A Surprise For Teacher

I am in trouble.

Trying to remember everything that has occurred during the week we planned our teacher, Jeamie Lee's surprise birthday party isn't going to be an easy task. And to thing this surprise birthday party was one of our best-planned surprise party to-date. Just like the teacher said it ... "this is the new benchmark for all surprise birthday parties". And I'll drink to that !

It all started in the beginning of April. The initial plan was to have a surprise birthday party for Jeamie before her actual birthday ... a week earlier to coincide with a Saturday. But the plan was held back as we realized that Jeamie will be attending the Money & You program throughout the week that we're planning the event which leaves us no other option but to postpone it a week later. I guess it's a blessing in disguise because that left us more room to add more items to the agenda. An idea struck us (imagine the light bulb on my head lights up!) that we should get SalsaJay students to perform for her.

With that thought in mind, Tamie put on her organizing cap and began mobilizing, gathering and planning the resources to make this work. Communication notes were distributed ...an email each to the beginners, intermediates .... and to the advance folks to canvass them to perform during Jeamie's surprise birthday party and another to friends and family informing them to participate in the event.

What happened next was way out of everyone's expectation. Swifts responses came in ... answering to the request for performance ... without hesitation. With that aside, the next challenge was to develop sequences for the 3 groups of students .. catering to their current skill and ability level. This wasn't easy at all, considering some of the beginner students has just started their lessons just weeks ago.

Things began to fall into place ..a piece at a time. Just as Tamie and I was banging our heads thinking where to have the practices for the students ... Jeamie called, informing us that she will not be coming for the Friday class and Fai (Assistant Instructor) would have to replace her to teach. We screamed with joy ... and almost instantly after getting off the phone with Jeamie, Tamie distributed more emails ... informing all the students involved to move in for practices.

As planned, the students came in for the practice on Friday (coincidentally Fri the 13th!!!) and while the Intermediates were having their usual classes ... taught by Fai, I started briefing them about the footwork sequence that they will be performing with. As I mentioned earlier, things fall into place almost coincidentally ... because Kuok Peng actually turned up and help coached the beginners. Fai also took turns to coach the beginners further to help strengthen their skills. With everything running that smooth, there's no way we would fail !

Well, heck ... it almost did ! While practices went on, we also celebrated the students who's birthdays fell on April .. like we did, monthly. And since Jeamie wasn't there .. she would expect to see photos of the event. Somehow ... somewhat ... the birthday photos went public and Kuok Peng's face was in it. And as sharp as Jeamie is ... she was asking us why is Kuok Peng at the studio ... after all, usually Jeamie is the one to invite Kuok Peng over for any event. Good thing is, we managed to mumble some silly excuse and change the topic... (hmm.. not that sharp after all, eh?)

We continued working on the sequencing the following day with help from Fai and Tamie. Michael Yip was great help as he could remember almost all the steps that Jeamie taught them. Slowly but surely, Tamie & Michael worked out the intermediate sequences. Despite the strong team spirit ... some tension and dramas surfaced causing some of the students to consider dropping out of the performance but the issue was solved eventually. It is amazing to see the strong team spirit and how much effort were the students putting in .. all because they had one purpose in mind. That is to make Jeamie, their teacher be proud of them.

And while the students and the rest were busy with the dance performances, other agendas were being planned as well.

The next itinerary to go on the board was to have Zhang Zhen Hong singing for Jeamie. A good start ... and like the Timothy you know, I don't bow down. And neither does Tamie ... we wanted live-bands, we wanted to invite all of Jeamie's friends to attend the party and surprise her. After some serious thoughts ... we scrapped the idea. Well, some of it .. that is. Somehow, it felt like we're organizing her wedding rather than her surprise birthday party!

So we agreed on the agenda ... Zhang Zhen Hong' sings ... and fellow students perform. Now to fix the location ... a phone call later and I managed to confirm it @ Cigar Divan ... our brand new Salsa Club in Eastin Hotel.

Richard and Jennifer, if you're reading this ... thank you very much from the bottom of my heart for helping us pull this through. And I would like to apologize on behalf of the gang if there's any inconvenience caused ...

We now have the location to run this event, next ... to finalize on the performances. Whoaa... check it out ... we actually have performances. Oh yes we do !!!

