SARI in Sydney

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post, but at least the two weeks I spent in Townsville for work helped me finally get better.  June was pretty much a write off for work due to being sick the whole month!  Townsville was great - average temp of mid 20s, was paid to do some fun Angry Birds promo work, plus got to catch up with my sis for her birthday!!  The worst part of the trip however was the 2 hour flight delay back to Brisbane.  Those that have travelled from Townsville will know there aren't many flights out, and when someone else is paying they are always going to choose the cheapest option.  This meant a 9.30pm flight became an 11.30pm flight, making my arrival in Brisbane at 1.30am in the morning!  Now that wouldn't have been too bad if I could've just gone home and slept the rest of the day, but I had to be back at the airport at 6am to fly to Sydney with my dance troupe, SARI.  So after barely 3hrs sleep, I was back to the airport with a refreshed suitcase, and an air of excitement to participate in our first big competition!

Sydney was great, and actually wasn't as cold as I thought it would be and there was only scatterings of rain.  We arrived about 9am and headed straight to a dance studio so we could workshop our two songs we had prepared - one was our own choice, and the other a judges choice song.  As I hadn't seen the others for a few weeks, this was the first chance I had to actually rehearse it with them.  We were quite excited about our final routines, and headed to the hotel about lunchtime so we could relax and freshen up before heading to the competition venue at 4pm.

This was the first big Indian dance competition we had entered, and whilst I still don't think we needed to be at the venue so early, I was impressed that it was the first Indian event we had attended in 6 years that actually ran spot on time!!   The event didn't start until 6pm and we were asked to be there at 4pm supposedly for a sound check and were also informed we'd be able to change / rehearse at the venue.  However the sound check was just someone asking me if 'this' was our music (which they played on ipod for 15sec) and then we we told to change and sit in a large 'green' room whilst we wait to go on.  There was no room / space to rehearse, so we were glad we had spent the morning rehearsing!  So in my opinion we could've arrived at 5pm and still been ready to go on by 6pm.. (and the extra hour would've meant I might've been able to have more of a nap!)..  Anyway, it did run on time, and was otherwise well organised.  It was also great to meet some other performers from around the country!

We went onstage and did our 'own choice' song - which we were happy with, but apparently it didn't impress all the judges.  Comments were made about our costume not being traditional - but we weren't dancing to a traditional song, so it would've looked out of place.  I found this surprising as there were other groups / solo dancers also wearing 'western' style dance costumes, but some of them got through to the next round.  Mind you, some of those dance performances were quite good too.  Our hopes were to at least get through to the next round so we could do our 'judges choice' song, but sadly this didn't happen.  We left tired and disappointed, but happy to have been able to be part of a fun night.

Anyway, I'm now back home and have been having fun doing some different jobs - the past few days I've been a brand ambassador for a new mobile phone; today I worked on the registration desk / events team for a financial planners conference; and tomorrow I will be doing some demo/sampling of a popular brand of butter.  I also had an audition yesterday for a short film; have 2 more auditions tomorrow for more short films, and possibly one more later in the week - so am hoping to be doing more film work very soon as I've lucked out with the past few films I was hoping to do due to date clashes with work or other events.. so fingers crossed for me, and I'll check in later and let you know how things are going!

Oh, and if you're on Facebook, I now have a public page - so you can follow me on there also.  You'll find the link in the right menu bar on here!  :)  

Everyone Should Dance

You may or may not know, but I love to dance.  I'm not the greatest dancer - definitely not a technical dancer - but am a passionate dancer.  I dance because it makes me happy, and it's universal.  I don't think it matters where you are in the world, everyone should have music in their lives.  It doesn't matter if you don't understand the lyrics, or if you have two left feet, but if you don't have music then life would be rather quiet don't you think?  Can you imagine what life would be like without music.  I believe even deaf people can 'hear' music - they hear the vibrations of sort - although I'm not deaf nor know anyone that is, so I can't be 100% sure on that one.

