Oasis of Line Dancing
The Star Spectacular Hoe Down on 22 Jun'13 - Charitable and lovely Yu Puay did it again!
Charitable and Pretty Yu Puay did it again; her unique way of contributing to linedancing and the society - The Star Spectacular Hoe Down on 22 Jun'13. Read on...
STAR SPECTACULAR FUND-RAISING HOE DOWN
June 22, 2013 – KUCHING, Malaysia – The Karar Line Dancing group of Kuching, together with Sobrielo Philip Gene of Singapore, brought line dancers together and gave them a day of spectacular dancing. The hoe down this year, themed Star Spectacular, received a welcoming response from line dancers from Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor, Singapore, Australia, United States, Canada and of course Kuching. The event was especially to raise funds for D’Wira Child Care Centre.
The hoe down kicked off with a morning workshop by special guest and up-and-coming line dance star Tajali Hall from Canada. She was brought in especially for the event. About 100 people filled the Stampark Recreation Hall in BDC Kuching for the three-hour workshop which gave participants the opportunity to learn dances choreographed and taught by Tajali. The dances taught were - ‘I Don’t Want To Be’, ‘Compass or Map’ and ‘And the People Said’.
Tajali said “I really enjoyed teaching the group. I’m definitely coming back here!” This was her first time in Asia.
The event continued in the evening with a dinner dance party. More than 290 people attended the dinner. The event kicked off at 5.30pm with the emcee, Philip, announcing the title of the first dance. The line dancers packed the dance floor in the star-studded hall, going through 70 dances in total.
The floor-fillers for that night were: Lookabell (Niels Poulsen), Smack Dab (Tajali Hall), Rhythm of the Night (Simon Ward), Dance & Shout (D Bailey, R Hadisubroto, R Sarlemijn), Hairspray (Simon Ward & Rachael McEnaney), Shattered Dreams (Karl-Harry Winson), That Person, That Love (Country Bandwagon), Gangnam Style (Kay Jeong & Psy) and Moves Like Jagger (Yeo Yu Puay).
In between dances and over an 8-course Chinese dinner, guests were entertained with performances which started with the kids from D’Wira Child Care Centre - led by Ivy Ng - performing a mime entitled ‘Thank You’ to thank everyone who was there for contributing to the cause. Instructors from different parts of Malaysia, Singapore as well as Canada also came together to give a special performance themed ‘Toy Story’. For the final performance of the evening, 50 dancers from Karar Line Dancing and D’Wira – with ages ranging from 5 to 70, and with varying dancing experience of 2 months to 14 years – put together a rousing performance to the song “Higher Medley”.
“Eight of the children have joined the Karar dance classes since April; and 16 of them have been practicing the mime since May. They really enjoyed the event, a first for many of them,” said principal and founder of D’Wira, Jap Siew Moi.
“We sold almost the same number of tickets as the previous two years but this year we had a lot of sponsors and donors coming in, especially in the last two weeks before the event, That's why we could raise more money than previous years,” said organizer and co-founder of Karar Line Dancing, Yeo Yu Puay.
Among the dancers attending the event was Judy Teh from Johor - the first instructor the Karar Line Dancing group brought in to teach at a fund-raising event in 2003. “I was pleasantly surprised when I entered the hall to see thousands of stars cut from magazines strung together across the hall. It really felt like I was dancing under the stars. The organizers had done a fantastic job. What melted my heart was when the Karar line dancers performed their finale dance with the children of D’Wira. I am so proud of all of them.”
The Star Spectacular Hoe Down managed to raise a total of around RM25,688.60 for D’Wira Child Care Centre. “Thank you to the great organizers, all the sponsors, donors, helpers and to everyone who came for the event. The kids could not stop talking about it the few days after the event when I picked them up from school. It was a day they will remember,” said Jap.
D’Wira Child Care Centre was started four years ago by founder, Jap Siew Moi. The centre aims to give quality education to help the children of the urban poor break out of the poverty cycle. The school now has a total of 70 children and five teachers. No expense is spared to provide the best for each child - apart from education, they are given clothes, milk, a meal and they are even picked up from their homes to be taken to the centre. With no financial aid from the government, the centre depends solely on the good-will and generosity of friends and sponsors. The Star Spectacular Hoe Down was aimed to create a day of dance as well as to raise funds for a worthy cause.
Report by Tabitha Rani
Video links:
TAJALI’S TEACHES
I Don’t Want To Be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Compass or Map
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
And The People Said
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
THANK YOU MIME by Ivy Ng & the D’Wira Child Care Centre kids
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
HIGHER MEDLEY performance by Karar Line Dancers & the D’Wira Child Care Centre kids
https://www.youtube.com/watch?