Good Night, Saltimbanco

Today marks the end of a 20 year run for the Cirque du Soleil signature show, Saltimbanco.

I know many people who have performed with that show. Couples who met their, lives that were changed. It's a bittersweet day for many.

Good night, Saltimbanco. Thank you for making us dream.

Cookie Takes the Cake

I've posted about circus cakes and cookies in the past. But the decorated cookie mastery of Mrs Elizabeth Adams of Arty McGoo pretty much blows everything else out of the water. I strongly suggest you take a moment to peruse her site, because each and every cookies is a delicious piece of art.

Inspired by the idea of circus being slightly creepy, these cookies have a 1930's Water For Elephants feel.

From Arty McGoo

TV Times

Hey Europe!

Tonight on ARTE you can watch Cirque Eloize's RAIN! It's on at 21h45 and a great show, so get a bowl of popcorn and settle in for a great night of circus!

Here's a clip!

The Plot

The Sioux City Journal has this to say about Quidam:

"The plot? A young girl leaves her parents for the world of Quidam. There, she encounters plenty of characters that usually appear after a night of alcohol and Ambien."

Nice.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Tree Trimming Time!

And Then It Was Over

Sunday marked the final performance of my show, and the end of a five year contract and adventure. I am at a loss for words and the only things I seem to feel are shock, depression, and denial. I had no idea it would be this hard...

I plan to write more in the days to come, but for at the moment, all I seem to be able to do is sit in daze and try not to cry...

The Curse

So, my circus has a bit of a curse. I’ve thought so for ages, but never bothered to mention it. Which, in retrospect, is pretty odd. But with A’s injury fresh on my mind, I can no longer look the other way.

Working for this company is back breaking. Literally.

I know that bad backs are pretty common. And you’d think that in the circus that’s just something that comes with the territory. And while I do know people with bad backs in the circus, I feel that things like bad wrists, knees, or shoulders are far more common.

And you would think that maybe one or two people might have a bad back. But it seems like here bad backs are just the status quo.

I developed a mysterious back injury just months after I started working here. And not during shows, but during the summer break. Despite many tests and doctors, no one could diagnose anything. It’s not as bad as it was a few years ago, but it hasn't healed.

And now, with just days to go, A is barely able to put on his own pants his back hurts so much. He was fine when we left in November. How did this happen?

He and I are just another couple of names on the long list of those whose backs were broken while passing through this big top.

And the curse goes on...

The Unravelling

It is finally, really, truly and officially the end of the shows. There will be no extra dates squeezed in. It’s a run of three weekends, and then goodnight. I’m not terribly surprised by the tough market for ticket sales. We were here a couple of years ago plus the just completed run in November. Now, with Christmas approaching, everyone is in town. Soleil, 7 Fingers, C!RCA, and a slew of others. Not to mention that the big white tent 20m away from us is having shows on the same dates at pretty much the same time as us... oops.

With this company, it would seem that the traditional way to end a tour is to have everything go to shit. With the previous show, three acts were missing in the final performances, and one of the musicians had completely thrown out his back and had to play while seated in the wings. This show seems to be following suit.

Upon arrival, A announced that he had hurt his back. We hemmed and hawed about whether or not he would cut anything, but A has always been stubborn about these kinds of things. It went from not doing his straps act, to simply cutting two figures from his acro solo.

The next night, however, I got off stage after my own number to find A waiting for me.

“I’m not doing my straps act tonight. Or trampo-wall.”

Being the clever folks that we are, we didn’t bother to come up with a plan should A decide mid-way through a show that he was too injured to continue. This led to much running around backstage trying to figure out to do technical cues without and transitions with bits of the show missing, as well as the horrible task of completely restructuring the trampo-wall act. It’s bad enough figuring all that stuff out during a meeting. It’s way harder when people are running on an off stage, and back and forth trying to execute their backstage cues.

Meanwhile, on stage, A, D, and myself performed a spectacular three body pile up that would have made the Stooges proud. I’m still not entirely sure what happened, but D fell over me, and then rammed into A, at which point he landed in my line of fire, and I hit him. Flailing and laughing, we finally managed to get into position. I’m sure the sound and lighting guys enjoyed the scene from the booth.

A is going for an MRI this week as it looks like it might be something with one of his disks. I just hope that L’s prediction that everything will “part en couilles” doesn’t go beyond the disaster that was Sunday’s show.

A Gripping Tail

Sounds About Right

via Toothpaste For Dinner

Fly Away With Me

Happy Hanukkah

Happy Hanukkah, folks!

Making a Splash

Bounce Goes Swing

Behold, in all its majesty!

Now, you may be asking yourself why on Earth a circus blog would post a photo of a porch swing. I mean, yes, it is a lovely porch swing and all, but really, on a circus blog?

What if I told you that that lovely porch swing used to be this?

 And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you upcycle circus style.

The Flying Dutchman

Who can forget Epke Zonderland's mind boggling gold medal winning high bar routine at the 2012 Olympics? Well, it looks like the Flying Dutchman isn't through knocking our socks off just yet...

A Song

This is the show that will not end.

It just goes on and on, my friend.

Some circus artists created it,

Not knowing what it was.

Now they’ll continue playing it forever just because...