We finally have a narrative!I am currently in Toyko at the Japan-Australia Science Perfomers Exchange. To cut a long story short, about a dozen of us (half from Japan and half from Australia) are spending just over a week exchanging ideas about science performance and communication and developing a new show to be performed once only at Miriakan's Science Agora. It is also expected that there will be significant cultural exchange and interface. This has been one of the best parts of the program and less officially, the people involved are fabulous.

There is a significant language barrier to overcome, but we have many helpers and a hard-working interpretter, and it's amazing what one can communicate by wild gesticulation, mime and faux Pictionary. From both Japanese and Australian performers, there are still occasional moments of repeating the same word over and over at a blank face and of 2 people desperately nodding their heads in the mistaken hope that this will somehow make them understand each other. Thankfully these moments are becoming rarer.

It is quite exhilarating seeing different minds linking concepts, discovering scenes and growing characters. I always like working with other creative people, but there is a heightenned awareness of the process in this case. You have to ride  through the frustration of waiting for a translator before letting your latest brilliant idea burst out of you, and I am not the only one who has literally been shaking with excitement, like a child on Christmas morning.

It's also nice to meet other people involved science performance, this strange subset of science communication (itself a pretty odd occupation). It makes you a feel a bit less weird. Now I'm off to try some apple vinegar flavoured chocolate.