Just to recap, this was what we had planned ...

1) Zhang Zhen Hong serenading Jeamie with his favourite number in his first EP, "Beautiful Lady" harmonized by Timothy and special guest, Jacques Lebosse .. this will be the first time ever, for anyone to hear Beautiful Lady being sung by a French man. (and to think I still have that tune in my head till today ....). Special Rhumba performance by Jennifer Kot and Sean Hong. Also in the list is another song performance by Zhang Zhen Hong, titled "You're My One And Only" ... with special Cha Cha Cha performance by Sean Hong ... and a surprise dance with Jeamie Lee.

2) The beginner, intermediate and advance students agreed to perform a sequence ... using only the steps that teacher Jeamie has taught them.

3) Salsa birthday song ... this is a must ! Somehow, this has became a tradition. A birthday custom. The birthday person get's to dance with the opposite sex ... not one but the whole club, if possible !

Some more efforts were planned to throw Jeamie off the surprise birthday track even further for her ... she is helluva smart and suspicious when coming to birthday surprises. First, we got Richard from Divan to SMS Jeamie, informing her to come on Saturday (21st Apr) because there's a salsa performance by some international group. This is to 'ensure' that we CAN plan a trip to Divan on Saturday without creating any suspicion.

Then we organized a sorta "simple" birthday gathering for her @ The Curve ..TGIF on her actual birthday .. the 19th. It was just me, Tamie, Jacques, Zai, Greg and Zhang Zhen Hong ... and guess what, we completed it with presents and all. It must be a jolly good evening for Jeamie for she had quite a lot of fun, more for us ... especially when the TGIF folks did their traditional birthday thingy on Jeamie (I quietly told them to do so... ).

Just before we left The Curve, it rained hard ! (I guess lying on people's birthday isn't a good idea .. even if it's for goodness sake!). And we could see it in Jeamie's eyes .. she was kinda reluctant to leave that early (we left at around 11 ish) ... but we told her we can't stay as next day was a working day.

Things quiet down the next day for Jeamie ... while we (the advance fellows) continue to squeeze our already brain-dead mind and pushed it further to memorize our sequences .. 3 full minutes of it ! And we have to thank the Lebosses for letting us practice @ his place ... and to top that, they even ordered pizzas during one of our practices.

One thing lead to another and very soon, it's THE DAY. Saturday, 21st April 2007 will probably be the day many of SalsaJay students won't forget very quickly. To many of us, it was just another Saturday as usual. SMS'es flying around confirming rehearsal timing and stuffs to bring. For me and Tamie, we had our usual family day outing ... and while at it ... we bought some birthday decoratives from The Curve ... Party Shop. I managed to grab some temporary tattoos while at it. Tamie got the banners and a gigantic birthday card.

At 2pm, we got to Eastin Hotel ... and checked into the hotel room. Oh, almost forgot ... Richard .. thanks a million for providing us with the free hotel room.


After checking in and dropping our stuffs ... we quickly hurried down for our final rehearsal. When we got to Divan, the beginners and intermediates were already doing their stuffs. Up-to-date, I am pretty impressed by their level of commitment with the mentioned objectives in their mind. Bravo guys and gals ... you've earned my respect ! Although the rehearsals went through fine, I could see the worried faces .. especially with the Intermediates. Of course, I fully understand their predicaments .. after all, it's a whole 2 minutes 30 seconds of salsa sequencing ... and they only came up with it ... in like, 3 days ago ???


As for the beginners (some started salsa lessons just weeks ago), I did not sense as much anxiety. Maybe it has to do with the fact that they did not know what are they getting themselves into. Or they are descendants of warriors from the recent movie 300 ! Either way, it proves that fear is the only factor that is preventing people from performing ... in this case, a dance performance.


Of course .... easier said than done, I practically messed up my rehearsal. I began to wonder how am I to perform that night. Checking my watch ... 6:00pm. I pushed the thought aside and began ushering the guys to go prepare and get some dinner as well. We had our dinner ... and went back to the hotel room to get prepared.


(Fast Forwarding to 9:30pm .....)

We are now all dressed and ready to roll. Time check again.... 9:32pm. Walked around a little, checked with Xavier if everything is alright. Mic check ... good. Timecheck ...9:34pm. Gosh ! Why the heck is the time passing so slow .... The crowd is slowly flowing in ... I can see Richard and Jennifer out at the entrance ... seems to be happy with the crowd.

