The day started off at 8:30am with a morning Zumba workout conducted by Rosie.
Before workout began, Rosie & the Malaysian girls (Janice, Jennifer, Wendee & myself) donned neon-coloured bob wigs to spice up the morning :D Rosie was so kind to loan me her pink wig which she had brought all the way from US just for me. Thank you Rosie!!
We spiced up the morning alright. Everyone was snapping away and posing with us....the Gaga Girls!....lol!
L to R: Wendee, Janice, me, Jennifer & Rosie Multari
One piece of advice though.....never do a workout with a wig in the sweltering Shanghai heat, in a room without air-conditioning or fan! Phew! we were all melting....but we persevered almost to the end. Rosie kept asking whose great idea it was...LOL! It was yours Rosie! ;)
The venue for the workshops was at SNJ Sports centre, located just next to where we stayed. We had 3 rooms allocated for the workshops: Ballroom (air-conditioned), Badminton room (no fan or air-cond) & Ping Pong room (air conditioned) where Jennifer & I taught all our dances. Some of the other instructors had to use the Badminton room for their teach (because it was the largest and the instructors had many followers). The heat & humidity in that room definitely did not present a comfortable platform for learning & dancing, but all the instructors who had to teach in there were very professional about it.
After Zumba, Jennifer was the first to teach in the Ping Pong room. She taught Cuban Yeah, her new dance. Next up was Sue & Kathy who taught Peek A Boo & Monday Morning. Then it was my turn. I was prepared for a bleak turnout as Jo Thompson & Kate Sala were teaching the same slot in the other 2 rooms. But I was pleasantly surprised. Kathy & Sue stayed for my teach, and quite a number of ladies from HK, Taiwan & Canada came too. I was slightly nervous, forgot one particular TAG to my embarrassment but Kathy & Sue saved the day by reminding me (as they'd taught my dance MI AMOR to their students in San Francisco). Everyone was very nice & forgiving about my memory lapse & that put me at ease. I'm so grateful....Thanks ladies!
Here's a brief video or my class :)
Dance : MI AMOR
After the morning session, all the instructors who had taught had to do a review of their dances. Then it was time for lunch. Allan & I recommended the restaurant down the street & all the Malaysians headed there for some delicious food. The duck was especially delicious & I went back for several days after for the same dish...heheh.
I had developed a cough by afternoon & wasn't feeling too good....partly due to the heat as well so I went back for a shower & rest. Then headed back to SNJ Sports for Lina Choi's workshop & learnt her dance NEVER HAD A DREAM COME TRUE. I've always liked that song. And now I've learnt a nice dance to it. :)
After the workshops were all done, everyone went back to their hotels to freshen up for the evening event. Dinner & circus show! By this time, I had almost completely lost my voice :(
Dinner companions at our table
Standing (L to R) : Richard Waiton, Sue Hsu, Kathy Chang & Christina Chui
Seated (L to R) : myself, Allan, Anne & Cynthia
Back home in Malaysia, we're used to chinese dinners with about 8 or 10 courses (dishes). But in Shanghai, we had nothing less than 18 dishes everytime! We ate till we could eat no more :)
Entrance to the Circus show
The Circus show was wonderfully entertaining & heart-stopping at times! There were chinese acrobatics, juggling & balancing acts. The heart-stopping sections were the ones where the acrobats walked on a HUGE vertically rotating wheel. The highest point of the wheel is easily 20 feet from the floor. There was a point where the 3 acrobats walked with black hoods on (so they're completely 'blind') and one of them was beginning to lose his balance. He quickly pulled his hood off and managed to grab one of the steel bars in time for balance. Don't know if it was part of the act but I was clenching my seat's arm rests. Would've screamed had I had my voice! As is it, I could only managed a barely audible hoarse screech.
We were not allowed to take photos during the show so no photos here :(
There was another beautiful segment featuring a male & female lead soaring through the air balanced on a long stretch of cloth.
The finale was also very adrenalin-charged. I call it the Wheels of Death. One 'cage' shaped like a globe, and one motorcycle going around and around in it. Horizontally, vertically, diagonally....every which way you can think of. Add another rider & you have two doing the same thing. Not very exciting you say? Add another, and another, and another....until at the end there were 8 in total! 6 riders riding behind each other, horizontally along the midspan of the globe and another 3 below doing the same. Just imagine.....firstly the riders have to go at a certain minimum speed (for momentum) to maintain the horizontal path (otherwise they would fall due to gravity). Then, the top 6 were so close to each other that they must maintain a consistent speed constantly to avoid collision. Just one mistake......
And if that happens, they would come crashing down on the 3 below..... I could hardly breathe!
They got a standing ovation from me & several others in the audience.
Some of the riders from 'Wheels of Death'
I wanted to take a photo with the riders, but had to delete the pix as they charged RMB100 if your face is in the photo :(
After the show
On our way home
The first eventful day over. Looking forward to more tomorrow!
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