After a summer of training, secrets, and a post or two out of left field, it's time I share the news I've been keeping under my hat and launch this next phase of my career! For those who have followed this blog for a while, or who have at least rummaged through the archives, you'll know that as a circus artist I specialize in German wheel. And while wheel will always be my first love, there's a new apparatus in town. Ladies and gentleman, this acrobat has gone aerial and is now ready to kick some ass on trapeze!
Like I said in this post, that may not be exciting news for some. But you need to understand that when I started circus school, it was as an aerialist. Only after two months, it was clear that tissu was not for me. By some very gracious act on the part of the circus gods, German wheel rolled into my life. But from that point on, the circus school made it pretty clear that I would never find my way onto an aerial apparatus again.
Seriously.
As such, I developed quite a complex about the whole thing. Which is doubly sad if you take into account that my dream when beginning circus was to be an aerialist. And so, close to a decade after being told that I would never achieve this and best stick to the floor like a good little acrobat, I've taken hold of my dream once more and spent the summer transforming myself into a bad ass trapezist.
And if I may say so, things have gotten off to a pretty good start!
I should probably clarify what I meant by trapeze, considering there are so many different variations. Seeing as wheel takes up so much space, I wanted a discipline that takes up as little space as possible so that I can work in as wide a variety of places as possible. As such, I chose static (or fixed) trapeze.
Whatever preconceptions you may have about static trapeze, you can leave at the door. I'm not a bendy girl, and dainty was never my thing. My goal is transform this discipline that is so often about acts of flexibility, pretty poses, and a soft touch into something dynamic, acrobatic and with a little more guts.
I'm quite pleased with the level of technical skills I managed to master in two and a half months, and even more pleased that I no longer look like a mountain troll when trying to move on the damn thing. I still have a long way to go before my act is ready to show to an audience, but I think it's impressive that I even have an act after two and a half months!
Amazingly, the one thing I've had the most difficulty with is considering myself an aerialist. I still can't seem to refer to myself as such. I guess I still feel a little bit like a fraud. But this summer, I had the privilege of training at the best trapeze studio in Montreal (and possibly the world). I was even added to their secret Facebook group! If that doesn't qualify my as a real deal aerialist and genuine trapezist, I don't know what does!
My identity as an artist is changing, and quite soon the contract with the company I have been working with for almost four years will be coming to an end. In a nutshell, it feels like the little circus tent I've been building in my heart these past few years is about to come tumbling down. But you know what? Writing this post and announcing this change has lifted a lot of the panic I've been feeling. And for the first time, I actually feel a little excited about the new things to come.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
My Summer of Training and a New Chapter as an Artist
This summer has been very different from pretty much every summer since I graduated from circus school. For the most part, all I did was train, and train very hard at that. But... not on German wheel. I did a bit of that, but I think most people would be a bit scandalized to learn how little wheel I did in three months. Especially since when I head back to work, wheel is what I'll be doing.
Ah, work. I leave tonight for France, over a week before I actually resume the tour. Once again, France was slow on the uptake and my new carte de séjour was not ready before I left the country in the spring. Only this time, I escaped being held hostage and managed to get a new temporary visa. It was a small victory as I still had to change my flight dates in order to get back into the country before bad things happen. But that is all beside the point.
Training.
I head back to France a different artist.
For a wide variety of reasons, I have been sitting on this news for months. Since the end of April, to be exact. I know that for most people, this news that I find so exciting will likely be met with just a shrug. But for me it's a big deal. I was hoping to unveil my news in conjunction with some other big news, but that fell through and I then I could never seem to find the right moment to make my announcement.
And now this post is getting a little long and I still haven't said anything. What I really wanted to share are the following three photos. For me, they represent my summer projects and the long, long commute to the training studio every day. So I guess I'll sit on my news a moment longer, so that I can give it its own post. And one that isn't so linked to my feelings of leaving home yet again.
In the meantime, here is my summer as represented by the shabby little garden at the Dorval bus terminal.
Ah, work. I leave tonight for France, over a week before I actually resume the tour. Once again, France was slow on the uptake and my new carte de séjour was not ready before I left the country in the spring. Only this time, I escaped being held hostage and managed to get a new temporary visa. It was a small victory as I still had to change my flight dates in order to get back into the country before bad things happen. But that is all beside the point.
Training.
I head back to France a different artist.
