My Itchy Fingers

There were some great pre-parade performances this year…Not sure about last year, cos we din arrive early enough :p There were some groups which performed on both nights while some only did so for one night. Of the many pre-parade performances, this group of mostly young malays really warmed up the audiences with their energetic Hip-hop and street dancing…incorporating a bit of cheerleading dance…

The Fantastic Crew…

I also like the energy displayed by a drum group and how at the end they were able to interact with the audiences. But we din take any photos of them because most of the time they were back facing us! I think all the performing groups should always switch their positions every now and then to face audiences from both sides of the road. :O

Compared to last year, there seemed to be more groups doing dragon dancing or floats that looked like dragons…and more involving fire….Er, I thought this year is supposed to be Year of (Earth) Ox and not Year of (Fire) Dragon? Not many cows appeared, except for this ugly one…or did Itchyfingers missed out others?

I dunnu, but I thought this cow looked more like a demon, swaggering like
a gangster cow :p Er…maybe cows dun fit in the theme of ‘Wonderland’?

Playing with fire…

Spitting fire!

Fire from dragon!

And for those paying audiences sitting in front of the Padang, there were also the Fire Dragon troupe from Zhongqing, China with spectacular display of fire thrown in the air. Of course, there was also the fire-burning performance by a local illusionist. Such fiery night!

Besides the absence of cow figures, for a while we also thought we were in a some kind of national funeral procession…. :p cos many of the groups, especially those chinese cultural or religious group had some sort of lorries or other moving vehicles that really reminded us of, er, well, a funeral procession….

Er, looked like funeral or not? :p Haha…there were some lorries and vans 
decorated with lights but they really looked like funeral hearse….hahahah…. 

There seemed to have a lot more monsters parading around too…especially from the grand finale group…

Fox lady

Monstrous group…

The mask from Indonesia..

But most of the time, audiences were dazzled by the many colourful costumes donned by the various groups.

So graceful

So colourful

The headgears were also very fanciful

Fiery pink!

?
Food…glorious food….golden lobster, anyone? 

Beautiful fan dancing from Korea

There were no lack of comical acts…

Oops!

It’s funny just looking at the guys’ makeups…

And there were also heart-warming moments…

Just when everyone had their eyes pinned on the gracious Korean dancers
busy performing to entertain the audiences, these two best-of-friends from
different racial backgrounds were happily holding hands in their own world…

There was this whole colony of insects – ants, butterflies and bees…

Ants stealing cheese and muffins…

Another ant…

Lady Bee

We also had celebrity making star appearance….

Bart Simpson!

The rock-n-roll dancing from some kids were also entertaining. Everyone was dancing with a partner, but this little boy seemed to have lost his partner…

But he was having as much fun dancing alone!  

Then on the actual parade night, we tried to look for him to see if he had found his partner this time…and yes! He had a partner! And the cute thing was his partner was this youngest girl in the group…

See the little young lady! At such young age, she demonstrated skillful footworks!
We were glad for the boy for having a partner this night, but it was only now
looking at the photo that we realised that right behind this boy, there was
another boy dancing alone again! 

Oh my goodness! Were Itchyfingers’ eyes doing tricks or were these two 
boys twins? They looked so alike! Now we weren’t sure which of these two
boys was the first lonely boy on the preview night! Confused liao!  

Itchyfingers will definitely be back for more on next year’s Chingay Parade!

Also see related posts:
> Before the Show – Chingay Wonderland 2009 #2
> Beauties and the Beasts – Chingay Wonderland 2009 #1 
> Colours of Spring – Sentosa Flowers 2009
> Faces of Youth – Chingay Parade of Dreams 2008 

Being early to catch the Chingay performers’ preparation was interesting as you really got to see them close and catch all the candid moments. Since it was gonna be a long night, obviously they had to make sure that the stomach won’t go empty…

Munching on burgers….

Eating rice with hands…

After filling the stomach, the time was still early, then how?

Wait here lor….

Or wait there lor…

If not…

Touch up make-up a bit lor… :p

Luckily there were so many photographers around, so the performers could kill time by posing for photos…

So last minute…or last split seconds before the shutter released, an extra head
will pop up lor… :p 

If no one took photos for you, maybe can also self-entertain…

You take my photo and I take yours lor…

Some groups arrived later…probably something wrong with the props? :p

Oh no, the butterfly’s dead! :p

Besides those that looked seemingly unfriendly or unapproachable maybe due to the make-ups or masks that put Itchyfingers off from taking their photos, these groups of guys also made Itchyfingers feel so shy photographing them…

Aiyo! Full bus load of guys wearing skin-clinging spaghetti-strapped tops! 
Er…but how come none looked fit har? Then maybe the costume designer 
should use some other fabric? Er..and why the shirts all got big faces har?
Not very nice leh…. 

It was only later during the parade that we realised why…

The tummies transformed into faces! Hahaha….no wonder they needed guys
with big tummies…  

And they actually looked quite funny and cute now! Hahaha…

Sometimes, if you caught the performers in the right mood, you might even get to see free performances meant only for those who paid for a seat at the Padang. 

The Javanese fanning his super big mask in the middle of the road that
had only partial road block…. 

The Javanese ladies started dancing on the street…maybe they needed some 
warm ups? 

The photographers must be the happiest cos immediately these ladies were
surrounded by at least 20 or 30 flashing cameras…!

Then the big big mask also joined in…they all danced around and then suddenly, in a shift and skilled manner, one of the Javanese ladies jumped and mounted herself on the big mask!

And swayed along with the music! Tisu Girl’s view was blocked by the many
photographers that were so much taller!  

True enough, they were not in the same mood to do an impromptu performance on the next day. So we were lucky on the first day to see them performing for at least five minutes before proceeding to the parade ground to get ourselves a good spot. Yeah! Worth all the time and effort spent reaching so early before the show!

Also see related posts:
> Beauties and the Beasts – Chingay Wonderland 2009 #1 
> Colours of Spring – Sentosa Flowers 2009
> Faces of Youth – Chingay Parade of Dreams 2008