Wednesday, June 11, 2008

A worthwhile hibernation

I was supposed to post this article prior to joining a meme after my week-long hiatus but I have to wait for all the pictures and videos to be shared in the office.Last week was our General Assembly (GA). It’s kind of big time and required presentation of the 7 programs in our department. It was a contest by the way. A huge contest with our group running on a tight budget.
Last year, our program came in second. I was not among the dancers then. Yey!
I don’t know if it was good or bad, but right after I joined our department’s song and dance group for the December 2007 company wide contest, my team leader kept on volunteering me to join any dance-ish activity.
First was the cheering squad. Okay, I stood them up there because I can’t bear the thought of wearing a short skirt in front of a huge crowd. I heart Bring it on and cheer dance competitions but I cannot pullout a Britney Allen or Claire Bennett.

Second and the latest was this magical dance presentation. Cheesy!
After a series of pep talks, I finally caved in with the condition that I won’t be showing my face while doing the majority of the dance stuff. I turned down the elven role and went for the dark knight instead. Suits my personality eh?
And beside that, I joined not because of my team leader, good thing she does not read this but because of my friend who headed the project.
Rehearsals were so disorganized which kinda ticked me off because I was trying to stay late in the office after my duty and skipped class just to be with the group.
The pressure rose even higher when the team leaders and program manager saw us rehearse and we could sense dissatisfaction. The pack was not in sync up to the dry run a few hours before the contest.
We did not get the chance to rehearse even the blocking as scheduled early morning on the contest day because the teams ahead of us went over the allocated time. And to make things worst, the other group ganged up on us not letting us in of our supposedly shared dressing room.
I kept my cool, I told the team to just let it go because blessed are those who are oppressed. Huhuhuhu.
We were the last to perform and based on what we saw in other groups’ performances, our theme, LOTR is at par if and only if we would move in harmony.

A few minutes before our performance, our point persons told me and the other dark knight who would come from the audience to exaggerate our movements and scare the judges. D’ oh! I was assigned on the side were my friends from the other programs were sitting.
So when I walked by awaiting my cue, they were yelling and calling my name, by the way, I was wearing all black, a bonnet and a black cloak. Maybe they just sensed that there’s a piece of black cloth floating.
I did not mind them because the moment that I made an affirmation that it was me, the more that I would become more conscious.
On the other tables we I am closer, the mean guys from the other program are mocking me making stupid comments. So before they got into my nerve, I decided to walk a few tables away from them.
And my cue came, I moved as if no one was watching. Making exaggerated movements and when I finally reached the judges’ table, I am pretty sure I scared the hell out of them.
Right after the performance, everyone in our program especially the team leaders congratulated us because we delivered. And they were surprised about the instant change in our mood on stage as if we were possessed. We moved in unison, almost.
Everyone, I knew, did their part. The stunts became real. Gollum really jumped into Frodo, I slashed the sword on Sam’s back and it was a mistake because I can’t see rapid movements in a bonnet under a hood. Thankfully it was not sharp.
I felt good even if Sam kicked me on my lumbar really hard. I had bruises and I felt sore for a couple of days. I slipped because I was not able to remove the cloak in the happy song.
I felt inspired by Gollum watching him on stage (while waiting for my cue). He really gave justice to the role and he nailed it down. He did not have qualms wearing boxers and body paints. He even had his head shaved for the role. No one asked him to do it. He was the only team member who had a perfect attendance in our rehearsals. In fact, he memorized all the members’ routines.
He earned to be the instant celebrity that night having countless photo ops with other attendees even from other programs.
Did I mention we won? Yeah we did, and this meant I had to be kicked by Sam again since we had to show the audience again our winning form.

Sorry for the lengthy blab.
I just wanna share.

Add to Technorati Favorites

0 comments: