Summary: ‘Nattuva Thilagam’ Indira Manikam and her sister Kamalaa Ramachandran belongs to a traditional family of Carnatic musicians and vocalists. She was born in Kuala Lumpur on 12 July 1951 to her father Govindaraju and mother Amaravathi.
At a very young age, the sisters were sent away to learn and master Barathanatyam, Carnatic music and Nattuvangam at the Pichaiya Pillai Bharatha Natya Vidyalaya in Tanjavur, South India, under the guidance of their guru, Srimathi Duraiammal. Their guru belonged to the lineage of the famed Tanjore Quartette, connoisseurs of the Tanjore style of Barathanatyam, known for its fluid and graceful footwork and facial expressions.
Upon graduating, the sisters returned to Malaysia and established Tanjai Kamala Indira Dance School (TKI), one of Malaysia’s longest-running dance academies, in 1966. The formative years of TKI weren’t easy; they hardened Indira in many ways. She met with the harsh realities of life, more glaringly the undesirable perception towards the divine classical dance form that she worships.
Indira Manikam has mastered Bharatanatyam and has dedicated her entire life to teaching the oldest classical dance tradition that originated almost 3,000 years ago in Tamil Nadu, India. In the ancient years, the spiritual dance Bharatanatyam was performed for deities within the sacred walls of the temples. But, when the British rulers annexed the Tanjore crown in 1856, the cultural patronage in Thanjavur officially collapsed. The Christian missionaries and British officials launched the anti-dance movement in 1892 and dishonoured the practice, ending the livelihood of the dance practitioners and performers. Many Devadasis took to prostitution, and Bharatanatyam fell into disrepute. Instead of protecting, some temple institutions even started exploiting the dancers.
However, in the early 20th century, renowned revivalists joined hands to reclaim the classical art form and gave it the lifeline that it has today. Like her forebears, dancer, and teacher, Indira Manikam has vowed to dance through the barriers, break the stereotype, dismantle old beliefs, and eventually elevate the classical dance’s stature among the traditional and new generation Malaysian Indian diaspora.
TEACHER, The Tradition Bearer intimately documents Bharatanatyam pioneer Indira Manikam’s role as a tradition bearer, one who kept this sacred dance form alive, vibrant and relevant, in all its splendid weightiness and dramatic vocabulary, for the past 55 years in Malaysia.
Through the lens of the legendary dance teacher, this documentary captures her journey, explores the power of art, and womanhood through various shades and vignettes that represent dance as she reflects on how she came to be the tradition bearer she is.
Producer: Maran Perianen Director/Editor: Indrani Kopal Director of Photography: Senthilkumaran Muniandy & Navin Perianen Sound Design & Mixing: Jeson Gnanapnegasam & Soundniverse Studio Music: Tanjai Kamalaa Indira Dance School’s Orchestra Running Time: 58-minute Country Malaysia:
The Free from Allergy Show starts virtually today, Monday 12th July until 18th July live from Melbourne, VICTORIA, in Australia.
Follow the links below to sign up and learn about various topics concerning health and wellness and your diet including cooking demonstrations, Q&As, tips and tricks for living FODMAP friendly with recipes you can try cooking at home.
Each day throughout this week two new videos will be released at 10am (MEL/AEST/+11 GMT) on all things FODMAP.
Today, they’ve revealed two speakers:
Dr CK Yao- PhD, B. Nutr. & Diet. Hons. Latest in FODMAP research and new updates in this field.
Crystal Austin – ISB and FODMAP dietitian explains label reading, and the important tool of spotting hidden FODMAP ingredients.
Like a scene from a movie, we introduce you to Virgin Galactic’s crew.
Unity 22 Crew in their Yohji Yamamoto designer suits
From left to right:
Dave Mackay, Chief Pilot, Virgin Galactic
Collin Bennett, Lead Operations Engineer at Virgin Galactic. Bennett will evaluate cabin equipment, procedures, and experience during both the boost phase and in the weightless environment.
Beth Moses, Chief Astronaut Instructor at Virgin Galactic. Moses will serve as cabin lead and test director on Unity 22, overseeing the safe and efficient execution of the test flight objectives.
Sir Richard Branson, Astronaut 001, founder of Virgin Galactic. Branson will evaluate the private astronaut experience and will undergo the same training, preparation and flight as Virgin Galactic’s future astronauts. The Company will use his observations from his flight training and spaceflight experience to enhance the journey for all future astronaut customers.
Sirisha Bandla, Vice President of Government Affairs and Research Operations at Virgin Galactic. Bandla will be evaluating the human-tended research experience, using an experiment from the University of Florida that requires several handheld fixation tubes that will be activated at various points in the flight profile.
Pilot, Michael Masucci
Virgin Galactic’s VMS Eve, the carrier ship
And the two co-pilots of carrier ship ‘Mothership’ VMS Eve (named after Branson’s mother):
Pilot, C.J. Sturckow
Pilot, Kelly Latimer, the first woman to join Virgin Galactic pilot corps, she is NASA Armstrong Center’s first female research test pilot, a retired lieutenant colonel of the U.S. Air Force, and has logged more than 6,000 flight hours and 1,000 test flight hours during her work with NASA, the Air Force, and Boeing.
