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During this trip to Auckland, I concentrated mainly on 4 programmes - BA, BB, BC and BJ. With the filmings and workshops all cramped into 2 days on Fri and Sat, it was physically impossible to attend all the classes. I chose to focus my energy and time on these 4 programmes because I like them better than the rest.

I reached Auckland only on Wed evening, so there was only 1 full day (Thu) to attend as many classes as I could and I obviously wanted to attend as many as possible before the official filmings, so I squeezed in 4.5 classes in one day. That nearly killed me cos I have not done classes for so long.

First up was Bodybalance and I was quite happy they did the rehearsal for BB46. Haven't really gotten into the feel of the music but one familiar song made it as the hamstring track. Leona Lewis' Run (cover of Snow Patrol's original) which was used in BB30 and it was also my examination track when I was trained in that release. 16 releases ago. Goodness, have I been trained in BB for 4 years already? The presenters were the same familiar faces - Jackie Mills, Dr Dave, Corey as well as Josef (who was a guest presenter in BC27 and BB32). The other track which stood out was Annie Lennox's classic 'Why' for the Hip Openers. Beautiful.

Right after was Bodyjam 50 rehearsal and the presenters were Gandalf, Rach (of BC), and Indonesian Fetty from our very own Asia Pacific! I remember the first time I saw her present at a quarterly workshop, I told everyone that I was very impressed with her, and I'm not surprised to see how far she's made it. I'm happy for her even though I didn't know her personally. I thought she did a good job too. I was pleasantly surprised cos I thought Gandalf would actually do the rehearsal only in the evening class rather than the afternoon class.

BJ50 has some Latin samba block (don't know what it's called) which I reckon is to coincide with the GFX Carnival 2009 theme which is Brazilian samba. Then there's the Cardio Funk (Shabam) block and Tribal House which just rocked. BTW... guess what, there's the evasive side kick in Bodyjam! I just couldn't miss the cheeky look Gandalf gave Rach when they did that part.

Next up was Bodypump international team-teach by some Australian instructors. I actually set up everything, but I pulled the plug after 2 tracks because I was really tired and my mind was partly on the afternoon/evening session where I would be going for 2 1/2 classes.

Went for lunch, casino, then back to the gym for 4:30pm BC. It was BC41 rehearsal for the final time. I was kinda glad I could still make it in time for the final rehearsal cos frankly it wasn't easy for me to take leave, let alone come earlier. Comments about BC41 - they're using quite a bit of new material - meaning latest hits on radio. Wonder if they had to pay a bomb for the licensing. There's Kelly Clarkson, Flo Rida, Beyonce, at least these are the songs I know, and there's even a remix of a famous Romanian song.

Well, it's two for the price of one - there's not been an ESK for the longest time, and now we get it twice (in 2 programmes) haha. I love the MT track, not those techno electro sounds but more of an alternative rock track which happens to be a genre I like. It's still too early to make a judgement call if I like the release or not because I've only done it once.

I stayed for half a class of Bodyjam but Gandalf and a team of several instructors. They did BJ49, in preparation for the workshop. While I liked the tracks, the class wasn't too enjoyable because it was in the small studio (just like BC earlier) and it was super cramped! Couldn't move much and couldn't see some of the footwork by the instructors. But it's alright cos I intended to do only half a class because I wanted to do BA.

So I went up to Studio One to do BA66 rehearsal with Lisa, Grant, Nathan and Bevan. The first 2 tracks are remixes of two US number one hits by Lady Gaga and Britney Spears, good start and when I got to the plyo track in T4, I nearly died with all the plyometric lunges and this being my 4th and 1/2 class. There was a remix of Miley Cyrus Fly On The Wall, really addictive. The running track is the same but different remix of BC's upper body warm up (that Romanian song), and it was extremely fun with the 'ha-ha' and hand waves. Cooldown - one of my favourites Jason Mraz's I'm Yours. After the class, I was totally exhausted.

Guess these little snippets are indication that LM is paying top dollar for music and recent hits, I reckon all these top hits don't come cheap. Well, I'm definitely enjoying it, but I do wish they don't recycle too much music if they are paying double for using the same song in a separate programme.

Anyway, to the filming proper, it was more or less the same feelings and thoughts which I experienced in the rehearsals, but there were a few interesting things to note.

BB - Out of the so many Singaporeans who went, only Joanna and I attended the filming.
BJ - Rach wore a little hat and looked hot. Dan actually did BJ and was quite near my standing spot. I was standing beside JW and hopefully out of video sight. Really got into the release and had a lot of fun. Was sweating profusely after that because they covered the windows with black cloth to block the lighting and the energy was so high inside the studio.
BA - Lisa mentioned that Grant had a huge part to play in the music/choreo of BA in this release, and will be part of the future of BA. Succession plan in place? But Grant's really good in BA anyway.
BC - Theme for this release - Backyard Brawl. Surprisingly, no guest presenter, but atmosphere was great. Couple of retakes due to technical fault. Everyone up for it.

After the filmings, it was the GFX workshops. In fact after Fri filmings, there was some sort of opening for the Brazilian themed Carnival which included a drag queen, some dance performance, Nike fashion show and LM clothing fashion show.

I was a little disappointed with the time management because the filmings had MASSIVE delays, yes it deserved CAPS, and it seems time after time they do not allocate sufficient time and there's always overruns.

The opening seemed to end abruptly and the next thing we knew it was BB45 workshop. I was still in my sweaty clothes right after BJ and wasn't in the right attire to attend BB. So I had to give that a miss.

Workshops for other programs were alright. For BC, the NZ instructors led us with BC40. My first take was it was a good release, but I still needed a few more tries to get the hang of it. The music didn't sink in instantly perhaps with the exception of a couple of tracks - Lower Body warm up 'Hot n Cold' and 'Tutti Frutti'. T4 was a blast for impact but the timing was extremely tricky. The immediate reaction of some of the Singaporeans was that they preferred BC40 to BC41. For myself, not so sure. I think I prefer BC41?

BJ49 was absolutely fantastic. It was the last prog to finish out the workshop and they turned off virtually all the lights so it really felt like it was at a dance club. Gandalf is really doing a great job with the direction for BJ. I actually like block choreography for BJ as compared to individual tracks.

After BJ, it was the ill-fated Carnival party which I didn't attend no thanks to my carelessness for forgetting my wristband, but it was overall very exciting. It was a blast! I am looking forward to going back again!

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Just adding this paragraph on BC40. After seeing the DVD for the new release, I must say that this release is actually quite good. I'm liking it more than my initial thoughts. Hopefully watching the videos a few more times will give me some new inspiration.