Portraying the realities
Today I attended my first workshop (a.ka. practical session) for TS1101E, Intro to theatre n drama. At first I was a bit scared coz I know no one in this module, I registered this module for curiosity sake n for having some fun. It turned out that the workshop was really really interesting.
26 of us, most of them are arts students (of course, they're theatre-major students). Only 2 students are from engine, n I'm the only one from SoC. Maybe they wonder if I took the wrong module =P The instructor for the workshop is Mr Chong Tze Chien. I think he's good at this field. He acts, he directs drama, he writes scripts, book, n TV scenario. I also borrowed his book called "Pie to Spoilt" (again for curiosity purpose) n read a bit, I think he plays with imagination very well n brings the reader to some suspense.
Ok, back to the workshop. All of us did some "warm-ups" today. The instructor asked us to do some exercises. The first exercise is mirror movement, where each pair of us facing one another, one is the leader n another is the follower. The follower must mirror the leader's gesture, but must look straight into the eyes. The leader can use any part of the body to make movement n the follower must focus until he reaches the stage of full concentration n he can "feel" the leader's movement n follow them unconsciously. When both of them reach that stage, the audience won't be able to distinguish easily which one is the leader or the follower. Okay, actually I wasn't able to fully concentrate for this exercise, not mentioning to reach that stage of "feel".
The next exercise which is more challenging is the expression of emotion. Mr Chong sat in one side of the studio (btw it's held in Kent Ridge Guild House dance studio, it's quite small but surrounded by mirror in all four sides) n he narrated a story of which we must express by every movement. The story is quite long, takes about half an hour. There's no script (he also told the story impromptu), so all of us just acted spontaneously. Initially the story is quite simple to act, it portrays the daily life of student, waking up in the morning, taking shower, chasing bus, etc. But when it comes to chasing bus, all the troubles come in. You didn't catch up the bus, the cab driver that u took is very noisy n didn't bother to take a shortcut even when u asked him to. Even there's traffic jam in express highway. U're very late for the class so u didn't bother to attend. U decided to go back home, took a bus, so crowded with people, very smelly n sweaty. Then during your way back home, someone called u. The caller told u that someone that u love has just got an accident. U're running to the hospital, only to find out that a large crowd of people that u know have gathered in front of the room. The person that u love has died. The world has fallen apart ever since. U didn't accept the reality, u prayed u prayed and u prayed. U asked God to give u one more chance. One last chance to meet that person alive. Even if it takes everything that u have, even if u have to do anything to "pay back" to Him. U shed ur tears in all your sadness n panic. But reality is still reality. U could never meet that person anymore. U attended the funeral, u lived as ur life as u used to do but all u feel inside is just an emptiness. Lonely. Until one day when u brushed ur teeth u saw as if that person looked at u from the mirror. When u're crying, that person is also crying. At that point of time, u just knew that u have to be strong coz u dun want the person to cry too. So u lifted up ur head, brushed away ur tears, n accept the life as what it is.
That's the excerpt of Mr Chong's narration for our spontaneous play. When we gathered n sat in a circle, everyone commented of what they think. Most of them said they couldn't really act the scenes coz they've never experienced it. Only two or three students said that they really got into the main character coz they've experienced it before. I knew I saw them really cried during those scenes. Honestly, for me, when those scenes are played, all kinds of emotion mixed up inside of me. I did experience it before so I knew how the main character feels. When one of the students shared her experienced of losing her relative, she said during that scenes she wanted to cry but she held it back. Mr Chong said that usually the beginner actors/actresses or even the professional ones will feel that way. When it comes to scenes which are very close to what they experienced, they may face do either one of the undesirable situations. First, they will be try to make a gap between themselves n the characters coz they dun want to reveal the real story of their lives to the audiences. Second, if they are really involved n become that characters, they'll be too drowned n depressed coz they can't hold back. Hm.. an interesting point to make.
As I said before, I start to enjoy this module. Well, of course enjoy much better... compared to my other 2 web programming modules (??!!). The lecturer is fun n the workshop instructor is very good as well. I like writing. I like reading fiction. Maybe theatre could be my next interest hehe. Who knows.
A new year, should people change too?
I'm back here in sg again. First week of school but I've got no mood to study. Still missing my holiday. Can't believe it's over so fast. This semester won't be better than last sem, I'll be much busier coz I have 3 modules with projects, some are individual projects. I'll just talk abt my holiday. It's gonna be long, beware!
