Food for Thought

Bad News Bear

November was going to be awesome for two reasons:

• My birthday.
• Performing in Portugal.

This is no longer the case as the portion of the tour slated for Portugal has been canceled.

Thanks economic crisis. What am I supposed to do for the month we suddenly have off?

Nevers Ever Again

The last few days have found my circus settled in a small town in the middle of France by the name of Nevers. I, for one, cannot wait to leave.

Don't get me wrong, the town is lovely. I get to walk by the Loire river on the way to the theatre every day. The hotel we're staying at has huge beds with big comfy comforters...

So what's the problem?

The theatre itself.

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here

Upon entering the theatre, I felt like I was visiting a penitentiary, or perhaps descending into the basement to meet Hannibal Lector. It's dark, cold and decaying. For reasons I truly cannot understand, there are no toilet seats...

But what makes this theatre truly unbearable is the floor.

Remember that time I was in La Rochelle and bitched about the floor? I take it all back. I mean, everything I had to say about the floor and the importance thereof remains true, but compared to the floor here in Nevers, the floor in La Rochelle is suddenly looking a lot more attractive.

How bad is it? Before I even finished putting together my wheel I had every single stage technician warn me about the floor. And while I can't see just how bad it is due to the dance mat that covers the stage, I certainly can feel it. And the theatre staff isn't terribly helpful on the matter either. All they can offer is "Yeah, it's pretty bad. And the area where you perform is the worst." And while theirs is the kind of floor that should be changed every 10 years, it is still the original from 1973.

The night of the run through was a disaster. If I didn't mess up a figure due to the wheel hitting some random bump or pot hole, I would have to stop and step out of the wheel to readjust its angle so as not to hit someone or something because the bumps and pot holes changed the axis of the line. I was, and still am, scared to do anything on this floor. I have no control and even with marks indicating where I should start, if I'm off by even a few millimeters, well, then its anyone's guess as to how it will go.

The first thing the director said when the dress run was finished was "So what time are you working on wheel tomorrow?" As if I didn't already know how badly it had gone...

So I spent three hours changing the act, substituting technique, rearranging sequences and hoping for the best. It wasn't as simple as just putting in easier tricks. One of the moves I messed up the night of the dress run was one of the easiest I do. But the wheel shifted, threw me to the side, killed the momentum and left me out to dry...

The first days in Nevers made me hate wheel. And even with the changes I dread doing my act. Having changed so much of the number is stressful and sometimes I get completely disoriented on stage. Suddenly realizing you started going the wrong way is hard to cover up when you're manipulating a 100lb steel wheel...

But no matter how bruised or discouraged, the show must go on. Thank the stars above that the run in Nevers is only four shows.

And just to prove I'm not exaggerating...




And remember, the part where I perform is worse than this...

One more show... just one more show...

The Classics

This is my last post about the Netherlands. I can think of no better way to say farewell to this lovely country than by giving it a truly Dutch salute!



See you in France!

GymNet Purmurend

My last day in the Netherlands was spent volunteering at an inter-disciplinary gymnastics event for the GymNet Purmurend gymnastics club. Kids from artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline and gym wheel came together to spend the day trying the disciplines of their acrobatic counterparts.

I spent the day holding the feet of small children so that they didn't fall out of a wheel.




In the end, I was rewarded. Not only with candy and a free pen. Not only with a free t-shirt. No, I was rewarded with the greatest prize of all...


A participation ribbon!

That bad boy is on its way to some prime real estate in my trunk at the circus. Oh yeah.

Blauwe Plekken

When training at a competitive wheel club, there is one thing to be expected more than anything else: You will leave with bruises. Lots, and lots, of bruises.

Repeating movements, especially new figures where the pressure of the wheel is somewhere you're not accustomed to, is a great reminder of how far you've come and how much further there is to go. I would often leave the club with all kinds of new welts, and then wake the following morning unable to move.

Ah, learning.

The most impressive booboo?

20 minutes after impact

Three days later

I know it doesn't look like much, but bear in mind, it is directly on the tibia and over an inch long. The impact was so strong that my shin wasn't sure if it should bleed or not and took a few minutes to think about it before deciding that, yes, blood seemed like the right response to such an assault on its person. If anything hits me in the shin now, the pain is so strong that it takes about a minute before I can walk again.

Now I wish I could say I was doing some kind of cool and terrifying D element of doom, but I was working on a pretty standard figure and one leg was a bit late, which led to me slipping which resulted in the above.

The moral of the story?

Invest in shin pads.

Gym Wheel

During my extended stay in the Netherlands I had the good fortune of staying with a friend I met at the Gym Wheel World Championships back in the spring of 2009. To add to that good fortune, I was invited to train at his club!

