Well wonder no more!
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Happy Halloween!
Have you ever looked at a contortionist and wondered what their skeleton must look like when they're all bent out of shape like that?
Well wonder no more!
Happy Halloween!
Well wonder no more!
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Anybody Home?
Hello there, lover of all things circus!
Please forgive the lull as of late, a lot has been going on at the circus the past few weeks and I just haven't had the time/courage to write about all the crazy shenanigans that have been going on! The tour has just about come to a close and I'll be heading back home in a few days. Once I've had some time to readjust to life as a normal human being, I'll be back on the blog with tales from the final days of the 2013 season, circus news, and other fun bits!
Cheers!
Please forgive the lull as of late, a lot has been going on at the circus the past few weeks and I just haven't had the time/courage to write about all the crazy shenanigans that have been going on! The tour has just about come to a close and I'll be heading back home in a few days. Once I've had some time to readjust to life as a normal human being, I'll be back on the blog with tales from the final days of the 2013 season, circus news, and other fun bits!
Cheers!
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Blow Down!
This appeared in my Facebook feed a while back. From what I understand the blow down occurred around the beginning of September to the Russian State Circus while they were in Osnabrück, Germany.
I, thank goodness, have never witnessed a tent blow down. I can't believe how fast it went down... A blown down can be the end of a circus. Here's hoping that no one was harmed and that the folks at the Russian State Circus get back on their feet quickly.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Oh, Public...
Having nearly completed the season, I think I can say with some authority that the Swiss public has a tendency to get lost. Maybe not lost, but certainly a little turned around. Which I must admit, I find rather interesting. I know we're in a tent, not a theatre, but there's still a pretty clear divide between where the seats are and where backstage is. It should be pretty clear that if you need to go on stage and through a curtain, that probably isn't the exit. And yes, that did happen.
Also, there was this lady.
During a matinee a father and his sons decided that the best way to exit the tent was by just going underneath the tent wall near the artist entrance. Before the show even finished, I might add.
There was also the very curious moment during warm-up when a man stuck his head in the tent opening in the backstage and just smiled and stared at us. We said hello and asked if we could help him. He just kept smiling and looking about and then after a minute or so popped his head back out.
Weird...
But my favourite would have to be the time when a father and his daughter sat down with a bag of popcorn and watched while we were getting ready backstage. It happens all the time that people walk around the tent and check out what's going on, but at this point, the show had already started. Instead of sitting in the tent and watching the actual show, this man and his daughter decided to watch the few of us who weren't on stage yet as we did arm circles and stretched our quads...
It seems we've gotten off pretty easy this year, though. Apparently one time a man was found in the laundry room washing his own clothes while trying to steal other people's clothes. This was a particularly ludicrous situation as the pants he was trying to pass off as his were the official work pants of the circus, complete with circus logo and the name of the owner sewn in. And while in Zurich last year, a man was found in the kitchen one morning after having eaten so much he was laying in a pool of his own vomit...
And people think circus folk are the ones to be weary of...
Also, there was this lady.
During a matinee a father and his sons decided that the best way to exit the tent was by just going underneath the tent wall near the artist entrance. Before the show even finished, I might add.
There was also the very curious moment during warm-up when a man stuck his head in the tent opening in the backstage and just smiled and stared at us. We said hello and asked if we could help him. He just kept smiling and looking about and then after a minute or so popped his head back out.
Weird...
But my favourite would have to be the time when a father and his daughter sat down with a bag of popcorn and watched while we were getting ready backstage. It happens all the time that people walk around the tent and check out what's going on, but at this point, the show had already started. Instead of sitting in the tent and watching the actual show, this man and his daughter decided to watch the few of us who weren't on stage yet as we did arm circles and stretched our quads...
It seems we've gotten off pretty easy this year, though. Apparently one time a man was found in the laundry room washing his own clothes while trying to steal other people's clothes. This was a particularly ludicrous situation as the pants he was trying to pass off as his were the official work pants of the circus, complete with circus logo and the name of the owner sewn in. And while in Zurich last year, a man was found in the kitchen one morning after having eaten so much he was laying in a pool of his own vomit...
And people think circus folk are the ones to be weary of...
