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A short
telephone call - you are going to the World Championships in
Show. Where? - To Guangzhou. Where is that (the name doesn't
sound familiar)? - In China. It seems quite a long way to go.
I'm curious about the name. It happens to be a new (or old?)
name of Canton. It sounds better. Hong Kong is nearby and maybe
we'll be able to visit Taiwan. Obviously, these are only dreams,
while the real life struggle starts. What is needed? - A ticket
and visa. The former is no longer a problem, but what about
the latter?
A phone call to the embassy - they say it's a week of waiting.
Those who have already been there claim the same. The tournament
is getting closer and closer but there's still no formal invitation.
Finally, it arrives in two languages: English and Chinese "signs'.
Here comes the firs shock - Chinese is about half of the length
of the English. But, I am now able to apply for the visa. The
visit to the consular department and a praise to the precise
information - it seems you can get your visa faster if you pay
a bit more!
Friday
- departure, packing, checking the weather forecast - it's 25 °C and sunny there, I need light clothes. The departure is from Cracow, unfortunately with a delay. Then there's some waiting in Munich and finally I board an Airbus and off we go to China. What is there waiting for me? I wake up in the morning and see through a light fog a big city. I check it on the flight display - it's Beijing. Our first contact with the Chinese ground is Shanghais. Unfortunately I didn't see the Chinese Sea due to the clouds. Then the landing and obligatory touch of bureaucracy - landing card and health certificate. I have some problems with filling in the information but I'm not the only one. Not everything is clear in those forms. Then the boarder control and here we are in China. Only two more hours of flight to Guangzhou. I get to the hall, look around but see nobody waiting. A little bit of confusion - what to do now? Seeing my indecision a whole group of all sorts of people starts shouting:
"taxi', "hotel', etc. I try to call but the organizer's phone is silent. I make up my mind to go to the hotel mentioned in the invitation. But, it was not the right one. Fortunately, the receptionist was very kind and she called a few hotels and found the organizer as well as the right hotel. There were a lot of places to look for as Guangzhou is populated by almost seven million people.
It's
time to get to bed, but the excitement plus the jet lag make falling asleep impossible. Sunday - breakfast in the hotel with a lot of Chinese food, luckily with ingredients written in English. I try a bit of this and that and realize that it won't be soon that I become a fun of this kind of cuisine. In Chinese restaurants in Poland they serve Chinese food with Polish taste. Preparations for the tournament, meeting with some other judges andf we go to the Gymnasium, the place of the tournament. Gymnasium is a kind of sport and leisure center. The modern building looks nice in the neighbourhood of a big city architecture - skyscrapers, glass and steel but still a lot of space. We enter to see the rounds of the Chinese Championships. The inside of the center looks nice with a lot of glittering fabric around. In the middle you can see light, almost white dance floor. I watch some basic groups - I can't distinguish the dancers, probably they are from the same school as their outfit
is identical: plain T-shirt and yellow skirt for girls. Their abilities are quite good, but the repertoire very limited; I didn't see any variations in that group, nobody stood out.
The
judges' briefing before the tournament - 15 pairs take part - three rounds. First presentation and we know that Michal and Joanna are unbeatable. You can't compensate for the lack of abilities with choreography and outfit. It's a pity that fewer and fewer specialists take part in the show championships. Our champions present a beautiful programme based on rumba. It's a wonderful presentation of their skills and ability to build the mood, although the spaciousnees of the Gymnasium was not the best background for their show.
It is a programme for true admirers who are able to appreciate all nuance with modesty in expression. The remaining programmes do not evoke such delight, but we have to praise the workshop abilities of the Japanese pair (Yamamoto), choreographic ideas of both American pairs (Kozheynikov and Ostashkin), the elegance of the Italian couple (Ghigiarelli), the expression and emotional power of the Chinese pair (Fang). After a short break, we have the second round with 12 pairs. It was probably the best round we had to judge.
As a result 8 pairs qualified to the finals. And finally the evening gala as the Championships were part of a three-day dance festival in Guangzhou.
The pair presentation - pairs are presented individually entering the auditorium with a plate with the name of their country. Michal and Joanna are immediately recognized by the audience and get a lot of applause. The judges presentation - the announcer practiced the pronunciation but still there were some mistakes. And the final - 8 best programmes, but the hard day influenced
their performance because the quality of their show was lower than in the semi-finals. The results: Michal Malitowski and Joanna Leunis the winners. Congratulations! The second place goes to Yoshiro Yamamoto and Hidemi Yamamoto from Japan, and the third place - to American pair Maxim Kozheynikov and Yulia Zagorouitchenko.
The
last accent of the day full of excitement includes official thanks, but this time in the beautiful scenery of the Pearl River. We were transported to the river barge, which was slowly floating letting us admire the beauty of Guangzhou at night. A short talk with Joanna and Michal, once more congratulations and exchange of impressions from the tournament. Michal admits that the day has been extremely tiring. They had to present their programme four times (including the technical presentation in the morning), without hope for a peaceful meal and they are simply very hungry but relaxed and pleased. The owners of the barge have a surprise for us: in the background they play music by Vienna classics. At the end we leave the barge chanting Radetzky's March and we go to bed. Again it's not easy to fall asleep as in front of your eyes you have again the programmes, notes, etc. It's a reaction to the stress of the championships.
Monday
- a beautiful, warm and sunny day. As I take off in the evening I have some time to take a walk around the city. The first contrast awaits just after crossing the street. I enter a rather poor quarter, which you can both see and smell. Dense development, multi-story buildings far from withstanding our standards, narrow streets with a lot of workshops, shops and food - selling stalls, but everything doesn't look very attractive. After a few blocks I enter a wealthier region.
You can see that by the change in window displays and people's outfit. I am looking for some souvenirs but it's not easy to find them. I can see no postcards (are they absent in this culture?) and the shops are full of the usual stuff as in all big cities. There are no shops with souvenirs. From time to time I notice some Chinese aspects like a rickshaw or a woman with slings and somebody practicing fighting in the park. I could see the regional architecture in the park devoted to the heroes of the revolution. The park was in excellent condition. If it weren't for this and the Chinese inscriptions it would be like in any other big cities. The traffic is heavy but the regulations are not really followed, nevertheless it is quite smooth. The pavement is for pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists with no problems involved.
Last
walk along the Pearl River. On the lawn and on benches I can see the old sitting and playing cards. It reminds me of Poland. However, there is something different - it's much cleaner, at least where I strolled. I also liked various physical exercise facilities located along the boulevard. They have been occupied by both the young and the old. I wonder how long such things would remain in Poland?
The
end of my stay, the airport and after 24 hours I'm back in Cracow. This is how my little Chinese excursion to the World Professional Championships in South-American Showdance ended, but at least it was crowned with the title for Michal Malitowski and Joanna Leunis. I wish them a lot more excellent performances and proud representation of Poland.
Grzegorz Gargula
Cracow, 13th December 2004
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