We did it! Last December 5, we became the overall champions of Just For Tonight (JFT) 2008. All the hard work we put in, all the blood, sweat, hematoma and tears, paid off.

The Production
Most of us were only able to watch bits and pieces of the play because most of us were involved in it in some way. In fact, this entry is late because I’ve been watching the videos Jobz posted over and over again. I still can’t believe we pulled it off as well as we did.

“A Thousand and None” is our batch’s baby. I was at Mitch and Madi’s dorm when we conceived it. Aika wanted a circus. I suggested a murder mystery. She wrote it (with help from our batchmates) and directed it. In our metaphor, Paja, Madi and I provided the sperm cells that brought about that which Aika nurtured for months. The batch worked hard to to give justice to its delivery.

Intro

Madi and Jaja choreographed the dances. Lucky kept us together all throughout this thing. She was an amazing floor director and prayer leader (hehe). The actors (Ian, Nais, Jaja, Peter, Ineng and Martin) and my fellow dancers outdid themselves. Kudos to the lights, sounds and video people. You have broken our 2-year curse of endless technical difficulties.

Moments before the prod began (as told by Ghia):
Kuya spotlight operator: Ma’am wala pa daw yung judge, iinom muna ko ng coke.
Ghia: Ano?! Hindi pwede! Ako nga linulunok ko na lang laway ko e! Kuya, lunukin mo na rin lang muna laway mo!
Kuya: Sige na nga po, ma’am.

Dedication di ba! hehe

“Special Effects”

We had more Kasou Taisho-inspired scenes, choreographed by Gerry, Yuki, etc. Props to the men in black who were the backbone of what were arguably the crowd’s favorite scenes. And of course, props to the props people (corny..boo! haha).

The contortionist act was one of those aforementioned crowd favorites. Ang ganda nya live!

Magic Box FTW!
“…baby, thinking of you keeps me up all night…”

Sayang, I think Jobz’ cam ran out of battery or memory. The video ends halfway through our Una Kaya dance. She’s amazing for uploading the vids but I can’t wait for the dvd of the entire thing (which we will definitely upload). I especially want to see the final dance.

Anyway, in case you were wondering, I’m one of the five “contortionists” (aka the silver surfers/embutido girls) on the first clip and I’m the green belly dancer on the last one. I’m so proud to have been part of this amazing collaborative effort. All the hours of practice, learning to do back rolls, front rolls and bridges (at 21!), all those mornings after practice when we can barely get up from bed (di ba Reyia?), all the bruises on our knees and shoulders (di ba Sally and Dyne?), that month-long crash diet (di ba Paja?), they are all so worth it.

This is the best prod we’ve done. Great story. Clean execution.
Judges’ Scores: 99-99-98 (Ave: 98.67, baby!)

The Band

They sounded amazing despite not having Chard and Aeron this year. I’m still a huge fan of saxy Daryl and Cedi aka Mitchydee. Kudos to the rest of the band!

The Chorale
They improved so much this year, and they looked great thanks to Camille’s costume design.

JFT King and Queen
Hindi namin kayang kalabanin ang kayamanan ng mga magulang ng ibang contestants. Pero alam naman natin kung sino talaga ang nararapat na JFT King and Queen. Region V represent!

Solidarity
We deserved the batch solidarity award because we shelled out more than just cash to win this. Grabe ang paghihirap namin dito, especially ni Ana. From selling shirts (na kinarir nina Ana, Charm, Camille, Mitch, Madi, Reyia, Esther, etc) to making the new design (thanks to Esther, Aika and especially Marie for helping me) and getting it printed (na JFT day mismo na natapos), to getting customized clappers, effort talaga. And we cheered hard. There were only 77 of us but we were louder than the two lower batches (200+) combined.

Special mention nga pala si Lans, ang aming emcee na pinagtanggol ang batch!

I’ve always been part of the solidarity committee so I’m extra proud of our grand slam win.

Overall Champions
We were up against a lot of odds, the size of our batch being just one of them. But we have overcome. We played it smart. We knew we couldn’t win everything but we gave it our best. The categories in which we won 2nd place, the scores we got were not far from that of the batch who got first place. But those we won, we lead by miles.

Everyone cooperated and participated, others did more than what was asked of them. Congratulations, batchmates. We won not because it’s our last year. We won because we deserve it.

Isa pa para…sa ‘ting lahat. ;)