Other than excited and anxious, I'm totally ecstatic about being shortlisted as one of the Chingay Bloggers. Being a part of Chingay has always been my wish and now I'm writing as a blogger for Chingay 2009. The Chingay Parade traces its origins to a float decorating competition held in Penang in 1905. This practice of float decoration spread to the rest of Malaya by the 1960's, and eventually became associated with the Chinese New Year. This year, Chingay will be held on 30 & 31 Jan 2009. Why is it held on this date when normally Chingay is held in February? I think it’s because this year's Chinese New Year falls on 26 Jan 2009. The largely Chinese parade became a multi-cultural one from 1977 when Malay and Indian groups started joining in the performances. This marked a major precedent in the overall flavour of the parade as it changed into one which has become largely multi-cultural in character. However, there is a continued presence of traditional Chinese acts such as lion dances and stilt walkers till this day. In 1985, the parade marched down Orchard Road for the first time, a move which was to prevail for much of the parade's subsequent history. Although the change could be attributed to the desire of organisers to bring Chingay closer to tourists and also for the ease of organisation on a relatively long and straight stretch of road, it also further signified the increasingly desensitised character of the parade. This is further evidenced in 1987, when an international flavour was added to the parade when a group from Japan participated for the first time with their float sponsored by The Straits Times. I was invited to the Press Conference on 10 January 2009. At the press conference, there were people from PAYM, STB and Singapore Pools. They were the Principal Founding Sponsors for Chingay. They were there to speak on what was happening for the coming Chingay and their wonderful Floats. Before we entered the Press Conference Room, everyone was given a Media Kit, and I was given one too.
1. A Chingay 2009 Poster
2. Factsheet on Proposed Media Angles
3. Media Releases
- Singapore Totalisator Board
- Singapore Tourism Board
Chingay of the Year Awards -Categories
-Judging Criteria
4. List of Spokespersons
5. Brochures
One of the principals of the Tote Board spoke at the Press conference about their float titled 'Wonderland of Dreams'. The Tote Board family, comprising the Tote Board, Singapore Pools and Singapore Turf Club have all been a part of Chingay since its inception. This year, the Tote Board family will be participating with a different perspective by conceptualizing and creating its own float.
'Wonderland of Dreams' is a showcase of dreams that have been realised by people from the Tote Board Family. The people that are participating are Paralympian swimmers Yip Pin Xiu and Theresa Goh, who distinguished themselves at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic games, Paddlers Zena Sim and Pang Xue Jia (Commonwealth Youth Games 2008) and sailors Koh Seng Leong and Terence Koh (Beijing 2008 Olympic Games).
'Wonderland of Dreams' is created by Mr Chong Tze Chien, Artistic Director of Finger Players, a leading theatre production company, which is also a beneficiary of the Tote Board of Arts Fund.
The Performance will be choreographed to the inspirational song 'Reach', which encapsulates the notion of reaching for the stars in the midst of support from family, friends and the society.
Together with the performance, the music, and the heart contingent, the Tote Board Family hopes the ‘Wonderland of Dreams' will leave the audience with a message of hope in their hearts, perseverance in their endeavours and kindness in their thoughts.
As mentioned in the press conference, other than the sponsors making their own floats and participating in Chingay 2009, there are many other organisations calling in to request participation in Chingay 2009 with their own floats.
This year's Chingay opening item will break the record held in Chingay history as it will be of the biggest scale ever with an impressive entourage of 750 performances from 9 organisations showcasing the best of Dragons from China and Singapore, Phoenixes, Golden Ox General and a flag display. There will also be a uniquely designed crouching lion float ushering in the president and an 8-metre tall float called 'The Trio of Dragon Float' designed by a team of 6 NTU professors. The other 3 bloggers and I were excited to see the floats and we have been anticipating throughout the press conference to enjoy the full dress rehearsals after. We managed to get the reserved seats in the middle of the 'stage', as the full dress rehearsals are held in the PA Headquarters. The space for seats were limited but we still managed to get lots of photos from the first rehearsal.
These are the other two bloggers in this Chingay Blogger competition and they are namely Juliet and Karl. Look at their facial expressions, they are enjoying it as much as I do.
We were first greeted by the dragons, one is actually made of straw. The intriguing traditional straw dragon was made by Mun San Fook Chee, which is involved in Chingay for the first time, and by the Singapore Dragon and Lion Athletic Association.
The black air seen in the top photos were produced by the man in the middle who is holding a stick with fire on it. Of course, the bag he is carrying contains probably some kind of fire hazard powder that will enlarge the fire. Because whenever he pull his hand out from the bag and throw it towards the fire, the fire enlarged. I know you guys would want to know how it looked like. I've takena video of it, because I couldn't capture the enlarged fire with my phone as the timing was not so accurate. Here is the video I took.
The ones on the stage are the hosts for the Chingay Parade. Cultural Medallion and renowned poet, Prof Edwin Thumboo, will write a poem for Chingay and the lyrics for the grand finale entitled ‘Banquet’ and cultural Medallion Winner 2008, Iskandar Ismail will turn the lyrics into a singing piece. George Chan (famous theatre artiste) and Nancy Yuen (well-known Soprano) will act as King and Queen of the Chingay Wonderland Banquet at Chingay 2009. So many things to see, so many things to wow about. These are the main things that Chingay is supposed to be about. I'm Proud as a Chingay Blogger and as a participant. I'm performing as an ant as I am one of the PAYM members. This is two months ago, after I decided to join Chingay to gain the exposure and experience as a dancer and also as a participant. This year, the theme for Chingay is 'Wonderland' and so PAYM are presenting the 'Garden of Youth'. The 'Garden of Youth', is presented by a 300-strong youth contingent and themed as a parade within a parade. It is set to become the highlight of the Chingay parade 2009 with loads of colour, excitement and fun. The Garden of Youth includes a flowerbed, elves, ants, bees, wasps, flower petals, a butterfly, and most importantly, the caterpillar float. I've conducted an interview with PAYM regarding why they chose the caterpillar as a float. They said that the vibrant mass display of the garden community and its residents busy at work is a celebration of the metamorphosis of the young caterpillar into a graceful butterfly that stands ready to contribute to the community.
It's like a youth turning into an adult and contributing back to the society and it’s best represented by the change from caterpillar to butterfly. Other than all the mentioned creature and insects, I had also interviewed them on what other considerations they had and they told me that they had considered grasshopper as one of the insects. It's kind of lucky that they didn't put in the grasshopper as I can't imagine me wearing the grass hopper costume.
That will be all, if I continue to write you guys will not have any more surprises for Chingay 2009. How can you guys get the tickets? Buy your tickets now through: • SISTIC website: www.sistic.com.sg • SISTIC Hotline: (65) 6348 5555 • SISTIC Authorized Agents islandwide. • Authorized Singapore Visitors Centres in Orchard Road More info please visit: http://www.chingay.org.sg/tickets/index.htm And not forgetting the largest street party after Chingay on 31 Jan 2009, which is organised by PAYM. The whole street will be yours and you can dance till you like from 9.30pm to 3.00am. For more info, please visit the official website at www.cityalive.sg Please come alright? See you guys there.
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