Other #vvl Bits And Bobs

I thought I'd write down a few of my personal observations of Various Voices which, in the interest of brevity, Hsien wasn't able to.



Social Networking Hits Various Voices
This was the first Various Voices to make use of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. The former two were ably run by Nathalina, and after a few teething problems, particularly to do with emails, we managed to get quite a lively community up and running there.

The one area which I think took off well was twitter though. It enabled people from different choirs to actually microblog about their experiences, and was a wonderful way of keeping track of what was going on. Most people used the hashtag #vvl, while others simply used "Various Voices". It was particularly great to actually meet the people behind the twitter handles.

Meeting Other Choristers
In addition to the big joint events like With One Voice, the Big Gay Sing, Sing For The Cure and Best In Show, one good way of meeting people from other choirs was the workshops. I attended two and met some wonderful people such as Lars from Die Fetten Koketten Soubretten.

The common areas in the Southbank Centre also worked very well in encouraging interaction between people in different choirs. On one of our breaks Philip R and I shared a table with Bernd from DFKS as well. So whether you were at a bar getting a drink or having a sandwich on the terrace there was always someone you could talk to.

It certainly helped when people wore their Various Voices tags. The neck straps in particular were very obvious, and they acted as a signal to say, "Yes, it is okay to come chat with me!" I've made loads of new friends at VVL and am really looking forward to performing with them in the future.

Cabaret Stages
These worked a charm! It gave many of the choirs a chance to perform in a less formal setting which suited them, but also enabled members of the public to come and see what the whole festival was about. I ran into an elderly couple who came on the Saturday and had such a good time they came for the remaining two days of the festival, setting themselves up with a table, packed lunch and a thermos of tea. They even took to the dance floor when the Gay Gordons and the Pink Dancers had the stage. Hey! That's what it is all about!