Panorama

Thanks Daphne for the pictures!

Two days ago I performed with TPJC band at the Esplanade.

It would have been altogether unremarkable performance had it not been my first time playing there. And I must say it was good.

Besides us there were the other groups as well. Off the top of my head there was the Indian dance, Malay dance, Chinese Dance, Drama Club, Choir, Chinese Orchestra, Guitar Club and the Diki Barak. I'm sure I missed out some poor group.

What were we there for? It was TPJC's 20th anniversary and the performance was a sort of affirmation of TPJC's virbrant arts scene .

And virbrant it was. I must give due credit to the media crew for extremely well-timed cues and excellent lighting without which I would surely have fallen asleep.

The really odd thing about the entire affair is not that the band plays the first song for the dance club to dance to;nor is it the fact that right after that ,the band plays a 5 minute piece but it is the event that occurs right after that which is - wait for it - nothing.

Yes indeed. After our song, we just sit in the middle of the stage like we were about to perform another number, whilst infront of us, the dance groups twiddle their fans and fantically wave their arms to draw attention to themselves.

We wait for the finale item, which occurs roughly, oh, an hour later. I can barely keep count the number of times I yawned during the rehearsals at school.

The finale when it finally comes, is an combined performance between the choir, Chinese orchestra and the guitar club. Playing the commisioned work, Our shared dreams, we end the night much like Walt Disney's World on Ice- with everyone coming out and bowing .

And now, I will share with you something that not everyone knows. Not even the audience.

I very nearly did not make it for this performance. Thanks to my job, I arrived around 2 minutes before the band entered the stage.

Feeling breathless and a little out of place without glittery hair and clothes, my shirt was tucked in, my belongings thrown about and the stage mounted.

What happened after was a riot of colours, a sea of unfamiliar smiling faces and what felt like an explosion of fireworks.

It was all systems go.

Panorama had begun.