Friday, October 11, 2013
Overheard Backstage
To his partners right before doing their act:
"Oh my god... I just peed a little... Can you see it? Can you see it? Oh my god... I hope it's just in my underwear..."
"Oh my god... I just peed a little... Can you see it? Can you see it? Oh my god... I hope it's just in my underwear..."
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Tear Down the Circus
If you're on this blog, chances are you're a fan of circus. If so, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that your love of circus extends to things circus related. As such, do I have news for you!
Circus artist Kimmo Olavi has recently ventured into the music scene with the release of the song Tear Down the Circus, complete with official music video! Check it out!
If you enjoy the song, you can get on iTunes here!
Circus artist Kimmo Olavi has recently ventured into the music scene with the release of the song Tear Down the Circus, complete with official music video! Check it out!
If you enjoy the song, you can get on iTunes here!
Monday, October 7, 2013
Saturday, October 5, 2013
May I Help You?
The first act of the second half of the show had just come to an end and we were all coming on stage to tear down the equipment. As I made my way toward the stage I saw a woman get up from her seat, make her way around the ring, and then head straight for me.
I was stunned and kept going about my business. When I turned back around, she had made her way on to the edge of the stage and was grabbing part of the still standing platforms from the previous act.
At that point, A grabbed her by the shoulders and forcibly removed her from the stage and directed her back toward her seat.
I have a few questions regarding the incident:
Where the hell were the ushers at this point?
Why was she not wearing shoes?
What the actual fuck?!
A said that she reeked of booze and was quite drunk. Apparently she really needed to know what the equipment felt like and if it felt "gummy".
I was stunned and kept going about my business. When I turned back around, she had made her way on to the edge of the stage and was grabbing part of the still standing platforms from the previous act.
At that point, A grabbed her by the shoulders and forcibly removed her from the stage and directed her back toward her seat.
I have a few questions regarding the incident:
Where the hell were the ushers at this point?
Why was she not wearing shoes?
What the actual fuck?!
A said that she reeked of booze and was quite drunk. Apparently she really needed to know what the equipment felt like and if it felt "gummy".
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Ice Capades
By now, we've done a lot of shows. We're talking 200 shows plus. You would think that by now, nerves would be playing a minor to nonexistent roll, right? That's certainly what I though. But this was a special night. It was the premiere in Zurich. And the premiere in Zurich is no joke.
The workers had been busting their butts for three days to get everything ready. There was an extra tent, complete with beautiful chandeliers, that would serve as a restaurant. Then there was the VIP tent. Red carpets were laid out, extra lights were hung up. And don't even get me started on some of the more ridiculous tasks, like blackening the tires of the sanitary wagon...
Needless to say, we were nervous.
So imagine my joy when I discovered they had repainted the stage for the occasion. The last time they painted the floor, it was a matte paint that did not slide, even if you wanted it to. In the most epic over-correction of all time, they appeared to have painted the floor with lubricant based paint.
Now PM had been told the floor was being painted and had been tasked with spreading the word.
She didn't.
As such, I only found out they had painted the floor a couple of hours before the show was set to start. That left pretty much zero time to properly adapt to the floor. And boy would I have to adapt. I have never in all my life been on such a slippery surface. It was near impossible to execute my spirals. Normally, one spiral will see you face a third of the ring. So if you start facing the center, after three spirals you should be able to come up toward the middle. The floor was so slippery that the wheel would slide out just a little every rotation so that I would stay exactly in place. That should not happen.
If I tried to change the angle of the spiral to control where I was going, especially if I needed a lower angle, the wheel would just slide out from under me. At one point I didn't even manage to finish one spiral before the wheel slid out from under me. To make matter worse, normally the wheel will slide when your weight is in front (and your hands are toward the ground) but form some strange reason it kept sliding out by my feet so I would end up going backwards!
I was terrified to even do freehand spirals. Having the wheel slide out when you're only attached by the feet was not an attractive prospect.
This being the premiere, with a packed house, loads of newspapers and television present, not to mention Swiss quasi-celebrities like the past two Miss Switzerlands, the current Miss Switzerland, and a former Mr Switzerland*, the stakes were pretty high.
I was in tears. I was on the floor, my wheel and I defeated, with a vision of utter humiliation on the horizon.
