Not So Super 8

This evening I drove with Amber to the exciting town of St Johnsbury to see the movie Super 8. I had heard it billed as a real through back to the friend-gang movies of my childhood, Goonies, Stand By Me, with the alien underpinnings of ET. So, naturally, I had very high expectations. The movie did some things right. The characters and their relationships were delightful, if somewhat underdeveloped. I loved the kid obsessed with firecrackers, and the kid from the giant family of endless siblings who is an aspiring film maker. The main character definitely had the very likable air of the Goonies Mikey or Gordie from Stand By Me. The telltale fat kid, however, and subsequent jokes about his fatness, while definitely true to the times, may have been better left in the 80s. The real fault of the movie is my main complaint about most movies these days, and the thing that absolutely made it fall short of it's decades earlier counterparts, was it lack of heart. In the last 20 minutes of the movie you are supposed to develop some deep sympathy for this poor, Earth-stranded, alien creature that they basically spent the first hour and a half of the movie terrorizing you with. It didn't really work for me after watching the thing devour what were clearly human body parts it had retrieved from it's spider-like lair underneath the city. Plus there was just too much violence and too many explosions for me to really want to feel much of anything other than a little defendsive. The truly excessive train explosion scene (I mean really, they all, and the girl's car, survived?) for example, or the scene of the military torturing that poor professor before they killed him. It was a little much.

I'll end by saying that I think the truly amazing thing about those fabulous 80s flicks was that they could totally entertain with a deeply heartfelt, interesting, and often gut bustingly script and story that didn't have to resort of excessive violence and horror. Yay for the 80s! It's nice to remember the good things that happened back then. And now, I'm off to download a copy of the original ET. "Phone home"...

Viedo and photo shoot

I am exhausted. The day started at 6:30am. Shower, hair, getting my costumes together that were still damp from washing them the night before. Got to NECCA at 7:30am to load boxes, pipe, trapezes and Alissa's bed into her car and Tony's little red truck (thanks Tony!!). Wrapped everything up in a giant tarp cause it's been raining for days. In the end we got lucky and only had to deal with a few sprinkles. Drove to Landmark College in Putney, make-up, finishing touches on hair, and costumes, finally dry.

The process was interesting and exhausting. First off we'd shoot video footage, which usually entailed going through the act a few times, then repeating specific tricks a few more times. Eventually Bill would say "I've got what I need", and that would be that. The the photographers would take a few minutes to set up and we'd go through the act again, highlighting certain tricks and poses.

I'll be interested to see how the videos and photos turn out. Not my best runs, but Bill will edit in the best parts of the takes he got. The students at Landmark who took photos were awesome, especially Pablo who shot my trapeze act, and Veronica who shot my pipe. Got to have a look at some of the trapeze picks, all hazy because of Bill's smoke machine, but cool. And Pablo says he can lighten them up a bit.

Lunch at Putney coop, and we finally got back to NECCA at 4:30pm, finished unloading the truck, and I headed off to work. Thankfully I only had to be there an hour and 15 because it was super slow. I signed out as soon as Mrs. Kim said I could go. I felt like I was going to fall over.

Yes, productive day, yes!

Got some good stuff done on my pipe today. Figured out that I can do a back hip circle out of a handstand without knocking the thing over. So useful! It's just the transition I need, and means I don't have to come down to the ground. My back tuck off the pipe is solid now too. I'm doing it comfortably without a spot. Still kept my cell phone within reach though since I was alone in studio two all morning. Just in case...

Great work party tonight over at the circus house. Almost finished the top of my costume for pipe, and finished covering my trapeze! Also spring rolls, veggie stir fry, Whip It, M&M cookies and Burdick's chocolate bunny. Yum, and fun, and productive, and yes!

Beautiful Weather BBQ

I laughed harder tonight than I have in weeks. Got fed popcorn and hot dogs by a one year-old circus baby. Had an incredible discussion about the history of porches. Ate guacamole, grilled portabello mushrooms, and a cheeseburger. Indulged in hard cider and peach beer. Much needed laughs with fellow protrackers, and a great plan for all of us to email Elsie that at this point in the year we'd like to change our majors.

Also started cutting fabric for my costume this afternoon. It's all coming together. 

