Fun in the sun

As is (almost) always the case, Wellington really turned on the weather for the annual Santa Parade. Blue skies, sunshine and not too much wind. Yay!

We gathered on Stout Street as usual, took some pics and did a bit of a warm-up, and then we were off! Big crowd this year, and very enthusiastic, which was fun.

We’ve learned from experience that one of the most important aspects of our performance during the Santa Parade (for the parade marshalls at least) is that we keep up with the float in front of us.

This is tricky when you’re stepping in time with each other, and particularly so if we’re doing any of our complex breaks that involve turning-while-stepping or facing sideways instead of front-on.

This year, Tim decided that it might be a good idea to try a new approach, which basically entailed cutting out all the tricky stepping, and (for most of the time) simply marching along at a good pace while playing. I’m pleased to say that this worked very well, and for the first time ever, we kept up with the float in front, and didn’t keep the crowds waiting. Hooray for us! I’m sure the marshalls were thrilled.

This was the first of two gigs that day – hop on over to the Phoenix Parade blog post to read about the other one.