OMG Challenger : IFLY prodigy @ *scape

My prayers have been answered!

Sort of. You know how I've been goin' on and on about wanting to see a Cheer Squad on the show. Well, meet IFLY prodigy @ *scape. They are a performing group with a background in cheer, gymnastics and dance. I didn't get a chance to take a good picture of them as they were rehearsing the other day. And silly me, should have grabbed one after they filmed their VT but didn't *kok*, so this group picture I got from their 'group page' on facebook will have to do. 

Here are some pics of the guys in action at the rehearsal they had at Mediacorp over the weekend. They met Zaki :) One of them called him 'Sir'. Zaki was so taken aback, apparently its the first time someone's called him 'Sir' - nice one Gary!

IFLY showing Zaki their moves ...

Human pyramid, luckily the ceiling is high enough!

IFLY prodigy is made up of 11 members - four girls and seven guys. The girls are tiny! Perfect to be flyers. They are Jessie, Nellie, Hui Shan and Yvonne. The guys are Alan, Hann Bin, Zhi Liang, Gary, Gerard and the two Vincents, Fok and Yeo. Gary and Gerard are the bases. (the guys at the bottom who carry all the girls up). Here are some pics I 'stole' from Nellie's facebook album (thanks Nellie - haven't really met you, Alan told me to do it!)

The only one from both pics is Zhi Liang

(Click on the pics to enlarge)

They were super busy on Sunday, so I managed to catch up with team leader Alan yesterday over the phone, here's the phoner  : 

What's IFLY prodigy @*scape all about?

We're not really just a cheerleading squad. In fact, I don't think we want to be stereotyped as the cheerleaders. Our background is in cheerleading, yes, but we also do gymnastics and dance. So our routine is a combination of techniques from all three disciplines.

Lights, camera, action! IFLY recording their introduction video....

How and why did you decide to join OMG!?

The whole team are actually athletes from all over. I'm actually their gymnastics coach. You see, the thing is, in the world of gymnastics and cheerleading, there is a lot of red tape. A lot of rules and regulations that you have to follow when you enter those competitions. For instance, in gymnastics, you can only land properly with your feet, not your hands. And in cheerleading, you can't fly from basket to basket (in layperson's terms : You can't throw a girl from one 'basket' to another 'basket'. A basket is a catch-hold made up of three boys). Some of the rules are of course for safety reasons. 

So I came up with this idea to join the show and asked the rest of the guys/girls whether they thought it was a good idea. Because on OMG! we'll get to fuse the styles and push the boundaries of our creativity, we can do what we really want to do and have fun at the same time. We can create something new, a new level of high impact performance.  (Btw, Alan was a National gymnast k, he's been doing gymnastics for the past 20 years!)

I hope people can see us as 'acrobatic entertainers' :) 

So no cheesy logo-ed cheerleading uniforms? Aiya!

No, haha, no cheesy uniforms. Once you are stereotyped, there's a limit to what you can do. 

What would you do if you won the $50,000?

Well the guys sometimes say, 'Eh Alan, your gym class is v expensive leh!', so maybe we'll put the money into the cost of the classes for the next few years? Just kidding. Of course we'll split the money equally amongst the eleven of us. We'll probably take some of it out to invest in training equipment and lessons for us to improve our skill. 

IFLY prodigy's performance will be themed after the movie Twilight. So expect 'werewolves' and 'vampires', and a lot of teeth-bearing and hissing. I wonder if they're gonna go get prop teeth. That would be awesome. 

Although the team has trained together for a year, this will be their very first time performing on a stage together. 

Not everyone in this pic will be performing tomorrow. Only 11 out of this group are on the show.

"We looked a bit messy on Sunday because at the last minute we lost one member, but no matter, we just reorganised ourselves. We were really grateful to have someone like Zaki come in to give us pointers on stage presence and our choreography, it was a really good session." - Alan

Good luck to this week's Challenger IFLY prodigy @*scape, we look forward to your Twilight routine!

Catch them tomorrow night on OMG!, live at 8pm on Channel 5. If you wanna come down for the show - email omg@mediacorp.com.sg now or come down to reception at 7pm (no guarantee there'll be tickets though).

ps. Am trying to locate a good pic of the group, will update this page once I get a really nice one of them all smiling :)