Eurosing 2018 - Heroes go Eindhoven
When I first heard about this Larp about a year ago I immediately thought it was an awesome setup. The idea of being able to participate in the closest thing to Eurovision was very thrilling, but also very frightening. I decided that with stage fright, no real singing talent (or lessons) and my awkward behaviour when stared at by an audience, it would probably not be for me.
I got proven wrong.
After a day or so after hearing about it Miriam and connected over the Eurosing facebook, both having the same issues we kind of decided; So we both can't do this? let's do this! We started looking for a team and the preparations were on.
Prep during the year leading up to the even was really hard, we kept losing our other members and at some point, we were ready to throw in the towel. We went from 6 members to 2, just Miriam and me. But luckily for us just when we decided to quit (we've lost our motivation entirely) Ylva came along and things picked up again. We decided to meet up at my place to talk about backgrounds and asked around if there were other people still looking who we might drag along. So on the day we where meeting we got joined by Ayouki on skype, a bubbly girl all the way from Israel! Things kind of clicked, we chatted for a bit and decided to go for it. The background of the team was written (which I think didn't even got used in the end) and renewed energy flowed in the team to get things going. A week or so after we even got another member to join our ranks in the form of Tobi from Germany. He would become our (secretly straight) choreographer.
Just a couple of weeks before the event Tobi decided to switch teams because team Belarus was just with 2 and in desperate need of a third. In unison, we made that into an actual IC thing that 'Victor' would leave our team on the event itself. Betraying us for the (afterwards winners) of team Belarus.
And then suddenly it was time to go to Eindhoven.
Words can not describe the sheer panic that was Eurosing prep-time, we had sort of decided on a song up front. But getting the lyrics into our heads on time proved difficult. We wrote most of the song in a couple of hours on Friday night, until we got so frustrated with ourselves that we decided to leave it and mingle and dance for a bit.
On Saturday things immediately went on at breakfast, making plans for costumes and props and making a shopping list. We would be sound-checking at 16:00so there was not a lot of time to do things, especially with Ylva needing to be at all the meets for cultural attaches.
The song was finished in the morning, practising it quite a number of times but we had chosen a difficult rhythm with long scentences. More then once I cursed myself for embarking on this whole trip but all of us stayed positive and supporting trough it all. After Ylva was done with her meet at 12:00/13:00 we needed to go shopping quickly, so off to the car and to the centre of Eindhoven. We had the idea for our costumes pretty solid, but no idea for a prop. We would be using the 'reveal costume' trick that a lot of real Eurovision acts have done too. A real classic. We would make 3 simple skirts in a dull colour and make matching flaps that could be dropped down, lined with the colours of the Moldavian flag. Blue, Yellow and Red. It sounded so easy when we thought of it. I've never, ever cursed myself behind the sewing machine as much as this weekend.
Some fabric was found and bought, we ran into some very fitting props at the SoLow shop (foam bath sponges in the shape of hearts) and drove back to the hotel to be on time for the sound-check.
I can honestly say that the sound check was way, way, way scarier than the actual performance. Because the theater was nearly empty (apart from two other teams also there for the sound check) and it was the first time on stage actually singing our lyrics. We messed it up big time, we forgot everything. We even had to start over, leaving us with dread and panic. There was no way we would be remembering all our lines in time!
After rehearsals, we needed to start on the costumes. The fabric we chose was - the worst- to work with, there were glitter and sequins everywhere and while working at the last one I had a tiny mental breakdown. This was all looking so grand in my head but the result in my hands was telling a different story altogether. But I stuck to it, finishing three of the most horrid 'dresses' I've made in my whole life. (In the end the kind of grew on us though, they were definitely not as horrible as I assumed). I finished them around 19:30 ish, leaving us just enough time to get ourselves into the costumes and do our make up.
After that, it was time to perform. The show was beautifully real, from hosts to banners to a real live screen on stage with pictures. And later on, the donator tally to save Maria. It really felt like Eurovision. The hosts even changed outfits during the show to match the teams on stage, how crazy is that?? It is all sort of a blur after that, when we actually needed to go up and sing we were horrified but also extremely excited. The energy was amazing, everybody was shouting and clapping. You could just feel pride, love and support radiate from the crowd. And when it really mattered I only forgot one line (the one I was doing solo in the beginning) and did not need the lyrics I had printed last minute. The dress reveal was the hight of our number, and the crowd went wild when it happened. That was just surreal. Even more surreal was the whole crowd bobbing and singing along at our chorus (one I will NEVER forget ever again, it's still stuck in my head). The song was over before I knew it, we threw our foam hearts at the audience ( aarggh we forgot to make them heavier so they kind of just landed just beyond the stage) answered some questions that I don't remember and left the stage.
Walking back into the theater we immediately got showered with compliments, hugs, and support. That was just crazy. I felt like a different person. People walking u to me saying I had 'saved' the song a couple of times with my energy (wait whut?) and how pretty the dresses where (wait, really?) and how brave we were on stage. I still can't believe I actually did that (even with the pictures to prove it)
So thank you, thank you all for the love, support and everything else. Thank you for making me see that everyone was stressing out, forgetting lines and cursing at costumes. Thank you for clapping, cheering, singing, loving, supporting and allowing all of us to just be a star for a day.
