PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Press Contact

Kathryn Shannon Sim

Acting Public Relations Manager

Singapore Recreation Club

DID:    6430 7567

Email: shannon.pr@src.org.sg

A. Rashid

General Manager/Secretary

Singapore Recreation Club

Tel:     6339 9367

Email: gm@src.org.sg

 

Women’s & Kids’ Soccer cum

SRC's Line Dance Stars Festival raises $60,000 For Charities

 

SINGAPORE, 21 August 2004 – Each year, Singapore Recreation Club (SRC) champions a major charity event and this year is no exception. Plans are underway for the SRC Line Dance Stars Festival, to be held on Saturday, 21 August 2004 at the Padang. The event will bring together fellow Singaporeans together through a game of football and line dancing, which will help raise $60,000 for four beneficiaries.

 

Over the last three years, line dancing has grown in stature and popularity, from being an activity associated only with retirees to something that all ethnic groups and ages can enjoy. At SRC, we've gone a step further and called our mega line dance events "Sports Line Dance" because line dancing is an aerobic activity that can be done with track shoes on grass, without the need for cowboy boots.

 

Some of the recent projects that the Club has championed during the past 12 months include the President's Challenge on 17 January 2004, which raised $25,000 for The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund and the 2nd Ambassadors' SRC Charity Soccer Fiesta cum Mega Sports Line Dance on 6 September 2003, which raised $75,000 for seven beneficiaries.

 

The 2nd Ambassadors' SRC Charity Soccer Fiesta cum Mega Sports Line Dance brought the diplomatic community and foreign nationals in Singapore, and fellow Singaporeans together through a game of football and line dancing. Last year's event saw a turnout of 7,000 participants. Mr Heng Chee How, Mayor of Central Singapore District and Members of Parliament, Dr Amy Khor and Ms Irene Ng helped kick-off the soccer segments in the morning, while Assoc Prof Ho Peng Kee, Senior Minister of State for Law & Home Affairs, flagged off the Mega Sports Line Dance in the evening.

 

SRC's Line Dance Stars Festival Marks Guinness World Record Attempt

Building on our success with last year's Mega Sports Line Dance, we hope to break the record currently held by Hong Kong for the Longest Country Line Dance on 29 December 2002 of 12,168 people at the Happy Valley Recreation Club. We believe that together with the Country Line Dance Association of Singapore (CLDAS), schools and community centres/clubs, we will be able to gather at least 14,000 people on the historical Padang for this event.

 

 

 

Objectives

Through the event, SRC hopes to achieve the following objectives:

 

 

Guests Of Honour

The confirmed Guests Of Honour for the event are Senior Minister of State, Assoc Prof Ho Peng Kee and Minister of the Environment, Mr Lim Swee Say. Members of Parliament have been invited to field a celebrity team again to play against the SRC President's selection in an afternoon soccer match.

 

Beneficiaries

The four beneficiaries that will benefit from the event include:

 

  1. Family Life Society
  2. Chinese Women's Association
  3. Singapore Amalgamated Services Co-operative Organisation (SASCO)
  4. Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS)

 

Mechanics

Money will be raised through three channels:

 

  1. Sale of advertisement space in a souvenir programme magazine
  2. Sale of Raffle tickets
  3. Sale of lighted Collar Pins
  4. Sponsorships

 

The Programme

The programme for the festival includes Women's & Kids' soccer in the daytime, followed by line dancing with the world renowned Masters In Line group of instructors and choreographers from the United Kingdom and music by well-known Indonesian band, the Ole Friends from 6.30pm onwards. We are confident that Masters in Line will be well received by Singapore's line dance community as the Masters In Line group are world line dance champions themselves, while the Ole Friends have a strong following in the region, and can currently be seen on a weekly show broadcast on TVRI, called Country Road.

 

Primary Schools - More Than 500 School Children In Longest Country Line Dancing Bid

With the increase of popularity in line dancing in Singapore, 11 primary schools or more than 500 students will be participating in the line dance segment as part of their Community Involvement Project.

