Floats Preview

Yaho~! This is Myokii and I’ll be covering the behind-the-scenes of Chingay – the rehearsals, the previews and things that you don’t usually get to see on TV! I’ll be giving some of my thoughts on Chingay 2010 and how it’s coming along so far! So follow me for new and exciting updates! I’ll be showing videos of the events so keep a lookout for them (:

The Chingay 2010 Floats Preview was held at the old People’s Association Headquarters on 19 Jan 2010 and we were given the privilege of filming it. I always had this impression that they were massively heavy and flowery thingamajigs mounted on lorries. But, other than the fact that they WERE mounted lorries, I was wrong about everything else. The floats were actually carved entirely out of STYROFOAM! We were welcomed by a beautifully carved face of an angel, followed by a herd of galloping stallions behind.

All the floats were made in the grounds of the old PA HQ – because of the abundance of available space there. The field was cluttered with Styrofoam shavings though…

OH! We met some of the dancers too! A total of 6 or 7 groups of dancers came down for the preview – all in full costume and makeup. Their dedication to this event never fails to move me. It was a normal tiring school day for some of them – especially the dudes and dudettes from NUS Kent Ridge Hall. And yet they came all smiles in full make up and costume – dressed as adorable bright coloured beetles, Hansel & Gretel-kalike characters to match their float of giant teapots and massive mechanical doughnuts and sweets!


I took a close look at the colourfully lit float, scrutinizing the minute details. Lots of thought and consideration went into the making and design of the float. The main structure was made of Styrofoam, but the candy boxes and doughnut toppings and such were made of well-cut-out cardboard pieces, aligned symmetrically to form pretty patterns. I just felt happy that I wasn’t the one sticking them together. It’d take me years man…

The Malay float had moving animals on it! An ape, a boar and a wolf. Call me a mountain tortoise but I was reduced to nothing more than a 5 year-old kid when I saw the moving animal float. Even one of the PA staff’s 2 year-old son (who’s UBER ADORABLE by the way) appeared more collected than I did. He just stood there and smiled when he was supposed to, as his mother took photos of him and the floats. I was just blown away by the diversity of the floats, and for a moment there I wished I was him! I mean, it really was a magnificent photo opportunity. There were many other pretty floats – the Brazilian Association, the Butterfly Lovers, the SOKA association, etc…

Well, float splendour and glory aside, by the end of the night my lungs were tainted with lorry exhaust smoke- and no, it wasn’t pleasant. An hour after Mark and I left, I could still smell the lorry exhaust in my lungs. 2 and a half hours of living in exhaust smoke is really no joke, I’m telling you. I should’ve brought my mask. Anyway I’m still alive, kicking and breathing, so it’s fine… I hope…

Next up, I’ll be covering the Mini Chingay Parade on the 23 of January.

Till next time!!!

Myokii

Emoxis, a video production company in Singapore, is filming the behind the scenes video of Chingay – Asia’s grandest street and floats parade.