Roubaix

Considering I left Roubaix nearly a month ago, you’d think I’d have gotten around to writing about it a little sooner… Truth be told, Roubaix was not terribly exciting. The floor wasn’t amazing, but it was better than in Nevers, so nothing to report on that front. The city itself is often described as the Detroit of France. Our first night there N had his car window smashed and a bag of drumsticks stolen. And while I’m told there were some seriously crazy events that occurred the last time my circus played there (like a theatre technician being shot outside the theatre), things were pretty tame this time around.

The only thing that happened that I feel is worth writing about is when I screwed up my last line the night of the premiere. I messed up, I did it again, people clapped. It sucked that it was the premiere in that city, but in live performance things don’t always go as planned.

When I got offstage, my cast mate came up to me and was clearly very excited about something.

“Ok, that, THAT was circus! Normally, you go on stage and you’re beautiful and you’re elegant, and that’s great, but that’s all. But tonight, when you fell, you gave the audience this look that was like ‘Yeah, ok. That didn’t work, but when I show you what I’ve got, you’ll be picking your collective jaws off the floor.’ Then you NAILED IT! THAT’S circus! THAT’S what we don’t see enough of in this show! Yeah!”

And that was one of the best compliments I’ve ever received. And it was true that at the end of my act the audience clapped even harder than normal. That second attempt wasn’t just about me, it also became about them and they were invested. That’s one of the wonderful things about circus. The audience wants you to succeed. And when you mess up and try again, and then get the move in question, they applaud not just the number and the tricks they just saw, but they celebrate the triumph. It’s an old principle of circus and it works. Its called mounting the tension. Some people do it on purpose. Some people turn mistakes into opportunities… In the end, seeing someone fall and then seeing them get back up and kick ass becomes about the collective and not just the person doing the falling and getting back up. Suddenly, everybody wins.

Sometimes, this job feels extra good. I also discovered that looking at people makes them clap.

Weird.

And useful.

Later French Detroit!