Pomp, Pageantry & Pyrotechnics At Olympic Games Opening Ceremony

China couldn't have chosen a more auspicious date of 08.08.08 and a more propitious time of 08:08:08 pm for the Olympic Games opening ceremony. There certainly was plenty of pomp, pageantry and pyrotechnics at the opening ceremony of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing. Held at the iconic National Stadium, more affectionately known as the Bird's Nest, the spectators numbering more than 90,000 included royalty and dignitaries such as the King & Queen of Malaysia, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, President George Bush of the United States of America and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of Russia. A cultural tableau highlighting 5,000 years of Chinese history was presented to the spectators and to the estimated 4 billion television viewers worldwide before the start of the march past by athletes from the 204 participating countries

Greece led the march past but in breaking away from the tradition of having the countries march in alphabetical order, the countries marched in the order in which their names were written in simplified Chinese characters according to the number of strokes. This meant that the countries with the least number of strokes in their first syllable got to march first followed by those with more strokes, in ascending order. In keeping with the Olympic Games tradition, the host country; China, fielding the largest contingent of 639 athletes were the last team to march in and were greeted with thunderous applause from the crowd. The flag bearer for China was Yao Ming, China's most famous sportsman and Houston Rockets, USA basketball player.

The lighting of the Olympic flame at the cauldron was the climax to a spectacular show. The last person to receive the Olympic torch in the stadium was Li Ning, a former gymnast and 3-gold medal winner at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, USA in 1984. Hoisted by steel wires to the roof of the stadium, Li Ning "ran" round the periphery of the stadium with visuals of the Olympic torch run around the world projected onto the wall of the stadium and giving the illusion that he was running around the world. At times Li Ning looked like Spiderman traversing the wall and at times he looked like Superman flying through the air! Li Ning stopped before the cauldron which was built in the shape of a giant torch before lighting the flame which had the crowd roaring with approval.

Over the next 16 days till August 24, the 10,500 athletes will compete in 302 events covering 28 sports. I am really surprised that they have included baseball and softball as medal events in this Olympics as they are not popular sports worldwide. These games are popular only in a handful of countries particularly the USA and certain countries in South & Central America and the Caribbean. In Asia they are played mainly in Japan and Taiwan and are hardly ever played in China. Among batting games, cricket is actually more popular and has a huge following in the Indian Subcontinent and Australia. Thankfully, baseball and softball will not feature in the next Olympics in London in 2012.

The world dancing fraternity must now really push hard for dancesport to be included as an Olympic medal event. Dancesport is of course very popular in the Americas. In Europe it is well liked all the way from Great Britain to Russia. In Africa dancesport is favoured in the countries in the south. Nine-times world professional latin champion and seven-times Blackpool professional latin champion Bryan Watson was born in South Africa. Besides water sports, the Australians also love dancing. In Asia, dancesport is popular especially in China and Japan. The Chinese are really crazy about dancing and you can see them doing ballroom dancing in the parks and in the open. My wish list is for the Olympic Games to proceed smoothly, for China to top the medals tally and for dancesport to be included as a medal event in the Olympics soon.

Best Wishes,

Dance Aficionado

Dancesport Malaysia

6th Crystal Dancesport Championship 2008

World Dance Academy of Petaling Jaya, Malaysia will be organising the 6th Crystal Dancesport Championship 2008. Details are as follows:-

Date: August 31, 2008 (Sunday)

Time: Noon Session - 9.00 am to 4.00 pm
Evening Session - 6.00 pm to 11.30 pm

Place: Grand Ballroom, Shangri-la Hotel, Kuala Lumpur

Events: Standard & Latin - Professional, Pro-Amateur, Amateur, Rising Star, Seniors, Pre-Amateur, Novice, Junior 16, Juvenile 12, Beginers & Ladies events

The competition is open to countries in the Asia Pacific region only.

Tickets are priced from RM180 to RM300 for the evening session which includes a eight-course Chinese dinner.

For further information please contact John Lim at telephone number 6012-2120326 or Joanne Leong at telephone number 6019-2360881.

You can also login to their websites at http://www.worlddanceacademy.com.my/ or http://www.professionaldancersmb.com/.

