Dance, river, and plums...

Saturday was a saga.

It was Flare Dance Ensemble's open day, and they were running 5 hours of free dance classes from 12-5 at Prahran. Of course not an opportunity to be missed, since I so desperately need some exercise, and source of endorphin. So off I went, thinking that I'd be in the city by evening to watch the Moomba fireworks.

It was warm and even somewhat sunny when I left Glenny in the morning, and arrived at Prahran Station. Admittedly un-Melbournian, this was the first time I walked on Chapel St (and yes, I've been asked whether I'm really a female who has lived in Melbourne for 8 years). It was bustling with people, with cafes brewing aromas of sophisticated leisure, and boutiques blowing kisses to fanicily dressed female shoppers... True to Melbourne's mosaic nature, this is yet another funny, over-the-top small universe that exists within Melbourne, with its own peculiar population, trade and air.

Anyhow, the dance studio "The Space" was very easily found, and I made it just to the start of the pop class, which was a somewhat weird composition to the raggae song "Gasolina" by Daddy Yankee. The choreographer was doing a sexy, but way too "soft" dance to a strongly rhythmic song that was made for raggaeton/dancehall, so that was a strange juxtaposition. Nonetheless she was a skilled dancer, and the way she flaunted her curves, would have received a thumb-up from the male audience, I am sure.

So having endured that, I was ultra-grateful to start the hip-hop session. And that was as expected, lots of fun. The choreographer was my old hip-hop choreographer Irvin, although he graduated from uni 3 years ago, and we have no idea why he was still hanging around! Irvin's piece utilised many body isolation moves, especially on the neck and shoulders, and I discovered with dismay that I had become so stiff due to lack of practice! Urgh, blame AMS!

Then I was curious to stay for the contemporary dance class, which I soon found out that it was out of my league. Contemporary was a branch-off from the classical ballet, and therefore required a strong ballet foundation. And unfortunately, I could not, for the world, do all those spins and splits and jumps and falls! Having said that, I did enjoy the contemp warm-up, which involved lots of stretches, sit-ups and other exercises for core muscle strength. My extensive sores today are testimony for that.

So half way through contemp class, I happily retired to where the bags are and sat there to watch the rest of beautifully shaped bellas and (disturbingly feminine and hardcore) fellas dance away, and that's when the storm arrived.

I wasn't exactly sure when the black clouds had creeped over our heads, but suddenly we started to hear loud noises of objects banging on the roof over the dance studio. It was so rapid, like many drums beating all at once, and even the full blast of music was silenced in comparison. What was worse, soon several holes appeared on the roof of this upstairs studio, and buckets of water poured in, flooding the wooden floorboards. The class was forced to stop, and the upcoming popping and jazz classes were cancelled. We quickly packed our stuff up, and tiptoed on the wet floor to exit the building, only to realise that the real hell was waiting outside.

Outside, there was not a single street visible. All that was left were rivers, wide and narrow, filled with murky water, full of ripples from the continuing hail. I took off my shoes and socks, rolled up my pants and started to wade through the ankle-deep rain, but soon slipped on the footpath and fell into the water. Overhead, the torrential rain had completely wet my shirt. Ah well, now there was no need for shelter.

Onto Chapel St for the second time. The scene was in such great contrast to a few hours ago that it reminded me eerily of images in my dreams and in movies of the post-apocalyptic world. Chaos was everywhere. Cars were stranded in water, now up to my calf; waves of water created by the cars were like wild beasts splashing everywhere and rushing into the shops, cafes, bars and restaurants. Trams were stalled and power was out in the suburb. I continued wading through, crossing rivers and occasionally falling in as the water became unexpectedly deep. At the same time, I was lamenting on the fact that I didn't bring my camera to record such scenes. But this is approximately where I was:
http://www.theage.com.au/photogallery/victoria/wild-weather-hits-melbourne/20100306-pph5.html?selectedImage=17

The worse part though, was that the water was icy cold, persumably from the hail, so my feet soon felt numb and pain. Luckily there were a $2 shop on Chapel St (go cheap Asian $2 shops!!!) and I darted in, soaked wet, and asked for a pair of thongs and a raincoat. The Chinese couple were very kind, and they even brought all of the items to me and took them out of the wrapper. I looked around to see that their shop is also flooded and out of electricity, and was so grateful that their Asian cheapness made them continuing business as usual.

When I reached Prahran Station, it was full with elegantly dressed shoppers looking rather like "落汤鸡" as we call it in Chinese - chicken fallen into soup - and still clutching their precious prize of the day carefully to make sure it wouldn't get wet. The tracks at the station were submerged in water, and, to my fear, it was soon announced that trains were suspended. My instinct, was then to go to South Yarra Station, which was a premium station, and situated at a place where there might be more buses. The problem was, I didn't know how to get there.

Luckily, a girl and a guy started making their way to South Yarra, and so I followed them along until we were walking right next to the rail tracks, and the two of them started hail-fighting. Surely if I continue to follow the tracks I wouln't be lost anymore, so I happily left them to their entertainment and continued to walk. All along the boulevard of South Yarra were leaves, lush and green, that carpeted all of the ground. And now that the hail and storm seemed to be taking a break, the whole place was surreal and quiet.

Luck was with me for the rest of the journey, for a cityloop-bound train arrived just as I arrived South Yarra, and when I got to Richmond, I learnt that only Belgrave, Lilydale and Glen Waverley lines were running as normal. And the saga ended with me finally warming up with a hot shower and a hot ginger & brown sugar drink.

However I am still amazed at the havoc of the hail. The station staff at South Yarra said over her mobile phone that if she went inside her office now she would most probably be electrocuted; the replacement buses were stranded in water at Southern Cross Station; and our family friends had their backyard canopy full of holes, not to mention egg-sized dints in their car.

And this video actually make me think my experiences are rather lucky...
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/storm-brings-chaos-to-melbourne-20100306-ppm4.html

A special mention of plums. They were my source of sustenance during the 3 hours of wet and cold. I brought a bag of plums from Coles, mistaking them as nectarines (please don't ask -_-///), and ate 6 of them to keep my glucose level up. I think they worked wonders. :)