30 seconds to thunder

Today, a new experience.

I was asked by my teachers to take part in the little yoga TV show that they are currently filming, so today I took the afternoon off work and went down to Chinatown to Channel M studios where the show is shot. They shoot three half an hour episodes at a time, and there are four people in the group at a time: Jason, Kelly and two students, this time it was me and Connie (from teacher training).

It was really lot of fun, but also hard work. First we got make-up done and got changed into yoga clothes, then it was straight into the studio. Studio was very small - four yoga mats pretty much filled it, but with very nice atmosphere with red brick walls and candles. There were more people behind the camera and in the front of it - two cameramen, a director, and several producer-type people. First we were plagued with technical difficulties and had to start again for three times before all the mics were working, but then we were on.

This is very little like taking class. Episode is divided into four segments, which means we had did yoga in 5+ minute sections and then took a break, with bigger breaks between the episodes. It was fun though - Jason and Kelly are funny, and the crew was really relaxed and joking. I don't envy their jobs though... I was completely exhausted after few hours under the very hot lights and heavy make-up, and I'm only starting to feel human again after a shower and some relaxing on the sofa. Doing this four times a week must bet quite a trip. I believe we shot episodes 4, 17 and 24, and they'll start showing this new season sometime in September, but I might also go back for few more episodes, we'll see. I'll update you again when I'll get to see myself on camera...

And if you're wondering about the title, that's one of the queues the floor manager was using to warn us about the start of the filming. Most people know about how they count down from five, with "two" and "one" being the silent hand-sign only counts, but there is also a special sign for 2 and 1 minutes and 30, 15 and 10 seconds. Cool to learn new stuff.

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