Best Wishes,

Dance Aficionado

So You Think You Can Dance Malaysia 2 - Review

The Grand Finals of So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) Malaysia Season 2 was held on August 1 2008 in Kuala Lumpur. The title of "Malaysia's Favourite Dancer" was won by C C (real name, Yong Ling Shi). Nicknamed "Sizzling C C" by her friends, she more than cooked up a storm when she was announced the winner! There was a barrage of comments regarding her victory on the internet soon after the show. Many were of the opinion that she did not deserve to win and that any one of the other 3 competitors namely Black, Sim or Hong were more worthy contenders for the crown.

SYTYCD Malaysia is a spinoff version of the American SYTYCD television reality show and which was a big hit there in America. The preliminaries for SYTYCD Malaysia Season 2 started in May 2008 with auditions in Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. More than 1000 hopefuls attended the auditions, and eventually 20 (10 guys and 10 girls) were selected by the panel of judges comprising of Ramli Ibrahim, Pat Ibrahim and Judimar Hernandez to compete in the the Top 20 finals.

During each episode starting from the Top 20, the competitors had to dance with a partner, and two (one guy and one girl) of the weakest or least popular dancers were eliminated until the Top 4 were chosen for the Grand Finals. The competitors got to dance with their same partners and had to change partners twice during the competition; once when they were in the Top 10, and during the Grand Finals. In the Grand Finals, both the guys also had to dance with each other and likewise for the girls. All the grand finalists were also required to perform a group dance as well as dance solo.

The dances that were performed this season included hip hop, contemporary, jazz, broadway, salsa, mambo, conga, rock 'n' roll and argentine tango. The ballroom dances selected were the waltz and the Viennese waltz whilst for the latin they were the cha cha cha, samba and paso doble. Many of the performances were actually a fusion of two different genres as for example the Viennese waltz would be danced together with a contemporary number and which sometimes posed a problem for the dancers. I was disappointed that bubbly and energetic dances like the quickstep and jive were not performed by the competitors here unlike in SYTYCD America where these dances are such a joy to watch.

During each episode, the competitors were judged by a permanent panel of judges consisting of the threesome of Ramli, Pat and Judimar. A guest judge was also invited to sit in during each episode. Among the guest judges invited were well known choreographers like Yannus Sufandi and Manuela Oliviera. One excitable guest judge, Aida Redza brought much excitement during one episode with her unbridled enthusiasm and exuberance. Of all the judges, I find Ramli Ibrahim to be the most objective, candid and professional in his critique of the dancers and their performances. Trained in ballet, contemporary and Indian classical dances, Ramli is renowned for his Odissi and Bharata Natyam performances.

Ramli had a way with words and could use poetic language to describe the dancers and their performances. In one episode he remarked that the dancer captured the moment and in another, he compared one dancer to the late Hong Kong diva Anita Mui! Not one to mince his words, he could be very frank and call a spade a spade. In one episode, he called the performance of the Viennese waltz "a total flop". During the auditions, one dancer fumbled on stage and was struggling with her dance. When asked by Ramli what her problem was, she replied that she had trouble memorizing her dance steps. Ramli retorted by saying that "Dancing is not to be memorized, it is to be done!" His sermon was so philosophical; almost Zen-like. Ramli certainly knew the Tao of Dancing!

Season 2 of So You Think You Can Dance Malaysia has finally come to an end. Let us pray that the next season of So You Think You Can Dance Malaysia will be more entertaining with more exciting genres of dances instead of the usual hip hop and contemporary. I also hope that Ramli Ibrahim will once again be in the panel of judges next year. In the meantime it is my fervent wish that 8TV will broadcast the latest season of So You Think You Can Dance America. I am becoming addicted to this television dance reality show!

Best Wishes As Always,

Dance Aficionado

So You Think You Can Dance Malaysia 2 - Grand Finals

The Grand Finals of the So You Think You Can Dance Malaysia 2 which was held on Friday August 1 2008 at Ruums Bar & Club Kuala Lumpur started at 8.30 pm with a dance performance by the Top 20. Singer Zainal Abidin next gave a rendition of his hit song Senang Senang. After he had finished his performance, the Top 4 finalists stepped onto the dance floor to the applause of the crowd. The 4 top finalists were Ng Kar Fei (Black) 25, Ong Tze Hong (Hong) 27, Hoi Cheng Sim (Sim) 27 and Yong Ling Shi (C C) 21.

Looking immaculate in a white pantsuit, the lovely host Aishah Sinclair then cooly walked onto the dance floor to welcome the audience and introduce the panel of judges. They are the indefatigable trio of Pat Ibrahim, Ramli Ibrahim and Judimar Hernandez, all of whom are renowned dancers and choreographers in Malaysia. Aishah then announced that tonight one of the Top 4 dancers will be crowned "Malaysia's Favourite Dancer" and walk home with a cash prize of RM50,000 and a scholarship from 8TV. It was then time for the battle royale to begin.

