So today we celebrated National Day at Cedar.
There were the usual proceedings of an outdoor parade, where the various uniformed groups (Red Cross Youth, Girl Guides, NCC and NPCC) did a brilliant job of marching and executing other assorted foot drill manoeuvres. The school did a great job of applauding them as well.
The uniformed groups are a great source of pride in Cedar and rightly so.
Special mention must go to the Cedar Symphonic Band, who have rehearsed tirelessly and displayed great patience in playing the same tunes again and again, for producing a near flawless performance (because nothing, save one, in this world is perfect) today.
Then the celebrations moved indoors.
The highlight for me was the dance performance put up jointly by the Cedar dancers and five, um, mature ladies.
Great job, Charmaine, Chewy, Julynn, Huiyi and the rest!
It somehow encapsulated the true spirit of National Day for me, more than the red and white dressing, more than the snazzy music videos featuring Stefanie Sun, Kit Chan, et al, more than the spirited singing of National Day songs.
It’s easy to be caught up in patriotic fervour when it comes all nicely packaged in a party atmosphere and with a stamp of approval from popular culture.
However, the effort and time taken to help those ladies reach a level where they were comfortable enough to perform on stage in front of more than a thousand people and to perform with such ease and enjoyment warmed the very cockles of my heart.
It spoke, to me, of hope.
A hope of a reality where love for nation, where patriotism, goes far beyond propagandistic cliche, and is revealed in gritty, down to earth love for one’s fellow person.
As ridiculously idealistic as i sound, that was what i felt as i watched the young and the old, the well-off and the not-so-well-off, the educated and the less-educated, the fortunate and the less fotunate becoming one in the synergy unique to dance.
Amidst the cacophony of youthful voices, flashing lights of myriad hues, and pistoning bodies, that one pristine hope stood out for me.
Thank you, dancers, for providing that one ray of light on National Day’s eve.
Thank you, Father, for reminding me that love, whether for individual person or a collective like my country, Singapore, is about practical action.
Oh yeah, and happy birthday Singapore.
Have a truly good one this year.
I didn’t know how our dance was so thought intriguing.
i thought it was utterly embarrasing (X
Mr Sng, you didn’t say anything about the mass dance…
i think you meant thought-provoking, right, charmaine?
well, it was.
and, no, it wasn;t. embarrassing, that is, julynn.
ah, the wonder of performance. never fails to amaze, yah?
what would you like me to say about the mass dance?
“what would you like me to say about the mass dance? ”
yes, that would save us from further embarrassment.
wah, the band got special mention! the i/cs thanked everyone except the band. okay though we’re pretty much included in “all cedarians”.
mass dance was super fun lah! talk abt school spirit! like check out the bandits facing the school & dancing in our band uniforms. HAHAHA.