Ah…March 2012….a busy but “messy” month with plenty of work, loads of opportunities – some fruitful, some good for “testing” my patience, some I just couldn’t even remotely attend to (due to clash of schedule etc) and some turning out too-good-to-be-true… But these opportunities aside, it was still a good, happening month nonetheless!

One of my most memorable interviews for the time I’ve been presenting Traxx101 for TraxxFM happened on Tuesday Mar27. I had the incredible opportunity to interview YABhg Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah, wife of course of ex-PM Tun Dr. Mahathir! Within the first few minutes, I was quite overcome with her immense loving energy and wisdom – she spoke of her experiences, the importance of being in touch with the grassroots (during her early career as a medical doctor in rural Kedah), her wise experiences with parenting (and grand-parenting!), and in general gave advice on the importance of correctly playing one’s part (no matter in society, in the family, as husband/wife, or as children).

On-air with YABhg Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah!

Crew of TraxxFM, RTM & Tun's entourage attending to her during a song break

Last year, being busy with radio (and of course Rhythm Tap) and also with the infrequence (is that a word?) of acting projects but still itching to do some screen acting, I decided to lend a hand (plus a couple of scenes) to a short film project being helmed by the ones-and-onlys Shahrizan Ferouz (DJ/entrepreneur/etc/etc) & Jennifer Agnes (ex-schoolmate/tap student/capable producer-in-the-works). The short film’s called Deja Vu, in essence about time-travel, and had it’s official unofficial premiere with the cast, crew and industry friends on the evening of Sun, Mar 18.

Incidentally, the shorter version of this short film, 1/3 of the original length -sans moi’s part though lol- entered into SyFy Channel Asia Short Film contest made Top 5! Check out DeJa Vu here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NreCtM0RkMA#!

If you’ve ever been a teacher at any point of your life, then you’d probably understand that, although fulfilling, teaching can be pretty draining…so when I heard there was a visiting tapper doing a single-evening workshop down south in Singapore on Saturday, Mar 10, I jumped at the chance of taking the workshop (and being a STUDENT for a change!). As I’ve been encouraging all my senior tappers to take and to invest in further tap training (namely to attend workshops available mainly abroad – usually much. much further than Singapore), I managed to persuade senior Bryan to attend (for Shueh Miin- having attended the New York Tap Festival before AND being already in Singapore, the workshop was a given of course).

The workshop was taught by Claudia Rahardjanoto (of Indonesian descent but born and raised in Germany and currently based in the US) who had attended the Java Jazz Festival 2012. Making up the bulk of the class was of course the gradually growing, core “hardcore” rhythm enthusiasts/tappers’ that I’ve had the privileged to get to know since more than 10 years ago. This group includes “honorary Malaysian” Jojo Struys who *very coincidently* happened to be in Singapore overseeing a shoot that weekend.

It was an AWESOME workout! 3 solid hours of jumps, “trick” steps like over-the-tops, trenches & slides with improvisation and of course, a catchy combination in 7/4 time! Certainly the most intense I’ve had for a loooooooong time.

Claudia giving Bryan some helpful tips

So there you go, March 2012.

Some pics courtesy Jennifer, Joanne, Hwee Kheng & Shaz

For most of the early portion of the past 10 years or so, I’ve wondered…what is it that I really wanna do with my life? What is it really that makes me happy? What is MY purpose of life?

I’m sure we’ve all at some point asked ourselves these questions. Often, we are chasing a particular interim goal or reward. We power ourselves day-to-day on this premise. For example, in my earlier corporate days, I use to benchmark my “success” by a certain standard during the annual evaluation process. At times, it was with a particular target, say, travel perks, being with a certain department, performing a certain function. At times, it was wandering & plowing along all for the sake of that stable monthly income whilst looking forward to a decent bonus come year-end.

From 2006 onwards, it was much clearer to me about the TYPE of job that I found fulfilling – due to circumstances, I took the leap and decide to becoming an artist full-time, beginning of course with Rhythm Tap and then from there, leading to the mixed-bag of endeavors that I do these days.

However, the journey was far from over. Ok, I’m an artist…so? Among the MANY questions that was playing in my mind. How that does change the world? Because every little that we do, every action that we take, WILL have an effect on the world-at-large, no matter how small and insignificant we think we are.

