memories of the past; dreams of the future

went to ucc this evening to watch the nuscd 40th anniversary performance. 

i joined nuscd in 2007, and so this is my 10th year anniversary. hahahaha. this time round i didnt dance in this performance even though i really wanted to. right now my family is my priority. maybe will go back and dance again when yuanze gets bigger. and that is if nuscd still wants me. :p

i love the opening item. i love the happy birthday song as the music. and today is coincidentally nzj's birthday. machiam like everyone inside ucc hall is wishing him happy birthday. and so coincidentally he is placed right in the centre of the stage. :)

i love 苗族 also. feel so happy to see ah liang and nzj dance together on stage. weiyi also did an exceptional job as well. her smile was so radiant. she has improved alot since i first saw her in Senses 2015, where she was in the same item as me. 

i also like 镜水月, 长江恋歌 and 乐舞. saw these items during the 2013 production, when i was also one of the dancers. now i see this 3 items again as a member of the audience, the feel is totally different. all 3 items are beautiful in their own way, and really must applaud the choreographers' effort, as well as the dancers' calibre in bringing out the essence of the dance. mike's duet with jiemin is so nice to watch. and mike is the symbol of longevity on stage. he is my role model and my inspiration. 

watching 极 gave me memories of the mauritius trip in 2009, where i performed this item to the chinese community in mauritius. i remembered i was the only one who dunno this dance and i had to learn it from scratch. and i nearly died. be it learning the steps and performing on stage. really wanna thank xuehong for patiently teaching me all the steps. i really love dancing in this item and i love the costume. although at that time i was already a bit plump and that costume exposed part of my tummy. hahahaha. 

and finally, watching 家园 made me tear. this dance is really iconic. this is my first dance that i danced for nuscd, when i first joined nuscd in 2007. and i performed this dance again in the dance production in 2008, A Chasse Across Time. and i performed this dance a few times at buddha tooth temple. and in 2009 i performed this dance again at mauritius. everyone was saying that this is the dance whereby all of us close our eyes also can dance properly and correctly. hahahahaha. 

thank you nuscd for the 10 years of memories. i really did not regret joining nuscd. joining nuscd shaped a big part of my life. 

oh yah i forgot to mention the video. when i saw this woman with long hair wearing nuscd tshirt, i thought it was DLS. then later on i realise she was mummy (jiepei). hahahahahaha. but yah lah, mummy is the only one in nuscd right now who can bring out the mother character. :p

happy 40th birthday, NUSCD. 

Baby Space

brought yuanze to baby space, which is at goodman arts centre. a big thank you to my little sis for recommending us to go. yuanze really enjoyed himself over there. :)

more information about baby space: 

Families with children ages 12 and below, who are keen to enjoy art together, can now do so at Singapore’s newest multi-disciplinary arts play space for children at Goodman Arts Centre.

Launched on Jul 7 in conjunction with the Tanjong Goodman Open House held over the weekend, The Artground comprises four accessible arts play spaces where the young are encouraged to develop a sense of curiosity and self-expression.

Developed by The Ground Co Limited in collaboration with the National Arts Council (NAC), it has a garden area, a white box space, and a stage for babies. Except for certain programmes that require tickets, admission to the play space is free, with a selection of indoor and outdoor activities that include gardening workshops, storytelling and music programmes.

“We aim to facilitate learning through play and empower children to express themselves in multiple ways. We are driven by our vision ‘to let art do what art does’ – to provide experiences that keep our children thinking, questioning, exploring, appreciating and discovering through art,” said Luanne Poh, director of The Ground Co Limited.


A current highlight happening at The Artground is “Baby Space”, a multi-sensory installation designed for babies 16 months and below. The arts space also includes a Baby Stage which features walkways and slopes with a slight incline to motivate crawling toddlers to start walking.


