Hot on the heels of the getai trend, Challenge ur Limits (CurL), one of the six Special Project groups in NTU Welfare Services Club (WSC), organised a musical event (getai-style) in the heartlands with special performances from various beneficiary groups. This was in collaboration with Jalan Besar GRC and Potong Pasir SMC Youth Executive Committee.

The event was themed as ARTS, which is an abbreviation for “Ability. Redefining the Society”, and it helped to raise awareness for the beneficiaries of Community Chest Singapore. It was held on 20 May 2017 at Kreta Ayer People’s Theatre, and the Guest-of-Honour was Dr Lily Neo, Member of Parliament for Jalan Besar GRC.

Getai is a traditional Chinese stage event that people organise to appease the gods and pray to their ancestors during the “Hungry Ghost Festival”. Over the years, getai has gained more acceptance with the public and started evolving into live entertaining performances at occasions such as celebration dinners outside the “Hungry Ghost Festival” period. Performers and hosts often conversed in various Chinese dialects, peppered their conversations with humour and dressed on stage in colourful and glittery costumes. Modern songs and evergreen classics were also sung with the accompaniment of a live band, much to the delight of the older audience. The getai culture has also begun to resonate with the younger crowd these days, as the media highlights it through television programmes (eg. GeTai Challenge), social media, etc.

CurL aims to increase awareness and promote interaction between the beneficiaries and general public. A unique event is organised every year for both the beneficiaries and public to bond together, break boundaries, challenge and exceed their personal limits. In turn, members of CurL also learn the value of perseverance as they overcome challenges, whether in life or school.

We would like to express our appreciation to the following organisations who has helped in one way or another to make this event a successful one – Singapore Polytechnic Graduates’ Guild, Sapore Italiano Singapore, Boon Musical Instrument Centre, ViolaMedia Fans Club and NTU WSC RSP Deaf Community.

The Highlights

The event had a huge turnout of approximately 1000 seniors, student volunteers, beneficiaries, artistes and special guests. Among the performers were popular getai artistes such as Babes (宝贝姐妹) and Tay Ying Ying (郑盈盈) who kick-started the event with a series of all-time favourite songs and an enjoyable short comedy skit.

In addition to these veteran performers, the audience were also treated to special performances by beneficiaries of Community Chest Singapore. They include hand-sign dances from The Singapore Association for the Deaf, an energetic hip-hop dance by children from Grace Orchard School and a ballet and Chinese dance by Luo Mang, a student from Eden School.

The Memories

Elegantly dressed Lou Mang from Eden School put up a graceful ballet performance.
Sadeaf Signifique and Mountbatten Vocational School shaking to the beat in a combined dance performance.
The lineup of performing getai artistes for ARTS.
The ARTS audience were each given a flower as a door gift. Look at the smiles!
This energetic hip-hop dance performance from Grace Orchard School got everyone in the audience clapping and stomping their feet to the beat.

 

Reflection #1 – The Challenges

Programme Flow

  • Time was not buffered for delays such as late arrival of guests, and therefore the programme did not start on time. The initial part of the programme was also uncoordinated.
  • A large majority of the audience were elderly persons and this meant that it took a longer time to usher them to their seats due to their physical condition.

Overlooking Logistics

  • Ushering the elderly into their seats in the theatre posed a huge challenge to student volunteers, as they had no prior experience in coordinating and executing such big scale musical events.
  • The tickets issued did not have seat numbering (just colour groupings) and hence caused confusion to the audience on where they could sit. For future events, pre-assigned seats should considered and tickets to reflect the seat numbers.
  • The audience were also not informed beforehand that food and drinks were prohibited in the theatre. This caused a bottleneck at the entrance of the theatre.

Reflection #2 – The Takeaways

Despite the many challenges, there were also positive feedback.

  • ARTS was a meaningful event which featured a perfect blend of both getai and beneficiaries’ performances in one evening.
  • Some of the beneficiaries’ performances were so good that it didn’t seem to the audience that it was done by people with disabilities. This helped CurL to achieve its objective in changing one’s mindset via the ARTS event.
  • The improvisation of the programme at the last minute, to facilitate the slow movement of the audience in and out of the theatre was commendable.