Chingay 2018: Extended Route, Extended Parade
Note: This article was part of an academic Graded Assignment for the module 'Media Writing' .
New performances and parade floats will be featured throughout the parade due to the newly extended route the parade will pass through. Performers of the annual Chingay 2018 rehearsed tirelessly to parade down an extended route, starting from the F1 Pit Building.
This annual national event will take place from 23rd to 24th February this year. The route extension, which nearly doubled from preceding years’ 720-metre parade route, will be able to feature new performing troops from various organizations and institutions.
The new route, which now measures up to 1.5 kilometres in distance will stretch from the F1 Pit Building, where the parade will start, and head out towards the area behind the Singapore Flyer before finishing at the floating platform. As the new route has stretched to double its previous length, vacancies for new performing groups and contingents were made available, which therefore allowed the parade to be extended as well.
Due to the new amount of vacancies, more educational institutions are contributing to the parade as well. One of such institutions will be the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS). A new contingent will be formed by dancers from MDIS and they will be participating in the upcoming street parade in collaboration with dancers from Nanyang Technological University (NTU).
Having participated in Chingay Parade since 2015, dancers from MDIS will get to perform under their own contingent this year instead of sharing a contingent with other performing groups as they have done so during the previous years. This opportunity came from the fact that they won the ‘Outstanding Display’ Award in the previous year, and an extended route which provides an outlet for them to perform under their own contingent.
“We were awarded the ‘Outstanding Display’ award this year, so this year, we will have our own contingent with NTU students and it will be called ‘Creative Youths.’” Stated Ms Cindy Wang, the choreographer for MDIS.
The new route extension will enable this year’s Chingay parade’s running time to be maximised a long with the number and variety of performing groups. Audiences will be able to view the parade and street performers in new locations such as the Singapore Flyer and the Floating Platform. The parade can also be expected to have a longer running time as compared to previous years due to the route extension.