Festival Report フェスティバル レポート 2008

Juggling Japanese / Andy Gebhardt

Ciger boxes, balls, sticks...these are not the all things that
Andy Gebhardt amazingly juggles.
He juggles Japanese, too!
Although this is his second time to visit Japan,
his Japanese skill is great.

Has he had special training of Japanese?
...he learns Japanese from Ikebana(Japanese flower arrangement)
teacher in Germany.

"Yesterday, I went Karaoke.
I like Japanese food...sushi, tempura, okonomiyaki(pancakes),
and food with fish."

He seems to have a good impression of Japan and its audience.
You'll be able to see his performance all in Japanese,
when he is next in Japan, probably??
(sudachi)

Everything is difficult !? / Rokashkov Trupe

Everything is difficult !? / Rokashkov Trupe

Although the group was officially founded in 2001, each member has 18 years of experience in sports and gymnastics. The theme of their act is friendship.

We asked, "What is the most difficult thing to do in the show?"
The answer, "Everything!!", surprised us very much.
"Also performing the show several times a day is hard. This is usually only a once a day thing for us.". One member of the group showed us a blister on his hand.

"You may think that as we get olderit becomes harder to do this show. But that is not the case for me", a woman in the show told us while showing us her thin but hard biceps.
"I have been developing my muscles by doing this for many years. It sounds strange but actually it's easier for me to do the show now."

Two of the members are married and have a 9 year old daughter named Natalia.
We asked the mother, "Do you want her to follow in your footsteps?"
"No, my daughter prefers to sing. What we do is also too dangerous for a little girl", she replied showing her maternal instincts.
.
She told us that, "I want to be someone unique. I want to the one and the only woman who does the horizontal bar show in the world."

For those thinking of trying the horizontal bar, she has the following advice: "Make sure to be safe!!. Her father also chimed in and said, "Be strong and never get scared!!"

I was given the opportunity to go up on the horizontal bar, and IT WAS SCARY!!! The horizontal bar is suspended 280 centimeters in the air. How could anybody not be scared?

Risa&Shizuru

Check the Colorful Robot Parade!!

Look at these robot faces!! So cute, isn't it?
The creater of these robots are children among audience!
These robot are made from corrugated cardboard & Japanese O・RI・GA・MI(colorful paper).

These expression are indivisual & various♪♪♪
Long hair, Japanese SA・MU・RA・I, wearing eye glasses and so on...
Every robot are fantastic & beautiful!

Children who made a robot can take a parade as wearing robot face of corrugated cardboard,with clown!!
This project was planned by volunteer group people who support this street performance festival.

This street performance festival has been held 17 times,already.(It's amazing!)
The appreciate ability toward street performance by audience became higher and higher,on a year by a year.
As a result, children can express their imagination & dream figures thanks to various artists & their parents.

These children surely make this festival grow next stage up, I feel.
(Writer: kana)

Your clapping gives us energy! / Duo Flash

This is Duo Flash's second time performing in Japan. Last time,they performed at the Yoshimoto Theater in Osaka.

I inteviewed them after their second show on November 2nd.
Like true professionals, they made their grueling act look easy.
They twirled so many times so quickly!
According to them, in a single show they usually twirl themselves 20 to 25 times and do not get dizzy.

They both started doing gymnstics at the age of 5.
When they were 15 and 16 years old, they entered a circus school.
Since 1995 they have been performing professionally.

Acting on the recommendation of a teacher at their circus school, they became partners.
When asked "How did you choose what music you use?", they replied,"We choose music that gets the audience to clap. That gives us energy. We love the audience and the atmosphere! It's always fun to perform for a friendly audience!"
The more audience enjoy their show, the better their show will be.

We also asked "What advice would you give to somebody who wants to try to do an acrobatic show like you do?"
They answered "If you really want to be like us, you had better start very young.
Probably at least at the age of 4 or 5, and you better practice for 2 or 3 hours everyday! If you just want to jump, you can start right now!"

Risa,Shizuru&Janathan