Beginning at first with Chinese Metaphysical studies, then leading into my still-ongoing study & musing of spirituality and energy sciences, I steadily began to find some answers. 1st of all, we each have a set of skills, no matter how specific, specialized or how diverse, that we should fully make use of. 2ndly, while it can be fun & satisfying (but actually distracting) to achieve a self-centered goal such as peer recognition, what’s the point of making full use of our skills but only for selfish, ego-satisfying reasons & accomplishment?   How would that benefit others and contribute towards the energy that we put forth into the world?

Also, is there really a route or a sort of destined path that we’re supposed to take? Or can we be entirely focused and accomplish ANYTHING that we set out to do? I think the answer is a matter of combining one’s innate skills & talents plus the necessary EXPERIENCE & LESSONS that we need to learn to achieve and do what is wanted…even what is “wanted” & makes up “happy” actually can change with time…and sometimes perhaps, the soul actually needs to undergo a seemingly random, unrelated event or phase of life to grow and nourish itself… In fact, the learning never stops because life is one continuous journey, ain’t it?

And if you’re thinking “Well, just do what makes you happy!”…While by and large, that’s not too bad of a concept to follow, what is “happiness”…really?

But yes, slowly and surely, I began to marry together my ambitions as an artist – Rhythm Tap performer, educator, host, emcee, actor, DJ etc etc – with what I hope to be a larger purpose. And that is to utilize my linguistic, communication, learning, experiential and creative skills in helping others understand themselves & situations. To share what I know, what I’ve experienced & learnt (and continue to do so) with everyone that I can & in turn, help others do and hopefully communicate the same.

While of course I await the universe to continually guide, correct and even modify the actual path that I traverse (again, learning and life is a journey after all), this is my current mission.

As the Dalai Lama puts it: Share your knowledge- it’s one way to achieve immortality

Photos: Kar Yee & Cherry

Brand new year, brand new aspirations…

Well not entirely new, but certainly with an enthusiasm looking forward to continuing on my journey of learning, discovery and sharing with others.

2011 was a GREAT year! I finally got myself into the world of broadcasting -radio to be specific; on RTM’s Traxx FM. If you’re looking for an alternative, more varied & certainly more informative type of programming,do tune in to TraxxFM (90.3 in the Klang Valley). Pssst….we also play a REAL mix of unformatted music….Do catch me on Traxx 101 (Mon-Wed) 10am-1pm

With a couple of beauty queens during one of my shows

I am as enthusiastic as ever to share what I’ve learnt, experienced and realized on my shows!

Speaking of broadcasting, I was also really glad that Fashion Factor- the TV make-over programme I hosted & recorded sometime back – finally aired not once but TWICE – over Astro TV-i and then not long after on TV2.

Of course, am looking forward to do more TV hosting when the right programme comes up!

In addition of course was the very pleasant surprise being Akinabalu (the movie), that was released on Astro Citra this past year following the release of the full mini series end 2010. Loved the movie edit!

As course, speaking of the original mini-series, another very-pleasant surprise was seeing Akinabalu being nominated for Best Drama Series (Drama Rantaian) at the 2011 Anugerah Skrin! While it lost to another Filmscape Production (Juvana), it was still a great recognition (and sign of the times?) considering the amount of English spoken in the series. Look for the movie version to be aired on Astro Prima or Ria time this year.

Acting, while physically demanding, is something I truly enjoy and find artistically fulfilling….it taps into your psyche and all that jive but by my very nature, I LOVE putting things together & being a part of a whole that contributes towards an artistic “product” so to speak.

Then of course, there’s the ever-unique rhythmic artform and my 1st passion – RHYTHM TAP! Another year of great jams and continuous growth of Rhythm Tap in Malaysia & neighbouring areas. We had 2 of the more unique types of gigs this year – namely the Prestige Wine Extravaganza….

where we presented a more classically jazzy side of Rhythm Tappers @ Malaysia. And then very recently, was the Shell Langkawi Retailers event where Shueh Miin & myself gave some groove and funked up  the dinner with an a cappella opening number. Other performers during the night included the lovely Syafinaz Selamat & Malaysia’s own “Il Divo” Putera (who I ironically interviewed on TraxxFM in 2011 itself!).

