Nottingham Malaysian Festival 2014

This was written on the midnight of 22 March 2014. 

Nottingham Malaysian Festival 2014 has come to an end. I'm just trying to write down my thoughts and feelings concerning the event-- although I believe lack of sleep (and the fact that it's already so late) is impeding my ability to do so. I talk more about my feelings in my blog, and keep things (relatively) short here. And of course, I'll be writing from my point of view and that it is likely that I would have missed out a lot background things not immediately obvious. Nevertheless, let us carry on.

It wouldn't be fair to talk about the wonderful event that happened on 22 March 2014 without bringing up the countless hours that went into making the event into such a big success in the first place. I daren't say that I had as much to worry about as the organisers of the festival did, whom had their work cut out for them months ago, but in the past month, amid towering coursework and tailgating deadlines, trying to squeeze in the time to practice dancing and drumming was definitely not easy. But somehow, we all managed anyway. Every practice session was great fun and that made the successful M.Fest 2014 all that much sweeter.

I predict that there was around a 100 performers excluding volunteers and crew. As you can see, it was no small event. While I'm biased, I honestly thought that the flash mob dance group had practiced the most for this event, with close to 7 hours of practicing a week; however, it was apparent, upon seeing the fruition of every other group's hard work, that everyone had put in their due diligence to ensure the highest standard of performance they could afford with the limited time given to us.

Some of you may know that I had the honour of being the one in charge of creating a routine for the bucket drumming performance prior to the flash mob. At first, I was hesitant-- reluctant, even, to take charge of that group because I had no experience with hitting buckets, but mainly because the due date for the biggest project this academic year was a few days before the event itself. I was 50/50 about it until V-Shenn gave me a slight push and tilted my thinking balance into 'oh heck why not' mode. If I'm going to study abroad for a year, I definitely don't want to be a social shut in getting good marks but not going out, meeting new people and living life. At first, I was a little irritated because the bucket drumming idea came in about a week after dance practice had started. I had to create a routine and then find people who were interested to hit buckets (I'll be honest here, I never expected such an eager response). And then I had to teach my drummers how to play as well, with only about a fraction of the time that we had to practice dancing. I also didn't have much confidence in my abilities and honestly, I kept doubting myself-- which affected the way I lead the others.

I can, with utmost confidence, say that I'm glad I decided to do the bucket drumming in the end because I got to meet (and know better) people who are enthusiastic, committed, helpful, and downright awesome. Also, that feeling when I held a pair of brand new drumsticks in my hands after not touching a drum set for over half a year-- heaven!

Drumming aside, I definitely did not regret joining the flash mob either. Funny, because initially I was going to ignore M.Fest altogether. The last time I danced was back in form 4 and (somehow) I felt that I wouldn't fit in with all the 'hip' people usually associated with dancing.

I daresay you wouldn't be able to find a more upbeat group of people anywhere else. But then again, I, sadly, didn't have the chance to interact with everyone in the flash mob group.

All our hard work culminated on the 22 March 2014 when the M.Fest was held successfully. It was quite an amazing sight to behold, really. I recall someone asking one of the organising committee members, "How did you do it?" and she just replied, "It was a lot of hard work". I couldn't have agreed more, and in fact, asking such a simple question was really doing a great disservice everyone who poured their blood, sweat, and tears into the event-- it was more than just 'a lot of hard work', but how else could she have answered it?

It was a bit surreal to think that all the hours of practicing amounted to just about 20 minutes of performing time. If you think about it objectively, it's totally not worth practicing so much. But with dancing, as with most arts, you simply can't look at things just objectively. I definitely think we did a very good job with our performance, and that everyone else did a very good job with their own respective responsibilities as well.

All in all, I would like to end this long post by expressing my gratitude to the organising committee members of the Nottingham Malaysian Festival for all their planning and doowops behind the scenes, the awesome flash mob choreographers for their patience and attentiveness in teaching such a large crowd, the flash mob dancers for putting up with my constant annoyances of noise while everyone was trying to practice, and of course to my bucket drumming team for being very helpful and understanding of my nervousness and being awesome (I seem to be using that word pretty often).

It's a little saddening that I couldn't get to know more people better and that we only had the chance to meet for this event. It is highly unlikely that we'll ever have a reason to interact again with each other after this, much moreso when I return to Malaysia in just a few months' time while the rest of them continue on here in the UK. And I get a little more sad when I think about it because I do want to return home-- but at the same time I also do want to stay here-- both for the same reasons; the people I know. But well, let's save those sentiments for another post.