Second Session In South Melbourne

13.08.08

I must admit that our second session at the South Melbourne centre was a far more relaxed and comfortable environment than the session prior. We got down to business more or less straight away by playing one of the name-remembering-memory games and then reciting two of the songs from our developing repertoire.

After this, we were allocated into groups of four (which were blends of City Voices members and students) so that we could learn our group members 'Proudest and Hardest Moments'. My group consisted of Fred, Barbra and June, who all candidly revealed their both aforementioned "triumphs and tragedies". Barbara listed having her four children being her proudest times and mentioned her hardest time as caring for her husband when he was ill. Fred spoke of her proudest moment being when she had realised that she had managed to save $1000, and her hardest period of time was the death of her 96 year old grandmother. June remembered her proudest time when she began dancing and her most difficult period was being forced to leave her flat and being put into a nursing home. I boasted of my proudest moment as appearing on 'The Einstein Factor' this year, which I suppose could be my honest answer but I am disappointed in the answer which I gave for the other question. I listed that 'dealing with customers' was the hardest time in my life which I know was a cop out and was quite unfair to the others who generously shared more intimate or scaring facts about their lives. I am disappointed in my answer not because I could have revealed other things far more substantial, but because I believe that my frivolous response might give people the impression that I miss the entire point of this project.

After a quick tea break, and a thorougher rehearsal from our dance-troupes, it was time for the City Voices members and students to exhibit some performances for one another. First up was my troupe to whom I was accompanied by Anna and Jess. I do say that we performed rather well, and I enjoyed the musical inclusion of the 40's Doo-wop tune thanks to Myf's suggestion. For me, some of the significant performances by the City Voices members were: Spiros who sang an ode to his hero Elvis, Diann who wrote a rap for William Wallace and of course the surprise- Cathy who wrote a lovely poem about one of my all time heroes; 'The Little Sparrow' Edith Piaf. This struck a cord with me because I am a fan of Piaf's and also because I constructed a performance about the chanteuse earlier this year. After Cathy's recital, I had a feeling that this would change the course of this project for me for I began to feel a tremendous need to get straight to work. After the performances, it was time to say good bye. I went straight to Cathy and said "Your poem was fantastic, and I also just love Edith Piaf!". Cathy and I shared our mutual love for the movie released last year about Piaf ('La Vie En Rose', which won two Oscars including Best Actress for Marion Cotillard! Thought I'd slip that in.) and also she talked about her enthusiasm for performing the songs of Edith Piaf.

I think that we are on our way to a good performance.


KISSES!