Shin La Update

So I'm just home from the restaurant. Made $80 in tips for 4 hours of waitressing, which kind of bites cause we were actually pretty busy and there were only two of us on. Not only that, I missed Juggle For Japan, a circus show/fundraiser that was happening at school tonight. Working every Fri and Sat night really stinks. Remind me to never do that again.

Despite all that I kind of love working at Shin La. Mostly I love Mrs. Kim. Sure, she can be a bit of a tyrant, and some of her policies are ridiculous, but you scratch the surface of her and she's about the sweetest lady on the planet. She gives free chicken and rice soup to people nursing sick relatives. She loves to laugh and joke with us about customers we think are cute. Plus, she's told me so many amazing stories about her life. She basically single-handedly saved her husband from sinus cancer, and when the dentist said he should have all his teeth removed because certainly he'd never eat again, she refused and told him to fill every single one. Now he's years in remission and eating everything he did before he got sick. Many other amazing stories, but you'll have to get to know her yourself to hear them. I highly recommend it, she's delightful...when she's not reprimanding you forgetting to get a crab for cold noodle salad.

Good day at school too. Doing back tucks off the pipe without a spot. Reassuringly, I can now do all of the tricks in my pipe act on my own at this point. Not 100% consistent, not always pretty, but I can do them. I think that's a good place to be a month before the final show. I'll be able to polish it up a bit, but it'll still feel challenging and fresh by the time the show goes up.

OK, headed to bed to read more of The Hunger Games, my most recent sci-fri post-apocalyptic young adult literary find. And while I'm falling asleep I'll pray to the Goddess of pointed toes to help me, please help me, with my form on trapeze. Where's Rackim with his foot stretcher when you need him :)

Acts for the final show

OK, so I haven't posted anything in over a month. Thanks to my friend Tiffany who let me know she was missing my updates, I'm writing today. If you've ever blogged then you know how hard it can be keep writing when your just not sure if anyone (except your mom :)) is out there reading. But thanks to Tiff, and Rayna, and (yes) Mom, I'm getting back on the horse.

It's been an intense couple of months at school. Emotions have been running high for everyone off and on through Feb/Mar/Apr. First it was hard to weather to storms of the winter. The snow and lack of sunshine was getting us down. Also, the pressure to gain tricks and skills and start crafting acts for the final show has been stressful. Lately, big questions are on everyone's minds (except Marshall's who will be working for Cirque starting in June) about what next. People have been setting up gigs for the summer, starting new performance projects and making plans for traveling home and setting up their circus lives in a new place. Some folks are staying around Bratt to keep training.

Under great duress we came up with a name for our final show, Circus Clockwork. We were interested in exploring the passage of time and what all of us have been through as individuals and a group, throughout the year. Originally, we wanted to call the show Clockwork Circus, but that just reminded our coaches too much of The Clockwork Orange, so the change was made.

Lots of progress on trapeze and pipe. I love my pipe walking apparatus. So much. Even despite the feelings of betrayal when I crotched it a couple weeks ago while doing a cartwheel. Yeah, it hurt. A lot. Been seeing a chiro since to try and set things straight, and it's been generally very useful. Still feeling a little bruised tailbone action though. No fun. But really happy in general with my progress with handstands and excited about some of the tricks in my pipe act and the act in general. Yay!

Maybe that's enough for now. Another problem I'm having is getting my new phone to sinc with my old computer, which means no pics for the moment. But I've taken some cool ones lately, so soon, soon.... 

Trapeze building and pipe construction

So on Monday Vern and I put the peddle to the metal and started building the blocks for my pipe walking/hand balancing apparatus. The whole process of planning, design and building took a week. Actual construction just took a morning. The blocks are four feet tall and will eventually do the job of holding my 12 foot long, inch and 5/8ths thick walking pipe in place. Still planning to add some little flourishes here and there, like a plank off one side to hand balance on, and holes in front to walk up, but these are the basic building blocks (hehe) of the thing. I ordered the pipe at Dunklee's metal and will pick it up on Tuesday, so the whole thing should be done this week. Yay!

There's Vern working on drilling one of the walls.

Aren't they beautiful! We left the back end of both blocks
open to make placement and removal of the pipe easier.

