an update.. of one week: last week.
the whole experience was amazing. humbling. inspiring. motivating. competitive. eye-opening. loving. supporting. ...and tiring. we've been preparing for this for sometime, and its been an exhaustive effort.. but has gone far beyond well worth the sacrifice of blood, sweat, tears, time and money. it was a total team effort, and a total team success: Lauren Gould, Lauren Cox, Joanne Mulson, Melanie Tolentino, Kim Sims-Battiste, Andrew Nunez, Lindsey Tolentino, Conrado Soria. we were the CS All Stars at the USA & World Hip Hop Championships down at Redondo Beach, LA, Cali. yes, the most significant aspect of the whole experience was simply seeing how it has brought all 8 of us so close together. nonstop inside jokes, and just each others' presence now puts me in a weird withdrawal. i owe those seven a great deal of respect and love for bringing me back to a pyschological/emotional state where i truly belonged to a set of folks who would do anything for each other... and have so much fun doing so in the process. this ideal was the framework of the entire experience.
so here's the recap:
tuesday nite aug 16-- caravan down w/ lauren, LG, joanne, mel, linds... overshot the alleged 91W exit, and ended up 1hr away from SD... i was nice and passed out in the back, so i didn't notice: what was supposed to be a 6hr drive... turned into 9hrs. highlights: high times at in n out... and the beginning of the jumper cable ordeal. 5am: we arrive at (low) quality inn. we switch one of our two rooms, cuz the bed wasn't even made -- nasty.
wednesday aug 17-- registration/rehearsal day: denny's, did our sound check; rehearsed a bit and watched other groups sound check.. met the two philippine teams (WORD).. etc. highlight: dinner. what we planned from early on was to go out and eat someplace nice. dress up and go enjoy dinner. proud i was to sport my favorite suit, and adorn it with my classic baby blue tie. as an aside: i must say these girls made my jaw drop. it's rare and exciting thing to see how beautiful people can be when they leave their rehearsal clothes behind, and don a classy, sophisticated yet sexy look that comes with the preparation of high maintenance attire. a tip of the hat and an gentlemanly arm extension goes out to the lovely lovely lindsey and LG who would get my votes if this was reality tv -- cuz it was nearly fantasy. however, not to be outdone: lauren, mel, kim, joanne, and andrew each looked like their own million bucks. mccormick & schmicks was the restaurant of choice. for any takers, i'll recommend the jumbo shrimp scampi & the key lime martinis.
thursday aug 18-- USA prelims day: grabbed morning starbucks, USA orientation (met/introduced/saw all the other teams and found out the order of the prelim performances), went to eat lunch, then came back to watch the junior division to see our kids minishock. they were awesome, and every bit the powerhouse they were expected to be. after mini, cs all stars rehearsed and got ready for our turn.. because our varsity kids future shock went second to last, and we ended up bein picked to go very first for the adult division, there was little time between to muss around. we got ready, got the adrenaline pumpin, the excitement rollin, and the support for each other, each group, each competitor, and one love flowing through everyone by the time 7pm rolled around. 'go time'.. we went first, performed our hearts out... and set the bar for the rest of the nite. the teams were amazing. seriously: amazing. knowing the caliber of kaba & form, and seeing how dope hip hop connxion, la dkda, & cia were, dang.. what a show. needless to say... placing 4th at prelims was some damn great news. that was the cake. after some denny's and omni-serving, we looked forward to the next day...
friday aug 19-- USA finals: knowing the ranking/orders of all teams of all divisions, the show was set. [dang this explanation is takin way too long... i'll cut to the chase]. all the USA teams were friggin awesome, and definitely stepped it up from the previous day... the end results: our minishock taking 2nd, our futureshock taking 1st, and... for adult division, we tied for 3rd w/ formality but took 3rd based on a higher artistic score-- unbelievable.. there's no other company of placing that i'd want to be in than up there with kaba (2nd place) and formality (4th). speechless. it was the icing on the cake... so along with LA DKDA, kaba, formality, cia & hip hop connxion from chicago, we were the 6 teams representing the US at the worlds...