Background
On 1st July 2021, Virgin Galactic announced that the flight window for the next rocket-powered test flight of its SpaceShipTwo Unity opens July 11, pending weather and technical checks.
The “Unity 22” mission will be the twenty-second flight test for VSS Unity and the Company’s fourth crewed spaceflight. It will also be the first to carry a full crew of two pilots and four mission specialists in the cabin, including the Company’s founder, Sir Richard Branson, who will be testing the private astronaut experience.
Building on the success of the Company’s most recent spaceflight in May, Unity 22 will focus on cabin and customer experience objectives, including:
Evaluating the commercial customer cabin with a full crew, including the cabin environment, seat comfort, the weightless experience, and the views of Earth that the spaceship delivers — all to ensure every moment of the astronaut’s journey maximizes the wonder and awe created by space travel
Demonstrating the conditions for conducting human-tended research experiments
Confirming the training program at Spaceport America supports the spaceflight experience
For the first time, Virgin Galactic will share a global livestream of the spaceflight. Audiences around the world were able to log in virtually to view the take off of the Unity 22 test flight and witness the experience Virgin Galactic is creating for future astronauts.
Following this flight, the team will complete inspections of the vehicles and an extensive data review, which will inform the next steps in the test flight program. Two additional test flights are planned before the Company expects to commence commercial service in 2022.
“Our next flight—the 22nd flight test for VSS Unity and our first fully crewed flight test—is a testament to the dedication and technical brilliance of our entire team, and I’d like to extend a special thank you to our pilots and mission specialists, each of whom will be performing important work. Tapping into Sir Richard’s expertise and long history of creating amazing customer experiences will be invaluable as we work to open the wonder of space travel and create awe-inspiring journeys for our customers.”
Michael Colglazier, Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Galactic,
“I truly believe that space belongs to all of us. After more than 16 years of research, engineering, and testing, Virgin Galactic stands at the vanguard of a new commercial space industry, which is set to open space to humankind and change the world for good. It’s one thing to have a dream of making space more accessible to all; it’s another for an incredible team to collectively turn that dream into reality. As part of a remarkable crew of mission specialists, I’m honoured to help validate the journey our future astronauts will undertake and ensure we deliver the unique customer experience people expect from Virgin.”
Sir Richard Branson
Team AFT will be following this closely. Is this truly the beginning of space travel tourism? What will Sir Richard be announcing when he returns from this test flight? Will this moment spark a generation of children with dreams to venture into space made real? Humanity has many things to think about… We wish the VSS Unity crew a safe and out of this world flight!
Announcement update: In partnership with Omaze and Space for Humanity, Virgin Galactic will be offering prospective astronauts a chance to make their dreams come true. AFT understands there’s two spots being given away as a ‘lottery’. Visit VirginGalactic.com to find out more.
Source of images and press release: AFTNN/PRNewsGIG/Virgin Galactic
All images and video content remain the copyright of Virgin Galactic. This post has been edited on 12th July 2021, 11:00am for clarity.
AFT speaks to Malaysian-Australian artist Kenneth W.H. Lee about his third solo art show, “Introspection III”.
AFT: Tell us about your environment while growing up.
Kenneth WH Lee: I come from a family of six with “por-por” my mother’s mom. I’m the eldest of three and have two other siblings. We grew up in a small sleepy town of Banting in Selangor (I was born in the famous Klang town, known for its culinary delights). My parents were both secondary teachers; Mom taught English and Art and Dad taught PE and Art, so the artistic lineage was unavoidable and pre-determined. Mom tells me she noticed my bold strokes at age two with an Artliner pen. I had a happy, care-free childhood playing in the dirt (catching fish in drains and climbing guava trees) after school till dusk and I remember being yelled at to get home for dinner!
AFT: What do you think influenced your artistic eye?
Kenneth WH Lee: My parents clearly gave me that early exposure in appreciating the finer points in art and understanding the basics of drawing and painting – with that early knowledge I loved experimenting in my own way, breaking the rules along the way as much as I dared, whilst paying homage to the greats. I soaked up (art) like a sponge going through drawing and sketching teaching books and journals, learning as much I could myself. My parents took to me art galleries, and we would walk through museums of art. I first experienced the body of work by professionals like the late (Malaysian artist), Ibrahim Hussein. His art show is stuck in my mind – I was probably 10 then. The great French artists in the Impressionist (and Fauvism) movement really caught my imagination and left an everlasting mark. We migrated to Sydney when I was 18, and I studied art in high school, learning European art literature and was really drawn to the late Brett Whiteley’s work.
AFT: Which piece of work have you recently submitted for a competition or auction and why?
