Superb Sunday: Being part of the "Street as Social Spaces Flashmob"

"... 
Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

With what you want to say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
..."   

Five days had passed. This song (Sara Bareilles - Brave) still keep on playing in my mind. Feel like want to dance. Feel like I'm still enjoying in the Street as Social Spaces Flashmob with my boys. Even my 3 years old boy can recognized this song that we had fun during the Flashmob! I would say my family and I had a wonderful and superb Sunday on 22 September 2013.

I was in a happening celebration, WORLD CAR FREE DAY 2013, held at Beach street last Sunday. Street as Social Spaces Flashmob was part of the event. MMPS was honored for being invited to join the Flashmob by Aida Redza. (Who is she? Google it and you know. She is a leading Malaysian choreographer and dancer!) Yeah! 5 MMPS families were in the Flashmob. The best part was we acted and danced in the Flashmob with our kids! I'm part of them! Both my boys too!

MMPS logo on stage. Can you spot it?

Before the Flashmob

After the flashmob.

The Flashmob had a story to tell. It started with a sketch. 
Mothers and babies, toddlers and kids played in the middle of the street. 

Suddenly, a "car" (pretend by a motorcyclist) barged in. “You’re blocking the way!” the driver shouted. A man in uniform strode up. “Today is World Car-Free Day......." 

Later, the driver moved away. Mothers and babies, toddlers and kids continued playing. Then, a motorcyclist barged in, honking furiously.

                                   "Woi! You’re blocking the way!” the motorcyclist shouted.
                                   "Today is World Car-Free Day. No car is allowed ......." said the man in uniform. 
                                   "This is motorcycle, not a car!" said the motorcyclist.
                                   "Even your motorcycles are not welcome. Get off the street!” said the man in uniform.

The Flashmob then reveled in the absence of cars. Sweepers came in to clean the street. 

After sweeping, it was a street park scene. Fathers, mothers & babies, toddlers and kids and our senior friends happily settled down to mingle and have fun in the middle of the street. 

Dancers, down syndrome friends, church friends and more came in with all kinds of activities such as morning exercise, playing scooter, skating, walking and so forth. 

 

When the song "Brave" started, everybody began to dance. Followed by the song "Safe and Sound". All the great dancers, down syndrome friends, church friends and others started the dance. Mothers & babies, toddlers and kids, our senior friends followed. Of course, the audience also joined in. 

Invited guests, event founder Eric Britton, Dato Anwar Faizal, YB Yap Soo Huey...everyone also joined in!

Who said mother can't dance while carrying baby? Yes, I did! I brought both of my sons to join the event. We acted and we danced! I carried my 4 months old with baby carrier and I danced! Of course I can't jump in the "Safe and Sound" song, but the rest of the simple steps I just followed and danced whatever I can for both songs. Wow! It was really a fun one! We enjoyed! 

 I'm somewhere at the back, right side. 

Must thank to Aida for giving MMPS such a privilege to have had the opportunity to dance and play with great dancers, mothers & babies, toddlers and kids, down syndrome friends, church friends, our senior friends and more. It was a great performance and participation. SO PROUD OF US!!!

After the Flashmob, Zumba Dance & Street Celebration begins. Here's some photo of some street activities.

We hang around the street, let our children played at the street and so forth.

One thing that we did not forget to do: Breastfeed at the street! Yes, we did. We breastfeed our baby at the street. 

After breastfeeding flashmob, we went for our breakfast. Followed by meeting at Youth Park. Due to the hot weather and big crowd at Youth Park, we detoured to Lee Joo's hubby's office for meeting. See...! We had a fantastic Sunday morning! I think everyone were tired and had a long afternoon sleep after that. 

I would like to thank to 3 fathers of MMPS's family - Tony Tan, Vincent Liang and my Hubby Jay for helping us to bring us to the venue of the event safely and take good care of us (mothers and children). Thank you so much for your great support!  

************

WORLD CAR FREE DAY 2013
WORLD CAR FREE DAY 2013 is a happening celebration held at Beach street on 22 Sep 2013, organized by Think City and MPPP. There are a ZUMBA Competition by Zero Fitness Dance Studio, Street as Social Spaces Flashmob, Girl Guides dance and Walkabout, and some street activities such as bicycle rides happening along Beach Street. 

What is Street as Social Spaces Flashmob? 
Street as Social Spaces Flashmob is an arrangement and performance assisted by Ombak-Ombak ARTStudio and PenangPAC AksiSeni team. Aida Redza is the person to create this Flashmob according to a script provided by Eric Britton, the man who founded the World Car Free Day. The theme from the script for the Flashmob is - street as social space and should be safe and inclusive for all.

Practice for "Street as Social Spaces Flashmob"

MMPS was honored for being invited to join the performance of "Street as Social Spaces Flashmob" by Aida Redza. There were few practices carried out before but MMPS mothers and children only managed to join the practice a day before the actual performance. One practice, one and only one then we went on stage. Hahaha...!  Well, we just played a very simple role, be "mothers and children", just be ourselves! 3 MMPS families car pooled to attend the practise - Lee Joo, Michelle Chen and I.

Before the meet up, I was so excited and looking forward for the practice. I wonder what we will do in the Flashmob. Breastfeed baby while dancing at the street? I never try that before. I felt so excited as I've not dancing or go on stage for years. Some more this time both my boys will join the performance with me. Sounds fun, right? Another wonder was the name "Aida" in the email. Is she the same person that I knew? The great choreographer and great dancer that I known before?

All the while, I never know that there's a art center at Strait Quay until last Saturday 21 September 2013. Every time I just straight go to the Convention Hall and do not notice the assistance of PenangPAC at Straits Quay. When I stepped out from the elevator, wow, it's such a nice place. It occupies a large space and it is equipped with 2 stages, 3 studios, 2 gallery spaces and other amenities such as production offices and box office. The space is wheelchair accessible and is open for visitors. Great!

We proceed to the studio to look for Aida. The door of the studio opened. Aida was the one who opened the door to welcome us. YES, she's the one! Oh, she never change! She still look gorgeous and young as when the time I attended her workshop 13 years ago! I felt like I was back to my old days.

It's been at least 12 years I never step into a dancing studio (not to mention the studio in fitness center). When I first stepped in the studio. I felt so happy and lot's of different emotions in my heart. Lots of flash back came to my mind. It reminded me my old dancing days, those days on the stage. Felt so young, like back to school time.

Aida was very kind, polite and friendly. She briefed us on the role we played then we started the practice. We had fun during the practice. 

Here's some of the photo during the practice.

Those dancers are great. They are professional dancers! Our Down Syndrome friends also doing great! They liked to play with my boys too! Of course, mothers like us and toddlers just played and had fun.

During the practice, Ze asked me to accompany him, wanted me to sit at the side of the studio and even asked to go home. May be he's not used to the practice. Later, Aida asked my Hubby Jay to help out to record our practice. My Ze disturbed him while he did the recording. Aida let him played with some card games that she brought. Ze and his friends had fun playing with the cards.

We watched the video together at the end of the practice.

After the practice, we went for our tea break. Then, our kids played at the play ground and they had fun and enjoyed.