Coppelia Ballet Coming Soon to Istana Budaya

Just 2 more days to go before the premiere of Coppelia!

I am very excited and so are my kids especially my girl who will be attending her very first ballet performance at Istana Budaya.

BFM radio conducted an interview recently with Connor Walsh and Wan Ching on July 1st

Then on July 2nd, a few of the cast members were interviewed on Bella NTV7

The dance cast of Coppelia was featured on Capital FM88.9 on July 3rd. Listeners could call in to win tickets for the ballet show. 

L-R: Wan Ching, Xandria Ooi, Mark Brinkley, Connor Walsh & Joanne Kam


Have you got your tickets to watch Coppelia yet?
Tickets still available online: www.ticket2U.biz or Istana Budaya Box Office (03-40265558)
Show time: July 6th 8:30pm and July 7th 3pm

Maybank2U Pay

Maybank2U Pay is a newly launched payment facility specially designed for small or home businesses e.g. blogshops conducting online transactions. By using M2U Pay, sale transactions can be managed systematically and professionally. 

I was given this privilege to be in the pioneer group of blogshop owners to try out the Beta version of this new payment system. We were required to attend the workshop on setting up the payment icon on the sidebar of our blogshops and to test out the transactions. After the initial phase of beta testing, it was all systems go at the launch event of M2U Pay at Menara Maybank on April 16th. 

The Cherry on the Cake's booth at the M2U Pay Launch

As a seller, this new payment system helps me manage my online transactions as I get notified once a payment has been made into my account via M2U Pay. I can view the transaction history with its description when I log into M2U website. Plus it's very easy for my customers to bank in payment for me by just clicking on the M2U Pay icon in which the payment is automatically deposited into my account. 

I was invited to a flea market organized by Maybank on May 11th at The Piazza, e@The Curve, as part of the publicity drive for M2U Pay.

So, for blogshop owners, if you are keen to find out more about this payment system, kindly visit Maybank's website to read up and also to apply. 

*This is a sponsored post*

Coppelia Ballet - The Girl with Enamel Eyes

This year in July, Danceworks Production together with Ena Ballet Studio Company, will be presenting yet another exciting ballet production: Coppelia. It will be held at Istana Budaya from July 6-7. 

Evan & I had been attending ballet concerts produced by Danceworks in 2011 (The White Bat) and 2012 (International Ballet Gala) and we look forward to Coppelia this year. And best part is this year, all of us in the family are going, as I received a special blogger invite. And earlier today, all of us attended a closed-door rehearsal of the ballet Coppelia at Studio 10. We got to watch the dancers in action! 

Mark Brinkley from Australia gave us a brief introduction of himself and the ballet Coppelia. He will be dancing the part of Dr Coppelius. He has spent over 20 years as a ballet performer and also many years as a ballet instructor, examiner and advisor. For his outstanding service in ballet, he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1993. 

 Kids with Mark Brinkley

So, what's the story of Coppelia about? It's basically a comic and romantic ballet. Dr. Coppelius is a mad scientist who created a doll so lovely that a village youngster, Franz became infatuated with it. Swanhilda, his fiance, was very upset and decides to take matters into her own hands by dressing up as the doll. Eventually the 2 love birds unite and all is well. 

rehearsal in progress

Ena Hirose in action

Ena Hirose is the founder of Ena Ballet Studio and the co-director of Ena Ballet Studio Company. She has won numerous awards and performed in various productions. I remember her performing in Istana Budaya for the past 2 years.  This time in Coppelia, she plays Swanhilda. Here's a group photo of Ena Hirose's current students and ex-students who went on to become professional ballet dancers:

Ena Ballet Studio Company

Connor Walsh (pic above) is the principal dancer of the Houston Ballet, USA. He will be dancing as Franz. Just like his other ballet co-stars, he has garnered various awards and has been in demand as a guest star. It was just great watching the ballet dancers rehearse together so well as they are from different countries i.e. Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Romania, Germany and USA. 

To get your hands on tickets for the ballet, hurry to Istana Budaya Box Office or call them at 03-40265558 to reserve your tickets. You can also purchase tickets online at www.ticket2u.biz. 
Timing: July 6th 8:30pm and July 7th 3pm.
Tickets are priced at RM200, RM160, RM120, RM90 and RM50. 
For further information check out Danceworks Production's website. 

Danceworks Production is a non-profit organization founded in 1998 by a group of dance enthusiasts namely Sunny Chan, Yupin Lee, Jie Choong Wan Chin, Chen Wei and Chua Meei Tyng. The organization aims to spread the joy of dance to all Malaysians - whether as a spectator or a participant, and at the same time, raising funds for charity. By the way, one of the charities to benefit from Coppelia is the SPCA Selangor.

It's gonna be a great ballet performance and highly recommended for families with children. I am counting down the days! I shall now leave you with this promo video of Coppelia - enjoy!