It's over...finally!
After almost one week of not blogging, I have finally resurfaced to update my blog. I must say it has truly been an eventful week for me, with the holiday in Malacca and Let's Twist Story Dramatisation.

After the three-day holiday in Malacca(which I will blog about in my subsequent entries), it was a frantic 2 days of rehearsals and more rehearsals for Diamonds That Rust. Sadly, we only received the consolation prize for the effort but what was most important was the fact that we all tried our very best! Thanks to the wonderful support of everyone, Mrs Sum, MBA, the storytellers' parents, as well as the people rooting for us at home and couldn't come because of some reason or another. Thank you so much for believing in us.

We wanted to do the school proud and bring everyone better news. However, the competition was tough, much tougher than what we had expected. Well, 3 of the 5 schools actually sent their Drama Club members. Come to think of it, our school was probably the only school who had sent Sec 1 students (the others all sent their sec 2s and 3s). This was their first time and mine, as well, to be involved in a National competition of 51 schools. Perhaps we lost out due to the lack of experience, but nevertheless, I'm sure we all benefitted from the exposure which we would not get in school.

Let me now narrate a little story to you:

Once upon a time, there was a team of Sec 1 students (Heidi, Hup Song, Nabeel, Shazlin and Sheryl) who were invited to participate in Let's Twist Story Dramatization. They called themselves 'Diamonds That Rust'. Although they were aware of the amount of work it would bring them, they responded with extreme elation and enthusiasm. In fact, they were happy to be given the honour and opportunity to take part in a national event.

Initially, they wanted to use the story of the Little Match Girl. However, the storyline was too predictable and probably unable to sustain audience's attention for long. Being a perfectionist and rather finicky, I told them to rewrite the script. Despite the fact that they had already written it out, Heidi started from scratch to write the story of Rapunzel. This time round, there was quality in the script. There were some literature elements in it, use of rhyme, dramatic effect, even soliloquy. I was impressed and everything started from this wonderful script!

During the holidays, these 5 people came back almost every single day to practise and to design the props. They did all these without any complaints and did them most willingly and with their best effort. I was tired and exhausted from coming to school everyday but their keenness and zest for performance kept me going. I never knew that these teens (Nabeel told me not to call them 'kids') have such perseverance. They acted, swayed and charmed their way into the finals. When the news was broken to them, all of them responded with equal excitement and hysteria.

They displayed equal zest after that. On the day of the competition, they reached school at 7.30am to rehearse before journeying all the way to West Mall. It wasn't until 2 pm that they had their performance. At 4pm, when the results were announced, I could sense the disappointment in their faces but they did not say it out loudly. Frankly speaking, I was disappointed because in my heart, they were one of the better performers that day. It was then that I realised that it was not the results that mattered, but the journey they took that mattered to them. They had learnt much more than what they had learnt by sitting in class.

I am grateful for the chance to get to know these 5 diamonds better during the rehearsals. Somehow, we have bonded in the process. Despite all the scoldings, criticisms, harsh remarks, we had great fun too, to be able to act along with these gems, to see them enjoying themselves doing silly things. I will never regret taking on this project. I bet it is the same for these 5 diamonds. These 5 diamonds were initially raw, dull and lacked lustre. After some polishing, they have emerged to be confident teens who are able to shine without fear in front of an audience of 300.

With that, I end my blog with a photo tribute to Diamonds That Rust. Thank you!
- posted by NaNa @ 7:52 AM