So, you like robots? Dancing? Books? Drinking? The MCA? Theatre? Young people? Cartoons? Dorks? Yeah? HECK YEAH? Hi. If not, well, I'm confused, but still, nice to see you. Here at Concrete Playground we like all those things, and we like collaboration, and we like local arts initiatives, and we really liked Creative Sydney, so much that we helped them present this party, and then helped them have it. Yes, we care enough about awesome things to go to an awesome party about them. Wipe away those tears, and let's all hug. Lucky we aren't being robots any more. While we were robots, though, dressed all metallic and pretending that our musculature was more simple and hinged, Even Books arranged for fill-the-blanks cartoons and hooked up a Popfrenzy playlist, ATYP performers gave examples of how automatons act and Dorkbot did electrical … stuff. There was a dance-off, too, which is a fine and noble sport. It was dark, we'd seen Toy Death and we were feeling invincible in so far as standing and watching other people compete. A few brave souls took the floor in the lead-up to the official competition and were kindly provided with foil-encased cardboard helmets while doing all kinds of moves under the the 'Robot' rubric. Swivels, dangles, generalised jerking: it was much less sexual than that description implies. At length, though, robot emcees came forth and called upon us to send forth official contestants. A series of robots, handily identified as by number for competition purposes, stepped up. Clanked up, actually: they were in programmed personality from the outset. The music was hilarious and robot-conducive without being totally gimmicky and sarcastic. I can't give you much more detail than that, as my knowledge is limited and the expert I brought along is probably still too disgusted by my BPM/BeepsPM pun attempt to help me out with titles, so you should really go look at that podcast. Also, go and look at videos of Robot Dancing championships, and trust me, while those are impressive, seeing efforts just as clanky live in front of a projection really reassures one that Sydney truly is an international city. After a series of adjudicated match-ups on the impromptu dancefloor, Robots two, three and six were selected as finalists. Two and three were deemed co-victorious according to "scientific" polling. This verdict angered our immediate neighbours, but we were quietly pleased. “She's a great dancer, but not as robotty as the others," it was said of six. "Didn't she win the last Duke dance-off? Isn't that enough for her?" I would make an incredibly apposite robot-related quotation here, but I think, in the spirit of collaboration, participation, and being Creative in Sydney: your turn, you guys. Images by Daniel Boud.