'I Do'

NOTE: This is our very first post by a guest-blogger...our newest dance instructor, Emmelina! Just in case you were, you know, wondering.

~Albert & Serina

***

Have you realized there's been a lot of weddings lately? Within 5 days, Studio 23 has been to two! Some of us at least. ;)

Let me rephrase. Studio 23 has been invited to perform at 2 weddings within the past 5 days.



#1 Ming & Angela's Wedding


Ming & Angela (Photo by Jong Saw Kang)

28/10/2009, Riverside - I heard this was a good day in the Chinese calendar to get married. This explains the three wedding cars I saw on my way to and from our rehearsal that day.

It was a really grand wedding. 90 tables they say?! But we were backstage the whole time, hehe, so don't ask me how the food tasted, or what the door gifts were, though I saw from my friend Saw Kang's (whose photos I stole for the purpose of this blog post) photos that it was a candle. Anyway, since we were invited to perform, here are some photos which I stole from Saw Kang, (and none from my camera, because Serina forbade me to post them up before our Dinner and Dance and spoil the surprise in store for y'all) ;p


Princess Diana


Mother hen, Serina


Hot mummy, Jass

Unfortunately, according to Saw Kang, he didn't see us until it was quite late, because he was busy easting without his specs. Hahaha, so no photos of the rest of us!

After performing 6 dances, the fatter ones were feeling skinny and hungry, so we decided to go for a round of McD's. Oh, did I tell you it has become a routine for us after almost every performance? :D Now you have the explanation of why we never lose that tummy, despite our complains.





Look at us pig out after working out on stage. Hehehe... McD should pay us to become their models and ambassadors to replace the clown, what's-his-name.

With our tummy filled, it was playtime.

Playing with food. Haha. Introducing...



...Serina by night!

Serina the walrus appeared for the second time after... (hold on while I browse for the picture of her first appearance)...



Getting better at it eh? ;p

And she trained 3 more... now with Ketchup!



Please clap lah. Do you know how many soggy fries it took for us to perfect this shot?

Last night Silvia Tzeng got frightened by this picture:



Hahaha... sorry I have to censor my face or else you guys will all have nightmares tonight. I'm asuming this is a child-friendly blog. :)

Which brings us to the second wedding, which was where Silvia saw this picture.

p/s: If you never hear from me here again, you will know what I have done to be banned from the blog. Hahaha! ;p


#2 Rosebelle & Alan's Wedding


The wedding march

31/10/2009, Hilton Kuching - It was a purple-themed wedding I was told.


See, PURPLE


The ladies of Table No. 26


Oops, we left Diana out. Here's another one. (Actually cuz I couldn't decide which picture to put ;p)

Unlike the previous wedding, this was our friend's wedding, who is also a student of Studio 23. As a gift to her, the Belly Dance Level 2 students performed 2 dances for their classmate, Rosebelle. :)



Not only that, we had a lot of fun on the dance floor. We did poco-poco and some other dances I couldn't identify, like the one in which everyone walk round and round the dance floor like a choo-choo train. Hahaha! But everyone was having so much fun! Next time when I get married I must have music like that as well!


Look at Rose after some red wine. Tsk tsk tsk.


One with the bride and groom

A toast for Rosebelle and Alan!


Cheers! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam Seng! and what was the one in Iban again?

Congratulations and may you have a blissful and fruitful marriage!

To the rest of you, when I get married next time, remember to perform for me also ok! You need to start practicing and training hard now, because...



I caught the bouquet!

So if you start training now, in five years' time you will all be super good dancers at my wedding! :DDDDDD

BELLY DANCE AT LAILATUL ARABIA

No, it's not a place. Last week, Serina was asked to perform at Universiti Teknologi Mara's Lailatul Arabia night. Held at Merdeka Palace, when we got there we were definitely impressed with the work they put into doing up the place: it looked amazing!

The place was totally transformed - if you hadn't just stepped off the elevator, you wouldn't know where you were.

Our night there already off to a great start, we were treated to some very tasty food, and interesting student performances. Serina was set to go on as a special surprise highlight. She took the stage after the last group and really got the crowd going with an oriental dance to open, before finishing with a tabla solo. It was a really fun experience and we're happy to have been a part of it!

All the students had to perform a dance or skit with some kind of Arabic flavour...

...and put in a lot of effort to dress the part, too!

It had to happen sooner or later ... a night when the belly dancer showed up and found out she was underdressed!

UPDATES AND SUCH

We've been busy preparing for our dinner and dance...it's coming up in a few weeks! Gah! It's looking very promising though, and we're very happy about that.

In the meantime, here's a couple of new things to check out. If you aren't aware of it by now, Studio 23 has a Facebook page. Become a fan (come on, you know you want to!) and you'll have access to even more Studio 23 goodness!

