Chingay reflections :D

Yuling~

This was my second time going to Chingay, and I was again amazed by the sheer scale and beauty of the parade. The performers were people from all races, performing together on floats with perfect unity. There were people of all ages, with even toddlers participating in the performance. It reflected Singapore's community where age, race, language and creed are no barriers and we celebrate together as one. Each float represented how Singapore was a multi-racial society with a mixture of races in both performers and the design of the floats.

And there were horses...!! Real, live horses!!!<3<3<3 That was what got me excited the most as there simply aren't many chances to see horses in Singapore. And i love them ^^ Following that, it was time for straw horses to make their appearance. Big, straw horses with a 财神爷 on top. Nice, but funny.

Another segment I found interesting was when people walked in on stilts with sparklers on their backs. It was so cool *\(^o^)/* but OMG what if they fell?? ><>< okay...don't wanna think about that. A lot of effort has been put in to make the grand floats and beautiful costumes. But that makes me think of how costly the whole thing is. I was only there for the full-dress rehearsal, not the real performance, and many students from many different schools were also there, each person receiving a goodie bag. That would not have been the only rehearsal, and thinking of cost of all the goodie bags plus the confetti, fireworks and all during the performance everytime... it must have been quite a sum.

Another plus was the fact that I could get high with my friends for a few hours, shouting and cheering. (LOL, RV was the lone hyper school. XD) And yay to pom-poms. I can never get enough of them. Overall, it was an educational but nonetheless fun experience and I was happy that I could share it with my friends.

Constance~

It was my first time going to the chingay parade and I think that it was really an enriching and fun experience. That day, I could feel the unity among the different races as I saw the diverse ethnicities and nationalities coming together as one to perform in this Chingay parade. On some of the floats, performers of different races were standing together on it, showing the unity among races as they were not separated by race or any other factors.

One thing that i really enjoyed was the mass children ballet display as I think that they really performed very well at such a young age! I was also really fascinated by the animated and interactive Giant Puppet Contingent which was up to 4metres tall as I could not understand how they could actually control such a big giant puppet so well. Also, there were real horses which were a first for me as I have never seen any real horses before. It is definitely a rare opportunity to see them. I think that the performers and the many others who had helped had also put in a lot of effort for the Chingay parade, and I really appreciate it as they definitely would have to work very hard to show everyone the wonderful and well-coordinated performance which only lasted a few hours.

Overall, I think that I had learnt much from this multi-cultural Chingay parade and really enjoyed it, and I would wish to go again if I had a chance.

Shin Ru~

       Witnessing the annual Chingay parade made me realize how much hard work was put into the parade, even the rehearsals were so intricate and well planned. The theme is also changed annually and the floats and performers are changed respectively, thus, this shows the importance of this event. The floats and performers did not fail to meet and definitely exceeded my expectations of a parade. The dresses were detailed and fit perfectly to the parade theme,"Colours of fabric, One People". 

   The Chingay parade was the first parade I have ever attended and it definitely amazed me to the point of wanting to experience it again. The themes also meant a lot and served to emphasize the importance of racial harmony and how it has maintained the peace in Singapore since the beginning. The floats were also decorated lavishly with "people" of different races and large scales decorations. They were one of the main mood makers of the parade, garnering many "oohs" and "ahhs" from the audience.

     The performers also shocked the audience with the bright Colours on their dresses, and their dances. Their hard work was evident in the confidence they exuded and their dances. Performers of all age and races gathered together to bring us this wonderful performance. The songs and dances brought up the atmosphere and made us sway along with them.
     Through the Chingay parade, I learnt many valuable lessons, in the midst of enjoying myself such as determination and the importance of racial harmony in a small country like Singapore, which is unable to afford any social differences as they would drastically impact its economy and overall welfare.  

      The parade, as a whole, was very enjoyable and made me look forward to another chance to go, and honestly, I would definitely not mind taking part in it~.

Cherlyn~

This year's Chingay was my first ever Chingay I have went to and I was really excited to go. When we reached the venue, the place was decorated really nicely there and as I walked to my seat, there were many performers all dressed nicely for the performance and seeing that, it got me really excited and curious on what the performances will be like.

Throughout all the performances that was performed during the event, one of the performance that caught my attraction the most was the mass children ballet. During he performance, there were many performers there performing and despite that, everybody was very coordinated and even those little kids were performing gracefully and in coordination to all the other performers. Not only that, I was really impressed by the little kids to be able to dance so nicely and they all looked really cute during the whole performance. Therefore, it left a huge impression on me.

Everyone's spirt was still high at the end of the event and our whole level started to do cheers and this really made me feel very warm and the action was really heartfelt. At first, I thought that everyone would just ignore the cheer and not tag along cheering, making the cheer sound awkward however I was proved wrong, everyone cheered on along, showing the school spirit. The school spirit is really something that makes me feel warm and somehow encourage me to have more courage to do things I wouldn't do in the past such as cheering together with my friends, being able to speak loudly infront of others and not being the shy timid person that will get bullied easily. Therefore I really like the schools spirit and I felt very warm especially during this event.

However, despite everyone being all high and enjoying themselves, I think that they should perhaps spare a little thought about the people clearing up the mess of the place and not just leave their rubbish such as plastic wrappers, unwanted pom-poms and tissue paper all scattered and thrown I the floor. The floor is not a rubbish bin for everyone to dump their rubbish. Should everyone do so, the place turn out to be an unsightly stinky rubbish dump and wouldn't this affect your mood? Not only that, if everyone did their own little part by throwing the waste at where they should, there would be lesser rubbish not he floor and this would also lessen down the work load of others who had to clean up the mess. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the whole performance andthr I really hope to get to go another time again as it was really fun and the performances were all very nice performed out. Not forgetting, I also appreciate the school for letting our whole cohort go together to the Chingay.

Sean~

           This year was the first time that I ever been to chingay and it was a surprise for me . Before going up the bus,  I was actually quite reluctant to go for the chingay parade as I always thought that it was boring and a waste of time . However , when I reached the venue, my impression changed completely. The place was decorated beautifully and the dancers too were in beautiful clothes showing how much effort was put in for the performance . Since then on, I started to like the parade even more and was curious to find out what would come out during the performance . 

             Since the performance started , I was completely taken aback . The performances were very well planed and the performers seemed like they knew the moves at the back of their hands . Furthermore , the performances was very eye catching and interesting . There were people of all races and ages performing during the parade and everything went well.

              After the parade, most of the year 2's from River Valley High started cheering and I felt that we were all united , everyone of us.In conclusion, I really enjoyed the performance and hope to go for the parade again.