August 1 09, Saturday, MBPJ Auditorium, Civic Centre
Hopes & Joys Merdeka Charity Concert
Beautiful Gate Foundation for the Disabled (PJ Centre) co-organised a charity concert with the Council of Churches Malaysia, Rukun Tetangga SS2B, the offices of YB Edward Lee, YB Lau Weng San and my office.
SIMPLY captivating. This best summed up the dance performances by a group of wheelchair-bound persons with their able-bodied partners in a fund-raising concert in Penang.
It was also a night of fun for the 33 disabled persons on wheelchairs as they ‘danced’ and swayed to the rhythmic beats of the songs with their partners at the event held at the Jit Sin Independent High School in Bukit Mertajam.
The audience clapped along as the performers captivated them with creative dance movements that were specially choreographed for wheelchair-bound persons to perform with able-bodied partners.
Themed ‘Creativity Beyond Limitations’, the three-hour long concert was pre- sented by members of the Beautiful Gate Foundation For the Disabled (BGF).
The dancers performing from their wheelchairs. BGF executive director Sia Siew Chin said the show was aimed at creating awareness that disabled persons on wheelchairs were part of the nation’s rich multi-cultural society.
In the show’s first segment, BGF presented a cultural dance showcasing eight disabled boys and girls on wheelchairs together with their partners in matching traditional costumes.
Next was a segment called Joyfulness in Life where nine disabled persons and their accompanying volunteers performed a dance skit to the upbeat numbers Macarena and YMCA.
During this item, one of the disabled persons suddenly fell off the wheelchair and struggled to get back on it.
Rock and roll: BGF members show that onw can have fund and style even on a wheelchair. “This skit is to depict the difficulties that disabled persons have to face in life.
“But, with perseverance and determi-nation, they can succeed in the end,” Sia explained.
Subsequently, four disabled persons on wheelchairs and volunteers participated in separate ballroom dance items, namely the rock & roll, samba, rumba and cha-cha.
“This item is to showcase that disabled persons can also live together and enjoy life with other able-bodied persons,” Sia said.
Four children, aged between seven and 14 years, later took part in a disabled children’s wheelchair dance presentation, where they used sign language to relate heartfelt messages through two Mandarin songs.
And, after visually impaired singer Daniel Yap belted out three melodious Hokkien numbers, the BGF Performing Arts Troupe members regrouped for the finale where they invited the audience to join them in a freestyle dance.
Earlier, pastor Lee Lip Hock from the Bukit Mertajam Chinese Methodist Church (BMCMC) presented a cheque for RM153,039 that was raised from the concert’s ticket sales and sponsorship to Sia. BMCMC was the event co-organiser.
“We will use the money to buy teaching aid and as well as equipment and amenities for disabled youths at our BGF Kampar Centre in Ipoh, Perak,” said Sia.
Also present was State Youth, Sports, Women, Family and Community Deve-lopment Committee chairman Lydia Ong Kok Fooi.
For details on BGF, visit their website at http://www.beautifulgate.org.my/The 30-Hour Famine 2009 Ambassador 饥饿30爱心大使 - A-Mei, 张惠妹, was in town recently to show her support to the campaign. She spent almost 2 days in KL to officiate the Press Conference and took time off her busy schedule to be with the residents of Beautiful Gate, who is one of the beneficiaries of this year’s Famine.
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Together to grace the Press Conference were 30-Hour Famine Advocates, TV and radio personalities - Belinda, Gary, Roshan and Nicholas as well as our co-organizers, media partners and sponsors. We at World Vision Malaysia extends our gratitudes for your support and hopes the 30-Hour Famine now takes off to reach RM1million we aspires to raise this year in focus of Global Food Crisis.
We would like to thank members of the media for the coverage given in support of this campaign. We hope through these highlights, more Malaysian would be inspired to be a part of the cause we advocate for and join us in making a difference! Here are some of the news..
Life Haven is a non-profit organization of persons with disabilities (PWD), duly registered with the SEC, guided by the Independent Living (IL) Philosophy and a frontrunner of the Independent Living Movement in the Philippines. We are working towards the empowerment of persons with disabilities with the goals of restoring self-respect, improving self-confidence, and promoting active participation on issues concerning the society to which we belong. It is our belief that persons with different types of disabilities will benefit from the Independent Living Movement, hence our cross-disability approach.
Beautiful gate was awarded the Malaysia Book of Records for the largest participants in a wheelchair performance in the year 2000. We also represented Malaysia in the International Cultural & Arts for the Disabled.
Out of the love for the performing Arts, we manage to take up performing tour to Thailand, Singapore, Sabah,Sarawak, and all major cities in west Malaysia. All 14 states of Malaysia, we had been for charity performance.
Beautiful Gate Disabled Performing Arts Troupe was launched by Deputy Culture, Arts and Tourism Minister Datuk Fu Ah Kiow on August 13, 2003. It consists of 25 disabled performers and 5 volunteers.
We believes that disabilities do not prevent experiencing in beauty of arts, and aspired to bring to the disabled community, despite their disabilities, an aspiration to experience the beauty of Arts in this era.
Beautiful Gate hopes to provide an opportunity to the disabled community the joy of Performing Arts and allow it to be the media of communication with the society. It hopes to offer the disabled a future and hope of their own beside being an element of motivation of life to the able-body.
Objectives of Beautiful Gate Performing Arts Troupe are as follow:We have traditional dance, Ballroom dance, Modern dance, Hip Hop, Drama, Solo, and other media suitable for different tastes of varied audience.
Monday September 22, 2008
By STEPHEN THEN
Pretty princess: A dancer from Kuala Lumpur showing off some cool moves.
MIRI: A group of wheel-chair bound dancers and disabled musicians from various parts of the country put up an impressive show recently depicting the true spirit of unity.
The children and adults from the Selangor’s Beautiful Gate Foundation for the Disabled and other charity groups in Miri mesmerised the crowd with their ability in performing multi-racial dances and playing musical instruments.
The concert at the Miri Indoor Stadium attracted a sizeable crowd despite the heavy rain.
The performers from all walks of life performed in harmony dressed in colourful Melayu kebayas, Chinese cheongsams and Indian saris and backed by equally talented dancers.
Each performance was greeted by a thunderous applause.
The crowd were not only amazed with the way they danced and played the musical instruments but also how easily they sang and swayed to the different tunes of the various races in the country.
Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam was the guest-of-honour. Chan told the crowd that the special dancers and musicians were a good example of unity and harmony.
“People in society have a lot to learn from these special people. They seemed to be leading the way in terms of being enterprising and innovative, showing courage, determination and discipline and displaying cultural unity and living in harmony.
“On the other hand the so-called able bodied people are engaged in conflicts, complaints having all kinds of disputes.
“These special folk just get on with lives and and try to live life to the fullest of their abilities everyday,” said Chan.
Good show: The performers in multi-racial attire wowing the crowd.
The Sarawak government, he said, wanted to see more of such public concerts organised for the special folk so that their talents and abilities would get greater publicity on a regular basis.
The concert was organised by the Sarawak United People’s Party, the Pusat Pemulihan Dalam Komuniti, Parents’ Association For Special People, Jaycees, Lion Clubs, Miri Red Cresent and other NGOs.
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