Ingenium adapts to the online challenge

By Savannah Lo

Ingenium is RCHK’s annual competition which allows students to display their talents through performances. Any student from RCHK can sign up to showcase a talent of their choice then 15 finalists are voted by the RCHK community to perform; finally, the top three best performances are voted as winners. In first place this year was NYXIS, the school’s K-pop dance group, and in second place was Jay Chan from Year 12 playing the piano, in third place Samuel Lau from Year 6 playing the violin.

In previous years, performances would be live. This year, however, the event was hosted online due to COVID-19 where performance videos were live streamed on March 4 from 5 to 7p.m.

When asked whether hosting Ingenium online was more challenging, Charis Pao, one of the organizers, explained that since last year’s show was also online she gained “significant experience” from being a part of the leadership team and helping the then Year 12 heads. Pao said that helped make “running a show online while still making it enjoyable for people to watch” much easier with fewer challenges, especially since performers would just be filming in their own homes.

Pao also noted that there was more variety in the performances this year: “In the previous year, we received more submissions for singing, but this year we're seeing cool instruments and a lot more dance performances!” Out of the 31 contestants who signed up, there were 15 finalist performers voted to perform this year, ranging from students as young as Year 1 to DP students in Year 12, such as Abigail Nimchi Sun for singing and RCHK’s NYXIS K-pop dance group respectively.

Regarding whether Ingenium was successful this year, Pao acknowledged that it was both unsuccessful and successful as “having Ingenium in person would've been great, but we've had to adapt to fit with current restrictions and online school.” However, she stressed: “I still think Ingenium is as successful as can be. We've put a lot of effort into planning it to make this an entertaining show for all members of RCHK.”

Her tip to future performers of Ingenium – if Ingenium continues online – is this: “Adding slight edits or camera shots makes your performance feel more immersive and engaging.”

The opinions of RCHK students on Ingenium were mixed. Karis Lee, responded, “[it was] not extremely entertaining but still enjoyable since it was my first time watching Ingenium.”

When we asked Charisse Chan about her favorite performance she replied “I don't have one for this year.” She explained that she personally thought, “it would be much better if I [could] see it on a stage rather than through a screen.”

Both Lee and Chan thought that Ingenium would have been better if it was performed live but due to the current situation, that could not be done.

Winnie Pau, a Year 12 student, also commented that Ingenium was “a significant improvement from last year.” Pau also said, “I could tell the organizers put in a lot of effort to try and make Ingenium more successful, and I think the performers also did well to bravely showcase their talents.”

If you haven’t watched Ingenium yet, you can watch it on RCHK’s Vimeo account or on Ingenium’s instagram: @ingeniumrchk.