Concerns and thoughts for the upcoming committee for my beloved Dance Troupe @ AGM 2014
U Town Dance Atelier 1, 8pm, AGM 2014 on Jerry's bdae.
(Really hope some of you who know me can read this one day...)
Attended my beloved dance troupe AGM today...and maybe I was too delighted in seeing some of my closer juniors and peers that I neglected to focus on the AGM itself. After quite a chaotic decision making process, and thinking through what me, my peers and juniors have discussed regarding the suitable candidates for the new comm, I regretted not posing the crucial questions below at the candidates (oh they are the new comm members now). These are what I would have told the candidates and voters, which are very real concerns for seniors like me, who are worried about the future and survival of the dance troupe.
(To the candidates) I am glad that all of you have expressed your passion and willingness to run for the committee, and many of you hold many grand ideas on how to improve the troupe as a whole. But I would like to remind you that regardless of how many ingenious ideas you have for the troupe, these are all but empty promises. What we want to know is whether you have the ability and the drive to push through and fulfill these ideas, as well as your willingness to sacrifice your personal time to commit to the troupe.
Firstly, many of you mention that you have other commitments, and that you would strike a balance in both your dance commitments and the other commitments. Sorry to burst your bubble, but from past experiences, it doesn't work that way. There is no rest day being part of a dance committee. It's not like you just come for the days where there are tech classes or whenever you are free, or do your part for your role in the committee and that's it. There are many more administrative stuff that you have to plan and settle, especially when planning for a performance and during the period leading up to the show itself. You are gonna spend much more time than you think you would, just meeting up and planning about stuff, perhaps even 5 to 7 days in a week, if you include days of rehearsals. For those who have many other commitments, be they SEP, hall commitments, other CCA commitments, or family commitments, external dance commitments or whatever nonsense programmes, I would honestly like to advise you to reconsider running for this committee. If you have too many other commitments and you value them over your responsibility and duty as a committee member, you can always just contribute to our dance troupe by being a regular member, who is committed and comes for all the tech classes and practices, and volunteer your assistance to the comm whenever they need your help in admin or production related activities.
Secondly, some of you mention pretty good ideas. Introducing new dance genres during tech classes to make them interesting in order to attract more members, inviting external well-established dance instructors to give classes to increase the dance exposure of current members, bridging the drastic gap/disparity in the standard of all the members in the troupe through holding additional classes to weaker members, working with the CFA and our instructors to hold several smaller-scale events to give dancers without background more onstage experiences, as well as getting seniors/alumni back to take tech classes on the days when the technique tutors are not free. Do you think the previous committees have not thought of all these before? What hinders them in realizing all these ideas that are beneficial to the troupe? There are very real concerns and problems in realizing all these grand ideas. Where do you get all the resources, manpower and money to invite external instructors to conduct classes here? Who is going to come up with the classes of other dance genres such as hip hop, and would that go against the direction of our dance troupe? Are those candidates who propose additional classes going to volunteer yourself and sacrifice some of your free time to lead the weaker dances in the additional classes...if not, then who will? How do you convince your seniors/alumni to return to conduct tech classes for the juniors? What if the seniors/alumni are not free to turn up and conduct tech classes for the juniors? Do you all have a plan B, C, or D? Your ideas are all very promising, but if you can't fulfill them, then it's just hot air coming our of your mouth. What if your ideas are in conflict with what Ah Tiong and Fan Fan wants, or what CFA wants? These are the things you need to consider.
Lastly, the fact that we keep emphasizing on whether you could retain and recall the seniors and alumni, is because that our dance troupe is not only made up of current members, but quite a substantial amount of dancers taking part in concerts is made up of seniors and alumni. It is not sufficient to rely on your own dancers alone to put up a good concert. If you all were to organize smaller scale concerts such as EMCC, in which our artistic director and technique tutor are only taking up supervising roles, who (alumni/seniors) do you have in mind to request for their assistance in choreographing dance items for us (or which alumni/seniors do you think have the capability to choreo and are willing to return to the troupe to choreo and work with the current dancers)? What incentives do you have to attract the seniors/alumni (good dancers) in returning to dance/choreograph? How many of you currently running for the comm can claim to know many seniors well enough to enlist our help when you all need it?
Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to inform the would-be committee members to
1) Do your homework. Get to know not only people in your current batch, but also those more prominent seniors/alumni who have been coming back for the past few concerts to help out. Ask around, talk to any of us (seniors/alumni) if you can, to know more about who you can seek help from, and establish good relationships with your seniors/alumni. Learn from them what has been happening for the past 5 years, what the directions were like, so that you can make informed decisions on where the current troupe should be heading.
2) If you have a specific idea or direction or suggestion on how to improve the troupe in general, and you are very sure that it is for the benefit of the troupe, don't be afraid to speak up, and push through your ideas/principles while doing your best to convince our resident choreographer/ technique tutor/ CFA in implementing your ideals instead of giving in to their pressures. On the other hand, if you feel that, for instance, our technique tutor is being too meddling and doing things that are detrimental to our troupe, don't be afraid to speak your mind and let CFA or our resident choreographer or even our technique tutor know your opinions, and what should be done to resolve the problems.
3) Last but not least, once you are voted into the comm, you are expected to fulfill your duty and responsibility throughout your term as a comm member. Do not shirk or neglect it simply because you do not have the time due to other commitments. Being voted into the comm represents your promise to the members of the troupe that you would do your utmost best and put in your 100% commitment in everything related to the troupe, be it in planning or in dancing. You have to put the troupe before self, and only make and follow through decisions as a comm that is beneficial for the troupe and the members (us)!
(To the voters/members) I would like to remind all of you to consider carefully whether each and every candidate running for the committee is really worthy of a place in it before casting your votes. This is not a popularity vote, in which you vote for the most popular guy, prettiest girl, or the person that is good in talking. I hope all of you would put away your sentimental votes, or vote for the candidates just because you are good friends with them. The decision you made in this AGM will have a significant and direct impact in what would happen to this troupe in the year ahead, and most importantly, it will affect you as an individual, especially your attachment to the troupe and your willingness to contribute and return to the troupe. I hope all of you, after listening to the candidates, can select the new committee by considering their commitment level, capability, passion, ability to work with one another as well as their ability to connect to you and guide you as an individual.
I sincerely hope that my beloved dance troupe for 5 years will not crumble in the hands of the 36th comm... I really hope that the current committee will go against all odds and prove to many naysayers that you all can not only prevent the deterioration of the troupe, but also bring it to an even higher level than before. The road to salvation has only just started...good luck you 36th kids!
(*come to think of it, i realized i pep-talked to the 33rd, 34th president, but not the 35th president...thou 35th vp is a good friend of mine. just quite sad I didn't get to know that many people in the 36th comm, as compared to 33rd-35th, as I didn't get many opportunities to interact with the cohort itself..)
&its not what you think
5:12 am
