The Floor

As you can imagine, for someone who works on the ground, the floor is kind of a big deal. And the floor in La Rochelle? Merde. Complete and total merde.

Its not just that its uneven. Its not just that there are chunks of it splintering off. No, the main problem is that for some reason they decided to build it with lots of tiny slats. All uneven. Its like being on a bumpy board walk. And while it is kind of cool to feel the texture of the wood under the wheel, the novelty wears off as soon as you try and do anything and the wheel wobbles around all over the place.

There were nights where I thought my wheel was going to fall over at the very start of my number. Even the musicians were worried. And for one line, every time I jumped to do the move, my wheel would rock, I'd hit my shoulder, lose my momentum, go back to the boards and start over. One night, I even had to single out (I normally do three) it was so bad. I haven't done a single hip circle in performance... ever. Not ever! I was appalled.

I, for one, am looking forward to being back in the Chapiteau. Even though I'm told that in the next city, we may very well all die from heat.