China is a weird place
My first time on the moon....For the past two weeks i have been in china [sjanghai to be precise] doing music for a dance performance from anouk van dijk dc. This has been and is quite a weird experience as it is the first time i've eve been out of europe....
What to say, hmmm, generally my first point is that the people tend to do things slightly different here.
First thing i saw was a truck passing by with its petroltank dangling on a rope, then a sky scraper building site with scaffolding made from bamboo, and before i knew what was happening i was in a taxi in the traffic in sjanghai which is to say the least, slightly frightning.
The first week i was here i was on holliday and its dazzling how much happens in this city. It is so busy for 24 hours a day! What i found out after being here for a few days is that even under that 24 hour rush hour people tend to stay very polite, not stressed. [sometimes maybe a bit too calm...]
Last week we have been working on setting up the show which was actually quite good, apart from the equipment [wish i took my own mixer!!!] and people worked really hard to get there.
Must say that it has been a weird two weeks as at first you don't see, but after a while you feel you are in a country that has and had for long a strict regime, and even though people have got their niceys, [cars, mobile phones, etc.] you sense after a while when you had some contact with people on the streets, people in clubs and people you work with, they don't understand the concept of freedom as we know it. Everything is so focussed on the outside, kfc and starbucks everywhere, on tv just commercials of creams to make your skin more white.
But don't get me wrong, it is [apart from the air pollution] absolutely wicked over here, there is so much to do and so much to see, and again the people are so freindly.
Yesterday we had the premiere of the sjanghai performance, and tomorrow change of scene, off to bejing.....
If you want to see this performance you can, since we will do a substantial tour in holland mostly in oct 06......
[Foto's will follow]