If only we can all learn from Chinese Drama

Handsome lead actor, beautiful lead actress

Despite living and staying in King Edward VII hall for almost seven years now, Chinese Drama has never been under my responsibility.  Being the youngest SCRC members, sports have always been my forte. This year, I decided to get out of my comfort zone and volunteer to take up the responsibility to oversee Chinese Drama committee. It is a decision that I am happy that I have made. Let me share with you the reason why.

For the longest period of time as an audience and not a RF in charge, it always dawn upon me on the incremental improvements that Chinese Drama always managed to achieve in their performance year after year. I meant I have been responsible for quite a number of committees to know that one of the greatest challenges with committee is in the area of entrepreneurship. Almost every committee will literally take what was passed down to them by their predecessors wholesale. They rarely question nor will they want to take step to make a change. The internalization and contextualization processes are often not there. This has led to the situation of “capturing the figurine and not the essence” during implementation. Over time, many valuable knowledge was lost.

Dancing for the first time

However, Chinese Drama is a whole different committee altogether. Every year, you can expect surprises in their performance. Last year, I remembered the innovative stage that extended all the way to the VIP seats. This year, I see the casts (for the very first time) singing and dancing and a scene with movie projection in addition to the high standard of acting. I mean I don’t really expect that from an acting committee. Yet, they tried. What makes them so special? Why they can do all these innovations while others cannot? I wonder.

I took sometime after tonight performance to dialogue with the producer, Jianan and director, Guo Cong. Suddenly, I realized that this committee has one key capability that many others don’t. Innovative capability. This is derived from the Committee’s willingness to take calculated risk in their performance. From design of the stage, to lightnings and to the casts acting performance, there is an unusual appetite for risk. It seems that they have made it their committee philosophy to do something different every year. This runs in contrary to many other committees that I am responsible for.

I believe this innovative capability forms the basis of which the committee draws upon for entrepreneurship in Chinese Drama performance. I also believe that whether we are an individual, or a committee, or an organization, I think we can all learn from this spirit of entrepreneurship of Chinese Drama. As young adults that hold the key to our collective future, you will have wasted your youth if you are not bold enough to take calculated risk in your decisions. Take heed from our beloved Chinese Drama committee. Including myself, we can all learn from you.

It has been my privilege to be your RF-in-charge, Chinese Drama. I hope you do equally well for your second night performance.