Finally .. it's 10:30pm. It's time. It's now or never.

I overheard someone saying Jeamie has arrived ! Very quickly, I went around to verify the information ... which is true. I proceed to get everyone in position. Another call confirmed that Jeamie has arrived Eastin and is now entering the parking lot.

Gosh ! What a VIP !

Felt like the Secret Services are positioned all over the building, watching every of Jeamie's moves.

Crackle...crackle .... the radio beeped. A voice boomed through the speaker of the walkie. Alpha to Tango, Alpha to Tango. The bird is in the cage, the bird is IN THE CAGE.

Roger, roger. Everyone .. in position. Team Jollypecker, are you in position ? AFFIRMATIVE, sir. Team Willywonka ... positions? GOOD TO GO, sir ! Team Junglejerry .. all in positions? Yes, sir YES !

Again the radio beeped ... Alpha to Tango, Alpha to Tango ... the bird approaching target, sir !

I blinked twice and woke up from my daydream. Okay, back to reality ... I just realized that Jeamie is ALREADY AT THE ENTRANCE of Divan ... I grabbed the microphone and go on full standby mode. The moment Jeamie stepped into Divan, I practically shouted through the microphone ... JEAMIE IS IN THE HOUSE. JEAMIE LEE, THIS IS A SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR YOU. SO ... SURPRISEEEEE !!!! AND SHE WAS GREETED WITH LAUGHTERS, APPLAUSE AND CONFETTI'S....

You should've seen her face ..... ! She screamed as everyone in the house (club) shouted "SURPRISE" to her .... She slowly staggered her way into the club ... and someone brought a chair and made her sit right next to the bar, in front of the dance floor. The first show ... is a number by Zhang Zhen Hong, an invited guest (the latest upcoming singer/dancer/actor in town) especially dedicated to Jeamie titled Beautiful Lady. As he began to belt out his song ... Jennifer swirled in with her ultra-sexy Rhumba moves ... followed by Sean.


Fellow readers ... if you were here .. you'd understand what I meant .. if you were not ... do note that I nosebled for a while. Just when Zhen Hong did his second chorus .. yours truly grabbed the microphone and did an accompaniment ...a mild surprise to all. The greatest and 'bestest' surprise was when Jacques Lebosse came in to do the 3rd chorus. The crowd reacted as if Back Street Boys just did a guest appearance. But of course, to hear a French man sing to Zhang Zhen Hong's Beautiful Lady is a chance of a lifetime.

Jacques .... you're the man ! Still remember the verse "Wu Fxxx Dai Thi"? .... (if you don't understand ... read Beautiful Lady's lyrics).

The performance was the salsa performance .. by the students. 3 groups ... 3 dance sequences ... respectively @ 1 minute, 2 minute 30 seconds and finally 3 minutes. The intermediates struggled a little but otherwise good showmanship. And this definitely caught Jeamie by surprise ... and you can definitely see it in her face ... the face of one happy and proud teacher.


Almost immediately after the dance performances, the birthday cake was rolled out ... and smacked right in the middle of the birthday cake was a candle that said "DON'T EVEN ASK" .. which I guess refers to Jeamie's age ??? We shall not debate that issue any further .... for now.


Done with the birthday cake ... and on to the dancing. I don't know if all salsa dancers practices this but very often, our birthday baby get's to dance with members of the opposite sex ... for a whole salsa birthday song. And I am talking about the birthday baby getting a new partner every 30 seconds or more. The song went on for about 4 minutes plus .. and you would be right to think Jeamie is tired after that dance ... guess again. She's as active as a grasshopper ... or was it a rabbit.... whatever.... anyway .. she's still active.


Zhang Zhen Hong came in again to do another number ... this is a fast one, also a song wrote by himself ... titled "You're My Only One" ... and Sean surprised Jeamie by asking her to dance with him. After some thank you speeches by Jeamie Lee ... Divan's dance floor was finally opened to the public when Salseras and Salseros spin the rest of the night to the clave and drum beats of the Cuban mood.

This story is written based on a real event. Any incidental mentioning of names are purely done on purpose.