As the New Generation Director 2008-2009, I was responsible to organise this year's Bakat. What may appear to be a very simple task, actually it is not so easy to organise this event. Earlier this week, I was somewhat getting worried about the poor ticket sales. The Auditorium can accommodate approximately 1,300 people, yet we were only able to sell about 700 tickets. However, a few more days of hardwork together with the Interactors, we were able to finish the entire 1,300 tickets by the time the show started.
The Bakat Interact is an annual project by the Rotary Club of Kota Kinabalu (RCKK). It is essentially something of a musical contest amongst the five Interact Clubs sponsored by the RCKK, i.e. SM La Salle, SM St Francis Convent, Maktab Sabah, SM All Saints and SM Lok Yuk. However, this year, we have also invited an additional competition from Maktab Nasional.
From left: Rtn Dr Ravi Mandalam, DG Edward S. Burongoh, President Warrence Chan
The Guest of Honour was President Warrence Chan, but we were lucky that DG Edward Sung Burongoh was able to spare some time from his busy schedule to grace the occasion. Some other Rotarians and their spouses also came to support the event.
Fellow Rotarians (from left) Rtn Frankie Fu, Rtn Chiang Wei Chia, PP Datuk Vincent Pung, Rtn Dr Ravi.
Wild cheers
Although the event was scheduled to start at 12:30pm, it only started at 1:00pm. When the MCs announced the start of the show, the kids went wild—it's a wonder the ceiling did not cave in. I was still running errands and missed most of the earlier part of the show. During the break I was able to have a short chat with the judges who lamented that it's so difficult to judge the singing, as the voices of the singers were overwhelmed by the cheers of the hysterical audience. I think by tomorrow many students would seek medical help for sore throat.
Costume dance by SM Lok Yuk
Of course, we had plenty of shouting on stage which they called singing; and those jerky movements which they called dancing. However, I kinda like the above performance by SM Lok Yuk which lasted about 2 minutes. After that short-lived pleasant performance, they sort of took off those outfits, and underneath they had sexy dancing costumes. Then the boys emerged from the curtains and did that thing they called dancing.
Well, I wouldn't actually say that I had fun watching these modern-day entertainments, but it was obvious that the kids had a wonderful afternoon at the Bakat Interact 2009. President Warrence Chan and DG Edward Sung Burongoh gave away the prizes. Maktab Sabah emerged Champion, whereas SM All Saints won the Best Showmanship prize.
Champion, Maktab Sabah
Best Showmanship, SM All Saints
I guess I am just too old-fashioned, but I thought the singers from SM St Francis Convent were the outright winners. They sang wonderfully, and if I were to judge the show, I would have decided for them in a heartbeat.
So now it's time to prepare for the next major project, the I.U. Bazaar. That will be in June. I hope it's gonna be equally successful. Keeping my fingers crossed.
9 comments:
you don't know talent even if it went right up and bit you on the nose
Yes, my Anonymous friend, I don't know talent as you say. I'm just too old-fashioned and unreliable when it comes to judging "entertainment". And I shall not pretend that I know!
I prefer the old plain singing of which I can still tell what's the song all about. All those hysterical yelling coupled with the loud music (if that's what you call music) won't entertain me one bit. But that's just me. I can see that the vast majority prefer the loud noises. I shall never be able to understand all those, but I guess the majority rules as always.
And yes, I don't know that talent has the habit of biting noses too.
so sad st. francis didnt win. ='( but its okay, we are still hapy we got 2 perform n we did our best.. heheh.. congrats 2 d winning team!!
Angela,
At the risk of getting accused of being biased, I feel sad for the St Francis' teams too. Thankfully, I was not one of those judges, yesterday. Otherwise, I would have arrived at a very unpopular decision!
I want to say thank you, Angela, for a job well done in assisting me to organise this event. I wouldn't have been able to do it alone, that's for sure!
Next year, Rotarian George Ngui will be taking over as the New Generation Director. I'm preparing a brief report on how this event might be improved. One of the several areas for consideration is on the judging of the performances. Perhaps we should allow for more categories, e.g. dances, singing, musical instrument etc. In fact, I am also exploring the idea of allowing the audience to have a voting system too, much the same as the Akademi Fantasia/Idol approach. I'm looking into this matter, and hopefully Rtn George can do an even better job in Bakat Interact 2010!
