Day Five: Shabbat + Show Night!

Central Synagogue welcomed Carnival participants with open arms on Friday night as a beautiful service brought in Shabbat. Beautiful singing from the choir and the beautiful interiors of the shule ensured a service which was appreciated by the scores of Carni kids who were on hand to witness it. Tradition saw Saturday designated as a day off from Carnival activities as interstaters were given some time to get to know their billets and the city of Sydney in any way they saw fit.

Following the exit of Shabbat, participants flocked to UNSW’s Science Theatre for the aptly named ‘Show Night.’ Boy, did they see some show! We kicked off with a wonderful set by our very own Zak Fleisher, all the way from Perth, Western Australia. Zak got the crowd going with a covers of ‘Lonely Boy’ by the Black Keys and ‘Do I wanna know’ by the Arctic Monkeys before finishing off with two wonderfully crafted original songs.

The talent boasted by our youth leader ranks was on display shortly thereafter as Zak was joined on stage by NSW’s very own Tayla Cohen and Victoria’ Orren Chabat who burst into an impromptu version of Justin Bieber’s summer anthem ‘Love Yourself.’ Only to be joined by the entire youth leader body as participants in the crowd took the invitation to join them on the stage and bust out some bars to the Biebz. However, it didn’t take long for a Kanye-West-style interruption saw a change of tone as Omi’s Cheerleader, the song of #Carni2015 was belted out by the 500 strong crowd encompassing leadership, management and participants alike in a rare show of unity.

However, the show was just heating up – Stage Hypnotist Bill Wheeler then kicked us into overdrive with a showing of hypnosis which, quite literally, mesmerised participants. Wheeler’s act saw participants and leaders alike put to sleep with the click of fingers as well as dance moves some never knew they possessed and finally impromptu bursts of the chicken dance whenever a certain easily recognisable piece of music was played. Be sure to ask your child all about Bill’s act, and especially if they were involved. Something tells me they’ll all be giving very similar answers…

Bill wowed the crowd for one and a half hours of hypnotic fun, which to some more felt like a quick five minute nap! After a wonderful set and an unbelievable show night, the fun had to come to an end as the clocked clicked past 11. Show Night never fails to amaze and 2016’s edition was no exception to the rule.

Today (Sunday) sees participants engage in our gruelling five kilometre long Raw Challenge course in St Ives which is sure to see some muddy fun for young and old alike! Check back tomorrow for a detailed report of the goings-on at the Challenge!

Thanks for reading.

By Jake Rosengarten