Daidougei World Cup Field Report 4

Sunday, January 16th, 2011 in: News, Travel

After Cru Cru Cirque’s professional ON performance, I was worried that it would be too easy to see the cracks in the less polished acts. I wandered back to where Hiro and Jun were watching an OFF performer by the name of Kana, a combination of hula hooping, object manipulation, juggling, balance and dance. The act was a bit meandering, with little segue from one sequence to the next, but every time she turned to the audience, she beamed a smile so warm and genuine that you could tell that performing was her joy in life. I found myself being drawn in by her; there was something in the way she put her personality into her performance, and as much fun as she was having she was totally serious about what she was doing. It was then that I realized that she reminded me of my ex-girlfriend, with whom I’ve sadly fallen out of touch. Falling out of touch is a tough spiral to free yourself from; the longer you go without talking, the harder it is to start again. I tried to contact her again the last time I was in Japan, and was received with confusion and a harsh reminder that it was my fault we lost contact. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet to make amends; the first phone call after a long silence is often the hardest one to make. Sometimes it works out for the best, and you wonder why you made such a fuss about it in the first place. Sometimes you just get reminded what an asshole you are.

Talk about meandering, I’m supposed to be writing about street performance! Here’s some video evidence of what I was talking about. Kana’s performance wasn’t the most mind-blowing of the Daidougei World Cup that year, but her passion for what she does really left an impression on me.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxrH3zMXOWU

Afterward Kana’s set, a combo of jugglers (one of whom was also an emcee for the Hyper Yo-Yo promotions, and a friend of the guys) took over the stage, and introduced a whole new dynamic to the street performance, incorporating elements of Japan’s “owarai-combi” style of humor. Unlike Cru Cru Cirque, their act depended heavily on the spoken word, trading jests with each other, keeping the audience laughing throughout the performance, as well as oohing and awing at the performance itself. Making people laugh can be just as important as impressing them when the hat gets passed around at the end and people ask themselves just how entertained they were by the whole show. I took some video but I haven’t cut it together yet. Get off my back it’s only been two months!

That pretty much sums it up for my experience at the 2010 Daidougei World Cup, I’m certain it won’t be my last. I recommend doing a search on Youtube so you can see some of the other awesome performances there.

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