Yesterday's trapeze building workshop was equally fun and productive. Turns out I'm a natural at splicing rope. I'm already in love with my new trapeze. Just need to finish constructing and sewing the arms, then I'm good to go. I guess Khoja the one eyed cat likes her too :)

Ah, splicing. Not bad for my first time, eh?

There she is.

That doesn't really look too comfortable, but she looks
totally blissed out. Maybe she has secret kitty aerial
aspirations. 

I've always enjoyed building things. Man, circus just won't stop giving me the opportunity to do ALL the things I love!

Majors and Minors

Back in December we had to choose our majors and minors, the apparatuses/disciplines that we would focus on and use to create acts for the end of the year show. These two acts, hopefully, will be ones that we can use to market ourselves and sell our skills. Yes, it's true, one of my ultimate goals is actually to make some money as a professional circus performer!

I came to NECCA with skills primarily in individual and partner acro and hand balancing. If your interested in what I was doing before school check out the act I created and performed with my buddy Micah in Jan of 2009. One of my goals for the year has been to build some skills as an aerialist. I spent a fair amount of time on the trapeze the first half of the school year and decided that it was definitely my preferred aerial apparatus. I like that it is swing-like. I like being able to sit, stand and hang on it. I like being upside down and right side up on it. And I like that you can do tricks in the ropes or with the bar. For a while there I thought I might like to do single point, or dance trapeze, but ultimately decided I should build a solid base of knowledge and comfort on the static trapeze before incorporating the dynamic swinging and spinning involved in single point.

So I decided to major in trapeze and considered a number of different possibilities for my minor. I thought about German wheel, wire, and duo lyra (with Morgan). Ultimately I decided to minor in hand balancing and floor acro. I knew I wanted some kind of platform or apparatus to do my hand balancing on, but didn't have any particularly compelling ideas. Early on in January I went to talk to Elsie who suggested I check out the pipe that they use in the children's classes to teach kids basic balancing skills. I went down to studio two, took one look at the pipe, and immediately fell in love with it. I could hand balance on the blocks and the pipe itself, and do tricks on the pipe, kind of like a balance beam.

So I spent the month of January suffering delighted and inspired by my pipe apparatus, and alternately crying and shaking through my trapeze classes. Ultimately, I've decided to switch my major and minor. I'm not giving up on trapeze, I still want to come away from NECCA with a comfort and working knowledge of an aerial apparatus, and an act that I can sell. But I've decided to major in pipe, where I already have significant skills, and the learning curve is not so steep.

This weekend I started working with my buddy Vern on designing a pipe apparatus similar to the one at school, but four feet off the ground instead of two. My coaches and I are thinking that this change will increase the possibilities for what I can do on the pipe, and raise the wow factor for the audience a bit if I'm a little further off the ground. It also raises the yikes factor for me, but I think it will be a good challenge.

NECCA Calendar

It won't surprise anyone to learn that I go to school with a group of unusually talented and motivated people. After all, these are folks who spend hours every day conditioning their minds, bodies and souls for the purpose of creating performance art to amaze and delight people of all ages! One of these great performers is Vanessa Vortex, comedian, juggler and strong woman extraordinaire. Between bouts of hoisting people in the air and standing on her hands, Vanessa came up with the idea of creating a calendar to document our year  at NECCA. Included are numerous pics of my multi-talented classmates, coaches and associates. You can check it out online and even order a copy of the calendar for yourself if you feel so inclined. Enjoy!

NECCA Calendar

Bohemian Bacchanalia at Oberon

Last weekend, in the company of the lovely Morgan Oldman, and many other fabulous Boston based circus performers, I took part in the lively, luscious, and at times ludicrous Bohemian Bacchanalia at Club Oberon. A couple weeks earlier, at home in Colorado for Christmas break, I was excited to receive a phone call from Morgan inviting me to perform with her again in Boston. Back at school in Bratt we worked out a souped up version of the duo lyra piece we'd done at Royale a month earlier. Accompanied by a fantastically seductive, emo tune from movie Twilight, and fantastic costumes (all thanks for Morgan) we took it up a notch from our previous performance. Nima came with me to Boston and took video of the event in general and our piece in particular. If he keeps it up I'll need to make him my official videographer. Check us out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hJCLlU6OHw!

