An Aussie kind of day in Aichi pt 1.

The first thing I saw on approaching the expo site is the aptly named Giant Wheel, a towering 88 metre tall Ferris Wheel. As the bus pulled into the parking lot behind the performance venue a Maglev Linimo train flew quietly above us. There were swarms of schoolkids everywhere. The huge sprawling expo site tumbled into the distant forest, like the Linimo, practically levitating off the ground with a gigantic timber walkway looping around the site at up to a height of twenty metres above the forest floor. Like much of modern Japan, the designers had simply engineered the site over the top of the natural landscape and one can't help but think that the almost too perfect design helped to disconnect the visitors from Nature, whose very wisdom this expo was heralding.

It was almost lunch time and the girls of the company had already been there since early morning and were about to start for the opening of Australia's National Day at the Expo. None other than John Howard was in attendance and was afforded the attention fit for royalty (especially with all that "the Prime Minister is leaving the hall, please rise" nonsense). (Daily Telegraph article) After that the Australian Resident Company came out and performed a couple of entertaining numbers to popular Australian music including Kylie so I was hooked, though watching it through the backstage monitors wasn't very clear. The highlight of the show was the Sydney Children's Choir performing our sit-down turtle dance, beautifully sung and I knew all the moves as well! Later on that night the choir would repeat their performance impromptu at the Australian Pavillion's food bar, possibly to show their appreciation to the staff for providing food perhaps? Nevermind, it was beautiful and I wanted to join in but it just wasn't my show...

Anyway, the boys had it relatively easy that day, it was just like a regional bump-in though with a slightly condensed schedule and early performance time. The girls, however had been there since early that morning and were beginning to get delirious, not surprisingly. I don't know how the production crew got through, they had an even worse schedule. However the show went pretty well by all reports despite the rather subdued response from the audience. I had a good show though I managed to sprain my right foot in my solo, I'm not sure exactly when, I only became aware of it as I was getting ready for the final segment of the work. Twenty-four hours later and my foot has ballooned. I guess walking around on it all day didn't do it much good.

After the show we had the opportunity to wander around the site. I visited the Australian pavillion and, in the first part of the exhibit, I found myself being ushered by a very cute Aussie attendant. He led me to a small area of floor bounded by white gaffa tape so that I could hear the english-language dialogue of the exhibit. Being the only non-japanese speaking person in the room, I had no company and felt like I was back in primary school, sent to the corner of the room for doing something naughty. The cute usher later apologised for the lack of volume and my heart skipped several beats. The next part was pretty cool, it was a video installation depicting Australian life, showing the typical Aussie images such as the active youth, the sportsman (strictly male here!) and the colourful landscape. The Australian attendant here seemed to pay me extra special attention as I busily took photographs, almost as if she was relieved to hear an Aussie accent amongst the largely Japanese voices that she would normally hear. The last segment I didn't pay much attention to, it required reading and I simply didn't have the patience, I was far too hungry!

At the food bar I ran into Ali who was organising the day's festivities. A shocking schedule, she had been up since MIDNIGHT and, twenty hours later, her day wasn't finished yet. The performers from ARC were also there grabbing a bite of good ol' Aussie tucker (!!!) and we all planned to meet up afterwards in the city for some drinks...

Tags: Aichi Expo, Nagoya, Bangarra, Dance, Australia.