Kenneth WH Lee: I submitted artworks for both for the Archibald (a prestigious Australian portrait art prize administered by the Art Gallery of NSW) and a landscape piece for the Wynne prize (one of Australia’s longest-running art prizes for landscape painting or figure sculpture).
For the Archibald, I submitted a portrait in oils of an amazing gentleman and aboriginal leader, Uncle Charles “Chicka” Madden of Alexandria, NSW and a large abstract piece for the Wynne prize titled “Sydney Spring – Gratitude Series II” measuring 1200 x 1200 x 35 mm in oils/acrylics/charcoal/pastels/ on canvas. They unfortunately didn’t make the finals. It’s the second consecutive year of submissions in both the above Prizes after 25 years of shying away from any art competition.
For one, I gave up painting for those number of years to focus on my finance/asset/funds management career in Australia and South East Asia and I didn’t find the need to receive external validation for my art. Now, staying relevant and visible by putting out content is part of being a professional artist.
I recently donated a portrait piece of St. Charbel, the patron saint of Lebanon for a fundraising event held in conjunction with Steps of Hope and Madison Marcus law firm. I’m pleased that raised A$26,000 in a blacktie function to help with relief work for the victims of the Lebanon port blast in August 2020.
AFT: Did you paint during COVID19? What did you do to pass time?
Kenneth WH Lee: Yes, I painted during Covid-19 lockdowns. I completed art works for the Archibald and Wynne Prizes submissions in 2020. I continued to work at frenzied pace to build a new body of work as I planned towards my third solo exhibition titled “Introspection III” – an aptly named show in current times of needing to be more reflective taking stock of where we are as a human race and more importantly individually in our own personal journeys and awakening – our passions, dreams and who we stand for, next to our loved ones. During this time I was also actively creating works for charity fundraising for the likes of the CMRI Children’s Medical Research Institute for research into cures for all sorts of serious illnesses children suffer early in their lives. I also supported the Jeans4Genes cause by painting a portrait of singer Guy Sebastian utilising his donated signed jeans as part of the collage-portraiture. That item went on an online auction. A painting of St Charbel, patron Saint of Lebanon, was also donated toward fundraising for the good people recovering from the unfortunate disaster and with the onset of winter then. I’m about to start on portraits of the three Abdallah children and their cousin to be gifted to the family to help ease the pain and to remember their young lives taken away at such young age in that freak Oatlands accident by a drunken driver with his passenger both intoxicated while the kids were walking for ice creams around corner from their home. I don’t get to spend time with my kids during their school holidays but at least I get to do something for someone else.
AFT: What is the one thing you strive to do with your art? Have you been successful?
Kenneth WH Lee: I love combining impressionist style with abstract designs – whether it be a large landscape or a portrait. I love both forms of art on its own but combining them is challenging and satisfying – and I think I have been successful with the outcomes. I love to constantly challenge myself to paint something new, something I hadn’t done before. I’m excited that my art designs are now being sold and licensed as lifestyle products in Australia. Also American and New Zealand online wall art companies are selling and promoting my images/copies reprinted on canvas and shipped around the world.
AFT: Is there any work that you have not finished or can’t complete? What happens then?
Kenneth WH Lee: I have had pieces of work that had taken years (up to five years) to complete as the initial stages did not show potential and I lost interest in it and moved on to other newer pieces. Whilst the earlier pieces sat unloved, I hadn’t forgotten about it – still constantly pondering its future and design input. Or a complete design change and direction to revamp the entire piece. Sometimes midway I find no inspiration to sit or stand in front of a piece and continue painting. I would walk past it without a thought lacking the need to touch it. Then an idea would pop in my head (or sometimes a memory from a relationship whether in a happy mood or post-breakup in complete despair) and I will dive into that piece non-stop for hours to complete it. It’s all about the flow and feel at that point in time – sometimes it comes to me and sometimes its empty. So I have to be patient and tune in to what I am really creating. At times when I paint, its akin to having a conversation with a person or persons. The deeper the feeling and intensity of the conversation in my head the more interesting the piece becomes. I somehow can translate raw emotion at a particular time and pour it onto the canvas – its like a life diary of emotions coloured by paint.
AFT: Is health and fitness important to you as an artist? Tell us about your daily routine…
Kenneth WH Lee: Yes, health and fitness is key to me as an artist. Though I love to work late at nights when it is really quiet and paint for hours till the wee hours of dawn sometimes….I know to catch up on my sleep and rest which is key to wellbeing. I am a diehard foodie too and love to cook my favourite foods – usually traditional Malaysian hawker dishes and spicy dishes. I then balance this with great bowls of greens making wonderful salads, blended fruit juices and hydrate well. I do some iron work in the backyard with some weights and a punching bag and then go for a walk around the neighbourhood. Though I’ve given up badminton for over 20 years, I’ve recently joined a badminton club to get my heart rate going and burn off some calories. Its been fun getting back to the game that I used to love and was great at, having been a state representative for the Federal Territory as a school boy in Malaysia and later as an All-Australian Universities rep.
AFT: What’s your ultimate favourite thing to do?