Read more at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/lifestyle/the-artground-singapore-s-newest-arts-space-for-children-opens-9012274

photo credits: darling and ellison tan yuyang (my little sis)

a baby + one care giver to go into the baby space will cost 18 dollars. if the other care giver wants to go in, it depends on the number of adults inside the space, as the space is quite small and too many adults inside may spoil the experience for the babies. 

i highly recommend parents to bring their babies (6 months to 16 months if i remember correctly)to go for baby space! 

darling went in with yuanze first, and later on she came out because she forgot to bring her hp in to take pics. when i saw her i was amazed. because yuanze is left alone inside the baby space. if is at other places and he realised we are not with him, he will make noise. but he didnt. this shows that he is enjoying himself and he was ok with darling not being with him for a while. :)

Racial Harmony Day 2017

my first time commemorating Racial Harmony Day with the workplace. missed it last year because i was away for reservist. 

this year i am the form teacher of a graduating class. and i only joined the class this year. so i asked my partner FT, who was with them since last year, whether the whole class is sporting enough to wear ethnic costumes. my partner FT said last year only very few people wore, and he said i can try asking. 

so i asked the class, and if they are willing to wear, but no costumes, i can go and source the costumes for them. and to my surprise, the whole class is willing to wear! so i contact my trustworthy costume supplier, bin gege from xin yi dance troupe, and he gave his consent. i am really very thankful to xin yi dance troupe, who had helped me alot this year. firstly they loaned me costumes for the performance that i choreographed. and now they loan me 20 sets of costumes for my students to wear. i am touched beyond words, and thankful for the close friendship that we have. not like some other dance troupe that.... ok nvm. 

without further ado, the pics! 

my form class, 4E1. :)

took another photo at the flag pole. 

the president of band, who is wearing my wushu costume. 

this boy is the school's 校草 . hahahaha. very nice boy, very hardworking and very self-driven to do his best in achieving his goals. 

the ladies from the pe dept! 

my class secretary

my class vice-chairperson

the president of student council

and last but not least, my partner FT! :)

Homecoming 2017

last saturday was the Homecoming, to celebrate the school's 15th Anniversary, where we invited the alumni, previous principals and previous staff  back for a 8-course dinner. we also launched the Heritage Space, by our Guest of Honour, Minister KBW. this was featured on yesterday's 联合早报. 

for this Homecoming, my P requested for a performance item to comprise of alumni and current students. and so i choreo-ed a wushu dance item, that comprise both alumni and current students, with a value add of one teacher performer, who is none other than myself. hahahaha. 

we started our first practise in late May, and i think we only had about five practises and we go and perform already. thankful to have good dancers and wushu athletes who pick up the steps very fast. i have altogether 9 dancers, and out of the 9 dancers 6 are alumni and the remaining 3 are sec 3 students. as for the wushu students i also have 9 of them, whereby 3 are alumni boys, 3 boys from sec 3 and 3 girls from sec 2, and one of the 3 girls is a malay student. #applause to her for picking up a sport from a different culture and doing so well in it. i cannot imagine myself learning silat or excelling in it. 

my performers! missing najwa, the malay girl, because her art piece was chosen as a momento for Minister KBW. 

the wushu team! so happy to work with this bunch of wonderful wushu athletes. 

my 6 alumni dancers. missing the sec 3 students because they need to quick change for another dance item. 

and i really love this pic. my colleague video-ed our performance and whatsapp-ed it to me. i already sent the video to all the performers through whatsapp and instead of looing at their own hp, they crowd around me looking at my tiny hp screen. hahahaha how cute of them. 

and when you see all the performers posting pictures and sharing their happy thoughts as well as thanking me on instagram, you know that you have succeeded in creating a positive impact on them and honestly, this is the one of the perks of teaching that money cannot buy.

sharing with everyone some personal messages from my students. :)

"Yoz Mr Tan, want to thank you for this homecoming event! Thank you for giving us the opportunity to come together and perform on this stage again, it is definitely a very fresh and lovely experience to be doing the item with wushu and a chinesedance-wushuish style which is something new to me. Hehe I really love coming to the dance practices and you always make the atmosphere even more cheery and have alot of fun filled laughter. It is like the happy day of the week to escape poly work. Really great to have a teacher like you around, the papa of dance club. Super grateful for your precious time and investments for us too. Thank you Mr Tan. Would love to come back for dance events again. And next time bring Yuanze, he too cute liao."