For a wide variety of reasons, I have been sitting on this news for months. Since the end of April, to be exact. I know that for most people, this news that I find so exciting will likely be met with just a shrug. But for me it's a big deal. I was hoping to unveil my news in conjunction with some other big news, but that fell through and I then I could never seem to find the right moment to make my announcement.
And now this post is getting a little long and I still haven't said anything. What I really wanted to share are the following three photos. For me, they represent my summer projects and the long, long commute to the training studio every day. So I guess I'll sit on my news a moment longer, so that I can give it its own post. And one that isn't so linked to my feelings of leaving home yet again.
In the meantime, here is my summer as represented by the shabby little garden at the Dorval bus terminal.
July
August
September
I think that sums it up nicely, don't you?
Monday, September 19, 2011
Cookie Jar Menagerie
By sheer coincidence, after stumbling upon the adorable caravan cookies, I seem to have happened upon the menagerie of the cookie circus! Will chance lead me to the performers of the cookie world? Here's hoping!
Found on Epicute
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
More Iris
Ah yes, another post about Cirque du Soleil's Iris. I swear, I have no special interest in the show, I just happen to have a number of friends performing in it so these little clips do find their way to me quite frequently. I can't help but post them! And if you're anything like me, there's little chance of heading to L.A. in the near future (or Vegas for that matter) so I rather like to see these clips and to get an idea of what these far away permanent shows are like.
That being said, here is an excerpt from Iris that aired on the finale of America's Got Talent 2011.
Did anyone else immediately think of Quidam when the faceless character entered in the beginning, or was it just me?
That being said, here is an excerpt from Iris that aired on the finale of America's Got Talent 2011.
Did anyone else immediately think of Quidam when the faceless character entered in the beginning, or was it just me?
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Raising the Bar
The following video shows the evolution of the uneven parallel bars in women's gymnastics from the 1950s to around 2005. It is very, very cool. It is absolutely amazing to see how much the sport has evolved in the last 60 years! I can't imagine how incredibly unpleasant it must have been to learn all the wraps: aside from repeatedly landing on your hips with great force, originally, women's uneven bars were performed on the same bars the men used. If ever you've been on a really old set of parallel bars, you'll know that they're not so much round as a slightly pointed ovals. Not to mention made of a very hard wood. Ouch. When my former head coach retired from gymnastics, some of his gymnasts from the 70s were talking about learning wraps and the horrible bruises they would receive. They called them 'strawberries'...
Anyway, impressive as uneven bars is now, I must admit, I really love the old school style. I think bars became most interesting when the distance between the high and low was increased enough to allow for more release moves, but were still close enough together for wraps.
I know that the gymnastics world will never return to that style of bars, but I would love to see someone transform it into a circus act! I know it can be difficult for an audience to look at what is so obviously a gymnastics apparatus and accept it as a circus discipline, but if the high bar act in Corteo has taught us anything, it's that such an apparatus can be transformed into something super badass. I, of course, have no intention of pioneering this. I have quite enough bruises to be getting along with, thank you very much.
And so, without further ado, the evolution of women's uneven parallel bars!
I only just noticed that there's an updated version of this video! The maker seems to think it's better, but the styles of the clips used are quite different and the content varies enough that both are worth watching. Besides, who doesn't want more old school uneven bars in their life?
Anyway, impressive as uneven bars is now, I must admit, I really love the old school style. I think bars became most interesting when the distance between the high and low was increased enough to allow for more release moves, but were still close enough together for wraps.
I know that the gymnastics world will never return to that style of bars, but I would love to see someone transform it into a circus act! I know it can be difficult for an audience to look at what is so obviously a gymnastics apparatus and accept it as a circus discipline, but if the high bar act in Corteo has taught us anything, it's that such an apparatus can be transformed into something super badass. I, of course, have no intention of pioneering this. I have quite enough bruises to be getting along with, thank you very much.
And so, without further ado, the evolution of women's uneven parallel bars!
I only just noticed that there's an updated version of this video! The maker seems to think it's better, but the styles of the clips used are quite different and the content varies enough that both are worth watching. Besides, who doesn't want more old school uneven bars in their life?
Monday, September 12, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
The Gap
I came upon this quote today quite by accident. It's a good thing I did, though, as these are words I very much needed to hear. I won't explain why just yet, but you can bet that all will be revealed sometime in the future. In the meantime, I hope you can take as much away from this as I have. All emphasis is my own.
"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through." - Ira Glass
"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through." - Ira Glass
Sunday, September 4, 2011
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