 

The 11 participating primary schools that will be taking part are:

1.      Cedar Primary School

2.      CHIJ Toas Payoh

3.      Chua Chu Kang Primary School

4.      East Coast Primary School

5.      Juying Primary School

6.      Kheng Cheng Primary School

7.      Lian Hua Primary School

8.      North View Primary School

9.      Stamford Primary School

10.  St Margaret Primary School

11. Wellington Primary School

  

Ole Friends – Indonesian Recording Stars

Ole Friends is one of the most popular Country bands in Indonesia. Led by homegrown Indonesian recording star, veteran entertainer and lead singer, Tantowi Yahya, Ole Friends is credited with the reason for the rising popularity of Country music in Indonesia.

 

The steady rise of the band, playing predominantly Pop/Country music - a genre hardly looked at by other musicians, has gained its members plenty of media attention and coverage, as well as ever-rising popularity on home ground and overseas.

 

Ole Friends has over the years gained many loyal followers and can currently be seen on a weekly show broadcast on TVRI, called Country Road. Specially flown in from Indonesia, the band will be present on Saturday, 21 August 2004 to perform Country music for all avid line dancers. 

 

Masters In Line - World Renowned Group Of Instructors And Choreographers From The United Kingdom

Based in the United Kingdom (UK), Paul McAdam, Rob Fowler, Rachael McEnaney and Pedro Machado are accomplished dancer-choreographers and instructors in their own right. They will be at the Padang for the Women’s and Kids’ Soccer cum SRC’s Line Dance Stars Festival on Saturday, 21 August 2004.

 

MPs Face SRC President’s Selection

As with last year, a star-studded Parliamentarian team will play against the SRC President’s selection.

 

This event is supported by Singapore Sports Council, Singapore Pools, Central Singapore CDC, South West CDC, the Football Association of Singapore and Borneo Motors. It is open to the public, from 9.00am to 11:30pm.

###

 

 

 

 

About The Singapore Recreation Club

The Singapore Recreation Club (SRC) was established in 1883 by a group of about 30 members from the Eurasian community. Situated in an enviably prominent location, SRC, which occupies 20,000 sq. metres of land, straddles the civic district and the world-class arts centre at the Esplanade. The club’s on-going commitment to its 6,500 members is to promote all forms of sports, recreation and social activities; and actively participate in activities of national sports associations and the Singapore National Olympic Council. SRC’s current elected President for the term 2004-2006 is Dr. Johnny Goh. For more information, please visit www.src.org.sg.

 

Notes To The Editor

 

About Masters In Line (MIL)

Rob Fowler

A Karate expert and a devoted family man, Rob channels the same degree of passion and commitment to line dancing. He came across line dancing being taught whilst on holiday in Wales in 1992. He thought, "I can do that" and has never looked back.

 

Rob rose to become the UK's most sought-after instructor, demonstrator and choreographer. He has travelled to USA, Canada, Holland, Sweden, Finland, Norway, France, Germany, South Africa and around UK. He continues to choreograph successful dances one after the other and his most famous being "The Beast".

 

Rob runs his own club and has produced many very successful students, including several World Champions. His devotion to teaching has also seen many videos and instruction cassettes being produced, earning him the titles of Personality of the Year, Instructor of the Year, Choreographer of the Year and Peoples' Champion.

 

Pedro Machado

Pedro was born in Washington, D.C. in 1970 of Portuguese decent. He began to develop his passion for dancing in 1993 at the Cancun Cantina, in Glen Burnie, Maryland. Since then, he has danced on and coached several award-winning dance teams, using his original choreography.

 

Pedro is highly in demand as a coach and choreographer for both individual and team competitors. Some of Pedro's original choreography include "Kick-N-Rock", "Funk-N- Groovin", "King of the Road" choreographed with Jo Thompson, "Kiss Me" with Chris Kumre and "Mambo No.5" with Anthony Lee. A judge for UCWDC, he has judged for the TNN Wild Horse Saloon dance competition and was an instructor at Cotton-Eyed Joe's, the No. 1 Country Bar in America.

