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| | I've Seen A Lot of Circuses...
Posted on 01/15/2008 by Isabella
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All my conditioning has to get done in the hotel room, at this point in the process the kids are good enough to lead each other in abs and arms while I sort out the costume dispute, send the stage manager to call the welding guy and find out why we don't have a second platform for the tightrope, call out "Time of day!" to see how many minutes are left.
The tightrope artists are spies, the James Bond theme plays and the three girls pursue the boy, who has stolen a folder marked SECRET FILES. They walk it forward and back, two girls walk the wire at once backing towards each other, one girl does a full turn and one girl balances on one leg with her foot to her head, a trick about which I told her, "Work it so that you come out of the scorpion and jump right off the wire, because you only have time to learn getting your foot to your head and holding for a second *or* getting your foot back to the wire, and the first part is more impressive."
I've seen a lot of circuses, a lot of tightrope walkers, and I haven't been impressed - truly impressed - by a wire act since the dancing Brazilian brothers my mother refused to let me go out with in 1989. But when Camille slows down and takes her time and eases that foot to her head - it's not just a good job for a tenth grader, it's a hard trick I've never seen anyone do on a wire. She gets into the position and holds one two before leaping into the air, the rope on her harness held by a tech boy named Keith, descending her into the Charlie's Angels pose they finish in.
I am grateful to know that the leap my heart gives when the kids cross the wire, hit the balance, flourish after struggling into the move, will be echoed in the audience, in the performers, in the world. |
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