★ Chingay Parade
Saturday, November 15
The Chingay Parade is an annual street parade celebration held in Singapore as part of Chinese New Year festivities. Like street parades from all over the world, Chingay is a very exciting and up-beat parade. However, the only difference is it includes participants of different races and cultures. So, you must be thinking and asking yourself what does the word 'Chingay' means. The term Chingay originated in Penang, Malaysia, which is directly translated from the chinese words "妆艺" which means "a decorated miniature stage" or float. Today, the parade has evolved into a massive multi-cultural and international event telecast live on television every year during the Chinese New Year.The Chingay Parade started as a float decorating competition held in Penang in 1905. This practice of float decoration was spread to the rest of Malaya by the 1960s, and eventually became associated with the celebration of Chinese New Year.
On 4th February 1973, the first Chingay parade was held in Singapore. It started partly as a result of the ban on firecrackers a year earlier in 1972 as a result of fire hazards. This ban was viewed unfavourably despite the safety issues involved because the Chinese community thought that playing with firecrackers during the Chinese New Year is a traddition and some people felt that the ban would result in a much dampened festival mood during the celebration. To address this issue, the People's Association and the Singapore National Pugilistic Association jointly organised a street parade from Jalan Besar to Outram Park featuring the signature floats, acrobatic acts, lion and dragon dances, stilt walkers, and the like, to bring back some cheer to the general public.
Over the past decades, the Chingay Parade has evolved from a largely Chinese parade to a multi-cultural one with participants from the Malay, Indian & Eurasian communities. Other than participants from the local communities of Singapore, the People's Association also invites cultural groups from countries such as Japan to perform in the Parade.
The next Chingay Parade will be held next year(2009) in January. As a member of the organising committee of the Chingay Parade 2009, I am delighted to be able to show you a sneak peak of the up-coming parade.
The theme of the 2009 Chingay Parade is Youth @ Wonderland. I am in-charged of a group of 250 youth dancers from the People's Association Youth Movement(PAYM). The Parade this coming year shall carry the overall theme of Wonderland Singapore in 2008 and will consist of seven performing segments, including Youth @ Wonderland slated to come just before the Grand Finale. The Parade will feature some 25 performing acts, jumbo floats, creative structures, 3,800 local and foreign performers and 1,800 volunteers.
The choreographer of Chingay 2009!
To tie in with the broad Chingay theme, the concept of the PAYM float is about young insects and creatures living together in harmony in a garden. The youthful performers will be dressed as larger-than-life insects and will expect a stunning and impressive choreography.
Can't wait to see the Parade for yourself?
Log on to http://www.chingay.org.sg/ for ticketing information!
Posted by Bow
11:58 PM
