journeys into the unknown: May 2013

Madeline took her first school dance class this year at Mont’ Kiara International School (MKIS). The class covered African and Modern dances as well as other dances from around the world. One class requirement was to choreograph and teach her own group of middle and high school students a cultural dance. Madeline chose hula as the dance she would choreograph and teach since she has been hula dancing for more than 6 years and loves it.

All the dancers have been working very hard for the past few months, putting in numerous hours of practice each week choreographing, teaching, and learning many new dances in preparation for the spring concert. This past Friday, Madeline’s hula dancers were the opening number at the World Dance Concert at MKIS. In addition to her hula dancers, Madeline included her brother, Gabriel, in the show. At the beginning of Madeline's dance, Gabe blew the conch shell while Madeline chanted in Hawaiian. Joe and I were both wet eyed seeing her success in this newest endeavor.

The entire show consisted of 16 numbers encompassing American folk dances, hula, Modern dances, African, Bollywood, and K-Pop (Korean Pop). It was splendid and I ended up taking over 400 pictures! I couldn’t believe it when I got home. I’ve now edited the pictures to about 200 and will include 66 of my favorite pictures below. Unfortunately, the combination of a dark auditorium, a dark stage with bright spotlights, and me, a beginning photographer with a standard DSLR camera, the pictures didn’t meet up to my expectations, but hopefully, you will get the “picture”. And now I know what additional photography lens I need for future photography in dark theaters.

Oh, and as an aside, I sewed the 16 skirts and headpieces for the African dances, so pay close attention to those ; ).