Vårbal & Grand Show

So, me and Fredrik woke at the glorious hour of 4am Thursday, packed up a picnic bag and chairs, and headed down to Snerikes nation to get in line.

Arrival time: 4:25am. Already 20 people waiting in line.

And spent a wonderful(ish) 6 hours waiting for the office to open at 10am. And, it's a good thing we got there when we did. There were 30 ticket pairs left after the nation seniors and workers bought theirs... and we got the 19th pair. Anyone who got there after 5am went home empty-handed. Crazy stuff.

Making a caviar sandwich in the lineup.

Last night I went with Fredrik, another Fredrik, and Johan to see Johan's girlfriend performing in a show. I wasn't sure what to expect... and was of course extremely surprised. The show was called "Grand Show" apparently a yearly thing. It seems to be a Norrlands nation thing, with the "Swedish Show Orchestra" (loose translation) and was essentially two hours of showtunes with a live band, dancers, and singers. Some acts were dramatic, some were funny, others downright odd. Some examples: man singing in his pajamas complaining about the dancing lamps (female dancers wearing lampshades on their heads). Dance debate on which came first, the chicken or the egg (complete with an egg in pink tights and two very rowdy chickens, Aristotle, and several 'scientists'). A princess searching for her frog-prince among varied frogs, including an aerobics frog and a gangsta frog. Some 'old people' dancing with walkers and wheelchairs. A horse playing saxophone at a picnic. A Robin Hood-style dressed guy trying to cheat death, offering to play chess with death (referencing classic Ingmar Bergman movie Seventh Seal) but they then end up playing twister and ping pong. A man's neighbours all go on holiday and leave him with their chores to look after, including a lawnmower, a dog, and a baby, and he sells them all at a garage sale.

Keep in mind all these were in Swedish, and nearly all involved some form of dancing.

Overall I was super impressed. Everything was done live, they had great costumes and props, and everybody was very professional. They had some really great dance numbers, classic showgirl-style, modern stuff, Charleston, all kinds of things. All this in a tiny theatre, with maybe 15 orchestra members and 10 dancers/singers. 

Horse playing sax at a graduation picnic, in front of an old 'lady's' house... ??