"Hello Mr Tan! I finally have time to text you! Thank you for making this event possible and memorable. I still remember the time when I told you I will consider first because I did not have confidence but you said you have faith in me. Honestly that sentence gave me alot of encouragement and I went for it thinking I will do it no matter how hard it gets. And that decision is by far the best decision I have made this year because it was better than I expected. Thank you for making this possible, the amount of effort you put into choreographing the dance, the amount of effort you put into coming to school on saturday mornings to guide us, really, thank you! And sorry if I gave you a hard time guiding me in this dance because I am a slow learner and sorry because I think our dance did not really meet your expectations. But still, thank you for everything you have done! Rest well!"

"Hi Mr Tan! Thanks for giving me, Mant and Jack the opportunity to work with you for this performance. I really appreciate how you took care of us and being a very positive teacher. Hope to work in the future with you."

thank you to all performers. all of you made my heart filled with love. :) 

JW Marriott

JW Marriott is the most atas brand of the Marriott hotels. 

i went to JW Marriott New York in 2014. i remembered that it looks very majestic. and the moment you step in, you know that this hotel is different. a class above the rest. 

i had the fortune to stay in JW Marriott Hanoi in 2015. it also look very majestic, and its design is in the form of the head of a dragon. when i check in, the front staff was very nice to give me an upgrade. the room that i stayed at was really WOW. room was big, and toilet was also big. toilet was in fact as big as the room. 

i also remembered that the breakfast at JW Marriott Hanoi was very good. i honestly dun mind going to vietnam again, just to stay at that hotel. hahahaha. next time when yuanze gets older can bring him and darling go there and stay, and also go to halong bay. i think both of them will like that. :)

ok so back to the main topic. last weekend we had a staycation at JW Marriott South Beach. it is a new hotel in singapore, and it is just opposite suntec city, beside shaw tower. the location is really excellent. it is accessible by the citylink underpass, and you can go to marina square, suntec city and raffles place very conveniently. 

#GGMU

yuanze was really so happy rolling around on the bed. 

but honestly... me and darling feel that the hotel room is a bit small. the room that we get at tangs marriott is much bigger. the only wow thing about the hotel room is the automated toilet bowl that you see at japan. 

i do like the infinity pool. of course cannot compare with the infinity pool at MBS lahhhh but i think is good enough. can see the fullerton area very clearly. the only thing that i dun like is the water is TOOOO COLDDDD. 

dun you find yuanze's pose very familiar? hahahahahaha. 

the niece also had a really great time at the pool. seeing hers and yuanze's happy faces also make me very happy. :)

verdict: darling and i still prefer our staycation at intercontinental. sorry JW. 

June Hols 2017

really loving the june hols, because it allows me to take a good break from work, do the things i like, catch up with ex students and spend time with my family. 

on saturday my show choir students came to woodlands to visit me. prepared kimchi salmon and my own version of yakitori for them. they were my first students to taste the kimchi salmon and ever since then they kept raving about it. they also bought chaiterase cakes for dessert, as well as some groceries from ntuc for me, and thanks to them i can eat that bag of chips with the super addictive cheese sauce for a late night snack just now. yum yum! chaiterase cakes taste really good, and taste even better when everyone are sharing the cakes together. this sunday when i go back to tampines i will go and buy! 

this morning we brought yuanze to the nearby park for a walk. and on our way back we bump into derek and his family. tell me, what are the odds?! so of course must take a photo together, and i had the chance to carry both his twins, and both of them cried in my arms. aiyohhhhhh... 

in the afternoon we brought yuanze out to east coast park, with my in-laws. my FIL wanted to bring him to go ecp to play at this gigantic playground and also look at the sea. the weather was really very good today just that it was too........ HOT. 

and i finally got the chance to see the new macdonald at ecp, after it has been relocated. and the concept is so cool. it has been many years since i went to ecp. the last time i went is for wushu trainings with derek to prepare for wushu competition. he has a wushu studio over there. i think that was back in 2013 or 2014? my god time flies. when i drove past that area just now it is all hoarded up by NParks. i wonder what big project is undergoing. 

that's why i love the june holidays. 4 more days and bye bye protected june holidays. next week must go back to sch liao. :'(