Ladies and Gentlemen of Nostalgic Productions and PPSG,
The new year has come and gone, and it is a time of resolution, a time of change. As last year drew to a close, I started making plans and a direction for NP to take. But first, let me talk about 2004.
2004 was a eventful year for the world around us. The Iraq war, Saddam's Capture, the Presidential Elections in USA and just recently, an act of god that held the world in awe; the 8.6 richter scale Indonesian Earthquake/Tsunami Tidal Waves double disaster. My condolences to all those affected by this horrible event and it certainly was the lousiest way to start a new year.
The year 2004 was rather, unfortunately, uneventful for the Paralist community, with only 1-2 performances throughout the year, mainly repeats of older performances. Not that the older performances are bad, it is understandable as many did not have the time to spend creating, mixing and choreographing new performances. Although there were many plans to move NP to new levels, the lack of interest and enthusiasim irked me.
Although having planned to restart the SPPV2 project, after filming the training videos, everybody was busy putting their daily/weekly activities in front of their filming schedules. I do not blame them, but I blame myself for not having a firm hand, and for not having better leadership qualities.
In the end, nothing was done regarding SPPV2 and it was again put on indefinate hold. The project that has spanned 2 years in the making has come to a standstill again. All I could do was watch in despair as the interest in the paralist community wained.
But not all was bad in 2004. The end of year event M.A.D performances were brilliantly executed and planned and I have Sam and Paraluke to thank for that. Without them, the whole event might have been a total screwup. Kudos to both of them.
Of course, not forgetting the dancers who put in time and effort for this year's excellent performances; Victor, Steven, James, Jonathon, Toby, Diana, Janice, Sam, Chrislint, Yanwei, Weiming, Yvonne, Alvin, Candy and Xueli. (If i forgot someone, please forgive me). The 4 performances this year were phenomenal and it certainly shows that Singapore paralists have the standard and while my time has already past, I could not help but feel proud for you all.
Enough about the past, lets move onto the future and the path that I intend to take for NP this year, 2005.
I have mentioned diversing into other areas of dance for the past 1 year and I haven't really done anything about it. I've talked to Toby about this and this year, I want to at least do one performance that is 100% Pop dancing.
Before I continue, allow me to explain what is Pop Dancing and why I call it that. Pop dancing simply means learning the moves and dance steps from popular pop songs (yes, you guys have done this before!) be it English/Mandarin and simply performing it. Why don't I call it Modern Dancing or Hip Hop? Its simple, the dance steps used in these performances can't be sufficiently catagorized into the two above mentioned genres. I have ask for help from Toby regarding this and he has agreed to help despite the fact he is the vice-president for his school's dance society and that he is already a very busy man. I am sincerely honored by your willingness to help me in this, Thank you.
So there you have it, I will be outlining more on this in a seperate meet and I hope you guys will attend it. What about Para Para dancing then? Of course, NP will still have Para dancing as a mainstream dance and it most probably will stay that way.
PPSG has been around for about 2 years, unfortunately, it has only been a name used to describe the group of Singapore Paralists and not a real entity that we can relate to. The efforts Paraluke, KC and I have spent to try and make this successful has come to nil and I've decided not to continue it anymore. Para Para Singapore will still remain a name to describe us but I've decided to concentrate my efforts on NP now.
What does this mean? As I mentioned last year, NP was not absorbing the still defunct VOX into its strength, it was merely facilitating the group, and they were considered under PPSG. With the dissolving of PPSG, that would leave them pretty much stranded. I have thought of this and I know I will lose a lot of the members that I had when we used last year's concept. But I understand that NP was not well-liked from the start and some feelings of dis-taste remains in many and do not wish to be associated with the group or being under NP.
I am now asking for sincere dancers, sincere paralists to join my group under my group's name, Nostalgic Productions.
What is the difference? Many will ask that question and I will answer it right now. As the facilitator last year, I emphasized, I could not and will not do anything to you if you decided not to turn up for a meeting or missed a performance as I'm only the facilitator. When directly under me, as your founder/leader, I will not tolerate latecoming or last minute changes. Some might say I will become a dictator or a slave driver. But look at it this way, when I ask for a filming/practice session, I only need 4-5 hours of your valuble time, and it most probably will span from late morning to early/mid afternoons (1000hrs to 1500hrs) and I certainly will not take up every weekend or holiday that you have for practice/filming sessions.
So what is my target? My target, ladies and gentlemen, is just twice a month, on alternate saturdays, for roughly 4-5 hours (like mentioned above). Is it too much? Or is it too little? We will settle this when we meet up one day.
My goals this year is very simple, 3 performances; 1 Pop-Dancing, 2 Para and one for the end of the year M.A.D of 2005. Think its realistic? I think it is and I hope you guys share the same views. I hope I can throw SPPV2 filming into the schedule this time and finish it once and for all.
I would also like to mention the "retiring" of someone who I respect very much in choreography and dancing abilities. By now you should know who I'm refering to, and that is Victor Lai, aka VictorXNO, ex-leader of OPX/VOX and Chief Choreographer to me. He has decided to leave the Para scene once for good and I respect his decision. He is currently a regular in the air force and has little time to commit to the group and I understand his difficulties. I hope he succeeds in his future endevaours.
Who then, would take over choreographing in NP? As of now, there is no one on a permenant basis but I have decided to take on this important role. I have not done anything like that since my EuroFest 2002 performance at National Youth Council's HQ opposite Cathay Cineleisure and I hope I can live up to everyone's expectation (whoever joins the group that is). I will be assisted by Toby and hope that he can help me as much as he can in this, especially in the Pop Dancing area.
I am now currently trying to break the ice between local and international paralists and I have already sent out whatever videos I have to the kind folks at
www.paraparaparadise.net and I'm discussing with the people at
www.paraparastage.com about hosting the videos.
With so many changes, so many different things, I do not expect much to join me in my pursuit. But I hope those affected can understand why I want to do this. There are rumored attempts to start the next para para boom again in Japan and I do not want Singapore to be left out again like the last time. I don't want Para Para to die off in Singapore just like that, that would confirm the predictions of dancers from other genres that Para Para is just a stupid arcade machine fad, that it is silly and won't last long. I can and will not allow this to happen to Para Para.
I myself will most probably be performing in this year's performance (if time permits me) and when I lead a group, I have certain expectations. There might be conflict, there might be trouble, but I hope we can ride it out together and make this a great year for Paralist and Para Para, not just locally, but internationally.
With this, I end the announcement and I hope I will hear from you guys soon. Thank you for taking time off for reading this lengthy announcement.
Regards
William Wong aka DJ NoS
Founder
Nostalgic Productions
