I started it off by going to Mass (but, of course). This year, I went to Mass four straight days in a row. That's a record for me. And, yet, it didn't feel as burdensome as I expected it to feel. It was rather enjoyable getting the chance to sing my heart out, as well as to experience a Latin Mass.
Easter eggs handed out by the priest after Sunday Mass
Shortly after that, I got the feeling that not everyone understood the true meaning of Easter. Certainly not this store:
A slightly disturbing decoration of a Whistles shop window located near the church
After lunch, it was off to catch b.supreme, a festival celebrating females in hip hop, at the Royal Festival Hall. And it was a fascinating sight to behold. Everyone was dancing, from the little ones...
to the older folk...
Even the wheelchair-bound!
I was far too shy to go for the popping workshop, but stayed to catch the UK vs. Europe vs. US bgirl crew battle (or as the MC annoyingly put it, "UK vs. the rest of the world." Hello? I think you missed out four rather significant parts of the world?). I'm not a big fan of breaking (I much prefer popping and locking), but I wanted to see a battle for myself up close and personal, just so that I could finally understand how it works. I didn't manage to achieve that goal, but it was rather entertaining, as well as gratifying to see that B-girls can be every bit as good as B-boys.
UK (backs facing camera) vs. Europe battle
Of the three crews, I felt that Europe performed the best. While it was clear that the UK and the US crews had one or two exceptional breakers (US team captain and B-girl pioneer Rokafella being one of them), I thought that all of the European breakers (led by team captain B-Girl Aruna) were excellent, and demonstrated more unity, and certainly more attitude.
It was good to find out that these great dancers are, well, older than I am. I am far from being a professional dancer, and will never ever get to that stage, I'm sure, but, at the very least, it means there're a few good years for me yet!
I then wandered off to the exit only to see a crowd of people clearly watching some other performance involving a guy peeling several bananas and plunking them into a blender.
Make mine extra thick, please
A cooking demonstration at the RFH? That's rather unusual, isn't it? Indeed it was. It turned out to be Ujino and the Rotators' performance art piece. It involved Ujino, the musician, making a banana smoothie while mixing music, or maybe using the music, and the principle behind the connections between all the different switches on the mixes and the everyday household appliances to make the blender function (the thingamajig in the photo below, aka The Rotators), thereby resulting in the smoothie. Something like that!
When he was finished with the first tune, he served the smoothie to members of the audience. He ran out of cups midway and had to dash off to the bar to get some more, causing one person behind me to ask, "Is this like Trigger Happy TV or something? Oh, he's just gone to get cups!"
Ujino is also responsible for Sherbet Dab Swivel, the black cab art installation that can be found outside the RFH, namely, this piece:
Rather bemused, I set off to check out the Slow Food Festival, and saw Choc Star there. I told Petra I didn't want any chocolate, because I was all choc'd out. That wasn't technically true, but I knew I would be after dinner tonight, so decided to opt for a healthier option of blackcurrant sorbet.
Choc Star's blackcurrant sorbet
It was utterly divine, and full of blackcurrent goodness. It felt a little like drinking pure Ribena syrup, but in a good way.
Then it was time to walk off the calories and return home. Easter certainly never quite felt like this back in Singapore. Maybe it's because tomorrow's a bank holiday, so everyone's just feeling really relaxed. It's not everyday that one gets two four-day work weeks in a row, after all.
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