I absolutely loved the rest of the show as well, and performing with and for the Boston Circus Guild again was fantastic! The Guild is comprised of an delightfully motivated, talented, friendly and fun group of people. Here is a link to a video a video showcasing highlights from the evening. Fair warning, there are some gorgeous ladies performing mouth watering burlesque acts, so if semi-nudity is going to offend you might want to shy away from this one :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnBP0I7SfA8 

There were some great photos taken that night as well by professional ToddLee. You can find them among my photos on my Facebook page.

Royale

Did my first paid gig at the Royale night club in Boston last Friday night. Got the gig through my good buddy Morgan and the Boston Circus Guild. Morgan is a talented hand balancer, acrobat, aerialist, and owner of "The Cat With The Smallest Arms In The World" (see previous blog posting). Boston Circus Guild is a wonderful bunch of people who are trying, with significant success, to grow the circus community and facilitate opportunities for circus performers in Boston. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to work with them a bunch in the future. It is a cool thing to hang out with fantastic people, making money, and doing what you love. The fantastic people I got to hang with on Friday night were Chuck of Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band, and Mooch of A Different Spin. Both of these guys do a ton of work to ensure that the Boston Circus Guild runs smoothly and continues to grow. Also, they are a lot of fun, and they bring treats!

Morgan and I spent a bunch of the time the previous week up on the lyra (aerial hoop) together putting together our act for the night. Really, it was more like a series of poses and tricks than a polishes act, since the gig was ambient and not performed up on a stage. It was my first time working on aerial hoop, but lots of the stuff I've learned on trapeze over the past couple months helped me pick it up fairly quickly. And Morgan is a good teacher. She was also fantastic at putting together our costumes, doing my make up, and just generally reassuring me throughout the night that this was not a high pressure gig and that I'd do fine. And, surprise, I did! Both sets, performed between the hours of 12-1am went really well. And just as an added bonus, we shared the green room with was a fantastic Bhangra dance troup also performing at Royale that night. They were really nice guys, and their costumes were fantastic. Only bummer about that was the rival Bhangra group in the audience who made trouble for our new friends during their set. I guess when you're a Bhangra dancer in Boston you have to watch out for that sort of thing.

So here are some pics from the night. I really had a ton of fun. As soon as I get the video from Morgan, I'll post that too.

Me and Morgan feeling all good about things after our
successful second set.

That Chuck on the left, Mooch on the right, and the lovely
Morgan sandwiched in between.  

Super cute roomies

I just thought I should share that I live in Brattleboro with two totally adorable young ladies, Lauren and Emelia. They are both in the Protrack program with me. Together we live a block from school in a fairly big apartment that makes up one half of a duplex.

That Lauren on the left and Emelia on the right,
at my b-day party at Shin La.

Lauren and Emelia became good friends last year when they both did the Intensive program at NECCA. They fight and tease each other incessantly, and spend all their time together when they are not at school or working. I feel like I totally lucked out when I scored these two for roommates. Emelia, an absolute homebody, entertains my family or friends whenever they come to town. She became best buddies with both my mom and Nima both when they came to visit. Lauren is one of the hardest working people I know, seeming always to be either on her way to work, work study, or school. But when she's not, you'll find her hanging out with Emelia, and they'll probably be on the couch watching reality TV. Just where two circus ladies should be at the end of a long day.

On becoming an aerialist

So there are a few ways you can tell when an aerial habit is forming. Bruises behind the knees are a definite indication. Shore shoulders instead of knees is another sign. The last clue...landing a gig at a night club in Boston to perform...duo lyra? Yes, that's right, I'm headed to Boston tonight for my first paid circus gig. And it will be in the air (no mom, not high in the air), not on the ground.

Mucho gusto to my friends Morgan and Mooch for handing me this opportunity. I'm excited and looking forward to it...and also a little nervous. Morgan, my lyra partner, says it should be a low key, ambient gig, not like being up on a stage with an audience watching. So that's cool. A nice way to get my feet wet and hopefully it will open the door to working more with the Boston Circus Guild in the future.

