Daidougei World Cup Field Report Part 2
Sunday, December 26th, 2010 in: News, Travel
After Mr. Apatch’s show, he implored the audience to come forth and drop some money into his treasure box, emphasizing “ORITATANDE” (the folded kind), insinuating a generous donation as the smallest bill in Japan is worth about $10. Hiro gave me a 500 yen coin and told me to go up for him. I was wearing my big sunglasses but there’s no hiding this fair complexion and westerner’s “high nose” of mine, so as he was doling out arigatous to his patrons, as I extended my hand to deposit the coin he froze. His eyes locked with mine, through my dark sunglasses, and as I smiled and began to turn away he regained his composure and bellowed a “thank you!”
There was a short break between Mr. Apatch and BlackRay’s set; the crowd started to dissipate, but quickly filled back up with people vying for a good seat for the next show. Some people carried around footstools and step-ladders so they could see from behind the massive crowds. As ON performers, Black and Rei were guaranteed a pretty good turnout. I took my position and waited for the show to begin. Kei-san lent me his dSLR so I could snap some photos of the show, but I knew that meant I would probably never see those photos again, so I took a little video footage in one hand as I happily snapped away in the other.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOPLOVQT0e4
Considering all the different elements the other performers jammed into their shows, I was surprised that Black and Rei could get away with a 15-20 minute set with just yo-yos. They weren’t the only yo-yo players at the World Cup that year, but most of the other ones incorporated at the very least diabolo and juggling into their acts. They padded their performance with by acting as two well-to-do young men discovering yo-yos in their teacups at a bistro somewhere, leading into a choreographed performance set to some catchy swing tunes. They went through pretty much the whole gamut of tricks, from simple ones like rock the baby to two handed looping, and even some freehand. Black went to perform a looping trick where he uses the yo-yo to snatch a tablecloth off a table, but wasn’t able to get it by the third try. He gave Ray a shot, and when he nailed it the crowd went wild, so we thought it was all part of the act. Black then got his chance, as he did a variation of Joseph Harris’ match trick, by balancing a coin on a volunteer’s ear and knocking it off with a looping yo-yo. He stopped several times to readjust the volunteer’s head, building tension in the crowd, and stopped once to dab his forehead with a handkerchief for a quick laugh. By the time he knocked the coin off, he had probably looped the yo-yo by the guy’s head about 50 times or more. Good overall control.
The show concluded with a presentation of Rei’s specialty, off string. He did some difficult tricks, but it seemed like the real hard stuff is above the crowd’s ability to appreciate, so he kept it simple with high-percentage impressive moves. One thing I was really impressed by was that every part of the performance involved yo-yos, in a world filled with jacks of all trades who throw anything into their performance that might get a rise out of their audience, Black and Ray really stuck to their specialty and managed to put on a good show without dipping outside of the expertise.
After the performance, we walked down the strip, past some pretty amazing shows like the Chinese contortionist/plate spinner, some theatrical street performances (read: modern mimes without the makeup). Hiro wanted to see a show by some famous contortionist acrobat troupe, but apparently the schedule had changed, and a kendama performer was pinch-hitting for them. Kendama is the Japanese ball-in-a-cup, which has evolved as a skill game of its own, including some very difficult moves that take years to master. The performer, Yusuke Ito, is a kendama champion, and his performance was well played. He carried himself very well throughout the act and built a strong rapport with the audience.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUK8zyxz5sk
I didn’t catch it on the film, but the first time he balanced on one arm and told his young volunteer to put the ball on the stick to set up the trick, the kid threw it from 10 feet away. He popped back on his feet and pulled the kid aside, saying into the microphone. “I’m sorry, I can’t do that one.” The second time, the kid walked up and stuck the ball on the stick at the end of handle. He stopped the music again and explained to him “That’s the last move; if you put the ball there, I’m out of a job!” The kid put it on the right side the third time, and when Yusuke asked him to rotate the ball a bit to make it easier, “actually, the way you rotated it makes it even more difficult. Oh well, let’s just try it anyways!” Of course he still nailed the move. Just by itself , balancing on one arm while doing a kendama trick is impressive enough, but he made it fun with his candor and audience interaction. I was impressed by how smoothly his performance was, even if at times his tricks weren’t so impressive. It was a lot of fun to watch, and that’s really the point of street performance, right?
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