Dancing in Kuala Lumpur

Rather than retelling the stories I have heard from the girls this morning, pics are probably the best way to go...

So here is their KL trip!! The premise of the trip was this: A cultural exchange between Australia and Malaysia meant that there were opportunities for dancers to go to Kuala Lumpur to perform as part of "Australia Week". They were performing at Shopping Centres mainly, the water theme park show was cancelled during the trip but was replaced with two shows at The Pavilion which apparently is a massive (12 stories) shopping centre that has only been open for a short time. The troupe from Westside Performing Arts had the honour of being the first performers to be on stage at The Pavilion. In between, the girls got to see the sites, experience a new culture and be tourists themselves. They have had a wonderful time and I am so glad we took the chance to send Kate for the dancing and Brooke for the fun of it.

Here's just some of the over 200 pics and vids!

Group shot at Sydney Airport. The team looking all red in their uniforms.

Niki was amazed that everywhere they went locals wanted to have their photo taken with the girls. Kate & Brooke and the other young ones were particularly in demand.

Kate & Brooke out the front of a mosque on day 1 during their city tour.

Niki and the girls get a shot of themselves in front of the Petronas Towers... they didnt get a chance to go up during the trip.

Group shot before the first show. Kate is front row right with flag, Brooke is the munchkin standing with the bigger girls.

Now Brooke wasn't actually a part of the show. Niki brought her along just for the experience. But she was made very much a part of the group and did appear on stage at a couple of shows at the smaller centres. Here, she gets some of that experience with having to carry the flags ;)
Kate backstage for Show 1 pumped and ready to go!

And here is Brooke in an impromptu performance on stage... she came out with the singers at the begininning holding the flag... she didn't have a costume, so they snagged an Aussie t-shirt! No rehearsal, out you go!

After the first show... the stuffed Koala mascot and the girls pose for photos. This became a normal thing and soon locals were getting their kids into the shots as well.

The Pavilion. Niki takes a shot from one of the balconies down to where the girls would dance. That grey area is sponsored by Hewlett Packard and the dancers, and in particular the singers had to work HP into the lyrics... even the lead singer had to sing with a HP portable in his hands! You have to be good to the sponsors!! In addition, The Pavilion was a huge space and the crowds were around the balconies in big numbers.


On stage during the Pavilion shows... Kate is on the left



The opening number of the Pavilion show... Kate is in the 2nd row from the right in the foreground in blue...



The later show again at the Pavilion... Kate is on the left in the front. She gets a bit obscured at times by the pole though.

Afterwards the crowds once again wanted their shots with the little girls being in big demand. Here Kate poses with one of her fans ;)

Brookie also had her fans! This guy was just one of many people who found Brooke adorable... she was apparently a bit taken back by all the attention, but soon was lapping it up!

This is a sample of what the crowds were like after a show... heaps of people, lots of cameras. Niki was amazed at that. In addition, KL is a city of extremely friendly and tolerant people. There are Indians, Malays and Chinese with all their differing religions and degrees of belief. There are full on Buddist and Hindu monks and Islamic people in full Muslim dress (note the woman in the bhurka (sp?) in this shot) all the way through to people of those faiths who have a more western lifestyle. The point is that all these people of races and religions mix freely and mix well. There is something that can be said about Australia in that...

Of course after the shows there were the parties! The Pavilion in particular put on KFC and Pizza for the kids. People from the management came down and thanked the girls for their shows and were very happy with the result. I am sure HP was happy too! ;)
And of course, the mums who went as well! Niki had a great time and enjoyed herself too!

And in between the shows, there was the shopping... KL is filled with massive shopping centres so they were put to good use. Here are the girls as they're about to hit the tiles so to speak!

In addition to the shopping, the girls got to see some of the more historical sites... Here they're at the Batu Caves which is a series of caves atop a large set of stairs and there is a temple inside.

A closer look at the statue and the imposing stair case!


The temple inside the caves... one of the people was singing their prayers. Very peaceful.

And what trip to SE Asia would be complete without some snakes! The look on Kate's face is priceless!


The motto the girls adopted was "try something different for Daddy"... well they did!


And some Monkey business!

Home! The last shot... this is when they landed this morning after their overnight flight. Brooke slept, but Kate actually slept walked around the plane at around 4am and didn't rest after that... apparently she went all the way down to Business Class from the back of the plane!!