 

Pedro sincerely believes that children are the future of dance. He has been offered many opportunities to teach children around the world. He not only uses his abilities to teach children but also helps raise funds for needy children in England.

 

Paul McAdam
Born in the quiet town of County Durham, England, 18-year-old Paul McAdam discovered line dancing when his Aunt encouraged him to attend a line dance class with his brother one day. Since then, it’s been uphill.

Talent spotted by Rob Fowler at a competition event in 1997, Paul’s raw talent was evident and he was soon offered an opportunity to train with Rob’s team in Liverpool. The rest of the story is history as he smoothed up the ranks and soon became a natural foil for demonstrations and specialised routines.

 

The highlight of Paul's competition career so far was his double win at Worlds this year where he topped the Junior Teen Advanced and Junior Teen Showcase divisions. Nevertheless, the engaging and humorous self-professed all rounder is determined to master all aspects of line dance.

 

Today, apart from working on advanced routines, developing his exciting, jazzy dance style and choreography skills, Paul is working towards popularising West Coast Swing in U.K.

 

Rachael McEnaney

A dancer since the age of four, and with a family background of Ballroom and Latin Champions, Rachael, through her love of dance discovered and trains in many different forms of dance and began teaching line dance in England at the tender age of 15.

 

With an ambition to dance and travel, her first competition was the European Championships in April 1999, returning the following year as a Superstar. Having won many British and European titles she also took home a Double World title from Worlds 2000 as the Grand Classic and Showcase Line Dance Champion, and was the first European female to qualify for the Superstar Division. More memorably, she returned from UCWDC Worlds 2001 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada as the Female Superstar World Champion.

 

In 2002, Rachael formed Masters In Line with Pedro, Rob and Paul. Looking forward, Rachael will continue to tour the UK as well as Australia, Asia, Europe and USA.

 

The Ole Friends is one of the most popular Country bands in Indonesia. Also recognised as the pioneer in increasing the popularity of Country music in Indonesia, the band has over the years gained many loyal followers. Indonesian recording star and lead singer, Tantowi Yahya and his band, Ole Friends will be present on 21 August 2004 to perform Country music for all avid line dancers.  

 

About Family Life Society (FLS)

Family Life Society (FLS) is a non-profit organization that offers counselling and care services as well as educational programmes and resources to families and individuals. As directed by the Catholic Archbishop of            Singapore, the Family Life Society was established as the Family Life Bureau in 1983 by Father Edmund Dunne and registered in February 1985 under the Societies Act of Singapore to promote understanding and respect for marriage, family and human life.

 

About Chinese Women’s Association (SCWA)

Organise social activities for their members and fund raising activities for various charities. Main on-going project is the running of the Henderson Senior Citizens' Home.

 

About Singapore Amalgamated Services Co-operative Organisation (SASCO)

Singapore Amalgamated Services Co-operative Organisation (SASCO) Ltd, an affiliate member of the National Council of Social Services is a secular and non-ethnic voluntary welfare organisation providing services to the poor and destitute for 21 years.

 

SASCO was the first Co-Operative Organisation to set-up and run a Senior Citizens Home in 15 October 1981 and a Day Care centre for the elderly in 18 June 1999. To meet the growing needs of young children two childcare centres were set-up for the middle and low-income families.

 

About Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS)

Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) is one of the oldest and largest non-governmental organisations catering to the educational, vocational, social and welfare needs of the Intellectually Disabled in Singapore. MINDS operate five Special Education Schools, three Sheltered Workshops, two Training & Development Centres, and two Residential Homes, serving around 2400 Intellectually Disabled persons.

MINDS was founded in 1962 under the name of the Singapore Association for Retarded Children (SARC). It is a voluntary welfare organisation catering to the needs of intellectually disabled persons and their families.

###