Every country has their own style of music, and I love the fact that Australia is so multicultural that we embrace all kinds of music through the many festivals and events we hold here.  Of course, those that know me, know my two loves are K-Pop (Korean music) and even more so Bollywood and Indian music.  The great thing I love about Indian music is that every now and then I'm introduced to another style/region - whether its classic Bollywood from Mumbai, or popular Punjabi songs (Pollywood / Lollywood), to songs from Utta Pratesh (Bhojpuri), Telugu (Tollywood), or Tamil regions (Kollywood).  You can view other Hollywood-inspired names on this list here.

I'm therefore very excited to be dancing with my SARI Bollywood Dance troupe next weekend in our very first Indian dance competition!  We have been performing as a group since 2010, but never competed in competitions before..  We entered our first one last year, and whilst we did make the finals, we were unable to compete.  This year, however, we have made it happen!  We are in the finals of the Indian Australian Singing & Dancing Competition, and we are heading to Sydney!!

Sometimes I wish that there was more work in the entertainment industry so I could work full time.. but sadly there isn't.  Especially when many gigs we get asked to do for free or for exposure.. well can't really pay the bills with exposure now can we.  But on the upside, as a casual worker, I'm now allowing myself more time to focus on my dancing so I can make fun videos like this one.  I hope you enjoy, and if you leave a comment, please be nice.. I am human after all!  lol

Time to Re-Focus

I can't believe I'm still sick after 2 weeks!  What started as a sore throat on two Monday's ago, turned into a cough to the point where I completely lost my voice after a week on the Tuesday - and of course that would be the day everyone tries to call me! - and now nearly Monday again, despite having my voice back I am still coughing and have a slight sore throat.  I did go to the doctors (viral infection), nothing they could do, and have tried just about everything to get better.  I just can't afford to be sick, as no work = no pay.  Aside from my 3 x 1hr classes I am currently running per week (which barely covers food let alone anything else) I haven't done any other work other than one hospitality shift.  I also had to cancel my trip to Sydney for a Bollywood competition because I was not well enough to dance, let alone doing an acting performance after having lost my voice :(  I did ask for a refund for my $200 entry fee as they had no cancellation policy and I did give them over a weeks notice, as I had to make a decision as I also had flights & accommodation I had to cancel.  Sadly it looks like I won't get my money back though - could really use that at the moment!

Despite not being well enough to go to the gym, I have managed to get in a couple of prac sessions for my PT studies in the past few days as my voice came back.  Luckily I wasn't actually training, only observing other PTs so didn't have to talk much, and my coughing hasn't been too much of an issue during the day - just seems to be worse at night now.  I'm quite keen to finish my prac as I can then start working as a PT.  I still have 2 assignments to do - one being a business plan - and then I have to decide where I want to work.  I've been doing my prac with Goodlife, but I'm not sure I want to work there yet.  My goal is to work part time as a trainer (mostly mornings), so that I can still act/dance in the evenings and weekends.  I don't mind paying rent (which most gyms charge) but I want it to be reasonable based on the hours I am wanting to work, so am checking out some other gyms to see how they operate as well.  This will also help give me an idea of how the industry works in general, as every gym is slightly different.

On the upside, my dance troupe, SARI, we delighted to be informed that we had made a direct entry into the Indian Australian Singing & Dancing Competition to be held in Sydney on Sat, 09 July.  We did make the finals of this event last year, after an audition process and public voting, but this year there was no public voting for Dance Groups.  We didn't actually get to the finals in 2015 though, as the event was held on a Sunday, and we were only provided with a weeks' notice to get down there.  We had intended to go down & back on the same day, however due to the event running late we realised we would never make the last flight back from Sydney (and due to the late notice, my dancers couldn't get the Monday off work) so we had to withdraw.  Thankfully, this year they have put the event on a Saturday evening, so we can go down & back for the weekend which we are very excited about!  Now we have to raise about $2500 to get down there - $300 per person for return flights, and around $500 for one nights accommodation!  The rest of the funds will go towards taxi fares & food.  Now we just have to figure out the best ways to raise funds!  Now I just have to get back into my fasting routine and get back off the sugar (ice cream does help a sore throat, but that's about all it's good for..lol).  So time for a new goal:

On 09 July 2016 I will weigh 67kg by doing 5:2 and not eating sugar..