Melodia: Spotlight on Katia Shek

My name is Katia, I am 12 years old and I study in Chinese International School. Performing has always been my, so called “happy place”. The stage has always been my second home. It allows me to express myself through different characters and it relieves all my stress from the real world. My dream is to become a professional actress and singer. Therefore, YAF is my perfect starting point. ·

My role is young Melodia. She is an artistic, curious, cheerful, determined girl. She loves her mom very much and aspires to be like her one day. I try to think and act like my character while doing ordinary things. I find this exercise very useful as it allows you to learn things about your character you never knew before. I also find it easier afterwards, when I say my lines because it allows me to understand the purpose of me saying a line instead of just saying it because it is in the script.

I have also participated in large-scale musical productions in the past, but this is the first one that I would be able to perform with professional performers on the same stage together. This great learning opportunity makes this production so unique for me as it will not just be a professional production, but a production of bringing young amateur performers to new heights through these great mentors.

The auditions were both exciting and fun. I think everyone who went to the audition was extremely passionate about performing arts and we did try our best to stand out from others. Yet, everyone was so supportive towards each other. I think, the applause and hugs from the auditionees were the most memorable part about the auditions.

I am enjoying every part of the rehearsals, whether we are pretending to chirp and sing like a bird or learning new harmonies, I still find it fun and challenging. When we were all imitating the sounds of birds at first, we sounded so funny and unsynchronised! I found it hilarious since all the other tribes were singing, while we were just chirping!

When the show is over, I will surely miss the crew members and the coaches as we have been building up such a cohesive network through prolonged and intensive rehearsals.

My top three tips for a great performance are to eat well, sleep well and practice more. Ten minutes before a performance, you will find me backstage drinking plenty of water, rehearsing all my lines super quickly and taking very deep breaths.