By the way, Angela, I hope when you sit for your final exams later this year, you won't answer your questions using the text message code-words like what you've done here.
But i do think Lok Yuk's performance outfits are the most decent one out of all the schools.
So i don't really agree on what you said "sexy dancing costumes".
I'm not here to bash the other schools,but i do think the other schools went against the rules.
Wearing shorts and singlets.
And some explicit dancing i must say.
Anyways, it's a great experience.
Congrats to those who won. =)
Thank you for your comment, my Anonymous friend. Please don't get me wrong. I didn't mean "sexy" as in too revealing or in a negative way. I meant "sexy" as in wearing short skirts in a decent way, but still a constrast against the Chinese costume. I'm not too sure about going against the rules, because although the other schools wore equally sexy outfits, I didn't think that they went beyond what's "decent". Certainly nobody attempted Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction", and at any rate that wouldn't have helped to get a favourable score from the judges.
On the whole, I am satisfied with the overall performances from the schools, except that, personally, I would have preferred songs which I can understand, as opposed to mere shouting - both from the stage and the audience.
If it were me, I would have preferred the singing performance by St Francis Convent anytime of the day, and not the one by Maktab Sabah. Lok Yuk and All Saints would have been neck-to-neck sharing the 2nd and 3rd places. Maktab Sabah wouldn't have been within the top 3 even! I thought All Saints truly deserved the Best Showmanship prize, as although I'm not a great fan of their kind of dance routine, I still preferred theirs against the rest.
But that's my personal taste! Obviously the judges had other ideas.
Of course the judges' decisions were final, but on Monday, during the Rotarian meeting, I actually had a short chat with Rtn Koshy who was one of the 3 judges for this event. I wanted to know how come St Francis didn't even get to the top 3 positions - never mind about winning the first prize. I said I thought they sang very well. But according to him although their voices were good, they sang out of tune. I found that a little hard to believe, but later on when I spoke to several other people, they gave me the same opinion too! So that should give you an idea how unreliable I am when it comes to things like this!
The fact that I was totally shocked to see girls doing that kind on dance on stage without anyone saying anything about it.. I mean this thing happened last year and now the past is reliving itselfs.. The fact that Bakat Interact is suppose to be for teenagers or young adults.. And that kind of dancing found on stage is just unacceptable.. Plus their clothing is just way to revealing.. Short pants with singlets are just so unacceptable.. Yes that maybe the fashion for teenagers these days but with their way of dancing and also their dressing on that day.. Made Bakat Interact seem like such an unprofessional thing.. Anyway.. the boys were screaming like mad people when they saw the girls doing that kind of dance on stage.. I'm not trying to be unfair but I really don't think that kind of outfit and dance should be allowed during the next bakat interact.. I'm just here to share what I really think..
Thank you, my Anonymous friend, for your comment.
Of course "revealing" can mean different things to different people. It is a relative term, I guess. From your description, I think you are referring to the dancing outfits of the St Francis girls (please correct me if I am wrong).
Personally, I did not find those outfits too revealing - certainly not "shockingly revealing". So I must say that I'm surprised to know that you were "totally shocked". I am inclined to think that "totally shocking" is more appropriate to describe something like if these girls danced in the nude on stage. But I would be "totally shocked" if they danced in their undergarments, for example.
I am convinced that not very many people find short pants and singlets "too revealing". There were no less than 15 Rotarians present that day, and they're very decent professional people. None of them had any issue with indecent outfits/constumes.
As for the crazy shoutings, I must beg to differ from your observation. The kids, both boys and girls, started shouting from the moment the two MCs announced the start of the show. And both the boys and girls kept shouting almost throughout the entire afternoon. The MCs had to remind the audience not to shout too loud during the show as the judges were having a difficult time judging the singers. I remember wondering where they found the strength and stamina to keep shouting like that. Somehow I don't remember a particular performance where specifically only the boys or girls did the shouting. They all shouted hysterically, I don't know why.
Having said all this, however, I am taking note of your comment nonetheless and shall be seeking the views of the other Rotarians; and if deemed necessary, we will take steps to remedy the situation by the next Bakat Interact.
Thank you once again for your comment.
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