The children and teenagers of Breakthru Enrichment Station tapped danced and brought music into the hearts of the audience at the International Understanding Day, an annual event of Rotaract club, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus.
The children and teenagers, parents, apprentices and teachers reached the campus at 6pm on 30 March 2017. Everyone knew what to do. The team in charge of setting up the booth to display Breakthru’s activities and learning modules went ahead with their work. Cookies and flyers were quickly on the table and banners put up. Apprentices like Kaeven and Yung Han together with Darlene and Elaine manned the booth together with teacher Elisa and Mandy. Guests who walked in were given samples of cookies to try and given explanation about Breakthru.
The performers were ushered into the hall where they did a quick run through and rehearsals. The children and teenagers were calm and focused although the environment was new to them and rather chaotic. There was a sense of excitement but they took it all in their stride even when it turned out into a long wait. It helped a little that the organisers had provided goodies bags for the children which were filled with biscuits, chocolate, jellies and bottled water.
While waiting for their turn to get on stage, they enjoyed the performances by the university students. When their turn came, the students cheered for them.
Ye Sern went on first, looking composed and confident. He sang a song and continued with an instrumental piece. Like a proper professional, he thanked the audience and walked down the stage amidst the cheers. The tap dancing troupe comprising Bremen, Silas, Brayden, Eddison, Adam and Nicholas was next. Bremen gave a little speech about himself and introduced Breakthru Enrichment Station to the audience. Once the music began, the tap dancers confidently and most important, very happily performed their tap dancing routine. At the end, the audience gave them a big hand, obviously delighted by their performance. Even the VIP for the night, the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka was seen clapping heartily.
It was a fun night. And we look forward to other nights like this.