Rolling my way to Chingay: Transparent, inflatable balls featuring

prominent figures like Phua Chu Kang join in the Chingay Parade.

The payphone comes to Chingay

In the past, payphones were present at every estate and schools in
Singapore. Now, as the world globalizes and technology advances, the
invention of mobile phones has caused the payphone tradition to die
down. However, the payphones are not entirely extinct yet, for this years
Chingay parade will bring back this payphone tradition.
The parade will feature transparent, inflatable balls approximately 3
metres wide which turn as one moves, resembling a pay phone concept
as in the 50s, the traditional telephone requires one to select the number
that they need to dial and spin the dialler accordingly. Performers in the
balls are prominent characters from the 50s era, such as Liang Po Po, and
the people chosen to be in those balls should have similar figures to
resemble as the character.
Lim Li Xuan, a 15-year old performer was one of those who were in the
transparent, inflatable balls.
Said Li Xuan: Because Im in the big balloon and it is my first time
experiencing it, it is quite difficult for me to walk in it and you have to take
care of the people around you, and make sure that you dont knock into
them.

To accompany the balls, performers donned in 50s fashion long skirts

and mid-thigh length Bermudas featuring TV personalities during that era
like Liang Po Po. Nurses and policemen dressed in their vintage-looking
uniforms too, grooving to the beat of the 50s music as they paraded.
Mr Low Ee Chiang, a 52-year-old creative dance director for Dance
Inspiration, tells us the concept behind his segment. As the theme for the
dance is based on the 50s -60s era, the characters Liang PoPo) are all
involved in TV series around that era and the nurses and police from that
period of time to present the idea behind the era, said Mr Tan.
In addition, the people who enters the transparent ball can only last for as
long as 30 minutes but the performers will feel extremely warm after 15
minutes as the temperature increases.
Despite this, Li Xuan recalls the best experience of participating in
Chingay as It is while I am inside the balloon, it is like I am a hamster in a
hamster ball.
The parade which will be held on 27 28 February, 2015, 8 p.m. at the F1
Pit Building will showcase some 300 student performers from Dance
Inspiration, Nan Hua High School and Jurong West Primary, being in the
50s segment of this years Chingay Parade.