Dancing in Kuala Lumpur

Rather than retelling the stories I have heard from the girls this morning, pics are probably the best way to go...

So here is their KL trip!! The premise of the trip was this: A cultural exchange between Australia and Malaysia meant that there were opportunities for dancers to go to Kuala Lumpur to perform as part of "Australia Week". They were performing at Shopping Centres mainly, the water theme park show was cancelled during the trip but was replaced with two shows at The Pavilion which apparently is a massive (12 stories) shopping centre that has only been open for a short time. The troupe from Westside Performing Arts had the honour of being the first performers to be on stage at The Pavilion. In between, the girls got to see the sites, experience a new culture and be tourists themselves. They have had a wonderful time and I am so glad we took the chance to send Kate for the dancing and Brooke for the fun of it.

Here's just some of the over 200 pics and vids!

Group shot at Sydney Airport. The team looking all red in their uniforms.

Niki was amazed that everywhere they went locals wanted to have their photo taken with the girls. Kate & Brooke and the other young ones were particularly in demand.

Kate & Brooke out the front of a mosque on day 1 during their city tour.

Niki and the girls get a shot of themselves in front of the Petronas Towers... they didnt get a chance to go up during the trip.

Group shot before the first show. Kate is front row right with flag, Brooke is the munchkin standing with the bigger girls.

Now Brooke wasn't actually a part of the show. Niki brought her along just for the experience. But she was made very much a part of the group and did appear on stage at a couple of shows at the smaller centres. Here, she gets some of that experience with having to carry the flags ;)
Kate backstage for Show 1 pumped and ready to go!

And here is Brooke in an impromptu performance on stage... she came out with the singers at the begininning holding the flag... she didn't have a costume, so they snagged an Aussie t-shirt! No rehearsal, out you go!

After the first show... the stuffed Koala mascot and the girls pose for photos. This became a normal thing and soon locals were getting their kids into the shots as well.

The Pavilion. Niki takes a shot from one of the balconies down to where the girls would dance. That grey area is sponsored by Hewlett Packard and the dancers, and in particular the singers had to work HP into the lyrics... even the lead singer had to sing with a HP portable in his hands! You have to be good to the sponsors!! In addition, The Pavilion was a huge space and the crowds were around the balconies in big numbers.


On stage during the Pavilion shows... Kate is on the left



The opening number of the Pavilion show... Kate is in the 2nd row from the right in the foreground in blue...



The later show again at the Pavilion... Kate is on the left in the front. She gets a bit obscured at times by the pole though.

Afterwards the crowds once again wanted their shots with the little girls being in big demand. Here Kate poses with one of her fans ;)

Brookie also had her fans! This guy was just one of many people who found Brooke adorable... she was apparently a bit taken back by all the attention, but soon was lapping it up!

This is a sample of what the crowds were like after a show... heaps of people, lots of cameras. Niki was amazed at that. In addition, KL is a city of extremely friendly and tolerant people. There are Indians, Malays and Chinese with all their differing religions and degrees of belief. There are full on Buddist and Hindu monks and Islamic people in full Muslim dress (note the woman in the bhurka (sp?) in this shot) all the way through to people of those faiths who have a more western lifestyle. The point is that all these people of races and religions mix freely and mix well. There is something that can be said about Australia in that...

Of course after the shows there were the parties! The Pavilion in particular put on KFC and Pizza for the kids. People from the management came down and thanked the girls for their shows and were very happy with the result. I am sure HP was happy too! ;)
And of course, the mums who went as well! Niki had a great time and enjoyed herself too!

And in between the shows, there was the shopping... KL is filled with massive shopping centres so they were put to good use. Here are the girls as they're about to hit the tiles so to speak!

In addition to the shopping, the girls got to see some of the more historical sites... Here they're at the Batu Caves which is a series of caves atop a large set of stairs and there is a temple inside.

A closer look at the statue and the imposing stair case!


The temple inside the caves... one of the people was singing their prayers. Very peaceful.

And what trip to SE Asia would be complete without some snakes! The look on Kate's face is priceless!


The motto the girls adopted was "try something different for Daddy"... well they did!


And some Monkey business!

Home! The last shot... this is when they landed this morning after their overnight flight. Brooke slept, but Kate actually slept walked around the plane at around 4am and didn't rest after that... apparently she went all the way down to Business Class from the back of the plane!!