By CLDCS
Once, a friend, after knowing my CCA, commented, “I thought you guys are studying Chinese history during CCA time?” Well, that’s a little far from what we do. Let’s try again! You may be suspecting that “D” in CLDCS stands for “drama” while “S” stands for “songwriting”. That’s an intelligent guess! Nice try! Indeed, we have two subsections—drama and songwriting. You may see now we are actually a Performing Arts CCA. Still wondering what “CLDCS” stands for? It is actually “Chinese Literacy Drama Cultural Society”. Or in short, “Chinese Society”!
Are you distressed about the fact that you can only join one Performing Arts CCA? Well, fret not! In CLDCS, you can enjoy the special privilege of joining both our drama and songwriting sections!
Drama
Normal Session: Every Wednesday 2.30pm-4.30pm
E-CCA Session: Every Wednesday 3pm-4pm (MS Teams)
Have you ever dreamt of being a king or queen, ruling your own kingdom? Or being a carefree elf living in a primitive forest? Or even being a master of the strongest magical power in the world? Welcome to the drama section! All your seemingly unrealistic dreams can and will be actualised on the stage under the dazzling spotlight. During our weekly CCA sessions, we have the chance to play improvisation drama games under our beloved and experienced 黄老师(Mr David Wong)’s guidance.
Amidst the highly stressful school environment, drama sessions may very well be the only moment we learn through joy. Despite being separated by Circuit Breaker, our CCA sessions are just as enjoyable, with Mr. Wong’s toolbox of clips adopted from famous shows to facilitate our learning.
Songwriting
Normal Session: Every Tuesday 5-6.30pm
E-CCA Session: Every Tuesday 5-6.30pm (MSTeams)
Song composition often seems to be a hobby fit only for the 21st Century Beethoven and Tchiakovsky. Well, although our songwriting members would be more than honoured to receive such high praise, we certainly must refute the sweeping claim that songwriting is only for the musically inclined, much less the musically gifted. Because the truth is, the majority of our current batch are music noobs. But not to worry, for we have Mr Keith, a home-grown songwriter with extensive knowledge of the music industry, to provide us with professional guidance in every step of the process. Thus, it is unsurprising that weekly sessions are brimming with learning and experimentation as every member dabbles with a newly learnt skill.
The road to creating our annual album does not stop at the construction of perfect, catchy melodies. Our dear lyricists and singers are essential and they, too, make up a significant number of our songwriting section! While lyric-writing and vocal training are not the main focus of our CCA sessions, who wouldn’t look forward to witnessing our future professional lyricists and idols rock the stage every week?
Our annual showcase—翠谷回响 (cuì gǔ huí xiǎng)
Our annual showcase—the greatest event of the year for CLDCS! Every year, we organise a concert bringing our two sections—drama and songwriting—together. It is a stage for us to shine and also an opportunity for us to learn more and bond more with each other. Members from songwriting will present their very own self-composed songs and members from drama will put up their own production.
Although this year has been an exception due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are still striving to bring the best of 翠谷回响 back in 2021.
Final Thoughts
In our tight-knit CLDCS family, members are united by a common passion for the Chinese language. But we don’t just stop there. Every member offers their distinct personalities, interests and strengths to the table, and together, every batch leaves its mark with an experience unique only to them. The diversity of adventures CLDCS offers (and “Chinese” being a distinctive feature of our CCA) may sound intimidating to you, but in CLDCS, we believe in nurturing budding passion into real skills; turning dreams into reality. Here, we have a stage for everyone—six-year-old-Chinese-proficiency-speakers, bathroom singers, amateur actors, aspiring poets and most importantly, the ones who dare to take the first step to defy all odds in pursuit of passion.
If you’d like to find out more, follow us @ri_cldcs to check out what we’ve been up to!
