Press Releases
Singapore Youth Festival 2008 - In Synergy (First Ever Indoor Parade)
The Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) this year is set for yet another spectacular show with its first ever indoor parade at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Comprising contingents from the uniformed groups, schools and polytechnics, it represents youth from all walks of life coming together, in teamwork and harmony. With the theme “Synergy”, this year’s SYF promises to be a feast for the senses with its music and colour, and showcases the vibrancy and energy of our youth.
The celebrations will kick off with the Opening Ceremony at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 27 June where Minister for Education & Second Minister for Defence, Dr Ng Eng Hen, will be the Guest-of-Honour. About 2,000 students will participate in the Opening Ceremony this year, with more than 14,000 people expected to catch the performances at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
200 free tickets will also be made available to the public, to allow them to join in the festivities of the Opening Ceremony. The tickets can be obtained from the Co-Curricular Activities Branch reception counter at Evans Road or the MOE Customer Service Centre at MOE HQ, Buona Vista on a first-come first-served basis.
A Synergy of Efforts
This year’s theme “Synergy” provides a reminder to our youths of the importance of teamwork and harmony. It exhorts our youth to work together, so that they can achieve results that are greater than the sum of their individual efforts. In doing so, they learn to appreciate differences and harness different strengths, enabling each to be more effective in contributing to the greater whole. In the same way, the success and vibrancy of the SYF is the result of the synergy of the efforts put in by students, schools and stakeholders.
The theme song “Synergy” is composed by well-known Singaporean musician, Iskandar Ismail, with lyrics by Ms Rachel Ee, a teacher who is currently a Music Officer with the Music Section of the Co-Curricular Activities Branch. In addition to this year’s SYF theme song, Rachel has also collaborated with Mr Iskandar on numerous projects since 2004, including SYF theme songs in 2005, 2006 and 2007, as well as the song ‘We Can’ for the 2005 National Day Parade. Rachel has also penned lyrics for the Teachers’ Conference 2008 theme song, and collaborated with renowned Filipino composer Francisco Feliciano on a song which will be performed at the 1st World Choral Festival in Singapore this year.
The theme song will be performed by Shawn Tok, of Loyang Secondary School, who is the winner of Mediacorp’s Campus Superstar 2007. He will be accompanied by the combined schools choir.
Opening Ceremony Highlights
The SYF Opening Ceremony this year will feature, for the first time in SYF history, an indoor parade. The parade comprises all nine Uniformed Groups, as well as representatives from schools and polytechnics. It will also be the first time that an SYF parade will be commanded by a female Parade Commander, NCC C/CPT Zarifah bte Adilah from Temasek Polytechnic.
Another highlight of the Opening Ceremony will be a “floating stage”, which will descend during a dance item, and feature identical twins Nicole and Tabitha Tay who recently created SEA Games history by becoming the first pair of siblings to be crowned joint-gold medallists in gymnastics. Nicole and Tabitha will perform a gymnastic routine while the stage is being lowered.
Other highlights include a mass dance which incorporates magic—in addition to lights and music—to provide special effects bound to captivate the audience.
Reaching into the Heartlands
SYF 2008 continues to bring the sights and sounds of the celebration to the heartlands with four concurrent performances staged at four heartland venues—Toa Payoh Hub, Vivocity, Parkway Parade and IMM—showcasing the excellent aesthetic programmes being offered in schools to a wider audience. Students from primary and secondary schools, junior colleges and centralised institutes will join hands with students from various special schools to put up shows ranging from music to dance, as well as art and craft. This year, the performances are brought even closer to the public with different groups busking at various locations within the malls, and not just performing on-stage.
Besides the malls in the heartlands, SYF also reaches out to the public at Ngee Ann City and the Botanic Garden. The former will feature the Festival Drums, which was a main highlight of the SYF 2007 opening ceremony, and also include a special guest appearance by Shawn Tok. The latter will host the 13th annual School Band Fiesta, jointly organised by MOE and Shell Companies in Singapore, to provide youth with the opportunity to perform in public, reinforce their interest in the arts and show their creativity, while bringing music to the community.
There will also be a number of foreign groups participating in this year’s SYF. These include the Handbell Ensemble from Carmel Secondary School (Hong Kong), the Thai Instrumental Ensemble from Singhaburi School (Thailand), a concert band from Alliance Primary School (Hong Kong) and choirs from Bucheon Civic Children’s Choir (Korea) and Okbi Subok Primary School (Brunei Darussalam). Through the interaction, our students will have the opportunity to build bonds with students of different social and ethnic backgrounds from the other Asian countries.
Background
The SYF is organised annually to showcase the diverse talents of our students in the performing arts, sports and uniformed groups. Since its inception in 1966, the SYF has played an important role in providing a platform for students to hone their different skills. Through participation in the various SYF activities, students also develop social skills and build bonds with team mates of different social and ethnic backgrounds.
The SYF takes place over two periods: April–May and July. April and May is the Central Judging period where various performing arts groups in schools (band, Chinese orchestra, choir, dance, drama and instrumental ensembles) are awarded Gold, Silver or Bronze awards based on their performances. Items are then selected for the July festival to showcase the diversity of items put up by the schools.
Additional information about the SYF performances can be found at the Singapore Youth Festival website.