Kenneth WH Lee: It would be hard to go past having an Italian coffee in hand and having the morning free to start on a large empty wooden panel or canvas, in beginning a new piece of abstract or an impressionist landscape work. It could also be the excitement and anticipation of continuing on a large piece, progressing with developing textures, depth and tonal values – it’s always a mindful challenge in solving the piece’s balance in design and colour and its imbalance… the statement that one is trying to convey. Usually I work very fast when an idea is born, my hands move the brushes and palette knives at a frantic pace across the white spaces then I’d spend more hours pondering and analysing the piece midway, tweaking it as I go – I find at different natural lighting the look and feel changes and my mood flows with it and I paint accordingly. I get inspired again when that look and feel hits me, and I will be hitting the canvas hard and fast frantically until I am exhausted.
“Introspection III” solo art exhibition is on display at Sydney Haymarket’s Bendigo Community Bank’s branch at Darling Square 11 Little Pier St Shop NE12 until 30 August 2021.
Team AFT thanks the artist Kenneth WH Lee, his management at ArtSHINE and exhibition venue sponsor Bendigo Community Bank for this interview.
Who is Kenneth WH Lee?
Malaysian-born Kenneth has exhibited twice in his Sydney Solo Shows “Interiority Of My Introspection I & II” in late 2019. On the commercial front, he works on private client commissions, consults on client fine art needs pre- and post-renovation, paints for charity art auctions and family portraits like the St Charbel portrait painted for Lebanon’s Blast victims/families and Guy Sebastian portrait utilising his custom signed jeans in fundraising for the CMRI Children’s Medical Research Institute – Westmead Children’s Hospital / Jeans4Genes. KWHLEE art designs are also available via its e-commerce shop for consumer retail and B2B wholesale.
Kenneth W H Lee is a represented artist managed by ArtSHINE.
Follow his Instagram account to view current artworks: @kennethwhlee.
AsiaFitnessToday.com acknowledges and pays respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of this nation and the continuation of cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this website contains images or names of people who have passed away.
Team AFT (Australia Fitness Today) has compiled this article from published news releases, articles from websites and also music videos from across Australia in celebration of NAIDOC Week and to pay tribute to close to 30 years of Reconciliation Australia.
It’s NAIDOC Week in Australia and what does that mean?
NAIDOC Week 2021 is celebrated from 4-11 July 2021 around Australia. This year, NAIDOC Week will be celebrated differently to ensure those most vulnerable in the community such as Elders and those with pre-existing health conditions are protected from COVID-19.
History NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee. Its origins can be traced to the emergence of Aboriginal groups in the 1920′s which sought to increase awareness in the wider community of the status and treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Before the 1920s, Aboriginal rights groups boycotted Australia Day (26 January) in protest against the status and treatment of Indigenous Australians. By the 1920s, they were increasingly aware that the broader Australian public were largely ignorant of the boycotts. If the movement were to make progress, it would need to be active. Read more about the history of NAIDOC in the official website.
Celebrating NAIDOC Week There are many ways to honour the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples during NAIDOC Week. The NAIDOC committee has come up with these 20 ideas to help celebrate NAIDOC Week 2021 in a COVIDSafe way.
This year’s National NAIDOC Poster, ‘Care for Country’ was designed by 21-year old Gubbi Gubbi artist Maggie-Jean Douglas from South East Queensland. Her entry was chosen from 260 entries in a nationwide competition. The artwork includes communities, people, animals and bush medicines spread over different landscapes of red dirt, green grass, bush land and coastal areas to tell the story of the many ways Country can and has healed us throughout our lives and journeys. Find out more about the story behind the 2021 National NAIDOC Poster and download your copy of the poster today.
Consider nominating someone for a National NAIDOC Award. While submissions for the National NAIDOC Awards are currently closed, you can begin preparing nominations for the 2022 awards for when they open later this year.
Visit the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander exhibitions of museums and galleries in-person or online.
Plan your Australian travel bucket list including Indigenous sites of significance or interest.
Join the conversation online using the NAIDOC Week hashtags #NAIDOC2021, #NAIDOCWeek and #HealCountry
Reconciliation Australia celebrates close to three decades of Australia’s formal reconciliation process. It was observed from 27 May to 3 June and Australians are invited to acknowledge the traditional owners of the Country on which we live, work, learn.
This practice raises awareness of the histories and cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People.
Acknowledging Country shows you accept and understand that no matter where you are across this nation, you are on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands, and you acknowledge ongoing connection to Country.
WHO CAN GIVE AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY? Everyone. It can be given by both non-Indigenous people and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
WHAT DO I SAY? This suggested wording will help you capture your Acknowledgement of Country.
“This National Reconciliation Week, I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the Land on which I stand. I acknowledge the (people) of the (nation) and pay my respects to Elders past and present.”
Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people may wish to also acknowledge their own families and Nations.
HOW CAN I DO IT VIRTUALLY?
Here are some ideas for how to Acknowledge the Land you are on and join in via social media.
