Please correct me if I didn't get the facts right. ;P
My Troupe LeaderI don't see her as a friend, she is more of a troupe leader than a friend. Hence our relationship is more or less very businesslike as in she gives orders and I take them. We don't have the habit of calling each other up for meals or even conversations.
When she calls up, usually it means "There is something to be done or there is something that you ought to watch out for etc"
We were penfriends...Imagine that...PENFRIENDS!!! (LOL)
She put up a notice in a magazine looking for friends who were interested in TW opera. So I actually pen her a letter and when it came back to me, the handwriting was untidy and lots of wrongly spelt chinese characters. Those who know her wouldn't believe me, why the wrongly spelt chinese words...
Well, she was too busy to reply so she asked a member to reply on her behalf and both of them happened to have the same name sharing the same surname as well.
It threw me off in confusion, and I later got to know Leader via a phone call. She had started her troupe for a year or so. She invited me to KH for a look when I expressed that I was interested in TW opera. I requested her to sing some parts for me and she did...
I think I wasn't meant to be rude but it was done in an instinct. I held the head piece away when she started to sing... She sounded too shrill and I made no heads or tails on what she was singing. However it didn't deter me from going to KH. I was curious. I sought my parents' permission and I went.
They were rehearsing "The Butterfly Lovers", the part that Liang Shanbo was grieving in pain and were to leave when he later learnt that Yingtai had been bethroned to Scholar Ma.
Again I was not able to decipher what they were singing and I was puzzled why these two people had to hug each other and why they were crying like that and the next moment they just walked away...(LOL)
That was how I entered my troupe even though I wanted to learn TW Opera in the first place.
No TW opera amatuer troupes were formed yet.
MLI think I met her many years ago when I was watching a street opera...Don't think it was performed by local opera troupes... I saw her dress up in white walking past me.
The first thing that came into my mind was....She has a cantonese face and probably might be learning Cantonese Opera.
Much later, I saw her in KH, she was there for some opera events but I can't remember what exactly it was. We talked about opera. She was the quieter one and I was definitely the chatty one.
Mao Weitao is her Yueju Idol and we emailed each other talking abt Mao. I had my own website and I put up an entry asking for opera fans to input why they like about Mao and in return I would give the best writer Mao's photo. ML was the one who got the picture.
Oh yeah, I told her about my thought when I first saw her...She is a Cantonese and she did learn cantonese opera in Chinese Theatre Circle but had already given up acting as she is more of a backstage crew than a performer.
Wow, my instincts were right..(LOL)
XJWe met when we had lessons in COI. Yes you didn't see wrongly...COI..
I learnt GZX singing taught by ZHX. But I didn't take part in any performances as it is a taboo to perform for other troupes or organisations. One of the rules set by Leader is that KHers cannot take part in external performances in other troupes.
As long as I don't perform in foreign stages...(LOL), I am safe.
That was how I first got to know XJ. How she in the end joined KH...That's her story...shall leave it to her to elaborate.
XW aka ACHe surfed KH net. (Did you leave a comment or something, AC?) We emailed each other and I brought him to KH. Leader wasn't pleased initially when she learnt that I was going to bring a stranger to KH. She wasn't too friendly then...She was apprehensive as she was not certain of XW's status... I informed her before I brought XW into KH.
I believe Leader has no regrets that I intro XW into the troupe. He proved himself to be an asset to the troupe. I actually gave Leader the "You see lah, You see lah, I was right to intro XW into the troupe" kind of talk to her after she accepted XW in the later stage.
WMYThe first time we met was at KH. She was introduced by a net friend and she joined KH very soon after her 2nd visit...I think.
A very hardworking person and always willing to help around.
She progressed rapidly in almost all areas in the later stage.
Now she has set up her own opera group - DO which means DO OPERA.
Wish her all the best.
YNWe were secondary schoolmates and we only knew about it when we asked each other in KH one day which sec school we came from. (LOL)
She was very much adored by Leader and was given the lead female role in "The Jade Pin" when she was a newbie.
However we only got to know each other better when she came back after her studies several years later.
She can sing TW opera very well and she learnt how to sing it when she was very young as her mother is a puppeteer troupe leader.
ShaniceI don't know what to say because we met each other in an awkward situation.
So I chose not to elaborate here.
We met each other again some years back when she visited Leader in KH... I was putting on opera make up and through that thick make up, she recognised me...
When she hopped into the door the very moment, I recognised her instantly and I was trying to act as if "we don't know each other" but she called me....Oooops...
Again, I chose not to elaborate here. (LOL)
A merry making cheerful girl. She loves fun and she has lots of exciting programmes lined up infront of her waiting for her to finish everyone of them.
I still insist not to elaborate here. (LOLOLOL)
SHI saw her in KH and XJ was there too. The first impression was rather not deep enough, I only knew that she likes YLH alot... I remember she was slim and had long hair but I couldn't remember much on how she looked like. She was too quiet that time.
XJ was telling me how pretty SH was and I really wasn't able to remember how she looked like.
I only remember how she looks now rather than how she was during the early stage.
She is a bubbly girl and captures the hearts of the musicians. Many people like her. You can see her "swim" in and out , giggling and laughing cheerfully.
If you don't want Leader to get angry, just push her out and Leader will not explode. She is the little sunshine in the eyes of L.
MKI heard about her before I actually knew her. A friend came up to me one day and commented that I looked like MK... I don't even know how she looked like then.
Hard to believe...really...and then I heard some other people telling me the same thing again.
After getting to know MK, I still don't see any resemblance between us...(LOL)
MK wanted to join KH initially. She went to KH but it seemed that we were about to go out for a performance or something.
Guess we are not fated to be troupemates somehow.
Think I shall stop here... too tired to think and type. (LOL)
