Arts Fest 2007 is here!

That's right, Arts Fest 2007 is here!

I went with my mum to catch the festival opening performance "Dreams in Flight" by La Fura dels Baus (Spain) at the Padang. This time, I did not bring my camera, as I wanted to sit back and relax during the performance, and finally enjoy the fireworks at the end thoroughly (you don't really get to enjoy it if you're viewing through the camera lens).
The show started with a shadow performance. Their handling of lighting and shadow effects was amazing!

Just when I prided myself on getting a good seat for us to view the show, the audience was asked to stand up! The huge wheel that was suspended in mid-air would be manouvered across the audience area, just over our heads! While I thought the acrobatic acts done on the wheel by the performers were not more interesting than what I saw in a similar act last year, the "audience involvement" in the show made it more exciting. We had to siam the wheel as the crew tugged it across the audience floor, and not knowing which direction it would move next kept us in anticipation.

Next up was the human net display done by 36 volunteers. While there's nothing exciting about this part of the show, other than that it was an aerial net of human bodies, I would have loved to volunteer to be one of those suspended up there. It was so cool!And, I really got to enjoy the fireworks this time round, as I was not snapping away during the display. Happy!

After the performance ended, we headed towards the Esplanade. Hey, the whole waterfront was lit with colourful lamps!

This is the whole range of 24 colourful lamps. Looking at them brings so much joy, right? =)

Since we were in the area, we decided to stay for the 9.30pm perfomance "Déballage Public" by Déviation (France) at the Esplanade Forecourt. The performers would enter the box just before the show through a door just at one side ofthe box. As the performance commenced with the background music rolling, the top flaps would slowly open up. They moved so slowly and smoothly that we can't detect any motion, but we can see them gradually opening up. I thought this box thing was a bit gimmicky for a percussion performance, but overall the performance was quite enjoyable.

As we passed through the Esplanade interior compound to head towards the bus stop, we saw this "Superstring" exhibition.

These drawings are done in a single continuous line with no breaks or overlaps. Cool, right? The exhibition is on till 1st July at the Esplanade Concourse.

Not too bad for a start, eh? Looking forward to the 3 ticketed performances that I will be catching come June: Full Frontal, Taraf De Haïdouks, and Beijing Ren. And more free shows, of cos!