The combination of no longer being in school and being on tour means that I haven't had a coach for wheel, well, since leaving school. Its always so nice to go train at a real Wheel Club and work with a trainer again. My friend J was really awesome and showed me all kinds of new (and difficult) skills. He seems to have faith in my abilities because we mostly worked on D elements (the most difficult kind in wheel gymnastics). There were some skills that I flat out said I didn't want to work on, because without a coach at all times, they were far too dangerous.

Simply describing them would not do the terror of those particular moves justice. I mean, how can you adequately describe the feeling of slowly letting yourself roll backwards, head first towards the floor, while upside-down, all the while holding on for dear life with forearms twisted in a very unnatural position, all because you need to "wait" for the wheel to get into the right position?

J keeps insisting that I compete at Worlds again in 2011. He even offered to represent me as my coach! It will all depend on the tour schedule of course. In theory, I'm free, but only if we don't do the optional performances, and I won't find that out until the very last minute... But you never know! Competing again makes for a great excuse to head back to the Netherlands to train!

Krokets

Before heading to the Netherlands, I was warned of something called krokets by a friend and fellow circus artist who had already been to Holland. Krokets are a popular and slightly terrifying Dutch fast food. Every time I asked what was in them, I was told that it was better not to ask, quickly followed by "all the meat".

What's particularly exciting about krokets is that they can be obtained in special snack dispensing kiosk things like the Snackomatic.


Really, they're alright. If you like deep-fried, mystery meat filled, breaded cylinders, that is. On my last day in the Netherlands circumstances were such that I ended up eating virtually nothing but krokets and their kin. Needless to say, I'm not too bummed that there won't be anymore krokets in my immediate future. But if you happen to find yourself in Holland, they should be in yours.

Kroket Man is sad.

Dutch Wheel?

Uhh...

Is it supposed to do that?

Heerlen

Class

If there was one word I would use to describe the theatre in Heerlen, it would be class. We've played at some wonderfully welcoming theatres in the past. La Rochelle and Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines immediately come to mind. But Heerlen pulled out all the stops and is officially the best theatre ever. Even without the exceptionally well-chosen decor, the Parkstad Limburg Theater really went above and beyond.

The theatre, for one, was gorgeous and really quite spacious. Every time we arrive in a theatre, I'm always a little nervous about the kind of space I'm going to have. On stage and in the wings. Here, I didn't even need to have roll my wheel into place when the time came to do my act. There was so much room I could just set her right where I needed her! And considering the size of the stage, I suspect I'm going to find the next theatre, and certainly the tent, a little cramped come show time.


But of course, its the little things that really define an experience. The theatre provided meals for us throughout the festival, and a special show-themed decor, complete with poster and props, was the centerpiece of the buffet table. Certain dishes were even presented on painter's palettes!



Even the main entrance was specially decorated for our stay! Those are genuine replicas of paintings created during the show.



And on opening night, every person was presented with a sunflower during the curtain call. Boys being boys (i.e. abandoning their flowers in the hall), the girls scooped up some extra flowers for our dressing room.


The theatre technicians were also immeasurable lovely. We're talking taking-over-some-of-my-cues and offering-to-order-heating-pads, lovely. The head technician took pictures one night and put them on CD (with cover image) so that every one in the troupe could have them. We ate together, went out together, and I dare say put on a damn good show together!

But the the real mark of an extra mile is helping someone out when they're no longer your 'responsibility'. As I have no home in Europe, I often linger. In Heerlen, I lingered almost two extra days. A cast-mate checked out of the hotel early so we tacked her unused day to my room, but the following day I had a full afternoon of bumming around to do before my train left. No one wants to be bogged down with a suitcase while hitting up the town, and the theatre was kind enough to hold on to it for me while I went shopping.

And did I mention we also got free t-shirts?

Every other theatre we will ever play in, take note! This is the bar to which you must rise!

Live!

So... apparently I met the lead singer of Live one night before the show. If you're anything like me, you'll have no idea who Live is. The following video will likely result in a prolonged "oh" of recognition.



He seemed really nice but his concert was going on at almost the same time as our show. A bunch of people went to catch the tail end of this performance once we were done, but for me, food trumps music. Just like a rolling thunder chasing the wind... or something...

Someone Looks Familiar...

And that someone is me!

Holla(nd)!

I can think of no better way to have kicked off the new season of the tour than taking the stage in the Netherlands. Well, maybe coming back in shape and without any serious injury...

Heerlen was absolutely brilliant. The public, the theatre, the people, maybe not the weather, but that just made the hot chocolate all the better.

Add to that a detour in Amsterdam after the shows to train with a Dutch wheel club and you have one killer Dutch experience! I know this blog is supposed to be about my life in the circus but I really can't help but give the Netherlands a little plug by advising you to go visit!

Just go easy on the krokets...