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The
annual Singapore Youth Festival…expresses an approach
to education that is holistic, extending beyond academic
study. |
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Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Education and
Guest-of-Honour
for the Opening Ceremony of the 2005 Singapore Youth
Festival |
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The lead-up to the Festival Opening Ceremony on 1 July began
much earlier, with activities like the central judging of bands
and choirs, national track and field competition, and uniformed
groups' awards. The young people came together to compete and
to show off their skills and abilities.
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| Opening
dance with scarves display the theme Colourama. |
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| Harp
players of Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' bring
on heavenly notes. |
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With the theme “Myriad of Colours”, the SYF captured the spirit
of our nation’s unique multicultural diversity and the exuberance
of our youths. Besides celebrating the achievements of youths
in CCAs, the festival has also broken new ground in various
areas. (Click to read more)
| The Opening Ceremony on 1 July 2005 unveiled
concurrent performances at four locations around
the Esplanade, followed by a concert at the
Esplanade Theatre. For the rest of July, various
schools put up a montage of performances throughout
Singapore. Tickets for certain events, available
through SISTIC, were snapped up swiftly. |
| The central judging of various CCAs was held
in April, where schools competed for the top
five placings in each genre -- choral presentation,
concert band, instrumental ensemble, art and
craft, drama and dance. The young were given
the challenge to give of their best during this
bench-marking exercise. During the SYF Opening
Ceremony itself, they had the opportunity to
enjoy the camaraderie of sharing in a public
performance without the stress of competition. |
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| First-time
performers from overseas: the Plate
Dancers from Indonesia. |
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Dance troupes from Indonesian and Malaysian
schools presented items at the Opening Ceremony.
Ms Sum Chee Wah, Chairman of the SYF 2005 Steering
Committee and Director of Education Programmes,
revealed her aspirations for such local and
overseas collaboration, “We would like our students
to be exposed to the cultural performances and
performing traditions of other countries. This
would give them fresh opportunities to interact
and learn.”
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| Children from these schools took part in an
art exhibition entitled “Sharing Children’s
Voices”, which sought to make children’s thoughts
visible through their art work. The exhibition
gave us a glimpse of how these children made
sense of the world around them. |
| Close to 44,000 students participated in the
month-long festival. |
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These are the buzzwords that encapsulated the SYF 2005
Opening Ceremony concert. A fusion of orchestra, dance, choir
and even rap made for a memorable opening spectacle, “Colourama”.
So, too, the finale item “Myriad of Colours”.
The composition of this finale song, use of creative props to
jazz up band performances, and, a modern rendition of a classical
piano duet performed by young award-winning pianists showcased
the spirit of Innovation and Enterprise at its best.
Above all, SYF 2005 was a celebration of our collective heritage,
with a spectrum of multicultural dances dotting the Esplanade
landscape. Our common destiny was manifested in a ceramic piece
entitled “Walks of Life”. It points out that the different paths
we each take reveal joys, trials, as well as shared memories
of space and time. When paths cross, a myriad of colourful emotions
explodes.
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| The
dramatists from Anglo Chinese (Barker Road) put
on their best acting skills in The Spectrum Six. |
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“The SYF is both a platform and a process for learning, providing
youths with opportunities to perfect their skills and develop
teamwork,” affirmed Ms Sum Chee Wah, Chairman of the SYF 2005
Steering Committee and Director of Education Programmes.
Teachers interviewed all agreed that the SYF is about helping
youths discover their unique talents and unleashing their creativity.
Ms Pamela Cheng, teacher-in-charge for the play “The Spectrum
Six” put up by Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) as part of
the concurrent performances, enthused, “We as educators need
to believe that youths have the capacity to be all that they
can be and more.”
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