Gearing up for Rag
Students across the University have been relentlessly working in preparation for NUS Students' Union’s Rag Day, to be held on 6 Augustat University Town. As early as May, the participants have been putting in hours of work daily to build and decorate floats made from recycled materials, as well as to choreograph and practise dances.
The theme for this year’s Rag Day is “Big World, Bigger Dreams” — it celebrates the dreams and aspirations of everyone, both young and old alike.
“I believe in the importance of dreams in helping us to push our limits and achieve even greater things in life,” said Rag Project Director, Ang Li Qing, Year 2 Engineering student.
She added, “I hope that through this experience, rag participants will be able to share in the pride of a 58-year-old school tradition, and be inspired to chase their dreams and turn them into reality.”
Engineering participants are deep into the last lap of preparations; adding finer details to their float and fine-tuning their performance; which consists of various dance genres. Conceptualising and planning for Rag Day began as early as last year for them, with the actual float building and dance practice beginning in May.
Jaryl Tan, Year 2 Chemical Engineering student and choreographer of one segment of Engineering’s dance performance shared, “The floats include intricate mechanisms which show the pride of engineering, something other faculties may find hard to replicate.”
This year, all six NUS halls have banded together to work on a unified float and performance. This new arrangement sees the halls working together for the next six years, with a yearly rotation of the roles of responsibility between each hall.
“This is a priceless opportunity for the different hall members to come together to work on one project,” said the Chairperson of the Combined Hall Rag Committee, Chen Yitong, Year 2 Science student. “You get to work together with people you would never have met otherwise.”
The hall performance will be a lengthy 27 minutes, with dances by the respective halls leading to a combined performance, creating a more complete and elaborate storyline.
Hall Rag dancers rehearsing their performance
Besides the 12 beautifully decorated floats, and students’ performances, spectators on the day can also look forward to entertainment by local band Jukuleles and opera vocalist Tiara Valencia Sadikin.
As part of the carnival, faculties and halls of residence will also be setting up booths to further raise funds for this year’s beneficiaries.
Rag Day will be held on 6 August 2016 at NUS Town Green from 8am to 3pm. Admission is free.
