Originally written on March 31:

Just about a fortnight ago, I caught the Stomp the Yard dance battle finals at Club Momo, of all places. Mind you, I've never been to the club before, and after the slew of clubs and bars which have opened up in 2006, was more than a little surprised that it was still open, but I digress.
(Edit: Club Momo has since closed for renovation and will be re-branded Velvet Dragon. Erk.)

I wouldn't normally have gone to see the competition, but this one featured guest judges Ashle Dawson and Ashlee Nino, both of whom were finalists on So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD for short, seasons 1 and 2 respectively).

The categories for the battle were hip hop, b-boy/b-girl and popping & locking. Knowing T.'s a big fan of popping & locking, as well as SYTYCD, I told him about this event, and lo and behold, we two were set for our maiden voyage to Momo-land.

We got there a little early, around 9 pm, because I'd misinterpreted Power 98's free entry promotion to mean that the contest would start around 8 pm. Unfortunately for us, the contest actually began at 11 pm and we were forced to kill two hours at the club. Fortunately, the club had pool tables, and I had fun re-learning how to play pool and generally posing as a pro while having my ass roundly kicked by T. My only consolation was that the game lasted a little longer than it should have because after T. had potted most of his balls, it turned out all of my balls were blocking the holes which T. was going for. Nyahahahaha.

Anyway, we managed to catch some of the finalists rehearsing and were actually rather apprehensive about whether it'd be a wasted night. I'm happy to report that this was an erroneous conclusion; apparently, the finalists were saving their energy for the real thing and that's why everything looked so lacklustre during rehearsals. I'm almost tempted to spend a weekend at the Raffles Link underpass just to check out them out.

We also got treated to a solo performance from Ashle and Ashlee. They were both fun to watch, although thanks to the number of people there, as well as my general lack of height, I missed seeing Ashle do the move I am in awe of: the effortless getting up from being on her knees without needing to use her arms or anything else for support. I may be a little more impressed by that than most because I've got knee injuries, but I'm sure it still looks good even to a completely uninjured party.

I'll admit I couldn't see much of Ashlee's popping either, but I had so much fun just watching the competition (and listening to T. explain what locking and popping are) that I ended up going for my very first locking and popping classes just a fortnight after. The teacher, Michael from Studio Wu, has got to be the least intimidating of all the dance teachers I have ever had, and it was absolutely wonderful. I'll definitely go back for more after my exam's over.