By Rachel Lee (19A01D), Soh Ying Qi (18A01C) and Soh Gek Shuen (18S03B)

Read the first part of this feature on the models of Raffles Runway here.

When one thinks of fashion, one inevitably sees the results: the looks paraded on red carpets, international Fashion Weeks and runways that, to the untrained eye, almost seem endless. Rarely is anything made of the process behind the show, the countless hours that go into sketching and sewing and a billion tiny modifications.

Similarly, the preparation for Raffles Runway’s annual showcase is laborious and lengthy, a fact that remains hidden when one sees the dazzling results. In this feature, Raffles Press brings you behind the scenes with one designer, Dou Jingzhi (18S03C), for a look at how it all comes together.

Continue reading “Behind the Seams: The Designers of Raffles Runway” →

By Joyce Lee (19S06O) and Alyssa Marie Loo (19A13A)

Most of those attending Raffles Jazz’s Birdland concert would have had their eyes trained on the stage, mesmerised by the bright lights and talented performers. Unbeknownst to most, a totally different performance was taking place right behind them, in the shadows of the PAC control room. Four AVU members sat in tense silence, three of them manned the sound board, and one controlled the lights. Midway through a song, one of the AV members said urgently: “The bass, can’t hear the solo enough”. With a flurry of directions, fingers flipping and sliding switches across the soundboard, the lovely baritone of the bass solo began to glide over the sound system.

One might think AVU is simply present to ensure rudimentary technical functioning: making sure sound is working, lights are on, and the projector behaves when videos are played. Yet, as with so many other things, there is much more than meets the eye. Raffles Press had the opportunity to witness everything else that occurs in the control room, shining a spotlight on what really goes on behind-the-scenes, and how AVU plays a far more crucial, albeit almost invisible, role at every performance in RI.

Continue reading “Spotlight on the Control Room: Behind the Scenes with AVU” →

By Claire Zhai (19S03B), Mabel Yet (19S03Q) and Mahima Sowrirajan (19S07A)
Photos courtesy of Dylan Siew (19S06E) and Zheng Huijun (19A13B) of Raffles Photographic Society

It’s hard to fathom that behind every street dancer is a typical Rafflesian who, like you and me, toils endlessly over their tutorials and occasionally falls asleep in lectures. The images of a student in immaculate uniform and someone breakdancing in the middle of the street just don’t seem to click. But for 30 minutes on the 26th and 27th of April, these students transformed into a group of passionate, stunning dancers we barely recognised.

Continue reading “Breakthrough 2018: Shattering Expectations” →

By Joyce Lee (19S06O), Loh Lin (19A01D) and Alyssa Marie Loo (19A13A)
Photos courtesy of Ting Hou Yee (19S03S) and Jiang Jin Liang (19S06N) of Raffles Photographic Society

Twelve years since its first edition, this year’s Raffles Asia Programme Symposium involved over 100 invited students, 15 student research projects and speeches by professors from Yale-NUS College. One might consider the exclusive regional focus of the Raffles Asia Programme to be counter-intuitive: why limit research to Asia when humanities research can be broad and unbounded? Mr Gavin Swee, one of the teacher-mentors for the RAP, believes a regional scope is far from limiting: it can “help (students) develop sensitive understandings of the socio-cultural context in which they live”. Though most of us would not instinctively consider Asia a key region for research—perhaps due to a humanities curriculum often centred on the West—the RAP research projects proved this sentiment sorely misplaced. The projects showcased a variety of topics about Asia’s vibrant culture, politics, literature and more, demonstrating that Asia is just as rich as the West in its potential to be studied and explored.

Continue reading “Raffles Asia Programme Symposium Shows Audiences “Why Asia”” →