At home
Record your Acknowledgement of Country via a video.
Take a photo of you or members of your household holding up a sign.
Make chalk art or signs on your driveway and upload photos or video.
At work
Record a video message at your workplace.
Ask and encourage your colleagues to take part to create a collage or compilation.
If working remotely, host a zoom meeting with colleagues and ask everyone to hold a sign Acknowledging the Land they are working on.
At school
Create paintings, drawings or signs with your students and upload photos or video.
Create video messages and encourage teachers and administration staff to get involved.
Remember to use the hashtag #MoreThanAWord #NRW2021
WHEN CAN I DO IT?
We will come together on social media at 9am (AEST) Thursday 27 May to make an Acknowledgement of Country.
It doesn’t need to be live, you can pre-record, pre-write or pre-create your acknowledgement however you like and post it at 9am.
If you are at an in-person event, encourage everyone to Acknowledge Country at this time.
HOW DO I FIND OUT THE TRADITIONAL OWNERS OF THE LAND I AM ON?
OXFAM AUSTRALIA is a non-profit organisation that believes all lives are equal and no-one should live in poverty. Oxfam started as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief in England in 1942, a group of campaigners asking for food supplies to be sent through an allied naval blockade to starving women and children in enemy-occupied Greece during the Second World War. Oxfam Australia setup in 1953 was a merger between two leading Australian international development agencies — Community Aid Abroad and the Australian Freedom from Hunger Campaign.
According to Oxfam Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are still not recognised in the Australian Constitution as Australia’s First Peoples. This needs to change. Ngarra Murray, Oxfam’s First Peoples’ Program National Manager and member of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, says: “The establishment of the Yoo-rrook (Truth) Justice Commission by the Victorian Government is an opportunity for both the Aboriginal community and the broader Victorian community to begin to listen to each other and create a new relationship going forward.
“Our people will no longer have to carry the pain of our stories alone – our history and our truths become everyone’s history and truths. With this understanding, real change is urgent and inevitable. The burden is lessened and the healing can begin.
Ngarra Murray – Oxfam Australia
ZIGGY RAMOBURRMURUK FATNOWNA is an Indigenous Australian singer, songwriter and activist born in Bellingen NSW to an Aboriginal and Solomon Islander father and a mother of Scottist heritage. ZIGGY RAMO as he’s known, is a Hip-Hop artist and has become a catalyst in the music industry calling for, and inspiring change. Growing up in Perth, WA since the age of six, he started dabbling in music as a teenager and was inspired by the hip-hop genre from the US. After graduating from school, he embarked on a Pre-Medicine degree, determined to advocate for Indigenous health, before switching back to music, aiming to represent Indigenous Australian perspectives in rap.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the film below contains voices and videos of deceased persons.
‘Making Little Things’ outlines the development of Ziggy Ramo’s “Little Things” featuring Paul Kelly. From the land-rights movement that inspired Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody’s 1993 original “From Little Things Big Things Grow” to top of the Sydney Opera House sails, the 10 minute film offers insight into the multi-generational collaborations that created this new work.
DOP: Tyron Seeto Drone DOP: Bill Blair, Mat Chang Editor: Miska Mandic Archival News footage Courtesy of ABC Library Sales Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody footage From Little Things Big Things Grow, 1993 directed by Trevor Graham. Footage courtesy of Ned Lander and the National Film and Sound Archive Sydney Opera House is an Australian icon and one of the busiest performing arts centres in the world. On this channel you will find performances, behind the scenes content and stories from beneath the sails. With over 40 shows a week at the Sydney Opera House there’s something for everyone. We’re not-for-profit and raise over 90% of costs from non-government sources. Learn more at https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/give
AsiaFitnessToday.com takes the affirmative action by sharing this article as our way to share appreciation of the history, culture and achievements of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, to spread awareness about NAIDOC and Reconciliation Australia objectives. We invite you to share this article far and wide. Thank you.
Sport Australia and Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) call out to volunteers this National Volunteer Week
Sporting legends call for more volunteers in sport
Volunteers are needed now more than ever to help rebuild sporting communities
Sport Australia Acting CEO Rob Dalton (pictured) is encouraging Australians to consider the many benefits volunteering in sport brings this National Volunteer Week.
“The job that changed my life didn’t come with a salary, but it has helped me earn everything I have,”
Rob Dalton – Sport Australia Acting CEO
Mr Dalton was 17 and upon arriving for his first day of training at Victoria’s largest hockey club, Camberwell, was told he’d be coaching a junior team. He chose the Under 10s describing it as his sliding doors moment and the day he discovered one of the most important jobs in Australian sport – volunteering.
“Volunteering has given me stronger family connections, professional networks, lifelong friends and skills I didn’t know I wanted or needed. Sport is incredibly lucky to have the largest volunteer base of any industry in Australia with 3.1 million volunteers donating their time to sport and physical activity each year.”
Mr Dalton said volunteers are needed now more than ever to help rebuild sporting communities following COVID-19.
