Toon Hermans once started a poem with the following
There must be people who light up the sun,
before the world is washed away by rain.
People who fly summer kites when winter is at its coldest,
and who scatter confetti amongst the snowflakes.
There must be people like that.
I want to be someone like that!
Technically, it wasn’t quite summer yet on Saturday 30th may, but during the Zinneke Parade in Brussels, it was anything but a freezing winter. But we did fly kites.
About two years ago, I’d already been really taken with fellow street performers who were doing the same thing. The theme of dreams sparked various ideas about flying, clouds, and so on, so the idea of incorporating kites into the images we wanted to create soon came to mind.
After lots of tinkering and trial and error, and with the incredible help of my mum on the sewing machine, we, together with the children and some of the adults in the group, wowed the audience with our fluttering kites with long tails.
Mamma <3
The run-up to the big day of the parade was a bit bumpy at times, with rain or slippery conditions, but what a wonderful experience it was to be part of the artistic team for the Nebula float (see facebook or the complete album on flickr)
Nebula is an interstellar cloud of gas and dust from which stars are born and to which they return. And did the children with whom I undertook this journey as an artistic animator shine!
To begin with, during the workshops and meetings over the past few months. Then, whilst trying on our beautiful costumes, a whole new set of characters came to life.
Hats off, by the way, to the work of our costume team! With over 100 participants, we were a lovely, bustling swarm of people filling the streets and squares of central Brussels – but what a stunning sight we made! The make-up makeover really made everyone shine! And we were able to pimp our own shoes with spray paint and paint guns to create the necessary sproetchs (droplets). It’s a shame that during the Soumonce (a smaller preliminary parade to herald the arrival of the main Zinnekes parade), our work was hidden beneath ponchos and the make-up became a living installation as it ran down in the rain.
And then parading for two hours in a spectacle that beautifully illustrates and conveys the richness of Brussels, in front of 50,000 spectators! What an experience for the participants, the public, and for Brussels… An experience that inspires dreams, because that was this year’s theme. Dreams of a colourful and peaceful world!
Rêver is nodig / Dromen is nécessaire !
Nebula & Zinneke pour altijd en toujours !
There need to be people
that light the suns
before the the world drowns in the rain
People that let the summer kites rise
when it’s icy cold
and who sprinkle confetti
in between the snow flakes
Those people need to be
There need to be people
who sell ice-cream
at the exit of the cemetery
and who play the harmonica
on top of the ruins
Those people need to be
There need to be people
who stand on top of their chairs
to hang the stars
in the fog
Who make spring
with fallen leaves
and from fallen shadows
light
There need to be people
who will warm us
and who in a cloudless sky
are on cloud nine
so high
They jump rope
along the rainbow
when someone says:
come into my arms
I want to belong to that kind of people
The ones who at a garden party KEEP dancing in the rain
long after the musicians went home
There need to be people
who on the grey pavement
in great big white letters
write LOVE
People who carve names
in a tree
full with ripened fruit
because so many others
flee for the butterflies
and throw stones
to the first blue sky in spring
because they are scared
for the flowers
and they are scared for:
I love you
Yes,
There need to be people with tears
like silver beads
that sparkle in the dark
who greet the morning
on there sock-clad feet
when the first daylight streams in
You know,
There need to be people
who blow bubbles
and do not know of time
who let themselves be child-like surprised
over something that bursts
with beauty
They call from the roof tops
that there’s love
and wonder
when all the others shout:
nothing has purpose
People who keep calling
No, the world will not be finished
and they see in every end
again a new beginning
They are a bit of a clown
first heart
than mind
and they write with their umbrellas
I love you in the sand
because they, in such a huge way
blend into and are part of life
and they fall
and fall
and fall
and STAND UP
I want to belong to THAT kind of people
who at a garden party KEEP dancing in the rain
long after the musicians went home
the music goes ON
the music goes ON
and ON