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

Thursdays 9:15-10:15pm

Venue: Havana Estudio, 34b Persiaran Zaaba, TTDI

Starting: Thu, 29 Sept 2011

(do contact me at tohke3@yahoo.com for more info)

"We-re Yours" from Tap Raiders

With Jojo Struys at Hannah Tan's Xmas Concert

A hard-hittin' nite at a local bar

Cast for L-O-V-E Version 1.0

My 1st artistic passion

The Rat-Packers

Recently, a bunch of circumstances came together for me to put together my first fully-finished *group* piece/choreography since end 2008 [of course, there's been lots of class dances, jams and also duets I'd done with Jojo Struys in between but I haven't really worked on group choreography for a while].

Earlier in the year, I was asked once again to put up an “item” for FAB’s (Federal Academy of Ballet) annual school recital/charity concert - as we’ve literally outgrown the show (it’s pretty much all kids!) we haven’t participated in years – but for a couple of reasons I thought it’d be good to do the show this year.

FAB Charity Concert 2011

At the same time, us Rhythm Tappers were approached to perform the opening gambit (& then some) at the Prestige Wine Extravaganza to be held at the Westin Hotel on July 15. The theme the Catchacorp people wanted was Rat Pack – and this suited PERFECTLY the steps/music that my seniors were doing a few months back. We had been working with Michael Buble’s version of L-O-V-E:  jazz taps but with a contemporary twist of course!

Maxifords!

So, it only made sense to put it all together. I put some finishing touches on the original choreography, worked with the tappers on some solos and also adapted some portions of it to make the group tapping more exciting and voila!, debuted a “rough cut” at the FAB annual charity concert on Sun, July 10…

…and then the finished version at the Prestige Wine Extravaganza on Fri, July 15 – where I also did an acapella solo in the later part of the night.

Prestige Wine Extravaganza Fri, July 15

Photos courtesy Peter Tam, Wen Li & Cherry Tan

I’ve always had an interest in broadcasting. Well, not like since forever but definitely as a adult (I did, however, wanted to be a pop star when growing up LOL!). Even during my days with a certain multinational oil company, I was either told I would be suitable for it & on occasion, the idea definitely piqued my interest. But of course, it all stayed an idea during then esp. when you’re so accustomed and “trapped” in a regular, corporate ladder type of an existence..

After 2005 (the major turning point of my adult life), I decided to focus on my passions in life beginning 2006 – and once I’d establish a decent rhythm tap “infrastructure” to the best I could, in the 2nd part of 2007 I decided to explore other interests& avenues…which have since, together with Rhythm Tap, ALL become the bulk, passion and BST of my life (& the topics of this blog)!

A few occasions from 2007-2009 I’d the opportunity to enter the world of broadcasting, through auditions mostly. But they were all either news reading offers and/or required me to be full-time with a TV station etc – something I wasn’t prepared to do. After a bunch of TV hosting auditions (and the abovementioned “offers”), in 2009, I finally nailed my 1st freelance TV hosting gig for Fashion Factor - which per my other post, went into the vault for 2 yrs after being shot before being aired on TV-i and TV2 (currently showing on Saturdays, 5pm) this year.

Concurrently, in the past few years, my metaphysical/spiritual studies&journey also led my to question/ponder on how I was to use my earthly skills in a more meaningful, fulfulling way. I’ve always LOVED learning (continous learning is one of my mottos) and I’ve developed an intense passion as well in sharing what I know & learn with others. But wat I was looking for was a PLATFORM to do just that. A more consistent, regular platform that just bits & pieces here & there and teaching a specific art like Rhythm Tap .

[Funnily enough, the most SUPER-OBVIOUS platform I was privy to during 2008-2010 to share and "enlighten" so to speak, oddly enough didn't really work out that well- which perhaps was a sign...]

Late last year, through a rather “mysterious” audition notice, I somewhat reluctantly went to Angkasapuri for an audition – it was afterall, my only day off… I wasn’t sure what it was but it wasn’t positioned as a notice/call for DJs or presenters. One thing led to another & another and finally I was offered a freelance position as a DJ/presenter with TraxxFM (formerly Radio 4 and Blue Network).

...where the radio offices & conti are; the other "wisma" is of course Wisma TV

Traxx is interesting…quite a diiiifferent channel from all the commercial channels being part of RTM and all…The presenters all have a direct hand with our own music playlist (resulting a quite a diverse mix). The daily Mon-Fri anchor shows (Morning Zoo & Traffic) are pretty much in the vein of other stations (our personalities are unique of course!) but other shows like Traxx 101 and Take A Break are quite different. We also focus on a wide range of music genre shows during the weekend. It’s also obviously the CLEAREST station you can tune in to! It’s 90.3 or 100.1 in the Klang Valley but do check out the frequency for your own area www.traxxfm.rtm.gov.my

Of course, doing radio isn’t as easy or “glamourous” as you might think. You have to work the panels & equipment and as the show airs, you basically have to do everything yourself when it comes to the broadcast!

I currently present Traxx101 (a show with an edu-awareness-empowerment slant featuring a 1-on-1 interview at 11:15am) on Mon, Wed & Fri from 10am – 1pm. Together with presenter Otto, I also present a slot 9:15-10am on Fri called i-traxx that’s broadcasted on TraxxFm and TV-i on Astro 180 (which repeats on TV-i at 8pm the same day).

So, whatcha waiting for…tune in!

Photographer – Linda Hashim