First rehearsals

Yesterday was our first rehearsal for the holiday show, The Flying Nut. The theme of the acro dance piece I'm in is FIRE. Deena is choreographing with input from those of us who are in it, Kelsey, Morgan, Fallon, India, Roger and me. She wants to invoke the feeling of burning embers and dancing flames. We had fun yesterday climbing, rolling, crawling on and lifting each other in attempts to make different fire related shapes. We rehearsed right next to the trapeze group. Amy has created a multi-level trapeze, which I admit I'm a little sad not to get to work on. But since my interest in the intersection of dance and acro is a big part of what brought me to NECCA in the first place, FIRE is a good group for me to be in.

Today is Weds, not a school day, but the day of the week when I try to get as much time in at Members Only as possible. Went to the gym this morning and did cardio and weights for a while before heading over to NECCA at 10:30am. Did some stretching there, played on the German wheel, and did some handstands. Home now for lunch and dragging my feet about going back. Tired. But Micah and I have hand to hand acro lesson with Bill this afternoon, so that should be fun.

Physical Theater

Last week Kali Quin came to coach us through two full days of physical theater activities. As human beings we experience life, in large part, though our physical interactions with each other and the world. Physical theater basically tries to incorporate the body into theatrical performance to the fullest possible extent. Like Sunshine says in Harold and Maude, an actors body is their instrument...anyone, anyone?

This type of acting is particularly relevant to circus artists. The use of our bodies to perform interesting and amazing feats is already at the heart of what we do, and bringing depth to the characters and stories we create can make those pieces even more powerful.

There's a ton more to say. For one, Kali was fantastic, very down to earth and competent. I noticed how close we've gotten as a group. We laughed a lot. I almost cried a couple times. One of those times was during an activity where we had to start lying down, get up very slowly, see something on the other end of the room that we wanted very badly, move toward it achingly slowly, get close and realize we couldn't have it, turn around and slowly, slowly head back to our original location and lie down again. Wow. The group I worked with took nine minutes to complete the activity. Kali didn't ask us to say what we were thinking of when we moved across the room, but later on one of my classmates informed me that he had been thinking about this incredible pizza he can only get back home. Hilarious. Let's just say, I wasn't thinking about pizza.

More later...now, off to pursue another day of acrobatic excellence!

Starting rehearsals for The Flying Nut

We found out today what acts we will be working on in the NECCA winter show, The Flying Nut. Protrackers will be performing a rope act, a hoop diving act, a trapeze act and a dance acro act. I'll be in the dance acro act with 5 other students in my program. I am super excited to start rehearsals on Tuesday. The final show will include acts by NECCA students and guest performers of all ages and various levels of skill. It should be pretty great.

Yesterday we had classes in single point trapeze and German wheel. Learned that wheel is a competitive sport in Europe, and that single point involves a lot of swinging and spinning (whee!). I'm deeply distracted by the emanate decision about what to do for my major and minor acts for the final show in May. I think I want to do some sort of trapeze act, maybe single point since I love the dynamic swinging and spinning that is possible on that apparatus. Other contenders are hand balancing, wire and German wheel (totally loved my first lesson in it!). Still open to the possibility of falling in love with another discipline before we leave for winter break and have to make our final choices.

Starting to work on a duo-lyra act with my buddy Morgan, hopefully to perform at a Bat-mitzvah in December. If it works out it will be my first paid circus gig. Fingers crossed...

Happy Birthday to ME!!

It's a little embarrassing to admit, but I love making a big deal of my birthday. This year I got to celebrate with friends in both Boston and Bratt. Boston friends joined me for Dim Sum in China town last Sunday morning, and Shin La hosted my Brattleboro circus buddies for dinner last Tuesday. My coworker Alyse treated us real special to the point of decorating the table with cups full of pipe cleaners, colored pens and paper, which kept us entertained and entertaining throughout the meal. On Weds my mom flew in from Colorado. I picked her up at Bradley International in the afternoon and we spent the next six days hangin' in Bratt and beyond, climbing mountains, eating tasty meals, and watching circus performances. Also, bunches of sweet people gave me gifts, from earrings to cards to chocolate bars to home made bread to pipe cleaner creatures.

So big, big thanks to those who brought me into this world and those who help me make the most of my time here. Sometimes they are one and the same!

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!