Kicking off the China Tour

November 5, 2014

It’s been a busy but exciting few days for the Moy Co. since arriving here in China. We started the tour off with a great opening show in Huizhou. This is the first of 24 cities we will be visiting throughout this 13week tour.

A massive welcome to our new members of the company. Our two new Russian dancers, Mariia and Anatolii, two new band members, Darren and Isaac, female vocalist, Shaunessy and our physio, John.

Adapting to the time difference, the high temperatures and the food here has been a challenge for some whilst others are settling right in and embracing the local food. Contacting home is obviously very important while on tour and as certain sites such as Facebook, etc are blocked in China we needed to download a VPN to access these which has proven to be quite the task.

We’re interacting a lot with the locals, all of whom seem very friendly and patient with regards the language barrier. Patrick actually made a friend with a little local girl who was very determined to speak English. She had few words but was surprisingly able to hold a conversation. She even learned steps from Riverdance which she was very excited about.

A few of us went exploring one afternoon and took a boat trip down the beautiful Huizhou West Lake. It is famous for the five lakes, six bridges and eight sceneries. We immersed ourselves in the culture by trying the local juices, coconut and sugarcane.

 

It’s funny the little things you learn the more you go out and about on tour. At this stage I think everyone in the troupe knows how to say Starbucks in Chinese!!

People have been downloading different translator apps to help in times of need. Meghan came very prepared with cue cards that her Chinese relative wrote out for her, which have already come in very handy.

We are off to Shenzhen today. Make sure to check in with us next week to hear all about our haggling experiences at the markets and much more.

Ellen