mechanical movement.

What do you mean we have unibrows?

The Catman

No, I don’t need help.

Eileen Chang, wish I knew you.

Showing some Asian hospitality.

On another note, I blogged about the Pompeii exhibition on yesterday.sg, do give my first post a read if you could! Admission is free from now till it ends on Jan 23rd from Friday to Sunday, so go go go if you haven’t! And since, we’re at it, I guess this would be a perfect time to let you know officially that I’m working at the National Heritage Board now, so once in awhile I’ll talk about our exhibitions and museum events, hope that’ll be of interest to you! (:

charged

Hey guys, if you haven’t made plans for the weekend, why not catch a local play? Charged is a local production written by Chong Tze Chien from The Fingerplayers and directed by Zizi Azah from Teater Ekamatra.

Set in an army camp, the play deals with potentially racially sensitive issues and is rated M18. The play is in English, Malay, Hokkien and Tamil with English surtitles.

Sounds deliciously intriguing and were I not helping out for front-of-house, I’d definitely be buying tickets to this! For nore information, check out the Facebook Page.

merah pawana

Hi all! You may not know but I’ve been involved in Malay theatre this year, I joined a youth theatre group called Mereka (“they” or “create” in Malay) and it’s been a real blast learning about different aspects of theatre. Mereka is a like the little sibling of Teater Ekamatra, which is an established Malay theatre group responsible for amazing productions like Nadirah and Bilik Ahmad Berdaki.

Next week, Teater Ekamatra will be putting up what is their grandest and most ambitious production to date. Merah Pawana is an outdoor production which marries the best of Malay music, dance and culture. It explores the idea of the Malay identity and portrays a time before Islam came to be closely associated with the culture.

I had the pleasure of catching the preview of Merah Pawana along with erfen and Musxzart and managed to record a short preview for you!

This was taken at their rehearsal venue but I can’t wait to catch it with all the set and costumes! Even the venue is deliberate, as Fort Canning houses the Iskandar Shah Shrine, believed to be the burial site of Raja Iskandar Shah, the last of five kings to rule Singapore in the 14th century. The venue was chosen to echo the sense of royalty and mythicism that the play is grounded upon.

Also, I took photos with the dancers hehehe.

I’m really looking forward to catching the production! It will be staged every night from 18-21 Nov at the Fort Canning Gate. You can get your tickets here.

when i grow up

My very talented friend Mr Ripley Shermeen Tan is organising a showcase for her school, Orita Sinclair, on Friday, 30 July.

Called “When I Grow Up: a showcase”, it will be held at their school in Pahang Street (that’s near Arab Street, you cool kids!) and will feature the works from their students. Oh, and there’ll be free beer too for you beer-enthusiasts out there.

I’ll be heading down after work, and you should too if you wanna check out some cool works, meet new people, or if you just need a reason to go to Arab Street, hehe.

And yes, for those who were wondering, shermeen likes to use her friends in her design work – it’s a difficult job, but someone has to do it! 🙂