Dancing in the sky with ALL STARS

Yes after such a long time, I'm back here, writing something to share with you people.. Well probably what I would write about is one of the best happenings in my life since I last entered something here. Haha.

Last Nov. 3 was the Step Up Dance Competition which we, Boom Box Dance Crew failed to conquer. However, my dancing career (chos!) does not end there as the top 2 winners of that competition got dancers from the other teams to be included in there team to represent Convergys Glorietta 5 on the Christmas Party. I did not plan to join, at first, because I wanted to rest and make bawi at work. But then my co-dancer Markee told me that it's going to be boring if I won't have to do anything during the Christmas party. So yeah, I decided to audition to be part of the crew led by Retail Dance Crew which later I knew was called G5 All-Stars. 

It was nerve-wracking for me (srsly) to go through an audition process after 5 years of dancing. Last time I auditioned was back in 2007 when I joined UPLB Street Jazz Dance Company, to whom I owe all of my dancing skills right now. Then now, I'm doing it again. So yeah, I didn't know the feeling of "auditioning."

So I auditioned with my friend Markee, we performed 2 dances from our routine which was 'Let's Go' (choreographed by VJ, a co-dancer from UPLB Street Jazz) and 'Turn up the music' (choreographed by Tin, also from Boombox). And after a day, we were informed that we got in! Yeyyy! I have something to do again. Haha!

It was hard coping with how Retail Dance Crew, esp their head choreo Yue Pambago, run their trainings. I am used to learning the routines by each and every step of each and every part of the body. But with Yue, he gives us freedom to do extra adlibs as long as we know the basic of the step and we look conformed with the team. Unless that specific dance requires conformity like isolation and dubstep-ish dances.

ANYWAY, rehearsals started as soon as the team was completed. We had our schedules changed to accommodate rehearsals in the morning. A week before the performance, 2 members had to be pulled out. One of them, Ron, was injured during rehearsals and the other was Jake, had conflict with his new schedule for a new account. It was hard but the team did not stop. 

Rehearsal snaps:

Costume had conflicts as well. It took us 3 days , I think, to finalize the concept and the colors of the costume. This happened about 2 and 1/2 weeks away from the competition. Only to have the colors changed 5 days before the competition. From blue and brown, it was changed to blue and red. Good thing the vest I bought was white, which I was planning to jobos to brown. But since the required costume was red, I bought 10 packs of jobos to make sure it will bring out a bloody red vest for me. Little did I know that the coloring powers of jobos is pretty hardcore that when I mixed my clothing into the pot with 10 packs of red jobos, it gave me a purple vest at the end of process. Amazing. This happened 4 days before the competition. So the following day, I gad to go around Landmark once again to get a red vest for my costume. In the end, I bought a black vest and sewn red cloth over it for 10 hours. Voila! I have a red vest.

My black vest, half covered with red cloth at 2.5 hours of sewing..

Blue and Red! :)

My full blue and red costume :)

Rehearsals were really intense and we just felt like eating during breaks. Here are some photos of us eating between and after rehearsals:

Bicol and Baguio delights from Rommel and Emman

(L-R) R, Libay, Rommel, Pam, Zan, Leahfe

           

(L-R) Emman, R, Mjel, Tin, Libay, Markee, Leahfe

(L-R) Leahfe, Fern, Me, Rommel, Libay, J.Mo

Morning of the event, we were given the chance to rehearse on the actual stage. More problems arise when we saw how freakishly BRILLIANT the stage was made. It was looooooong and thin, with curvy edges and 4 steps at the front. Amazing right? All the teams had a problem reblocking their routines because of the amazing design of the stage. Who does that for a dance competition?!? Plus the 15 minute time limit of the tech run did not help because we had to really rush!

After the tech run, we head to Microtel to freshen up and wear our costumes and make up. We left the hotel at around 6:30 and the program started at 7:30 or 8. The dance competition started immediately after some opening numbers because it was the highlight of the event.

We performed 3rd out of the 4 teams--Fusion in Motion, Fast Crew and The Vibe. I can say that our performance was not perfect because there were a lot of lapses. For example, Me and Lei entered late in the all girls dance. Breaker Rommel was not able to jump overhead J.Mo as their stunt. Mjel was not able to remove his blue and red shirt to the black one during the last part of the dance. There are a lot more, I think, but what we know is that we gave 100% effort and enjoyed the routine. Of course, not to mention, Yue's brilliant choreography is all part of it.

The awarding of the winners was most EPIC of all. When the hosts, Luis Manzano and Jinri Park, announced that they are ready to reveal the winners, they quickly announced G5 All Stars as 4th placers. We were in awe. However, Yue directed us to go to the stage and receive our award. He was ready to accept that we lost the battle. After that awkward photo op, we were instructed by the stage manager to stay in front of the stage. That moment, I instantly thought, there is something wrong. We were holding our hands when Luis announced that there was a mistake with the award given. We screamed. We were nervous. We prayed.

4th place, Fusion in Motion.

3rd place, Fast Crew.

We were left with The Vibe. We were trembling, holding each other tight, hoping, praying..

2nd place, The Vibe.

And for the FOURTH time in a row, G5 ALL STARS is declared CHAMPIONS in the annual Christmas party dance competition of Convergys Makati sites.

We were extremely happy, jumping around the stage as we received our check of P25,000 as grand prize. Some shed tears of joy as THAT was really EPIC. Define EPIC.

Until now, I can't get over of what happened. I enjoyed the feeling of winning. I have never experienced that for such a long time.

CHAMPIONS for 4 straight years. Yes, we #dominate.

G5 ALL STARS, CHAMPIONS 2012

Congrats to the team! We deserve it! And I hope this is not the last time I'm gonna be performing with you.

***photo credits to Pam Mercader, Tin Hookabe, Markee Agbuya and Dxtr Dg

A Whole New World: August 13, 2012

On this day, I decided to take a very important step in my life.
I applied as a Collections agent for Convergys G5.

I went there not knowing what will happen, all I knew was this is God's plan for me. It came at the right moment, to say the least.

At about 11:30am, I had my initial interview. It was funny because we were 5 in the room and while waiting for the interviewer, this person was really talkative. He was trying to calm us, thinking that we were so nervous that's why we were not talking much. He began asking questions and talking about his life. And so the other 3 began talking to him as well. For me, I was trying to concentrate on my "describe yourself" spiels,  (I already knew that that will be the interviewer's question.) that's why I was really quiet. But of course when he asked me, I answered.  After 30 more minutes, the interviewer arrived and began the session.

It went really quick. After all of us have spoken, the interviewer gave tips and improvement points on diction, stress, subject-verb agreement and stuff. I thought no one passed from our group but as she bid the group goodbye and thank you, she said, "Sabrina, I want you to stay." Wuhooo that's it! I passed the interview!

After that, I took an online exam. It was not a pass or fail one but they just wanted to know what do I know about the call center industry. Then, they had me take lunch and when I came back, I had my final interview. After about 15 minutes, contract signing. Pretty fast, huh? That's one of the "features", I could say, of the BPO industry. The hiring process takes only one full day. The next thing you know, you already got a job.

They asked me if I could start early, or even ASAP. I said yes, for sure. I don't have anything to do so I said yes.

The next morning, I woke up relieved and really excited. Aside from it was already my first day of training, I'm really excited because I knew I'll meet a lot of new people and I will learn something new from that day forward. :)