Finally! My awesome talent is recognized and I land my own national television show. About time!
While this would be completely amazing, you all know how modest I am, the truth is being stretched just a tad here. I truly was on national television, but it wasn't my own show. Many of you are crushed, I know. I was one of a cast of dozens who participated in the Stepping Stones performance of "Heal the World". The teaching organization had been asked to do this song as part of the Shanghai Charity Foundation's Annual Charity Gala. We, some volunteer teachers and members of the Shanghai Voice Choir, sang with children from a migrant school where Stepping Stones volunteers teach English.
My road to fame began on Friday afternoon, January 6th , with my arrival for rehearsal at the Oriental TV Station Theatre. We had to be there for 2:00pm. This is important. We were told to wear smart, casual clothing in bright colours and to memorize the song. Thank goodness it was an extremely abridged version! Later, we were instructed to memorize two lines in Mandarin that would be spoken during the song's lead-in. Yikes! I know, only two lines, but to say them quickly (my personal challenge) and clearly in front of a live audience was a bit unnerving. Can you say lip synch?
On to the photos!
The main building of the Oriental TV Station
The volunteers in the theatre
Choir members and teachers in front, migrant students behind
On stage!
Yes, it was freezing. In typical thrifty Chinese fashion, the theatre was unheated.
Everyone wore their coats during rehearsal. This was the first of several.
Performers did their thing while workers rushed to complete the set.
I'd say there were about ten acts in total, many of them comprised of children, all of them representing charitable organizations hoping to increase their visibility and funding.
Each adult volunteer was partnered with a migrant student.
Song Hai Yun, my little friend, backstage during the second rehearsal.
After the second rehearsal, we all waited upstairs.
The students were incredibly well-behaved.
The volunteers in our smart, casual clothing in bright colours
Yours truly with the adorable Song Hai Yun
The students passed the time working in their English exercise books.
There was a lot of down time. I read my book.
What were we waiting for? Good question. We were waiting for the 7:30pm performance for the municipal leaders. Yes, it was delayed. We finally got on stage, sang our song and left. It was 9:00pm. Now, who remembers what time I arrived at the station? Yes, seven hours earlier. It wasn't a hard day, but it sure was long!
Saturday January 7th, live broadcast day, we had to be there again for 2:00pm. We had more rehearsals, more waiting and more waiting. At least the theatre was heated that day!
The celebrities and local dignitaries had their photo opp before the show.
The broadcasting truck outside
When it was our turn to perform, live, in front of a studio audience and television cameras, Stepping Stones teachers, choir members and students alike were the pictures of professional performers, especially the students. Song Hai Yun really knew her piece! We all sang like birds and smiled like seasoned vaudevillians. Our 3:19 minutes of fame flew by.
As I said, the show was televised live that evening on a local Shanghai station called Shanghai TV New Entertainment. I texted all my friends to tell them to watch me, me, me! At 9:15pm, the show was rebroadcast, nationally(!), on Dragon Satellite TV. I raced home to catch it. What follows here are photos that I took off my television. High tech, isn't it?
This act was the one before ours. I was so impressed.
Fantastic Chinese dancers performing a traditional Thai dance.
All these dancers were deaf. Incredible!
Us!!
I know you're looking for moi.
Look at the left of the screen. See the fellow in the green sweater? Behind him is a man in blue and behind him is me, wearing a red sweater and white top. Look hard!
Us again with photos of migrant students on screen.
Me!!
Us again. You can see we were quite the crowd.
The final act of the show was a blind girl singing. What a voice!
She had a surprise visitor, her favourite celebrity.
Yao Ming is just a little tall.
Very heart warming!
What an experience! It was very interesting to be part of such a huge production and see what went on behind the scenes. I hope that our performance brought much needed recognition to Stepping Stones and the wonderful work it does.
This just in from Corinne Hua, the founder of Stepping Stones:
The feedback from Shanghai Charity Foundation and Oriental TV station is that we did a great job! They asked me to pass on their thanks to you all for participating... I think you’ll agree we looked really good! And the shot of Shanghai Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng applauding our performance immediately after we finished shows approval for our efforts from the highest possible level – this is very good for Stepping Stones!
Hooray!
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