I spent most of my holiday at home slacking. I just moved to a new house. It's more comfortable than my old house. I have my own bedroom. But it's more quiet coz I used to stay in a noisy house with my cousins and relatives hehe. Now I can't disturb my cousins anymore. I have new sister, though. So now it's four of us including me. My little sister is only 48-days old today. She looks much alike my little brother when he was at that age. Now my little brother is already 1 year plus, he's quite naughty. He always walks here and there coz he can already walk. He is bored very fast, his toys barely lasts more than 10 minutes which after that he just throws away to the floor. But he's cute. When we ask him to laugh, clap hands, kiss bye, he will show us when he's in the mood. He learns walking very fast, but he hasn't spoken a lot. The word he often said are only "papa" or shouting to get attention. He looks very shy in front of people he doesn't know, but when he starts to know u, he won't be hesitate to ask your food or anything that u hold in your hand hehe. Kids are like that, especially boys, aren't they? I dun know how my little sister will look like as she grows older.
Sometimes I took a stroll with my friends to shopping centers or watch movie in cinema. I didn't shop much last time, neither did my friends. Either we dun like the style or we think it's too expensive. It's strange that as u grow older, u become more savvy in one or other way. One of my friends said that she doesn't dare to ask money from her parents too often. Unlike when we were still in secondary or high school. Many of my friends are also taking part-time jobs. They are working after school coz they want to start saving money for future. I admire them coz they can manage their time so wisely, they work without disturbing their school. Their CAP and grades are still the top in their universities, even one of them got scholarship. Oh my dear friends, I wonder how you do that.
I don't meet my friends in jakarta often. I only meet them when I came back during holidays, so it's like once in half-a-year. Usually I and my close friends have "compulsory" gathering in the end of the year. Last time we went to Bandung, the other city outside Jakarta. 12 of us spent three days there, from 31st dec to 2nd jan. Yup, we spent our new year eve there. It's the first time I spent new yr eve with my friends. We played a lot (playing cards), chatted a lot until morning (3 or 4 am), or just singing coz one of my friends brought his guitar. We were just having fun n tried to forget all school projects or other things. Although I know, most of my friends had projects deadline in a few days after we came back from Bandung. Sometimes when we chatted and talked, I realize that people change indeed.
The good thing from what I see in my friends is that they have grown more mature. They have given more careful thought about their future. Like I said before, some of them have started doing part-time jobs. Another friend of mine has pursued his study more seriously coz he wanted to graduate soon, thus he can find a job, get his own salary and gives a good image in front of his gf's parents. Some of my friends have started to budget their expenses, saving for their future. Maybe time has changed people. Well, I dun intend to insult anyone who reads this blog, but when I and my friends everytime talks about that sensitive number called 'age', we just realize that it's time for us to really start to think about what we want to achieve in our life, either it's to deal with friendship, relationship, career, etc. Maybe u think it sounds too old, but time flies so fast, isn't it? One year passes like a month. A month passes like a day.
Of course, sometimes I miss my high school time with my high school friends. As time goes by, fewer and fewer of them are still in contact. I feel lucky coz I still have some close friends who hang out together when we have spare time, like those when we went to Bandung. But most of my other friends in high school have gone somewhere, lost contact, or still in contact but feel awkward coz we were not as closed as we were used to. I understand that many of them are very busy, we barely have time to contact each other, not mentioning meet each other. I remember one of my friends told me, that he loses his trust to his best friends coz one of them has betrayed him. His other friends also become "far" to him, they refuse to go out together coz they said they're busy, refuses to help him when he needs them, etc. Well, I guess it's just simply human being right? People change. He's disappointed when he found out that his friends do not treasure friendship as much as he does. But I think sometimes not only our friends who made a friendship becomes "awkward", maybe it's also us who made the gap even further. Let's ask ourselves, have we ever disappointed our friends? have we ever ignored them when they called us, sms us, msn us, etc? have we often rejected them when they want to meet us coz we're busy, busy and busy?
I start to ponder, as we live a modern life, have people become more selfish and individualistic? As the technology becomes more sophisticated, has life lose its "human-touch"? How many christmas or new year cards did u receive this year? None?
Have human become more "unhuman" as time goes by?
When I watched the news on TV about the terrible tsunami that destroyed many countries in Asia, my tears actually dropped. Is it reminder from God to regret our sin and lead a better life? Aceh, the worst place hit by tsunami, will the never-ending conflicts there cease after the disaster?
It's so scary to know that human life is so fragile, we'll never know whether tmr or the next second we'll still be alive or still be able to meet our loved ones.
In every new year, some people set their resolutions. I guess my resolution this year will be simple, yet not easy to do: Lead a better life.
