Mad March is the time to be in Adelaide! It’s the end of summer, the heat is easing off, the crowds are out and everything is ON. There’s the Festival proper, things high brow and serious, and the Fringe, and then there are all the other events – in just the 5 days I was there we had Clipsal (car racing which drowns out the opera) and Writers’ week. But it’s the Fringe that dominates, with venues like the tantalizingly-named Garden of Unearthly Delights and (slightly more peculiarly named, and a little less exciting) Royal Croquet Club. Giants on unicycles and glittery women in tutus desperately flyered, vouchers for free champagne were thrust into our hands, and the beautiful coolness of evening was accompanied by twinkling lights in the trees.

So, the best thing (and sadly, if I’m honest, only thing) that I saw: Djuki Mala. The aboriginal Youtube dance sensation. It started with traditional dancing, what looked like an imitation of animals and hunting with spears. The audience clapped politely with a slight air of disappointment, until all of a sudden bright lights came on, the music changed and the dancing became frenetic. We now had Singin’ in the Rain and Michael Jackson. The audience cheered wildly – this was what everyone came for. The dance was a mash of as many styles as possible: hip hop, break dance, tap, techno, aboriginal, and all sorts of other things. They looked like they were having so much fun. One of the dancers had his tongue stuck out the whole time and looked totally mad. In between dances were videos from Arnhem Land describing the stories of the group. The whole performance was funny, exuberant, energetic, feel good entertainment.

The other really fun thing was a virtual reality arcade: I sat on a stool wearing goggles and travelled on rollercoasters, took part in a seance and got stabbed in the eye, saw a blue whale swim right past, and was eaten by a spooky black ghost.  It was completely immersive and tiring, but if this is the future of cinema, bring it on!

There’s so much to see, and I do enjoy things for free – but I wish I had money to do more things.