On February 5 and 6, the 4th edition of the World Spinning Top Festival took place in Loon-Plage (North); an event in which the Da-Tuoluo association of Bourbriac was participating for the first time.
The festival is organized by the Museum of Traditional Games, located in Galamé Park in Loon-Plage and the Atelier du vent collective, which also organizes the World Spinning Top Festival in Marines, near Paris.
“Emmanuel, from the Atelier du vent collective, contacted us at the beginning of November,” says Mathieu Lavant, the president of the Da Tuoluo association. “He had already tried to join us several times to offer us to participate in the festival and, this time, it was the right one. ”
This is how Mathieu and Hailei Lavant landed in Dunkerque the day before the festival, with half a dozen Chinese spinning tops, sticks and whips in their luggages. “Since it was our first festival, I wasn’t sure what spinning tops to bring,” Mathieu notes. “Finally, we chose different models; small 150 g spinning tops for children, two 1.5 kg spinning tops, a 4 kg tray spinning top and, for good measure, a 5-6 kg wooden spinning top. Not to mention two 1.6 m sticks to turn the latter. ”
Taiwanese spinning tops and acrobatic spinning tops
For the two Chinese spinning top players used to spinning tops of a few kilograms, the World Spinning tops festival was a real discovery: “I knew that spinning top players from different countries were invited, but we didn’t really know what to expect,” Mathieu continues. “We discovered Taiwanese spinning tops, acrobatic spinning tops, Indonesian spinning tops… and met some names of the genre, such as Atilla and Quentin, champions of acrobatic spinning tops and Sky, a Mallorcan spinning top player, who have regularly participated in the festival for a few years. “
After spending two days in total immersion in the world of spinning top, meeting beautiful people with the members of the collective and the invited players, Mathieu and Hailei took the train back to Brittany, with two ideas in mind: to come back next year and, why not, organize an edition of the World Spinning Top Festival in the Guingamp area.