At dinner, some of my non-artist friends on the tour as well as my boyfriend took up the battle as their own. They came to the tent with me and tried to find a solution. We tried scouring one of the floor panels of the extension to see if it would make the surface rougher. A good idea in theory, but the space was so small there was no way to see if it would work.
Then, A said that a friend of his who does cyr wheel puts rosin on his wheel when the stage is slippery and that it tends to help. I was pretty skeptical. Rosin gets sticky with heat. How was it supposed to make my cold metal wheel sticky?
But we covered the wheel in rosin anyway and to my great surprise (and relief) it worked like a charm. I could scarcely believe it and wasn't sure if the rosin would last from preset to the actual appearance on stage, especially since my wheel is covered by a cloth beforehand. But it was the only solution I had.
The premiere went brilliantly and my wheel, with the help of the rosin, triumphed over that floor. Admittedly, doing wheel when the wheel and your hands are covered in rosin really isn't very enjoyable. It is, however, a million times more enjoyable than continually falling on your face.
Thank goodness for A. I never in a million years would have thought to use rosin. He totally saved the day.
Only 58 to go!
* Am I the only one who finds the number of Miss/Mr Switzerlands present really, really funny?
The workers had been busting their butts for three days to get everything ready. There was an extra tent, complete with beautiful chandeliers, that would serve as a restaurant. Then there was the VIP tent. Red carpets were laid out, extra lights were hung up. And don't even get me started on some of the more ridiculous tasks, like blackening the tires of the sanitary wagon...
Needless to say, we were nervous.
So imagine my joy when I discovered they had repainted the stage for the occasion. The last time they painted the floor, it was a matte paint that did not slide, even if you wanted it to. In the most epic over-correction of all time, they appeared to have painted the floor with lubricant based paint.
Now PM had been told the floor was being painted and had been tasked with spreading the word.
She didn't.
As such, I only found out they had painted the floor a couple of hours before the show was set to start. That left pretty much zero time to properly adapt to the floor. And boy would I have to adapt. I have never in all my life been on such a slippery surface. It was near impossible to execute my spirals. Normally, one spiral will see you face a third of the ring. So if you start facing the center, after three spirals you should be able to come up toward the middle. The floor was so slippery that the wheel would slide out just a little every rotation so that I would stay exactly in place. That should not happen.
If I tried to change the angle of the spiral to control where I was going, especially if I needed a lower angle, the wheel would just slide out from under me. At one point I didn't even manage to finish one spiral before the wheel slid out from under me. To make matter worse, normally the wheel will slide when your weight is in front (and your hands are toward the ground) but form some strange reason it kept sliding out by my feet so I would end up going backwards!
I was terrified to even do freehand spirals. Having the wheel slide out when you're only attached by the feet was not an attractive prospect.
This being the premiere, with a packed house, loads of newspapers and television present, not to mention Swiss quasi-celebrities like the past two Miss Switzerlands, the current Miss Switzerland, and a former Mr Switzerland*, the stakes were pretty high.
I was in tears. I was on the floor, my wheel and I defeated, with a vision of utter humiliation on the horizon.
At dinner, some of my non-artist friends on the tour as well as my boyfriend took up the battle as their own. They came to the tent with me and tried to find a solution. We tried scouring one of the floor panels of the extension to see if it would make the surface rougher. A good idea in theory, but the space was so small there was no way to see if it would work.
Then, A said that a friend of his who does cyr wheel puts rosin on his wheel when the stage is slippery and that it tends to help. I was pretty skeptical. Rosin gets sticky with heat. How was it supposed to make my cold metal wheel sticky?
But we covered the wheel in rosin anyway and to my great surprise (and relief) it worked like a charm. I could scarcely believe it and wasn't sure if the rosin would last from preset to the actual appearance on stage, especially since my wheel is covered by a cloth beforehand. But it was the only solution I had.
The premiere went brilliantly and my wheel, with the help of the rosin, triumphed over that floor. Admittedly, doing wheel when the wheel and your hands are covered in rosin really isn't very enjoyable. It is, however, a million times more enjoyable than continually falling on your face.
Thank goodness for A. I never in a million years would have thought to use rosin. He totally saved the day.
Only 58 to go!
* Am I the only one who finds the number of Miss/Mr Switzerlands present really, really funny?
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