History

I’m often asked is if there’s a history of circus in my family. To my knowledge the answer is no. I am, however, of Eastern European decent on both sides, so I can’t help but hope that if you were to look hard enough, there might just be some folks hanging from my family tree by their toes.

Though I may not have any relatives of the sawdust kicking variety, my family does have one claim to fame in the way of circus connections.

Back in the day, my dad’s side of the family used to hang out with the Wallendas.

I’m not too clear on the details other than that they stayed at my grandfather’s hotel back in the 50s or 60s. My family even went down to visit them down in Sarasota. Family lore has it that my grandfather invested in the Wallendas and then lost out big for some reason or other. Come to think of it, that might explain my grandfather’s dislike of my chosen career path…

All that’s left of that connection now are some signed photographs, the most wonderful of which is this one:

Is that the best family heirloom ever or what?

Memory Lane

Look out! An Ice Dragon!


Okay, so I'm not actually supposed to be an Ice Dragon, but being an Ice Dragon is way more awesome than what I'm actually supposed to be*.

Of all the costumes I have ever worn, this one is easily my favourite. True, it's made of spandex covered in vinyl, covered in velour, covered in glitter... and it easily weighs 10 lbs... but look at all its majesty!

Really, what I love is how it screams Cirque du Soleil. This was part of my costume for the closing ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino. I was still in circus school at the time, so to be wearing a costume like that was pretty damn exciting.

The best part? They let us keep it! I've never worn it for anything else, but I really should. So if your next production calls for an Ice Dragon, give me a shout.




* Well? Aren't you at least going to guess?

Memory Lane

Okay, so this has nothing to do with the circus I'm currently working for, but it is a flashback on my career and is definitely worth sharing.

Any circus artist out there will have similar stories to tell. Theirs may involve weird appendages, sequins or spandex. Or perhaps unitards, head pieces and extremely bad taste. My story involves all of that and more.

I was working on a show in a small town in Quebec, and while the venue was impressive (it was outside and the audience rotated 360 degrees thus making the adjacent river and forest part of the stage), the show itself was not. But the best part, and by best I mean worst, was the costumes.

Some people may say that a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case, the picture robs me of those words, so I'll let it do the talking...

Behold!


Is that a gaggle of diseased sperm? No, no! We're moon people silly! And here is our Princess!


I...

Oh my...

Did I mention that the show was outside? And that it rained a lot? And did you notice that the costumes are made of white spandex?

Worst. Costumes. Ever.

A fun side note, C and I worked together on this show too!

Ah, the memories...

Memory Lane

Last night I was going through the hundreds and hundreds of photos I've taken since the beginning of my journey with my circus. I have one folder titled "The Arrival" and it consists of photos of C and I en route to Salins for the creation.

This is a photo of me with our combined luggage.


I'm not entirely sure how we managed to get there. But I do know I'm going to miss having her with me as I continue to navigate my way through France.