By TAN CHOON SAM
alltherage@thestar.com.my

CHRISTMAS came early for the winners of The Star’s interschool talent competition MY Challenge modern dance category because they got the chance to pick up some performing tips from the cast of the London musical production Stomp ‘11 – Fresher, Faster, Funnier! last week.

Stomp dancers make music using everyday objects and their bodies as intruments, and it was an invaluable experience to learn from them for MY Challenge gold medallists OMGirls and silver medallists Street Culture. KL Stompers (a local tribute band to the Stomp group) were also at the workshop.

The dance workshop was conducted by four cast members of Stomp – Leilani Dibble, Sune Nielsen, Peter Nielsen and Donisha Brown.

Participants at the Stomp workship paying attention as Sune Nielsen and Peter Nielsen (far right) demostrate.

“It’s a way to give back to the community,” said Iconic Marketing Asia managing director Shalini Marimuthu of the workshop.

Beginning with simple grooves, the participants were shown simple hand and feet taps that are also Stomp’s signature moves. But just as they thought these were pretty simple moves, Brown upped the ante. He quickened the pace, incorporating different beats and moves.

Some of the participants had difficulty coping and keeping up, but they eventually caught up, thanks to the friendly and helpful cast members.

The participants experienced for themselves how they could make music without using musical instruments, and they were excited by the entertaining sounds they were creating. After they had had enough of the grooves, participants were shown handlines, which was essentially clapping both hands to different timings. Led by Brown, they were shown the fast ons, fast offs, slow ons and slow offs, each with different timings.

Participants look on as Peter shows them his moves.

On their own, they were just sounds. But when the participants were separated into groups, and each group was assigned a different timing, the music made was incredible. It took awhile for the groups to harmonise with each other, but these musically-inclined participants caught on quickly. Before long they were producing beats worthy of a hip-hop track.

Then came the highlight of the workshop. The infamous pots and pans were brought out, much to the delight of the participants. This time, Peter took the lead, showing the participants simple combinations of beats and stomps using drumsticks and household items.

Some were assigned bins, some took pails, some even used brooms. Each one produced different sounds, but all made for great listening. As they ended with an impromptu jam session, participants were give the opportunity to take the lead, and they certainly impressed the cast members.

The participants certainly had an amazing time learning from the pros. “We enjoyed it, learning so many new things that we could incorporate in dance,” said Christine Nah of OMGirls.

“It was fun to make our own music, and we actually got it pretty quickly as well,” said Nixon Lau of all boys group Street Culture.