IASAS Cultural Convention 2008

A Tribute to the Techies

At the end of every drama or dance presentation, when the performers come to the foot of the stage, raising their joined hands to the symphonic sound of the audience’s applause - there is one gesture that, despite its brevity, recognizes the enormous contributions of one often nameless person. The cast raises their open palms to the box behind the audience, hidden humbly in the back of the theatre, saying: let our technician be known.

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Tension builds Before the Final Round

The closing day of this year’s Cultural Convention is entirely devoted to finals: Debate, Original Oratory, Extemporaneous Speaking, Original Interpretation and Impromptu are all over at close of business today. For the students, it is the culmination of months of preparation. This is their last chance to prove their worth and capability as public speakers in front of six schools. But during the time before the finals, competitors must face…the time before the finals.

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Glossophobia is the fear of speaking in public. A fear that the speakers in impromptu have faced, spit on and stamped out.
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Messy people get ahead in life.
Embrace your crazy Asian mothers!
Good packaging over goods.
Drink green tea multiple times a day!
No honest or sincere person should enter politics.
If you have gas, let it pass!
Eat home-cooked meals.
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The dreams of most IASAS participants include winning a medal - preferably gold - for their schools. Nothing surpasses the honor and the recognition of wearing the shiny disks of victory around school on the day back from the trip. Read the rest of this entry »

The pressure was palpable. 6 speakers, 5 judges and numerous people were seated in the Fine Arts Theater. The time had come for the Extemporaneous finals. After toiling through the various rounds, it was immediately apparent that the finals had produced the crème of the crop.

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“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest,” was a quote used by the affirmative team to support the ideals of enlightened self interest. Read the rest of this entry »

Mere Mortals Left the Audience in Splits of Laughter
“They decided to do something completely different from what they did last year, and it was just as amazing,” said student Michelle La O’ of Mere Mortals, ISM’s IASAS play this year, which took ISM drama in a wildly different direction, but kept to the same high standard. 
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 Interviews with six actors from six schools.

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Imagine a world, a world where everyone and everything was completely and utterly flawless. Not a single blemish. But why would you want the world to conform to those standards? Why would you want a world characterized by perfection, where failure is unheard of?

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