“Without volunteers, sport would look very different, they are crucial to the enjoyment and participation of sport at all levels. Whether you’re coaching a team, marking the lines, an official or administrator at a sporting club or organisation or running the canteen, thank you for your dedication and commitment to Australian sport.”
Volunteering Australia CEO Mark Pearce said the partnership recognises the importance and ongoing contribution of volunteers to Australian sport.
“One of the most exciting parts of our partnership is investigating ways Australians of all ages and backgrounds can get involved in sport and sporting clubs.”
“They make possible those things which make communities and community activities great, and we certainly see this in the context of sport. It would be very hard to imagine how the vast majority of Australian sport could take place without the dedication of volunteers.”
AIS CEO Peter Conde added: “Australian volunteers make sport tick at every level. As Australians we love to celebrate sporting success, but behind every athlete and every sporting event is a huge assembly of volunteers. So, on behalf of the AIS and Australian high performance sport, we celebrate our millions of volunteers and thank you for the contribution you make to Australian sport every day.”
National Volunteer Week from May 17-23 celebrates the significant contribution of Australia’s almost six million volunteers who dedicate their time to help others.
The theme for National Volunteer Week is Recognise. Reconnect. Reimagine with sporting legends including Olympic swimming champion Libby Trickett and NRL immortal Mal Meninga joining the call for more volunteers in sport.
“I’m so grateful for all of the volunteers around the country who are able to get involved in sport, whatever sport it might be. I encourage everyone to get involved and be a volunteer if you can,” Trickett says.
Meninga added: “We all know how important sport volunteers are for our community so please get involved.”
Although this advertisement was released in December 2020, team AFT found this an interesting piece to cover.
This two-minute film was selected by Vimeo’s Staff Picks, and highlights “real-life experiences” of three female athletes from different backgrounds in Japan — one is Japanese, one is Korean, and one is of mixed race with an African father and Japanese mother. The film touches on bullying, race sentiments and shows how each girl “overcomes their daily struggles and conflicts to move their future through sports.”
This advertisement raised a few eyebrows in that it became a highly controversial talking point. Have a look at what was reported throughout the international media channels:
“It has about 25 million views on social media and almost 80,000 shares.”
“The video, viewed 14.1 million times on Nike Japan’s Twitter feed by noon Wednesday, had racked up 63,000 likes but also a cascade of critical comments from many who vowed never to buy Nike products again.”
While the film’s message clearly riled members of Japan’s online right – many of whom commented using pseudonyms – more measured critics said it misrepresented modern Japanese society.
Bagaimana cara sabun dan hand sanitizer bisa membunuh virus corona di tangan Anda?
Siswa mencuci tangan saat akan masuk area sekolah dalam pembelajaran tatap muka di SMP Negeri Hindu 2 Sukawati, Gianyar, Bali, 23 Maret 2021.
Dian Wuri Astuti, STIKES Guna Bangsa
Hampir satu setengah tahun pandemi COVID-19 belum terkendali baik di level global maupun Indonesia.
Menjaga kebersihan, memakai masker, dan menjaga jarak fisik merupakan cara terbaik yang bisa dilakukan tiap orang untuk melindungi diri dan orang di sekitarnya dari serangan virus corona.
Mencuci tangan dengan sabun cair atau padat merupakan salah satu cara terbaik untuk mencegah tangan kita menjadi medium penyebaran virus. Karena ukuran virus sangat kecil dan banyak orang terinfeksi tanpa menunjukkan gejala, kita tidak pernah tahu virus dengan pasti di mana dan kapan virus menyebar.
Satu hal yang pasti bahwa virus bisa menyebar saat orang terinfeksi sedang batuk, bersin, berbicara atau tangannya memegang benda-benda.
Masalahnya, kadang-kadang di tempat umum tidak selalu tersedia sabun dan air sehingga hanya bisa menggunakan hand sanitizer. Hand sanitizer berbahan dasar alkohol dan sabun mampu membunuh virus yang menempel di tangan.
Bagaimana cara kerja sabun dan hand sanitizer menaklukkan virus corona?
Cara kerja sabun melawan virus corona
Sabun dan air bekerja menghilangkan semua jenis kuman dari tangan, bahkan dapat membunuhnya.
Sabun merupakan zat yang mengandung dua gugus: gugus hidrofilik (bagian kepala molekul sabun) dan gugus hidrofobik (bagian ekor molekul sabun).
Gugus hidrofilik merupakan bagian yang dapat berinteraksi dengan air. Sedangkan gugus hidrofobik akan berinteraksi dengan lemak (lipid).
Dengan komposisi seperti itu, sabun dapat merusak struktur luar virus yang berupa protein dan lipid (lemak). Mekanisme kerja sabun melawan virus corona dapat dijelaskan sebagai berikut.
Saat kita mencuci tangan dengan sabun dan air, ekor molekul sabun mulai mencari area yang tidak ada air dan mulai mengelilingi partikel virus.
