December is commonly known as the last month of the year. It's also the month where a lot of people will be preparing for the year end festivities like Christmas and the month where everyone will be scrambling to write down New Year goals and prepare for the New Year. Since a lot of public places in Singapore commemorate the December year end festivities with various events, I have decided to check out one of the events to celebrate the year end as well. I went to the Esplanade Theatres the day after Christmas and checked out this event called Celebrate December. Want to know what it's all about? Scroll down below or click Read More.
A Wonderful Performance at the Esplanade Outdoor Theatre
The Esplanade Outdoor Theatre is always the best place to watch wonderful independent performances on Fridays and weekends. The great thing about Celebrate December is that since the event will be held everyday from the 20th December to the last day of December on the 31st, the performances at this outdoor theatre along with various locations around the Esplanade were also held everyday on the aforementioned dates. I attended the Outdoor Theatre event on the 26th and watched a group of people, known as Voice Of Indonesia performed a wide range of groovy and feet-tapping songs. Unlike other performances I have watched right here at the outdoor theatres, theirs is one of the best and below are some of the reasons why.
Voice Of Indonesia performed a wide variety of songs which range from a cover of a popular pop song teens enjoy to Christmas songs to Andrea Bocelli's hit classical song. Usually, performers performing here will only perform around 4 to 5 songs but Voice Of Indonesia performed even more than that. A majority of the audience had so much fun watching their performance to the point where they tapped their feet, clapped their hands and moved their bodies to the beat of the songs that they performed. It certainly was one of the best performances I have seen in 2013 and it's a great way to end the year.
A Wonderful Performance at the Esplanade Concourse
After watching the excellent performance at the Esplanade Outdoor Theatres, I decided to head to the Esplanade Concourse which was not too far off to watch another performance. Since I still had some time, why not watch another free performance? This band, called Doves and Ravens, are made up of a group of young adults performing various pop and indie songs. A lot of people can be seen enjoying their performances, both young, old and the young-at-heart.
The Esplanade Bell Charms and Christmas Decorations
As part of Esplanade's Christmas decorations, they put up lots of bright lights and a rather interesting art installation called Bell Charms. The Bell Charms are basically like lamp posts, but instead of a regular lamp post, there were bells attached to them and some plastic relective diamond "flaps" known as a bell charm. The bell charms will reflect the light that's right above and give off a nice light pattern on the floor as seen from the picture above.
Pen Your New Year Wishes Right Here
Apart from that, you can even pen down your New Year wishes or resolutions if you wish on the bell charms. Of course, you can't do it now because it's long over. For those who want to pen down their wishes, they can approach any one of the Esplanade's representatives who were standing near the Bell Charms for one of the charms. You'll then be given a permanent marker to write down whatever you like. After that, the representative will hang the bell charm with your penned down wishes and it will then be part of the display for others to see. It's indeed a very cool and creative installation by the Esplanade.
An Art Gallery at the Esplanade Tunnel
While heading home from the Esplanade Theatres, I came across a 'mini art gallery' along the underpass to the Esplanade also known as the Esplanade Tunnel. These pictures are part of another Esplanade event called the da:ns Festival which is all about dance. More specifically, the gallery is called Gurus of Indian Classical Dance which is all about the dance instructor AKA Guru and their relationship with the classical dance.
The pictures show different Indian Gurus teaching their students the art of Indian Classical Dance. They don't teach the dance like how you would go to a dance studio and just learn to dance. Instead, it's more like teaching the disciple and being devoted to the classical dance. If that's too complicated for you to digest, there is an article on the Esplanade's website which explains the art gallery better right here at http://www.esplanadesingapore.com/whats_on/programme_info/va_gurus_of_indian_classical_dance/index.jsp. It's really very interesting to see the behind the scenes of those classical Indian dances you usually see on live performances. Plus, the gallery explains that Indian Classical Dance is more than just dancing.
Conclusion
Overall, my visit to the Celebrate December event at the Esplanade was a very enjoyable and fruitful one. I had a great time watching, grooving to the beat and tapping my feet to the live performances at both the Esplanade Concourse and Esplanade Outdoor Theatre. Not only that, I also had a great time checking out the New Year wishes at the Bell Charms exhibit at the Esplanade's courtyard near the Outdoor Theatres and also the Gurus of Indian Classical Dance photo gallery at the Esplanade Tunnel.
Just to let you know once more that the Celebrate December event happened on the 20th December to the 31st December. If you have missed it, not to worry as another edition will be coming in December 2014. If that's too long for you, there are plenty of other free events coming soon to the Esplanade as well like the Mosaic Music Festival, Baybeats and so much more. The Esplanade is really a wonderful place to visit with your friends and family and it's also a great way to kill some free time with the wide array of performances and art both paid and free.
More Information
Website: http://www.esplanade.com/celebrate_december/2013/