An Old School Affair

NBS Convocation Ball 2007- “An Old School Affair” was a smashing success on the 28^th July 2007 at the posh “The Fullerton hotel.” Decked out in stylish suits and donning elegant dresses which screamed old-school, 420 attendees turned up for the Ball in glamour and style.

As early as 5.00p.m., attendees started arriving in clusters for the cocktail reception. It was the best time to catch up with friends, take photos and indulge in crystal tattooing, caricature, silhouette cutting and the performance of our walk-about magician, Han Long, as part of pre-dinner activities. Our hired professional photographers, Xiaobin and David (see below), also combed the reception area for snapshots of gorgeous ladies and charming gentlemen that were to be uploaded onto our flickr website.

The affair in the Ballroom officially began at 730p.m. with an opening video clip done by Hongwei, our creative director. Having grabbed the attention of the graduands, the emcee opened the Ball for our first performance of the night, a magic show titled “Mysteriously Magical” by Jason Law who customised his magic tricks to suit our old school theme. Other than the usual card tricks, Jason played around with Luu Haur’s 50 dollars bill, making it disappear and reappear. He also used his psychic powers to get the mobile number of our lovely Kit Lam and revealed it to all the hopeful guys out there at the same time.

By the time the graduands were all warmed up and had their stomachs half-filled, the “Battle of the Best” began. Dezlee Han, who was our emcee for the night, split the Ballroom into 2 groups- the roaring 20s and 30s, which competed against each other to earn points. After all, the winning side (Yes, all 21 tables!) gets one bottle of sparkling juice each to toast and to savour! The professional Dezlee managed to keep the Ballroom incessantly high for the entire night, with tables tasked to find items that formed Old-School-Affair; babes and hunks called up on stage to answer questions and the graduands doing the Hoo!, Ha! with directions by Dezlee, to the rhythm of Kung Fu Fighting. We also had the flexible Marcus entertain us with some butt action!

Next up was a Lindy Hop dance number by professional dance group, Jazz Inc. who earlier performed at the NDP preview. It was an enjoyable fast number that was old school and fascinating with dance tricks and aerials that only made our jaws drop in amazement. The other highlight of “An Old School Affair”, The Man & Lady of the Night went to charismatic Jiaqi and the stunning Yingni who impressed us with the best Indian dance performance ever. What a night for the both of them as they get to take home 1 Perlini’s Silver gift set and 1 L’Oreal hamper each! The other participants- Huiling, Ting Kang, Jiamei, Jacky, Pierre and Amelia also bagged for themselves consolation prizes!

Rounding off the night was a 10 minutes long video clip that evoked in us 3 years worth of bittersweet memories in NBS. From FOC to tutorial classes to professors and grad trips, the video made some of the attendees smudge their mascaras with glistening tears that formed; while others laughed reminiscing silly moments captured on screen. Yes, it’s an end, but it’s also a beginning for all of us.

Last but not least was the much anticipated lucky draw. The prize winners were all smiles for the night, and our first prize- Sony T20 camera, went to Miss Dian Lin of Table 13. Special mention definitely goes to the NBS Alumni Affairs Association for sponsoring our top 3 prizes.

Of course, the Ball would never have been successful without dedicated committee members who have worked extremely hard to make “An Old School Affair” enjoyable for the 420 attendees at the Ball. Heartfelt gratitude certainly goes to the NBS Alumni Affairs Office and the Accountancy & Business Club for making this event possible. Credit also goes to sponsors which include Ernst & Young, L’Oreal, Foo Kon Tan Grant Thornton, Lins Ad, Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore, JobsFactory, HSBC, Shell, Optical 88, Amore Fitness, Jazz Inc., Beaute de Kose, Perlini’s Silver, AV Media and Pandora’s Box.

“An Old School Affair” was not only made possible- it is a smashing success!