Saat mereka terus bergerak, ekornya dapat menancap di lapisan luar virus, mencoba untuk sampai ke bagian tengah, yang tidak ada air. Efek ini mirip dengan meletuskan balon dengan peniti.
Saat molekul sabun menembus ke dalam lapisan virus, sabun akan membelah virus, melepaskan isinya ke dalam air sabun di sekitarnya. Dampaknya, partikel virus ikut tersapu oleh air.
Oleskan sabun secukupnya untuk menutupi tangan yang basah
Gosok bagian tangan di bagian punggung tangan, sela-sela jari, celah kuku, dan juga telapak tangan selama 20 detik
Bilas dengan air mengalir secara bersih
Keringkan tangan dengan memakai kain bersih atau handuk bersih.
Sabun dan air lebih efektif daripada hand sanitizer dalam menghilangkan jenis kuman tertentu seperti norovirus (virus yang dapat menyebabkan peradangan akut pada lambung dan usus), Cryptosporidium (parasit yang hidup di sistem pencernaan manusia dan hewan), dan Clostridioides difficile (patogen usus penyebab diare), serta bahan kimia.
Penggunaan air dan sabun lebih tepat untuk membersihkan tangan yang kotor atau berminyak seperti setelah makan, berkebun, atau melakukan kegiatan lain.
Mencuci tangan menggunakan sabun dengan air mengalir dapat mengurangi jumlah semua jenis kuman, pestisida, dan logam di tangan.
Penggunaan hand sanitizer
Hand sanitizer bekerja dengan cara membunuh kuman tertentu di tangan.
Namun hand sanitizer tidak selalu dapat menggantikan peran air dan sabun dalam membunuh kuman di tangan. Misalnya, hand sanitizer tidak dapat menghilangkan bahan kimia berbahaya, seperti logam berat dan pestisida.
Organisasi Kesehatan Dunia merekomendasikan penggunaan hand sanitizer untuk menghilangkan virus corona jika tidak ada sabun. Hand sanitizer biasanya mengandung etanol, isopropanol, n-propanol atau kombinasi dari ketiga jenis alkohol.
Semua hand sanitizer efektif melawan virus yang terlapisi lipid seperti virus corona jika kandungan alkoholnya mencapai 62%-96%. Kandungan ini dapat dilihat di label kemasan produknya. Rata-rata produk hand sanitizer di pasaran saat ini mengandung alkohol sebanyak itu.
Hal yang perlu diwaspadai adalah alkohol pada hand sanitizer bersifat mudah terbakar dan mudah menguap.
Pada awal Mei 2020, American Association of Poison Control Center melaporkan ada 9.504 kasus paparan alkohol-bahan dasar hand sanitizer-pada anak-anak di bawah usia 12 tahun. Dari kasus ini, sejumlah kecil alkohol dapat menyebabkan keracunan alkohol pada anak-anak yang menyebabkan kebingungan, muntah dan kantuk, serta henti napas dan kematian.
Hand sanizer berbahaya jika diminum atau terminum. Misalnya, Juni tahun lalu CNN memberitakan tiga orang tewas dan satu orang mengalami kebutaan karena keracunan methanol setelah minum hand sanitizer di New Mexico AS.
Jadi kuncinya adalah mengetahui kapan Anda harus membersihkan tangan dan metode mana yang digunakan. Itulah yang akan memberi Anda kesempatan terbaik untuk mencegah penyakit karena virus.
Biaya awal yang dikeluarkan untuk membeli itu tidak ada apa-apanya. Raffi Ahmad membeli Rans Cilegon itu dia sudah mengundang sponsor, yang datang dalam hitungan bulan ke depan balik modal itu. Siapa yang tidak mau sponsor klub yang pemiliknya punya follower 51 juta?.“
Baru-baru ini, artis Raffi Ahmad beserta rekan bisnisnya membeli klub bola daerah untuk pertama kalinya. Dia mengubah klub asal Kota Cilegon, Banten dari Cilegon United menjadi RANS Cilegon FC dan berencana mengucurkan Rp 300 miliar untuk mengembangkan klub tersebut.
Selain itu ada juga putra Presiden Joko Widodo, Kaesang Pangarep dan Menteri BUMN Erick Thohir yang membeli klub Persis Solo. Erick tidak asing dengan investasi di industri olah raga, karena sebelumnya pernah menjadi pemilik Inter Milan dan beberapa klub lainnya.
Bagi sebagian orang mungkin mengherankan melihat tiba-tiba banyak investor baru di industri sepak bola Indonesia. Padahal, dalam beberapa tahun terakhir industri bola selalu disorot karena manajemennya yang buruk, supporter yang brutal sampai ke mafia sepak bola. Namun ternyata potensi industri sepak bola nasional sangat besar dalam jangka panjang.
Untuk itu pada episode ini, kami berbicara dengan Mohamad Dian Revindo dan Fithra Faisal Hastiadi, keduanya adalah peneliti ekonomi di Universitas Indonesia, tentang fenomena “investor sepak bola”, dari keuntungan yang bisa didapatkan mereka hingga tantangan pada masa depan.
