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Descendance at St Basils and the Red Square
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BACK IN THE USSR
Descendance takes Russia by storm
By Jose Calarco
The latest from Descendance Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Dance Company
Well my friends Descendance Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Dance Company has been traveling the world non stop for a few years now, we thought we had seen everything the world could offer by now, but of course Russia was another world in itself, being the first indigenous tour of the country also made it that more special for us.
When we received our invitation to participate in Australia Week in Moscow through Aus-trade we of course took up the offer immediately, although this was the 7th overseas tour back to back and we were a little fragile, we suspected that Russia might hold a few surprises for us, and of course we were not disappointed.
Getting to Russia was a marathon in itself, 32 hours in transit, but once we arrived the magic begun to unfold for us, we were taken to the prestigious Radison Hotel in Moscow which resembled a fortress, as many of the world leaders were staying there, what was all the fuss about?
Why all the guns and security? Well Russia was celebrating the 60th war anniversary victory over Nazi Germany, even George Bush was there, everything was on high alert, and Descendance were in the middle of the madness.
Why was Australia there trying to promote itself at such a time? Well the whole world's eyes were on Moscow, and Aus-Trade used the opportunity to get some Aussie business kick started in the most exciting and fastest growing market place in the world for Australia,this was also the largest trade event ever attempted by Australia in Russia.
When the war celebrations hit, we were taking a beautiful cruise down the Moscow River with the Australian contingent of Aus-Trade, we were startled by this magnificent romantic city with unmatched architecture and class, millions of Russians lined the waters edges waiting for a firework celebration that would prove to be as big as World War 2 itself, while we dined on endless courses of Russian food.
The boat pulled up briefly at a park where a Russian folkloric group performed for us, before inviting Descendance to join in on some Russian dancing, later that night as the Russian skies were alight we all thanked the great spirit that bought us here, and gave thanks for the blessings Descendance has received in its journey around the world.
Russia inspired Descendance to new heights in performance, the reviews and response were sensational, and we did it all, opened the great Moscow Circus, performed at the Bolshoi Theatre, reached over 200 million persons twice with live TV performances on TV Channels 3 and 1, performed for the most exclusive Russian and Australian business icons, The Governor General, Ambassadors, even the KGB were present at the Australian Embassy in Moscow.
Descendance stopped the Russian public dead in its tracks when doing promo shoots at the Kremlin and Red Square, the hospitality from the Russians was over whelming, and of course we used all the attention and publicity to push the Indigenous cause to an uneducated market.
Descendance has now been invited to return to Moscow to continue the promotion of indigenous culture, later in 2005, and again in March 2006, this is a very important market for Australia and Descendance which was the littlest business at Australia Week made the most noise, as it writes itself into the history books as one of Australia's most toured international touring acts.
P.S. be careful getting a taxi in Moscow, any one who owns a car is a taxi, and can pick you up and negotiate any price and take you anywhere, eat chocolate in Russia it's the finest in the world, and make sure to buy military souvenirs and Russian Dolls for the family.
See Descendance perform Torres Strait Islander works at The Woodford Festival from June 10-13, or Traditional and Contemporary Mainland dancing at The Sydney Indigenous Festival at The Riverside Theatre July 1-3, before heading off to Europe on July 20th.
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