Thursday, October 28, 2010

2nd Malaysian Open Dance Festival (MODF) 2010 - 28th August 2010




What a great event !!!!!!!!!!!! The 1st MODF was held at the humble TTDI Community Hall, this year they've already managed to upgrade themselves to the main hall in the OCM (Olympic Council of Malaysia) building and NEXT YEAR the 3rd MODF 2011 will be upgrading even higher to the ballroom at the Berjaya Times Square Hotel on the 27th August 2010. This event is climbing the ladder at supper speed and they well deserve to. Kudos to organizers Teresa Liu, Emily Mah & Lane Lee.

We had a great panel of adjudicators this year lead by chief adjudicator Mr Stuart Saunders, IDO Director Asia Pacific. Mr Saunders proved to be a firm, no fuss, no frills, down to earth fun chap who ran the event like a chief adjudicator should. He walked our lovely organizers - Teresa Liu, Emily Mah & Lane Lee - thru the corridors of rules & regulations stipulated by the IDO (who was the sanctioning body) with a gentle guiding hand, offering advise when needed and when asked to but never being intrusive. He offered constructive advise and made sure all the judges knew what they were doing with clear instructions and on hand support. We need more Chief Adjudicator like this, yes. The panel of adjudicators consisted of - Bryan Ang, Eileen Hoe (Singapore), Nancy Loo, Morina Mohamad, Ann Tan, Lily Chin, Wendy Loh, Kenny Teh (Perak), Leong Mei Ling, Jocelyn Peh (Penang), Ganesh K (Kelantan), Jessie Foo, Mac Chong, Annie Ong (Kedah), Alvin Lee (Johor), Zahra Karami (Iran), Hassan Ghasemalipor (Iran) & Farideh Ashrafghanjouie (Iran).

The organizing committee which consisted of - John Lim (President, IDO Malaysia), Emily Mah (Organizing Chairperson), Lane Lee (Secretary), Teresa Liu (Treasurer), Wong Soo Mooi (Asst. Sec.), Nancy Balkshy (Function Supervisor), Nixon Ong (Chief Scrutineer), Jimmy Heng (Chief Marshall), H L Chow (Marshall), Lilian Szetho, Kay Leong, Susan Tee, Janet Yap, Daphne Chu, Josephine Ong & Alivia Kok were all on hand to do their part in the event.

I was delighted to see everyone playing their parts to the best of their abilities with everyone assigned to task and seeing them thru with minimal supervision required. Every corner of the event had been planned and taken care of which only left one wildcard which is present in every competition - the competitors. I was suitably impressed with the runners too who tended to their task and made things appear at a mere suggestion from me e.g. "judges are allowed to sit during the judging of the team events" and taa daaaaaaa - 5 chairs appear as if by magic. Well done everyone and THANK YOU, its not everyday that i get to work with such a team.

As the name of the event signifies, this competition is an OPEN Dance Fest and we had several different disciplines of dance on display competing in their own categories, namely - Belly Dancing, Line Dancing, Hip Hop, Street Jazz & Persian Aero Dance. It had fewer categories then it did last year (the poco poco & jazz events were missing) and the dominant discipline was Belly Dancing followed by Line Dance, Hip Hop, Street Jazz & finally a brand new event called Persian Aero Dance. I am hoping that some traditional categories will be considered next year, together with some of the current favourites i.e. salsa, bachatta, swing etc. The actual dancing was full of stunning moves, heart pumping rhythms, breath taking stunts and for the first time - live music for the Belly Dance Indv. Advance category. The music for this category was only introduced to the participants an hour before their first round and then they had to prepare their choreography on the spot. Phew........talk about exciting! Anyway, if you wished you had been there to see all of this - you should have been! Make a date to be there next year :) Meanwhile, here are the champions of the various events.


PERSIAN AERO DANCE OPEN - #68  Mohammadreza Mohammadi (Iran)

STREET JAZZ SOLO OPEN - #25  Joan Thor (Malaysia)

STREET JAZZ SOLO UNDER 15 - #228  Chua Yen Ling (Malaysia)

STREET JAZZ TEAM OPEN - #277  Zen Production (Malaysia)

HIP HOP SOLO UNDER 10 - #110  Shoko Kokaji (Japan)

HIP HOP TEAM JUNIOR - #39  The Krazee Krew (Malaysia)

HIP HOP UNDER 15 - #42  Maggie Foo Mei Qi (Malaysia)

HIP HOP SOLO OPEN - #17  Vron Yeoh (Malaysia)

HIP HOP TEAM OPEN - #271  

LINE DANCE INDV. RUGRATS - #256  Glenda Peng Xinyi (Singapore)

LINE DANCE INDV. NEWCOMER CRYSTAL - #191  Ng Siew Theng (Malaysia)

LINE DANCE INDV. NEWCOMER DIAMOND - #51  Molly Yeoh (Malaysia)

LINE DANCE INDV. NOVICE OPEN - #132  Ee Kok Siong (Malaysia)

LINE DANCE INDV. NEWCOMER OPEN - #125  Samantha Leow Li May (Malaysia)

LINE DANCE INDV. NOVICE CRYSTAL - #1  Albert Lim Fung Wai

LINE DANCE INDV. NOVICE DIAMOND - #163  Kathy Tan (Malaysia) & #261  Edna Tan (Malaysia)

LINE DANCE INDV. PRIMARY - #144  Ng Ying Ying (Malaysia)

LINE DANCE INDV. INTERMEDIATE OPEN - #2  Mary Leou Phooi Kuan (Malaysia)

LINE DANCE TEAM JUNIOR - #138  The Chipmunks (Malaysia)

LINE DANCE TEAM OPEN - #118  G Force (Malaysia) - Defending Champions

LINE DANCE INDV. ADVANCE OPEN - #137  Lim Sae Min (Malaysia) - Defending Champion

BELLY DANCE INDV. JUNIOR UNDER 12 - #245  Michelle Teo Jia Wen (Malaysia)

BELLY DANCE TROUPE OPEN - #206  Luna Waves (Malaysia)

BELLY DANCE INDV. NOVICE DIAMOND - #103  Chin Siew Kim (Malaysia)

BELLY DANCE INDV. INTERMEDIATE DIAMOND - #73  May Sew (Malaysia)

BELLY DANCE INDV. NOVICE OPEN - #248  Siew Yee Li (Malaysia)

BELLY DANCE INDV. INTERMEDIATE CRYSTAL - #3  Ang Mee Mee (Malaysia)

BELLY DANCE INDV. NOVICE CRYSTAL - #250  Cara Tan (Malaysia)

BELLY DANCE INDV. INTERMEDIATE OPEN - #8  Alex Ma Rong Han (Malaysia) - YES! Its a man........woo hoo !!!!!!!!!!

BELLY DANCE INDV. ADVANCE - #71  Mandana Bakhshy (Iran)

Congratulations to all the winners and for everyone for being brave enough to take part. I'm looking forward to seeing you all again next year as you move on to your next level of competition and to see the defending open champions return to defend their titles. Remember, the 3rd MODF 2011 will be at Berjaya Times Square Hotel on the 27th August 2011. Look out for news on it.

Bronya Bishorek
2nd MODF 2010 Master of Ceremonies

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