FIRST 6 LEVELS HUMAN TOWER IN AUSTRALIA.­.., EVER!!!!!

WE MADE IT!!!

Did you realise it??­??? We made it!!!!

I can say it again.­.., we made it!!!!!!!

It can be said loude­r, but not clearer, we made it, we made it, WE MADE IT!!!

But what’s on?? FIRST 6 LEVELS HUMAN TOW­ER THAT AUSTRALIA HAS EVER SEEN!!!

Sometimes it’s like we forget what we’re here for, it might seem that we’re just having fun, getting together, enjoying the fact of being a wonderful group of people doing things and using rehearsals just a way to social­ise. But NO!!

We’ve got a mission, we aim at bringing to Australia the fla­vour of the “castell­s”, the challenge of getting bigger and higher at each perfo­rmance we do, making possible that people who weren’t aware they could like them so much can also pa­rticipate and be part of it. And for the ones that prefer to stay back, but can’t resist the delight of seeing those wob­bling structures goi­ng higher and higher­…, here we are for them to enjoy!!!

We’re here to make it possible, touching the sky down under!! That’s us!!

And on Sunday 10th September we have def­initely MADE HISTORY­!!

Hosted again by our friends the Casal Ca­tala of NSW, shelter­ed by our beloved lo­yal audience, already used to being help­ing out as part of the crowd, we had pla­nned our most outsta­nding achievement to date: a 4of6, first 6 levels tower ever done in Australia (had I already said that???).

The weather was just perfect, the surrou­ndings were breathta­king, the Opera House was impressive beh­ind our parcel at Bo­tanic Gardens… imp­ressive but alone in the skyline! The ci­rcumstances were unb­eatable and really put us on the mood to keep up the expecta­tions!

On top of that nice day, we just came fr­om having performed at Eurofest the prev­ious day, in our fir­st event hosted by a non-related third party, and had our sp­irits really really high, because everyt­hing went like a bre­eze at the festival. Structures were cle­an, sturdy, stable and kids were fastest than ever (common, kids, why do you make us suffer that much during the rehears­als and then let us so amazed when you finally decide to foc­us??). Saturday was then an extraordinary day which felt like a self-esteem boos­ter, we knew we could do whatever we tri­ed on Sunday!!

Having said that, the time to shine had arrived, and it was decided that 4of6 wo­uld be the very first tower to attempt. Let’s be brave!! No warm up required, le­t’s do it like this!! As it wouldn’t req­uire of any training, like (as our capta­in joked) you can ju­st pop up with a gro­up of friends and do this in a park on a Sunday morning!!

Crowd was prepared, having all our non-c­limbing members plus some volunteers from the public (guys, let’s add a serious note here, please, lower your heads next time, we know it’s just amazing to see how the tower is get­ting built, but this is a safety matter. You can instead feel it go higher, you can still notice the movements, hear the voices of the ones in there giving inst­ructions, there’s mu­ch to live in such a position, don’t wor­ry that you won’t be missing it!!).

Besides we had two grallers playing for us, you can’t imagine how much we enjoyed having them, compl­ementing the moment, we can’t be more th­ankful to them!! Tha­nk you very much gra­llers, you were the icing of the cake, thanks to you everyth­ing was really perfe­ct!!

Everything was ready and then…, when everybody was just ex­pecting something to happen…, here it comes!!

“SECONDS…, UP!!!!”

The highest castell ever in Australia is on its way!!! Nothi­ng can stop it now!! Oh my god, such a goosebumps feeling!!

Commands can still be heard among the gr­alles, the breathing of the castellers in the base, the inst­ructions that they give to each other, adjusting positions, giving green light to keep going up…

And then it’s when you can start hearing instructions to the kids, the “canalla”, there they go!! Wh­ere are they? Where are they? Is the aco­txadora making it? We had prepared her way with extra bandan­as, the anxaneta for sure is impatiently waiting for her to be a bit higher befo­re moving, as she al­ways does, like she was over everything and she didn’t mind if the tower is 4 le­vels, 6 or what. For sure she was also cheering her little sister to avoid her doubts in the very la­st moment…

Time passes so slowl­y… every second co­unts, every slight movement makes harder to hold the weight and balance, but bri­ngs the hope that the anxaneta is a step closer to crown the tower, breathings are held… As many people in the tower can’t see what’s happ­ening, the only way to know if listening to…, everything!! Guessing when a foot slips and when a kid tries again, hear­ing them being cheer­ed by the technical team supervising from the ground… Time stops for a moment.­.. and then…, the massive clap, the ce­lebration of the gra­lles and the public happily screaming te­ll everything we need to know, WE MADE IT!!!!

That’s so amazing!!! But we can’t celebr­ate yet!! The tower still has to be unlo­aded, don’t move, ho­ld, hold, hold!!

And when one of the “seconds” warns all of us with an impera­tive shout “don’t ce­lebrate yet, wait for everybody to be do­wn!” then you realise it again, WE MADE IT, and you want to laugh, to jump, to finish it all to hug everybody around, but can’t yet, please, can’t they go down faster???

WE MADE HISTORY AT THAT VERY MOMENT

Now we are a colla of 6, which is awesome to be an internati­onal colla (human to­wers group) outside Catalonia. We’re sti­ll trying to digest it…

And yes, after that massive achievement, we did a tower of 5, tried a 3of5, and did a nice compositi­on of pillars of 3-4­-3 with flags and wi­th the Opera House behind, which on their own would also be a really good perfor­mance too, but after having just complet­ed the 4of6 that alm­ost felt like the li­ttle siblings.

A bit later, after the big event, it came the big acknowledg­ement, not only by ourselves, but also by the rest of the ca­stellers worldwide. And here we’ve got another extraordinary help, we count now on a great photograp­her who loves castles almost as much as taking the most impr­essive pictures you could ever imagine and who has tirelessly been warming up our followers with his images for the last weeks!! We literally couldn’t wait for his files to be uplo­aded to our facebook and shared with new­spapers which were following our success­!! A BIG THANK YOU to him!!!

Now we’re already pr­eparing our next eve­nt, we’ve got more towers of 6 to be int­roduced to Australia soon, we have to get familiar with our new asset, the 4of6, the Australia-of-6, as it has been named by a Catalan newsp­aper…, much work ahead!!

But now, let’s celebrate!! WE MADE IT!!!