Mari-Liis Nummert
Nations Festival gathered all the participants to the Pirita Convent Ruins to present their country and culture with a 4-minute routine and in addition exhibit their souvenirs, hand-outs and sweets in a fair. With a long day of competing behind them, I expected to meet loads tired participants. Instead I found fresh-faced and energetic bunch of people that just couldn’t be tamed!
The first thing I noticed exploring around was that I couldn’t actually see a thing. Everybody was so tall and well-built. I considered an option that was used by some of the participants – climbing the walls of the Pirita Convent Ruins and having the view from 5 meters above. I quickly buried the idea because I realized that it’s impossible to climb all the way up – they had probably used their pole-vaulting superpowers that I unfortunately didn’t possess.
I’ve always said that all athletes can dance – they just get the rhythm. It seems that our young sportsmen know the secret – most of them seemed to be dancing or at least bouncing to the beat. You see, one cannot tell for sure – everybody was having such a blast that nobody cared if you forgot the moves along the way!
Algeria opened the presentations with a mix of national and urban dance moves – they treated us with a wide range of national clothing. One of the girls seemed to have taken her mothers wedding dress – I hope she is not mad. If she is, tell her that it’s good for the eye (our eyes)!
Croatia mastered the art of break dancing whilst showing us their greatest moments in sport history.
Chinese took the most of it – they stormed the stage to Radio Gaga, pulled loads of people on the stage with them and then just bounced back and forth. All that left me thinking that they probably have more energetic value than fossil fuels – which is good, because now we can solve the resource crisis with just a dancing Chinese.
I saw a German boy learning ballet moves from a mime – I guess he shared his knowledge with teammates because within minutes German girls were on the stage doing their presentation and showing off the dance moves!
I explored around the fair for a while and eventually found my place with the Spanish. Who can leave if you’re offered the best dry wine along with sundry ham and cherry tomatoes? I frankly couldn’t – in my mind I was having a heated debate whether I should ask the Spanish to pack me in their suitcases or not.
Borrowing and changing the title of a famous horror movie – I know what you did last night. You had fun, loads of it!