Beautiful beach @ Berjaya Langkawi

Shueh Mini & I "backstage" before the opening number

So in 2012, we continue to grow, learn & share together. Am working towards a few projects at the moment so can’t wait to unveil them very very soon.  As we enter the Dragon year, here’s wishing you all the best!

Some pics courtesy Nurul, Joanne, Kar Yee & Wen Li

Who says Rhythm Tappers can’t dance with their entire bodies..?

As dinner winds up...warming up...

Lisa gets action hotter in the chilliness of Genting...

Syaz!

Puteri!

Mus!

Purdy!

A moonwalking Bryan!

Edward!

Veron!

Karen!

Jayce!

Yours truly!

Ronald!

1st group Charades winners

It was time for our annual do again! This is once-a-year affair where the tappers’ get together and simply have fun, make-merry and enjoy ourselves – no actual tapping involved! Hence, the story of Janda Awana Sat-Sun Dec 10/11, 2011…

All photos courtesy tappers Wen-Li Chan & Ellen Chan…(long lost sisters?)

Group pic @ Sg. Benus

The original plan was Fraser’s Hill but did not manage to get enough accommodation. Plan B was Janda Baik – once again, we could not get enough accommodation for all so we decided to make it a day visit to Janda Baik and then overnight BBQ at Awana Genting (since, Janda Baik is right at the foot of Genting anyway…)

Meeting Point/Briefing @ McD Genting Sempah before heading off to explore Janda Baik

The convoy...

Sg Benus - where you can do some "river activities" and location of our accommodation option 1: D'Ark

Wiseman "Everything has a centre line" Mus, balancing rocks!

We did a bit of sightseeing: view from Saufiville located on top of a hill - our accommodation option 2

Group photo at Saufiville

Lunchtime!

Team leaders Wen Li, Karen & Bryan

The highlight of “The Return of the Happy Feet” was definitely our first-ever TAP-OFF! A friendly basic tap-choreography/workshop. Everyone present, from veteran tappers, beginner students to those who’ve never taken a single tap class in their life, was split into 3 groups, given 20min for their individual workshop sessions, then brought together to present/compete!

In the spirit of the competition!

The "judging" session

At the end of the day, it was such a tough call that Sharie (owner of Havana Estudio) and myself had to be the official tie-breakers!

Congratulations went to Bryan’s team for winning our 1st EVER TAP-OFF. Besides winning a group prize, new non-tappers also won a FREE pass to the Beginner’s Rhythm Tap class!

All in all, another milestone for our TAP JAM…do join us for the next one in 2012!

All photos courtesy Reizo Zen and Choo KarYee

Havana Estudio's Tue 830pm Level2b tappers at the jam...

Its the 5th anniversary of our Tap Jam this year 2011!

Well, our happy feet never left and it was time again to get students together as well as introduce brand-new students, family members, friends as well as anyone curious about the world of rhythm to…Rhythm Tap! “The Return of the Happy Feet” was synched on Sat, Nov 19 @ Havana Estudio, TTDI.

It was a great crowd this time around; high energy and a packed house…

We of course opened with a group jam with parts – our usual welcoming with extremely simple taps, claps & a full house of rhythm-in-synch! Then it was on to the class presentations.

The Kids!

1st up was the inter/adv class featuring Karen and Liam.

Then my under-9 kids (plus mom) presented their 1st EVER class presentation to the thunderous applause/woof whistles of everyone present!

Kudos also to Ellen & Edward for the rocking’ presentation of Jamaican Funk – all this despite the “craziness” surrounding their class this year LOL.

Work-in-progress

Other presentations were a few classworks-in-progress which will have their “final” version presented at the next jam…

Akinabalu (the mini-series) reruns again on Astro Fiesta (Channel 100) beginning Tue, Oct 18, 2011.

Kapten Ishida

The movie version has also been run on Astro Citra (Channel 131) these past few months and should be released on Astro Ria/Prima sometime in the near future…

P.S. my detailed posts of the shoot in Feb/Mar 2010 are in the archives

Torture scene (one of many lol!) in progress

In the wardrobe tent with Gavin Stenhouse, "Ito" and "Abin" on a heavy-rain day

Chilin' with Hansen in between takes