Thank you <3
I got proven wrong.
After a day or so after hearing about it Miriam and connected over the Eurosing facebook, both having the same issues we kind of decided; So we both can't do this? let's do this! We started looking for a team and the preparations were on.
Prep during the year leading up to the even was really hard, we kept losing our other members and at some point, we were ready to throw in the towel. We went from 6 members to 2, just Miriam and me. But luckily for us just when we decided to quit (we've lost our motivation entirely) Ylva came along and things picked up again. We decided to meet up at my place to talk about backgrounds and asked around if there were other people still looking who we might drag along. So on the day we where meeting we got joined by Ayouki on skype, a bubbly girl all the way from Israel! Things kind of clicked, we chatted for a bit and decided to go for it. The background of the team was written (which I think didn't even got used in the end) and renewed energy flowed in the team to get things going. A week or so after we even got another member to join our ranks in the form of Tobi from Germany. He would become our (secretly straight) choreographer.
Just a couple of weeks before the event Tobi decided to switch teams because team Belarus was just with 2 and in desperate need of a third. In unison, we made that into an actual IC thing that 'Victor' would leave our team on the event itself. Betraying us for the (afterwards winners) of team Belarus.
And then suddenly it was time to go to Eindhoven.
Words can not describe the sheer panic that was Eurosing prep-time, we had sort of decided on a song up front. But getting the lyrics into our heads on time proved difficult. We wrote most of the song in a couple of hours on Friday night, until we got so frustrated with ourselves that we decided to leave it and mingle and dance for a bit.
On Saturday things immediately went on at breakfast, making plans for costumes and props and making a shopping list. We would be sound-checking at 16:00so there was not a lot of time to do things, especially with Ylva needing to be at all the meets for cultural attaches.
The song was finished in the morning, practising it quite a number of times but we had chosen a difficult rhythm with long scentences. More then once I cursed myself for embarking on this whole trip but all of us stayed positive and supporting trough it all. After Ylva was done with her meet at 12:00/13:00 we needed to go shopping quickly, so off to the car and to the centre of Eindhoven. We had the idea for our costumes pretty solid, but no idea for a prop. We would be using the 'reveal costume' trick that a lot of real Eurovision acts have done too. A real classic. We would make 3 simple skirts in a dull colour and make matching flaps that could be dropped down, lined with the colours of the Moldavian flag. Blue, Yellow and Red. It sounded so easy when we thought of it. I've never, ever cursed myself behind the sewing machine as much as this weekend.
Some fabric was found and bought, we ran into some very fitting props at the SoLow shop (foam bath sponges in the shape of hearts) and drove back to the hotel to be on time for the sound-check.
I can honestly say that the sound check was way, way, way scarier than the actual performance. Because the theater was nearly empty (apart from two other teams also there for the sound check) and it was the first time on stage actually singing our lyrics. We messed it up big time, we forgot everything. We even had to start over, leaving us with dread and panic. There was no way we would be remembering all our lines in time!
After rehearsals, we needed to start on the costumes. The fabric we chose was - the worst- to work with, there were glitter and sequins everywhere and while working at the last one I had a tiny mental breakdown. This was all looking so grand in my head but the result in my hands was telling a different story altogether. But I stuck to it, finishing three of the most horrid 'dresses' I've made in my whole life. (In the end the kind of grew on us though, they were definitely not as horrible as I assumed). I finished them around 19:30 ish, leaving us just enough time to get ourselves into the costumes and do our make up.
After that, it was time to perform. The show was beautifully real, from hosts to banners to a real live screen on stage with pictures. And later on, the donator tally to save Maria. It really felt like Eurovision. The hosts even changed outfits during the show to match the teams on stage, how crazy is that?? It is all sort of a blur after that, when we actually needed to go up and sing we were horrified but also extremely excited. The energy was amazing, everybody was shouting and clapping. You could just feel pride, love and support radiate from the crowd. And when it really mattered I only forgot one line (the one I was doing solo in the beginning) and did not need the lyrics I had printed last minute. The dress reveal was the hight of our number, and the crowd went wild when it happened. That was just surreal. Even more surreal was the whole crowd bobbing and singing along at our chorus (one I will NEVER forget ever again, it's still stuck in my head). The song was over before I knew it, we threw our foam hearts at the audience ( aarggh we forgot to make them heavier so they kind of just landed just beyond the stage) answered some questions that I don't remember and left the stage.
Walking back into the theater we immediately got showered with compliments, hugs, and support. That was just crazy. I felt like a different person. People walking u to me saying I had 'saved' the song a couple of times with my energy (wait whut?) and how pretty the dresses where (wait, really?) and how brave we were on stage. I still can't believe I actually did that (even with the pictures to prove it)
So thank you, thank you all for the love, support and everything else. Thank you for making me see that everyone was stressing out, forgetting lines and cursing at costumes. Thank you for clapping, cheering, singing, loving, supporting and allowing all of us to just be a star for a day.
Thank you <3