Yes, I was there for the 7pm show. Surprised? I was lucky and managed to get tickets from a faithful supporter of Teresa within CHIJ KC. Decked in a formal attire of white and brown and accompanied by two of the faithful supporters from Teresa's fanclub, I went there solely to support Teresa when I found out that she would be doing a solo performance atop of her choir performance. To my wonderful surprise, I got more than what I expected so I'll dedicate this blog post to all those hardworking CHIJ KC people who had managed to make a memorable evening for the 10th Evening of Music, Dance & Drama. Below are the performances that had made exceptional impressions on me:
Violin Recital by Anthea Lee - Praeludium
I have never seen Anthea perform before but she was good. Strokes were masterfully executed and her concentration with her music was amongst the best violinists I have ever seen performing. What was lacking could have been a smile which would make the performance less sombre and more warming to the audience but all in all, a very impressive violinist from CHIJ KC. Watch out for this girl - she has got a future in the instrument.
Song By Seah Hui Xian - "Bu Ai Wo, Fang Le Wo"
Huixian picked a really difficult song for her solo performance and I could tell that she had put in a lot of effort in it because there were notable improvements in her singing. The only two things that I could complain about was the way she handled the word "Chang2" which was a little feeble and shaky, as well as two instances where her technique of changing breath resulted in the "Ku Qiang" heaving, which must be avoided if she was to make it through the revival rounds of the ongoing Campus Superstar Season 2. If I would to help her improve, it would be the following: Sing to the audience, reach out to them, touch them with your singing.
English Drama - "Tissue"
A very memorable performance by those young actors. I particularly like how they use multiple mirror characters for the protagonist and the use of those two metal slides were symbolically creative and mind-invoking. Pacing of the drama was excellent and the storyline was not so abstract, compared to some of the other productions that I have seen. This is definitely one of the gems for drama - touching, visually-impressive and a good mix of silence and dialogue.
Solo Dance - Yan Zi
The performance by Mr Juraimy Abu Bakar was, in my opinion, far better than the contemporary dance. It is probably because I am more impressed by the difficulty level of solo dances, which are magnified multiple-folds since all the attention is on one single dancer. He was good, especially with the portrayal of the wing-like movements of the swallow. Moves were actually extremely difficult without being overly-showy or ambitious and I could feel the dance energy moving from emotion to emotion. I would look forward to his next performance - another national gem of Singapore.
Song By Teresa Tseng - "Endless Story"
Attired in a beautiful and elegant sky-blue dress, and complemented with a pair of glittering earrings, Teresa appeared onstage in the second half of the event with a solo rendition of Endless Story (right click the link above and open in new window to listen to the song), the original version of the Chinese song "Xiang Nian Ni De Ge" and to my great delight, she sang the entire song in Japanese!
To me, that was a quantum leap in her singing capabilities and her stage confidence as a Campus Superstar because she has always performed Mandarin songs in public and onstage ever since her crowning as the Female Champion of Campus Superstar I. Even if she has prior experience in singing foreign language songs, those would have been in the capacity of a member of the KC choir, which is an entirely different experience when one sings a foreign language song in a solo performance.
As I was told Teresa does read my blog, my assessment of her performance are as follows: Firstly the bad things (I am nitpicking here to stir her to strive harder for continued excellence) - Teresa's lownotes have improved considerably, especially since the song requires tons of those and she cleared with very little perceivable difficulty except for three instances throughout the performance. There was little stage movement so that the performance on the visual end was not as entertaining, especially during the long music interludes in-between the song. The curtain was drawn and Teresa had only one metre's worth of stage to move around. Thankfully, her stage attire was considered very beautiful and eye-catching amongst the cast of performers. For a couple of words in her chorus, Teresa's control was not absolute but she managed to recover quickly.
Now, the good things - It was the best performance by Teresa thus far. Her reach of her voice was mesmerizingly good and holding the audience motionless with the crystalline quality of her singing. She made every possible effort to emote the song to the appropriate levels with a good measure of stage movement and gesticulation within the narrow confines of the performing area. Once again Teresa has reminded me why I picked her as my choice of Campus Superstar to throw my support and aid behind. If I am going to choose all over again, it would still be her because her continual efforts to better herself and honour music with nothing but her best deserves respect and admiration from all those who can listen, see and feel. Way to go, Teresa. You are on your way to your dream.
Congratulations to all the people behind CHIJ KC's 10th Evening of Music, Dance & Drama.
An excellent evening indeed.
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