Kenneth Lam here!
This will be my first blog post on this blog:D I'll be blogging on Wednesday's Scout activity, which was basically campfire prac.
We did about 36 pushups (separate from the SU) to start off the day.
Then, the dance commitee, basically the haka and stick performance group, gathered at the area outside the second level of the hall, close to the gym, to practice our stick dance. We started off showing chee yeow the full routine, ("level 1", then "level 2", then "level 3") but our "mission failed" and so we decided to practice (and perfect) our level 1, which was basically forming 2 single files and thrusting and catching the sticks. (Personally, I feel that stage 1 and stage 3 are the hardest parts to master). I think it was here when hiok yang injured his finger slightly and the teacher i/cs were to be informed. Then Jun jie came in and i think his region became the new "hot spot" where he held like 7 sticks at one go (although he said it was sup - who was later found out to be a good thrower).
It wasn't long before the decision had to be made - our position when we were performing. Chee Yeow recommended a pose for us, basically kneeling down and sitting on your heels (?!). But we decided it looked too unmanly (??). We tried it out, and Chee Yeow said we looked okay (well, not *** at least), but looking back at his pose, we were highly doubtful. So this was the time when we spent like eons deciding which pose to take. Amos apparently came up with quite a good pose (not the one where you put your leg behind your head). We tried it but it was unbearable on the ankle for most of us, after a few minutes (or seconds) as we were bare footed.
Then Ms. Alicia Goh came, initially to look at Hiok Yang's finger, which I think was rather ok by then. After a thorough examination of his finger, we asked her to determine if the chee yeow's position looked ok. Her sentiments were same as ours, thus we eventually adopted the "zi heng's stance" (i think he came up with it right). It turned out to be the most viable alternative to sitting, so it was then decided (or was it tentative?) that the front row was to sit down (yay us) and the back row was to adopt that posture. Ms. Goh asked us to sit up straight (not too straight) though, for the front row, as it would look distasteful slouching. She also commented on our faces when we were doing the stick dance-performance. It was then we decided to show her all the 3 levels of our performance, which she took a video of our expressions (which I knew must have been rather dull).
Thanks to Ms. Goh's resourcefulness, we managed to get the drama room (which I have never been into before) with a big mirror to look at ourselves as we threw the sticks. I think this was th e point where we showed a marked improvement. Ms. Goh asked us to set targets as we couldn't just spam throwing aimlessly, hence she timed us for 3 minutes and counted the number of mistakes we made (mistakes were mostly dropping the sticks). Chee Yeow counted an approximate 60-70 mistakes. This meant about 0.36 mistakes were made per second, or one in every 3 seconds [which wasn't exactly positive]. Ms. Goh then found out that we were only to do this (stage 1 as I call it) one time during the actual performance, hence she reduced the time span to 1 minute, and set us an aim for 15 mistakes. We made about 12 mistakes, which was a marked improvement. (0.2 drops per second, 1 drop per 5 seconds). Ms. Goh then did some psychological training on us, asking us to imagine the beautiful moves perfected and executed nicely, and she asked us to close our eyes, and open only when we were 100% ready). We did the performance again, and we only made about 7 mistakes. (0.12 mistakes per second, 1 per 9-10 seconds). Our first performance was usually free of mistakes, which was a positive sign. Ms. Goh got different people to share their views on our AOIs (area of improvements) and this allowed mutual learning. [What are the key ingredients of a successful performance? I would say the right attitude is the key. (a calm state of mind, a willingness to exceed). Of course, chemistry between you and your partners is also important.] We repeated our stick dance several times, till about 650, then we shared on what we thought were the strengths and AOIs of the group. Thanks Ms. Goh!
As we left the room thinking about the performance, we were greeted by music by the string ensemble (or was it CO?) we were mesmerized by the melodious music for a while before going to the field outside the 'gym hall atrium' for dismissal. I think that this act was one of the most fruitful, as many of us perservered till the end and really concentrated on practicing on our performance, despite the temptation for 'soccer!'.
一份耕耘，一份收获
As the Chinese saying goes, you reap what you sow. I believe our hardwork will lead to the success of our performance!
go 01!
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