There’s no distance long enough to prevent us from sharing a world of passion with all the Casteller world. And if the reason to celebrate is the 50th anniversary of our ‘godparents’ team, Castellers de Barcelona, we do whatever it takes to participate in the party.
On March 17 the Castellers of Barcelona organized a great Diada – Human Towers Festival – to celebrate its 50th anniversary. And what better way to do it than to perform alongside all the teams they have mentored throughout its history.
As you know, a Mentor team – Padrins, godparents in Catalan – offers its experience, support and advice to the mentored team; fostering the brotherhood between the different teams and ensuring that the younger teams have the necessary advice to achieve their goals. Last August, the Sydney Human Towers had the honor of being mentored by two of the most well known colles – teams – in the Casteller world: Castellers de Barcelona and Minyons de Terrassa.
As it could not be otherwise, the kangaroos, as Fillols -mentored team, godchildren in Catalan – of Castellers de Barcelona, we did not want to miss the opportunity to wish them a Happy Anniversary and shout a “Hip Hip Hooray” to the purest Aussie style. But as you can imagine, being the team of human towers farthest from Catalunya has an inconvenience, better said 17258 kilometers of inconvenience.
But if there is something that all those who live in Sydney but have family on the other side of the world know well, that is to be present at important moments despite the distances. That’s why we decided to prepare everything to make a live connection and broadcast live our performance. We even designed a fantastic logo for this special occasion!
The “Diada de Colles Filloles” would start at 12 noon in Barcelona, so to be present and make the connection live we had to start the livestream around 10 o’clock in the evening, Sydney time. But first things first, since that was our first livestream and our godparents and other ‘godson teams’ would see us on a giant screen from Barcelona, we first had to decide from which emblematic site make the connection … and the answer could not to be more obvious: a place from where you could see the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge, Milson’s Point it is.
Taking advantage of the fact that it was Sunday and that we would make a pillar from a spot with views of the impressive skyline of Sydney, we decided that it was the ideal opportunity to do a Photoshoot with the sunset light that our official photographer, Joel Mesas (@joeljowe), likes so much. Then the idea was to have a picnic afterwards and spend the afternoon together until it was time to connect with Barcelona.
But, we woke up that Sunday and it was raining cats and dogs and the weather forecast was not optimistic for the rest of the day. In the morning we were considering canceling the performance, but we did not want to miss the opportunity to do a pillar for our Padrins and all the teams who participated in the party. We started looking for alternatives to be able to do the pillar sheltered from the rain and we got a plan B, somewhere near the place we had originally decided. Although in truth it was not comparable to the imposing view of the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge, however we thought it was better to continue with the streaming although It was from a much less flashy place. Of course, we had to cancel the photoshoot and the picnic, but the call to be there at 9 o’clock at night to prepare the pillar remained active.
Even though the weather was windy and a few drops fell, at about 9:30 at night the weather gave us a truce and without thinking twice, we went to Milson’s Point right next to North Pylon, the place from which we wanted to make the livestream since the beginning. Over 30 Kangaroos with their yellow shirts and their white pants were getting ready while a few tourists took pictures of the team and some pillar that we did to practice.
Joel prepared the cameras, the light and a cell phone began broadcasting live. We were still waiting to do the pillar but many of us shared the link of our livestream with friends and family in Catalonia and Spain, taking the opportunity to say hello and to show them how good looking we are dressed as Castellers.
Before making the official pillar, we wanted to do a test. Everyone would be part of the performance, so the pillar would have a great pinya – base support -. Our experts in doing pillars or pilaners were ready for the big moment. When Barcelona gave us the OK, our Cap de colla – team captain – began to give the instructions to mount the pillar of 4, so the castellers who were in Barcelona could hear how the indications to build the pinya and the pillar are in English … “Crouches ready, crouches in … first hands ready, first hands in … laterals in … second level ready, second level up…” in a few minutes the enxaneta was already smiling from the top of the pillar with the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House as a backdrop.
The pillar was descarregat – unloaded – with the same ease as it was built. Job done. Then the whole colla took position in front of the cameras to greet our colleagues in Barcelona and congratulate Castellers de Barcelona and wish them 50 more years of success.
Last but not least, we want to thank the Kangaroos that were able to go to the Diada in Barcelona and built a pillar of 3 side by side with our godparents and the rest of fellow godchildren teams.
In this way Sydney Human Towers – Castellers de Sydney complete their first livestreamed performance, overcoming more than 17,000 kilometers that separate us from Barcelona, to share the passion that unites us.