Working with M&Ms

These points are either some of my lessons learnt, or i have a very strong opinion/view towards it, and i think my members and other people should learn too.

1. I learnt that we should always believe in what we do, and not compare ourselves with others. We must understand that no human beings are perfect. We cant judege ourselves as 'lousy' just because we saw other groups are good. This is definitely WRONG! And just because you see someone/other groups is doing better than you, does that mean that you have to give up on what you do?! That was the case for my group, as we changed the skills many times, after learning that other groups were doing much more better than us in terms of movements! We shall not compare ourselves with others!!!

2. I learnt that we must always put aside friendship and professionalism when it comes to TSD. Within a group, once there is a rehearsal or meeting, the attitude we have for each other SHOULD NOT be the attitude we have as friends. It will be hard for a person to scold/reprimand his/her(i shall not mention names) friend, because professionalism is not there, as there is always this barrier of friednship which sometimes is hard to make someone scold his/her friend for mistakes done. ( you guys get what i mean?)

3. I learnt that in order for a member to be respected by other members, he/she must first learn to respect his/her members. In TSD, there is often quarrels and disagreements. However, quarrels and feuds should not go to the extent of humiliating someone, or having a certain biasness towards other members. This will cause members within the group to not respect you. Personally, i was often shouted at for the slightest 'mistake'(which i dont think is a mistake at all) by someone in my group(i shall not mention name). Although i dont show it on the outside that i really dislike the manner in which i was treated, it affected my perceptions towards that person.
So people, learn to say right thing to your members and do not act harshly. Your reputation will be cahnged FOREVER! Learn to respect your friend's dignity too! I believe in KARMA!

4. I learnt that as a member of the group, we as an individual must have our own stand on certain stuff/decisions. We must not always follow what your friends say, because your friends may not be right/true. This means that you are undecisive and always foloowing what others say, although you may not know whether the person is right or wrong.

5. I learnt that group DS is a task that should be kept KIS (keep it simple). Looking at other groups DS, i realize that DS should not so complicated and sophisticated. I am really happy that my group did mime, OMG, if not we would have died. ( Chinese Opera?!! NO! lol haha)

6. I learnt that for skills that require movements, we must not talk so much, but rather do the movements, so that we are able to explore different moves and gestures that you would not have thought of. Its really a wonder to know how maginificent your body can be.

7. I learnt that keeping to dealines and submissions are important. Basically, punctuality. It is not just about punctuality in work, but also in attendance, for rehearsals and meetings. It is really NOT FAIR to come late for almost all the rehearsals when others are early. This will cause a waste of time and dragging other back.

8. Lastly, as a leader(i was 'forced' to), i learnt that giving the specific roles in the group is essential for the development of the play. Specialisation allows others to focus on specific tasks and thus allows effienciency in the work. This is my first time being a leader in a TSD group. I would say i was a bit pressurized at first, because soemtimes i dont really know how to initiate things. However, slowly i roughly know how to handle it as i go with the flow. However, i think that other members of the group should help the leader in all ways, and not discourage him/her a leader to achieve better results in the future. To me, being a leader has shaped me into a stronger person, both emotionally and socially. Emotionally because the process required me to really contain my emotions although i badly want to let it go so much sometimes. It made me realize that there will definitely be more challenges ahead, and you may even find a more difficult person to work with in the future. Socially because it expands my understanding and knowings about the members in my group. Before i was a member with them, i know them in a certain way, but after this experience, i know them even deeper. When you work closely with someone, all the stuff you do not know about the person slowly reveals itself,be it the personality character etc....

My lessons learnt shall end here. The message here are not meant to cause hurt or anger in anyone. These are just some of my strong opinions and views. THX for reading!