The Girls Have Landed

Got a text and then a call at 12:45am this morning... the girls had made it to KL and were in their hotel room. It was nearly 11pm their time and they were tired, but all very excited. Niki had me on speaker phone and between all the squeeling and cheering, I learnt that their hotel room was very lush, they had a view of the Petronas Towers and that there was a mini-bar with chocolates! Yes, I think Kate & Brooke will need to be taught the lesson of how expensive mini-bar chocolates are! lol.

They have a free day today with a 10am dance meeting and then a city tour. The performances start tomorrow.

The flight itself was no drama, the girls had a great time and the inflight entertainment system was great apparently and apparently each seat had a telephone in which you could call other passengers... mmm, I can imagine the racket that 30 girls can make on a plane when they each have a telephone! I hope the other passengers enjoyed their travelling experience! ;-)

Dancing Weekend!

A tiring weekend has just passed...

Niki has been rather unwell this week and the weekend was hectic with the girls playing Netball, Kate having dance practice and Niki's Dad's birthday on Saturday and today was "Dancing Scholarship Day" in which the girls did ballet routines to get a years tuition for nix.

Unfortunately they didn't win, but they did really well and the competition was very good. To get up there and do the routines is quite a feat for the girls!



But not only was it Dancing Scholarship, but Niki as Chairperson of the Fund Raising Committee had their first crack at raising money for the trip to the USA in about 2011. They need to raise $50K and it started with a Cake Stall and a Canteen / BBQ. Niki manned the stall all day from 9:30am until 4pm and I did the BBQ. If I never see a Bacon & Egg roll again and a sausage sandwich, I'll be happy! lol.

It all went well and nearly $300 were raised. Its a start!

Kate's Dance...

As promised, here is Kate's dance...

She did this all by herself... she choreographed it, wrote all the moves out, practiced and got me to truncate the song to a reasonable length.

Then she had to go out and actually perform it to a school hall full of people...

Alot braver than I would have been at her age - even now at my age.

Kitty Kats

Kate & Brooke made their debut for the Kitty Kats at last nights Penrith vs St George game. The video is really shonky particularly as I realised the camera crew were focusing in on Kate and she was on tele.

For the record, the girls are on the right hand side when they split in two. Kate is in the front of the line and Brooke is right behind her.



And some sideline antics:

The Dance of the Tooth Fairy

Yesterday was a big day for Kate... she had her Grade 1 Ballet exam and was very keen to do well...

Then, during the State of Origin, (the night before her exam) she came out to the lounge room and her mouth was bleeding and she was very upset.

As she should have been as the molar tooth that was being used to hook her orthodontic expander in had fallen out and whilst it was out of the gum, it was still attached to the expander!

We calmed her down, got the tooth free and she spent the night in our bed given she was very sore and sorry... she had a whole where her tooth had been and now had the sharp hook of the expander catching on the hole and I guess her tongue and gums.

Nevertheless, she got up in the morning, did the ballet exam and came out beaming that she had done well and hadnt made any mistakes! Then it was off to the orthodontist who did an emergency patch job in which he clamped the now free wire like expander so that it wouldn't be sharp in her mouth, but she will still have it for at least another couple of months...

She was very brave to do her exam and she seems to have done very well and we await the results...

Grade 1 Ballet Exam

More Winners

After yesterday's triumphant day at Netball, it was Brooke's turn to shine when she performed in her very first dance eisteddfod for Westside Performing Arts. The dance eisteddfod's are age group competitions in which girls compete in routines as teams.

Brooke's team won her age group at the first attempt! We were all very proud... she did really well.

Sad thing about today's society though was that photography was banned due to the "Child Protection Act". Of course a DVD is available for a largesse sum of cash... but still, not to be able to take snaps at the venue is a bit sad.

Anyways, we took some photo's early this morning before we left. Click thru to a Picasa Web Album of all the photo's we took today...

Brooke's Eistedfod Debut

Concert Wrap

The concert was a great success!  The girls did their dances and were really good.  Kate had stepped up to an older age bracket this year and was involved in slightly more complex dances but she did really great!

Brookie was again front and centre on the stage during her dance to the Purple People Eater and was exceptional.

The night was very long though and the kids didn’t get to bed until 11pm, but it was well worth it.  Thanks to everyone who rang to wish them well and thanks to Mum & Dad and Beryl & Lynne for coming out to see the girls – it meant a lot to them.  Particularly Mum who had broken her wrist that morning…

Photos soon to come…