saturday aug 20-- world prelims: this day was all about having fun... we've already accomplished the goals we've set, and so it was pure fun, with fatigue set in place, rehearsing was an afterthought... the highlight of today was seeing all the other countries that were there to represent (ie- new zealand, UK, ireland, columbia, brazil, japan, canada, trinidad, and others).. there were few prouder moments that i had than meeting and seeing the philippines' teams do their pieces: UNBELIEVABLY PROUD to see how great they were, to meet them and to know that there were so many filipinos and filipino-americans (on US teams and in the socal audience) cheering and showin their love for the motherland.. was inspiring and humbling. fast forward to the performances: we're told that that nite was our best performance so far... weird though, cuz we were doin it outta fun, enjoying the ride, and just happily enjoying the experience -- not competing. so it was more of a surprise hearing our ranking going into the world finals: 9th. once again, it was an overwhelming rush... especially to hear the peer groups who were to join us in the world finals: newfound friends from chicago, then kaba, then formality, then the philippine all star team. it was basically watching getting your friends and family to get picked to share the world-finals experience. coooool. the rest of the shock fam was continuing their dynasty as well: minishock: 2nd in the world prelims; future shock 1st in the world prelims. the next stop: denny's.
sunday august 21-- world prelim finals: because qualifying for the world finals was the candy on top of an already iced cake, the team took it totally easy.. and enjoyed our time down there as a team... wake up early? pshhh... slept in, relaxed, took a dip in the pool... ate hawaiian... went to the mall (the girls put a stamp on their team experience by all getting their ears pierced)... eventually ending up at the redondo beach performing arts center. this nite, as well, was all about enjoying the experience, and drinkin in every moment of the ride it had been. seeing/remembering/creating bonds with folks... and sharing the stage with one love. freak: we didn't even rehearse, but just got ready for our final bow as a unit. fatigue killed us, but this last performance was about our tributing to the kids: with our pseudo-mini-shock intros, i was wickywicky-zack. it was all about the love of our kids, and paying respect to the people who have supported us, and who we care about. i feel like our kids and their parents liked that bit. needless to say... we fared pretty darn well for the exhausted performance we put on, and without rehearsing... 10th in the world... minishock got 3rd.. and futureshock took the gold (rock on). afterwards, just giving final congrats to everyone i met and establishing contacts and saying hello/goodbye/greatjob to new found hip hop peers was a celebration of interaction, of sharing experience. at the afterparty, it was just a plain old good time.. possibly 'nostalgic of a present time' (although the statement seems paradoxical to a point)... just bein in the same room and enjoyin moments where everyone was on the same rhythmic page... no competing, just dancing, just congratulating, just creating friendships... i didn't know it could go down like this. although i would've like to stay longer, the career-thing/work mandated my presence back in the bay by morning... so after a long tiring drive back to the bay... a fried con had to go to work monday.. and let the week's events sink in... ...still not believing all that happened.
fin.
now: its time to scour folks for their pix... upload my own (the few that i did take -- i wish i took more)... and reconnect with the great people i've met across the US... across the world: specific mention to the following: CHICAGOOOO-GO-GO GO (hip hop connxion: suave, kcucki, asia, koy, katrina, the others that i know by face, but forgot names)--you folks are awesome, and i felt like i was hanging out with all of you the entire weekend... hopefully we'll be able to grace the same stage again in the future; KABA (cio, andrew, cindy, jia, adele, rochelle, adele,)-- i've admired your passion/art for so long, that i was starstruck to be able to share the podium with all of you... see you all at showcase, right?; FORMALITY-- speechless... i never had a doubt that you were the top dogs... erik, i don't think i'll ever stop tipping my hat to you and what you've done with your groups. congrats, and keep inspiring; UK Plague-- you guys were hands down the most spectacular.. and much deserving of every and any point that you got... and in my book, unanimously the world winners. it was dope shootin the shite w/ you backstage, and hopefully i can keep in touch with you bloody wankers; PHILIPPINES - it was an unbelievable honor to meet all of you, to watch you, to share the stage with you, and know that you represent the true nature of the heritage i am proud to be a part of: hip hop, filipino, performance, etc. your talents, humility, and personalities inspired every one of us, i can only hope you were able to feel the support and love from us filipino-americans, and can take back to the PI the knowledge that you make me proud to be filipino.
...this was way long of a description... but words couldn't really do justice to an art, to an experience that was both musical, visual, emotional, psychological, and social. the week made me realize what those 7 other teammates mean to me; the power of team unity; the strength of supporting everyone (every team, every country, every individual); pride in being able to share the stage with the most amazing talents; and the joys of meeting and making new friendships. was it worth the exhaustion? hell yes. and that's my final answer.
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