What's more, we've now got a YouTube channel. The first videos we have online are training clips from the Crazy Monkey sessions, so go check those out!

You can also find direct links to the Facebook and YouTube pages in the sidebar to the right.

WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING, PART 4: STUDIO 23 AT THE SPRING, EPILOGUE

When everything was said and done, there was nothing left to do but celebrate! To say thanks to everyone who helped out at the Spring, we had everyone out for dinner at the Sarawak club. The food was good (try the butter prawns!) and the company was excellent. There was a lot of lively conversation...and a lot of lively eating!


The Studio 23 "Chinese family portrait" shot. Notice the extreme female:male ratio. Memo to guys in the gym - this is why you should come help out more!

After a great dinner, what better way for the Studio 23 dancers to unwind - than to pose for the cameras!'


Emmelina wanted the spotlight all for herself...


...and pose...


...but the others weren't to be outdone.


...they're not tired of it yet...


The gym that dances together, poses together!


Sure, it was fun for the girls, but it left the guys with few options other than sitting around and making guy-friendly small talk.


"What? You're supposed to use one cup of flour and three eggs, not three cups and one egg! And don't be so cheap with the filling next time, yeah?"


Reuben tired of the waiting after a while and drifted off to dreams of sweaty men punching each other in the face.


When the clicking died down, the night was still far too young for most, who went out to paint the town red. However, try as they may have...


...they still couldn't stop themselves from posing more, even in the parking lot (a successful photobomb by Georgette and Reuben notwithstanding).


(honestly, nobody should be surprised at this point)


A small group of us, though, preferred a more quiet night and so opted for chit-chat and lots of ice cream! (Why do you think we exercise so much?)


Studio 23: we work hard and we eat well.

WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING, PART 3: STUDIO 23 AT THE SPRING CONT'D

On our last day at the Spring, we once again interrupted the usual mall atmosphere of window shopping and food court chit chat. I was in action with a Fizfit workout (Cheers to everyone who took part - you know who you are!) and a CMD demonstration. We attracted a crowd of onlookers, and generated a lot of interest. Which was a nice bonus, given that we were just having fun doing what we do!

FIZFIT

This is me feeling a bit nervous and trying to ease it by standing on a rubber ball on a stage in the middle of a crowded shopping mall. (It was quite calming and I also managed to entertain several children as they walked past.)


Our very own Georgette was the first in line to show off what the Fizfit program has done for her and wasted no time in putting on a thoroughly awesome display! The audience was definitely blown away by her strength and stamina.


She was then joined by Joanna and Lydia (as well as Royce from the Spring management office), and the three of them duly proceeded to further amaze the crowd!








CMD


There were a couple of people who wanted to try out the CMD program, and with but a short briefing, we got them throwing punches at each others' heads in complete safety.


Pretty soon, everyone wanted to try it out!


"Back off! Get your own sandwich!"


"So I want you to try and punch him on the nose, yeah?"
"Yay!"
"Hey, um, what?"



Here, Reuben and Owen are doing some light sparring while I coach from the side. I suppose the microphone helped to get us some attention, but it turns out, two guys doing boxing in public isn't a very common sight in Kuching.


CMD: effective self-defense, and a great way for people to feel less self-conscious when sparring in public!


We had a lot of fun there, and met a lot of really nice people from the Spring Management team, and the other people who had booths in our section.



We were really bummed out when we had to leave! It helped that we were also really tired. Good thing I work out for a living...

WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING, PART 2: STUDIO 23 AT THE SPRING

After our MJC outing, we had to prepare for a short stay at the Spring shopping centre. They were launching their second floor and invited us there to set up a booth, and put on some demonstrations and such. We were scheduled to be there from Wednesday Aug 19th, to the end of Sunday Aug 23rd.

We got our booth set up with the help of Azreen and Georgette, who happened to be hanging around at the Spring, and who really did a great job of making it look nice. It also helped that we had some buntings with us that in my opinion looked incredible. We're really happy with them - Thanks to Silas, Derek and Grace: the team from Tru Events, who helped us get them done on pretty short notice!



Our booth. Check out the awesome buntings.


We had to be there on and off from Wednesday to Sunday, and took it in shifts to man the booth and answer questions from the public. Huge thanks to everyone who came out and helped us look after the place while we had to rush back and run our classes!


DANCE

It wasn't all sitting around and chatting - on Saturday night we got our program off the ground with a very popular Belly Dance concert, starring Serina and the Studio 23 dancers, of course!



Getting ready for the evening - Abigail was on hand to do some Egyptian-style makeup for the dancers.



First, Serina got everyone to do a light warmup...






...then the Studio 23 dancers put in a great performance!









Thanks to all who contributed tissues to help Serina stay nice and dry. We'll bring a towel next time to help save the trees! What? We said "hot" belly dancer, right?


Still to come: Fizfit & CMD demonstrations, and a post-event celebration!