The Easter holidays kicked off with the annual Malaysian and Singaporean Dinner and Dance Night, a formal event I have volunteered to help organise alongside a few other volunteers.
It definitely resembled my experiences in my high school prom as well the May Ball back in Bellerbys College Brighton.
After months of planning and scurrying around local shops for sponsorship, the night was finally here.
I was dressed up since early afternoon, heading straight towards the hotel for last minute preparations. Most of the organising committee were also there, looking extremely presentable and glamorous. That, though, has gone by very quickly as the hectic running arounds in the venue wore our hair and outfit down.
Cocktail drinks were set to greet the guests upon the arrival and certificates as well as prizes were cross-checked. Sound system for the performers and the emcees were examined whereas the final itinerary for the night has been clarified amongst all the organisers.
The clock kept ticking and it was finally time to usher the guests in. Bright artificial fire welcomed them into the grand ballroom of the Victoria Inn, then to their seats with specific hand-written greeting cards atop the scattered flower petals and the bucket of wine bottles waiting to be opened. Not to forget, the candelabras illuminating every table as strong centrepieces. It was generally an extremely English-like setting, only enhanced by the amazing outfits our dear guests have donned.
The night began with speeches from the outgoing president and our guest of honour. Shortly after was my first speech as the incoming president of MASSOC.
After all that I had been going through, giving a speech suddenly just felt rather effortless. Maybe I was just tired?
Anyways, dinner commenced and we indulged ourselves in the delicacies graciously served by the hotel. Chicken with wine sauce, salmon with Hollandaise sauce, strawberry shortcake and chocolate mousse were some of the dishes being presented, mostly mouth-watering to all the guests.
We then had entertainment in store for the guests, starting from casual acoustic performances by fellow members, also an extremely saucy dance routine by the Malaysian girls and finally the highlight of the night, a Pasadembo band, singing popular tunes to get even our guest of honour singing alongside them, reminiscing the old times back when he was a university student himself. He is a Malaysian lecturer by the way!
A series of prizes were given away, starting with raffles then to the Best Dressed Prizes and the ‘highly coveted’ Mr and Ms MASSOC. The shortlisted few were told to catwalk around the stage to gather votes from the members of the floor.
Amazing (and some wacky and funny) prizes were given away, leaving the crowd to burst with laughter and elated from their lucky wins. The grand winners of the night, Mr and Ms MASSOC, were then prompted to start the dance floor with the help of merengue instructors.
In no time, the dance floor was filled with all guests, learning how to merengue while constantly switching their dance partners, possibly getting to know other attendees in the ball. Soon, the music switched to proper DJ music with fantastic clubbing songs for all the guests to keep the momentum going till the end of the night. Most people have stayed through the whole event, going back satisfied.
By the end of the night, people have dined well and danced well, also gladly entertained by everything that was prepared - all that we were asking for from them. We also broke the record of the number of attendees for this annual event through impressive publicity and we are sure that the event will only get even better in the coming years. It was certainly a great start to my Easter break.
Having experienced this made me think back about my time back in Bellerbys, dancing my heart out in the May Ball. If you are ever on the fence whether to attend this college event, stop thinking and get your tickets now! You will not regret it!
Lastly, have a Happy Easter everyone!
Thank you for reading!
David studied Engineering Foundation at Bellerbys College, a university preparation college for international students
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