The cat with the smallest arms in the world

My friend Morgan has a kitten with unusually short arms and legs. Imagine a Dachshund, only feline. She moves like a ferret, slinking her normal sized kitten body around on those little legs. She is also incredibly sweet and cuddly. Here's a pick of her and her mom in which her short little arms are prominently displayed. Hehe...

Mom is here visiting and she and I have been hanging out at Morgan's with her little cat while she is away for the weekend. E-way(phonetic spelling) is her name, Japanese for spirit or wind or moon, I don't remember which.

Ringling Bros

One benefit of being in circus school is occasional free tickets and opportunities to see circuses that come through the area. A former NECCA student is currently performing with Ringling on one of their tours and offered Elsie and Serenity a bunch of comp tickets so we could come and see the show. Now, Ringling is not my #1 favorite circus experience, but there are inevitable nuggets of circus gold in any show, so off I went to Worcester.

Oh, no! I hope he doesn't fall!

This particular show featured the evil character Mr. Gravity who was trying to quite literally trying to take down the circus. The music was loud and poppy, there were elephants riders and tigers tamers, overpriced refreshments, kitchy souvenirs, classic clowning complete acts with tricking dogs, lots of perplexing disappearing tricks, and people being shot out of cannons. There was also a great high wire troupe from Columbia and an impressive acrobatic act performed on swinging platforms. We were amazed, impressed, and at times a little overwhelmed.

Performers practicing in the arena after the show.

After the show we got to go down on the floor and check out what happens in the aftermath. Turns out that the moment the audience leaves the performers break out their apparatuses and 

start training and practicing new acts. Keep in mind that this is at 9:30pm after they have just completed a two hour long performance. Impressive, to say the least.

One of the managers talked to us a bunch about what it's like to work with Ringling as a performer. He really didn't pull any punches. As it turns out, the only performers who have any job security with are the people who work with the animals. Most everyone else, clowns, aerialists and acrobats, works on contracts that are terminated at the end of each show. Like other circuses Ringling scouts throughout the world to find acts that will compliment their various tours. And like other circuses they are looking to show the audience something they have never seen before. So the competition is pretty fierce and in any case it's not a job you'll have for long unless you are a lion tamer. 

One of the sweetest things I saw all night happened after the show while we were down in the arena. A little latino boy, maybe three or four years old, came tearing out from back stage yelling "Papa, papa!", and threw himself into the impressively muscular arms of one of the tight-wire performers. Turns out Ringling offers free childcare services to performers with children so that their families can join them on tour. Not bad...

So overall my Ringling traditional circus experience was educational and entertaining. And just one message for all you kids out there..."DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!!" Every time they said (or sang) that I thought, is that an invitation?

Vern's B-day Parade

Stealing a few minutes of time and internet connnectivity at Bruegger's before work at 5:30pm. So much to share from my weeks away from blogging. First off, Vern turned 30!! For his b-day Fallon had the fabulous idea that we should get dressed up in our most outlandishly fancy duds and parade down South Main Street banging pots and pans and singing. I was slightly skeptical at first I'll admit, but it turns out that this is truly a stellar way to celebrate someone's existence. I highly recommend it next time you're not sure what to do for your birthday. We paraded down South Main and through the Brattleboro Coop. They were delighted...really! Some guy behind the prepared foods counter cheered.

That's Vern on stilts, and Fallon and Alissa
banging pans as we paraded through the Coop.

Oops, I've run out of time. Off to work!

Good Karma Show

Hi Folks! I'm back! Many different factors have gotten in the way of blogging over the past couple weeks, but I have not forgotten. Quick shout out to my sister whose birthday was yesterday. Happy B-day Katie!! Have fun in Florida!

Yesterday we performed at a nursing home in Brattleboro at what is termed a "good karma" show. It is an unpaid gig that NECCA sponsors in order to give back to the community and spread the word about circus. Micah and I performed the second half of the act we created last winter. We had to bring some of the tricks down a level (literally) because the ceilings were low, but it was still a ton of fun anyway. Vanessa Vortex did a great job MCing the event. There were impressive feats of mouth ping pong ball juggling and sword/acro tricking. In general, these NECCA folks are just a great group of people to work with, paid or not. And I think the residents enjoyed the performance despite the seeming lack of enthusiasm. Perhaps our level of self assuredness just worked to put them at ease. Maybe next time we can get them doing two highs with us!