Dengarkan obrolan lengkapnya di podcast SuarAkademia, Kami akan hadir rutin memandu Sahabat TCID untuk memahami berbagai isu yang sedang hangat, bersama akademisi dan para editor kami.
In this series we pay tribute to the art we wish could visit — and hope to see once travel restrictions are lifted.
The Chichu Art Museum is located on the tiny island of Naoshima, off the southern coast of Japan, in the Kagawa district, reachable only by ferry.
A cross between Buddhist simplicity and Modernist brutalism, from an aerial view Chichu looks like a series of weirdly-shaped concrete pits cut into a gently sloping, grassy hill.
The architect, Tadao Ando, is known for his masterful control of natural light, and to walk through Chichu is to embark on a journey of discovery in which that most ignored element — daylight — is both a mode of transformation and an object of wonder in its own right.
Even before social distancing, Chichu limited the number of tickets sold. Once inside, there are restrictions on how many people can be inside certain rooms and sometimes, how long you can spend there. No photographs are permitted, and quietness is encouraged.
Almost as good as being there … almost. A virtual tour of Chichu.
There are three artists on display at Chichu, the best-known being Claude Monet and his epic canvas, Water Lilies. The acquisition of this “grand decoration” painted, incredibly, when Monet was in his 70s and suffering from cataracts, was the prime catalyst for establishing the museum.
I had seen paintings from this series years before, in Britain’s morgue-like National Gallery. But in the warm, rounded rooms of Chichu, daylight spilling in from high, oblong windows, the paintings are a miraculous blending of form, colour and reverence for nature. They come alive in ways no viewing technology, however sophisticated, can enhance or emulate.
Ando’s building organically relates to the artworks in every way — the colour of the walls, the tiles on the floor, the dark corridors that link rooms where each visual experience is unique not because it is “world class” but because the relationship being cultivated with visitors is a personal one. The Chichu Handbook reads:
To provide a better understanding of Monet’s large decorative work from a contemporary perspective, we selected artists Walter De Maria and James Turrell. Both have been referred to as ‘land artists’ for the work they created in vast desert regions and desolate natural settings … Whether outside, inside a room, or in the surrounding environment, all the works are specifically intended for these spaces … The spatial boundary between the real world and contemporary art is indistinct.
Galleries are gatherings of art organised according to the principles of the people who set them up. More than theatres or concert halls, where rapid changes in repertoire create a spirit of flux, they rarely lose a connection with their founders’ underlying philosophy.
All art is reflective of the moment in which it occurs. But galleries are compass points from which, as a society, we take our bearings. MOMA, GOMA, the Guggenheim, Bilbao, the Powerhouse, the Pompidou Centre, the Hermitage. The meaning of these collections is larger than their real estate.
Visitors at Chichu are almost as carefully placed as the art itself.Chinnian/Flickr, CC BY
What has given rise to Chichu’s powerful vision of art? The answer is, of course, a powerful vision of life; of what our lives could be. Ando writes:
Chichu … opened as a museum in pursuit of ‘a site to rethink the relationship between nature and people’ in July 2004. The establishment of the museum was a personal way of answering and realising a question that I withheld myself for many years — ‘what does it mean to live well?’
As suggested by its name, chichu (underground), this museum is built below a slightly elevated hill that was once developed as a saltpan facing the Seto Inland Sea. Without destroying the beautiful natural scenery of the Island and seeking to create a site for dialogues of the mind, the museum is an expression of my belief that ‘art must exist amid nature’.
A visit to Chichu is not a prescriptive experience. There is no overriding message, as there is with MONA or the Tate Modern, for which visitors must brace. Instead, there is light, space, and quiet.
There is scope to let the senses unfold, and an expansion of self that permits the mind to occupy a zone of potentially greater understanding. There is nothing clever about Chichu, and a tertiary degree in art history is not required to appreciate what it offers. To walk through the building is education enough.
Minus commentary and cameras, asked to buy a modestly priced ticket ahead of time, to wait, to be silent, the resulting “dialogue of the mind” is structured but open-ended. This is perhaps what artists mean when they talk about “freedom within the form”.
Truth, value and alternative ways of life are related concepts, reliant on each other. There is a truth to visiting the Chichu collection that is expressed also in its wooden furniture made from shioji, a variety of Japanese ash, its strange triangular courtyards, and its breathtaking view of the Seto Inland Sea.
“To get the most enjoyment out of the works, the viewer should take a moment between each gallery to reflect on the lingering sensation before moving on to the next group of works”, says the handbook.
Zen Buddhist awareness of the transience of existence marries with a large scale public building in the Western democratic tradition to produce a purposeful, spiritual encounter not filled with dogmatic content.
If there was a preciousness to the Chichu Art Museum I didn’t feel it. It was a relaxed, well-appointed and functional place, rather like the Japanese Shinkansen train that brought me to the ferry terminal. Leaving, I felt lighter, as if something I did not need had been discretely removed.
