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The Night is Yang
BY CNYSC PRESS & PUBLICITY PORTFOLIO
The Night is Yang 2016 was held in the evening at the NTU Campus Clubhouse. Given the superb performances of previous contestants back in 2015, many of us were eager to give our friends our votes and, more importantly, the fullest support.
The evening started off a little differently, with dinner being served to feed hungry participants before the night’s events. Grabbing our drinks and plates of food (creamy fish, green curry, fried rice etc.), we stepped into the Orchid Room and saw contestants busy with their warm-ups while supporters tried to calm their nerves.
Hadi, one of our participants, preparing for a sound check
Towards the back of the room was a large, black poster with random equations printed along the periphery. Gold and silver markers were provided for us to write notes of encouragement and random scribbles but, in true CN Yang fashion, it was soon filled with Gaussian and Schrodinger equations amongst many others. Some drew cute cartoon figurines across the black background while others scrambled for photographs with the uniquely CN Yang backdrop.
The Night is Yang 2016
At about 6.45, our Very Entertaining Emcees (VEE) picked up their mikes and ushered us back to our seats. As our judges took their seats, our first contestant, Hadi, settled onto the stage with his guitar. The random chattering fell quickly into silence as we sat in rapt attention, listening to the gentle strums that accompanied his soothing voice. Our second and third contestants, Soon Nan and Lu Qi, were met with no less enthusiasm from the crowd. After Lu Qi’s nostalgic performance of a Digimon theme song, it was about time to commence with our first game of the evening.
Entitled the Attire Check, the CNYSC Social and Welfare portfolio prepared an entertaining video for us before selecting eight participants. Associate Professor Tan Choon Hong (Director of the CN Yang Scholars’ Programme) gamely took his place on the stage as we called his name with fervour. A pile of school uniforms had been collected and left in the middle of the stage, and participants were to put on the appropriate school uniform when the name of a school was flashed on the screen. Then, they had to report to our very convincing ‘Discipline Master’ (Hoe Feng Yu – President of the CNYSC 8th Executive Committee) for an ‘attire check’. Participants ran up and down the aisle, scrambling to present their finished products to the Discipline Master.
Scrambling for the appropriate uniforms
After giving us time to calm down and grab more dinner, Hui Qin took to the stage a chilling rendition of a sombre Mandarin pop song. We held our breaths as she whispered the last note and broke into thunderous applause. Our very own CN Yang Jam Band, comprising of most of the second year Mechanical Engineering majors, followed her performance. Performing a mash-up with guitars and keyboards, they named the band ‘Woon Ping’ as a show of solidarity for the only second year Mechanical Engineering major who was unable to participate. The sixth contestant, Zi Xin, a final year Biological Sciences major, performed a traditional piano rock song that resonated through the room.
The second and final game of the evening, ‘Quiz Up’, was filled with intellectual challenges including rearranging sentences and ‘list down the value of pi to the first ten decimal places’ (to which our contestant, Jia Xuan, listed eleven decimal places instead). After some photo taking, we were down to the final contestants of the evening.
Jia Xuan (in orange) sprinting down the aisle before scribbling down the 11 decimal places of pi
With Hoi Ki presenting a beautiful cover of YouTube artists, Hui Ting’s powerful delivery of a Mandarin song, and Loi’s enchanting cover of a Broadway classic, each contestant gifted us with different, yet no less impressive, genres of music.
The evening drew to a close with a lucky draw session, announcement of our finalists, and a group photo taking. Our five finalists (Hui Qin, Hui Ting, Hadi, Woon Ping and Zi Xin) will be performing during our annual CN Yang Dinner and Dance at Crowne Plaza in two weeks. Nonetheless, we would like to thank all participants and the Social and Welfare portfolio for having made the evening an immensely enjoyable one!
Our finalists. From left: Hui Qin, Hui Tin, Hadi, Woon Ping and Zi Xin