In this finals, the format was changed. The competitors had to perform 4 dances over 4 rounds. In the first round Sim and CC had to partner each other to perform a Contemporary/Jazz piece whilst Black and Hong had to dance a Contemporary/Cha Cha Cha number together. In the second round the competitors had to switch partners, with Hong and Sim first executing a Contemporary/Hip Hop fusion followed by Black and CC dancing a Contemporary/Street Jazz mix. In the third round all the dancers performed a contemporary Malay dance. In the fourth and final round, the dancers had to dance solo. The dances they had to perform were:-

1) Hong - Hip Hop

2) C C - Samba

3) Black - Hip Hop

4) Sim - Contemporary

Whilst waiting for the sms votes to come in, the Top 20 gave another excellent Hip Hop dance performance. After their performance, it was time for host Aishah to announce the winners. Before announcing the winners Aishah asked the judges who they thought would be the winner. Pat picked C C, Judimar selected Hong and Ramli chose Sim. Ramli felt that Sim was the best dancer as she was able to bring out the physical and the emotional aspects of the dances the most. Sim was also the only dancer to have sailed through to each round without ever being placed in the Bottom 4 or 6.

The winner of the title of "Malaysia's Favourite Dancer" was C C. Personally I thought that Sim was the best dancer that night and deserved to win but this is the reality in a dance reality show like SYTYCD. After all the title is "Malaysia's Favourite Dancer" and not "Malaysia's Best Dancer" and this is the reality we have to accept. With that the So You Think You Can Dance Malaysia competition, Season 2 came to a close.

Warmest Regards,

Dance Aficionado

To B(log) Or Not To B(log), That Is The Question - Part 2

">

.......Continued from Article 10 of July 28, 2008

The following Monday, I opened my blog during my lunch break and was pleasantly surprised to see an advertisement by Disneyland in the ad unit. "Wow, there's an advertisement by Disneyland in my blog" I announced to my colleagues. They crowded excitedly around my computer to see my blog and the advertisement. I was tempted to click my maiden advertisement to see what it really looked like. However I had to refrain from doing so as it was against AdSense program policies. I later found out that Disneyland was promoting a dance show at their theme park in Hong Kong. And if you would like to know; I earned 5 US cents from AdSense that day.

Over the following weekends, Fai and I sat down to face-lift my web site. We improved on the layout & design and linked up my site to other well known and relevant web sites. To jazz up the pages, a dance video bar and a video tutorial were added. A Google search bar and a translator were installed for the benefit of visitors who may not be so fluent in English. Mind you, the translation of the page contents is done by a computer and is not 100% accurate but it can be relied upon to give a rough translation.

Having read the AdSense Help Forum and the AdSense Team's optimization report on how to improve monetization, I decided to change the format of the ad units. Instead of having one single ad unit I decided to use the leaderboard and wide skyscraper formats. Link units were also incorporated into the web pages. I also signed up as a publisher with a local company, Nuffnang. The advertisements by Nuffnang are mainly graphic or video based ads and are colourful and eye catching. Finally to track the number of visitors, a site meter was installed.

Fai also taught me how to do inline links to link up with the relevant contents of other web pages. Linking is considered de riguere in blogs. I also learned how to add images and videos to my pages. The tasks may seem daunting at first but it becomes a piece of cake once you get the hang of it. My web site is now not only a blog, but also a vlog or video blog as I show a lot of interesting and relevant dance videos in the pages. I publish posts 3 times a week currently.

So far I have received positive comments and feedback on the articles that I have published. Some visitors said they found my articles interesting and informative. A couple of dance enthusiasts commended me for writing good reviews on the So You Think You Can Dance Malaysia 2 competition. I felt humbled when one viewer approached me to write articles for her dance magazine. My enthusiasm for and the joy of blogging seems to be infectious. Some of my friends have requested me to help them set up blogs. I tell them all about Blogger and that it's as easy as abc and as simple as 123. In fact I feel like singing to them the song ABC by the Jackson 5. It goes something like this:-

Abc, as easy as 123

Or simple as do re mi

abc, 123, do re mi

Bloggy (Baby), you and me!

Best Wishes & Happy Blogging,

Dance Aficionado

Dancesport Malaysia