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August 23, 2005, posted by MelissaMarie and Allison
In the first week of rehearsals, I kept thinking how aerial work is like flying or dancing through the air. In this second week I have learned, sometimes, it is also like vomiting. Allison had James and me practice a wrap for a...star fall (I can barely keep track of all these new names). About halfway through the wrap my breathing became deep and quite audible. At that point Alison told me not to worry, that sometimes the silk could squeeze your breathing bits, and I've had the pleasure of discovering that this is indeed true, especially when I get myself tangled up the wrong way. However, this deep breathing was deliberate. My stomach was being squeezed to a size that no longer contained my breakfast. I thought if I just could control my breathing the feeling of my esophagus reversing would go away. It didn't, but I managed not to throw up.
From Allison -
Melissa Marie is doing a great job! Wait til you see her hoop routine - she has a very graceful and floating style that comes from her dance background. It's different from the way any of the rest of us do hoop, and we're learning a lot from her!
From MelissaMarie, one of our newest Angels! You can see Melissa's first shows at the Ohio Renaissance Festival this year.
August 15, 2005, posted by MelissaMarie
For as obsessively organized and neat as I am, I’ve always loved to do spontaneous things. Jumping on a plane at a moment's notice to see a friend, deciding to live in another country for awhile, or taking up trapeze in London so my flatmate wouldn’t be walking to class by herself. However, through all of this, I have always been a dancer. For eighteen years I have been a dancer, and if I weren’t dancing I would shake from the feeling of suffocating. As such, I knew the time and dedication it took to be good at your art. So while I loved those trapeze classes I never envisioned myself becoming an aeriel artist so late in life. But being an Angel is the opportunity to dance in the air.
Mind you, this first week of “boot camp” has been painful, as I’m sure the following weeks will be, but the easy things are rarely worth doing. There are so many discouraging moments- when I repeatedly try to execute a new move, and I understand it, but I simply don’t have the strength required. Moments like that can weaken your resolve but I just think, “well it’s just going to take longer than you thought.” But that’s what’s so rewarding.
My friend Tim’s greatest fear was complacency. I’ve always felt that dance kept me in great shape and pushed me to do better, but now- on the ring, in the silk, with acrobatics- I’m challenging the muscles I’ve built to work in different ways, and my upper body to work as it never has before. I’m expanding my art and abilities in ways I never envisioned.
Big update from Captain Spanky, Spike, and the Guitar Geek.
July 23, 2005, posted by Allison, Zay, and Vince
Allison sez: Ok, so now they are calling me Captain Spanky. And I don't know why, but now I have a t-shirt with that written on it, so I embrace my new identity. Bottoms of the world, look out! We got back from the Yellow Springs Street Festival, which was a blast, and as Zay noted, was full of free beef jerky. When we arrived for this hey-what-the-heck-it's-the-last-minute-and-it's-only-five-hours-away gig, it started to rain, lightly and steadily, as we set up the rig. But the people came...and came...and stayed...and stayed...for thirty minutes in the rain, standing up. It was truly amazing to be able to hold the crowd despite the weather. Later, it cleared up, and we ended up doing five shows, having a great time, and getting very sunburned (Ask Vince about his skunk stripe) (Vince: hey, at least there was *one* part of my neck that wasn't scarlet, even if it was from a ponytail).
I went to London (UK) for ten days with a group of high school students, leaving the rest of the Angels to practice on their own. While leaving for the airport, I had to paint my toes, and then there was construction and then there was traffic, so I ended up sprinting through the airport while hey held the plane. When I boarded the plane - a 22-seater with 18 of them filled by our group - the passengers burst into applause, and the group leader Todd Avery looked green around the gills. Thank you Shelli, for that 95mph trip to Grand Rapids.
London was fantastic and amazing. It's so very different travelling with a group! On the one hand, it takes 20 minutes to go to the bathroom. On the other hand, I've never been to Stratford, or Oxford, and it's been years since I hit the Tower of London. My favorite part was helping them discover things they might not have thought to see on their own, or using my pushiness to get us in a back door. Highlights included the Midnight Mystery Tour, in which I said, "Everyone who wants to go, bring 5 pounds and your tube pass to the hotel lobby at 10PM." We started at King's Cross Platform 9 3/4 - complete with luggage cart vanishing through the wall, left the Underground at St. Paul's and crossed the Millenium footbridge, a narrow thing of silver and gridwork over the inky Thames, to the lights over the thatched roof of Shakespeare's Globe on the South Bank. We saw a midnight production of The Tempest, done with only three actors playing all the parts, assisted by a chorus of women in jeans and leather jackets. One jacket had scissors, one a pair of compasses, and one a spinning wheel emblazoned on the back - yes, the Fates. Clotho, Lachesis, and a prize for whoever remembers the other one. When we left the theatre (and I was so grateful that it timed out this way) the Moonwalk was running past us on the riverfront. Well you might ask. It's a walking marathon, taking place from 10PM-4AM, in which all 22,000 participants wear bras. Everyone gets pledges to be in it, and the proceeds go to breast cancer. One of those things that hey, maybe it's not your typical tourist thing, but where else are you going to see it? Our other big highlight was seeing the show Chicago, starring Brooke Shields, who danced cleanly, sang decently, and acted brilliantly, and then sticking around for autographs after the show. Ms. Shields was very sweet and gracious (and rapidly hustled away by her guards, so that she did not need to be otherwise to the crowd of people) and Todd Avery got a photo with her, fulfilling a lifelong crush :) Meanwhile, I worked on the door guard, and after asking if the theatre ever gave tours, etc, etc, we were all invited in to play on the set, take photos with the huge feather fan props, and generally frolic on a West End stage. Truly joyful and fun!
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Back at the ranch, we prepped for the Fourth of July weekend at Newport on the Levee, where we did 16 shows in four days. The night shows were great, the day shows a little warm! There was also a motorcycle rally going on down by the river, so on Sunday after the fireworks, we walked down, still partly in costume, and hoped someone would ask us for a ride. Finally, I saw four guys parked together and asked, "Hey, there's four of you and there's four of us, wanna take us for a ride?" We figured they'd do five minutes around the block. Instead, they headed for the interstate on-ramp. Kentucky is a no-helmet state. The guys revved up to 95mph. This lead to a four-step thinking process in each of our heads:
1) Oh my God if anything goes wrong we're gonna die die DIE!
2) Oh crap, what if they're taking us to the secret Viper hideout and our
mutilated bodies are found in the river next week?
3) Oh dear, what if one of us gets separated from the group?
4) Hey, this is insanely fun!
We rode for about 45 minutes, during which, at a gas stop, I asked, "hey, how do you guys know each other?" Ken said, "We don't. We was just parked next to each other." I looked at my ride. "Randy, I asked you if you guys would give us a ride and you said yes!?!" Randy looked mildly surprised that this had come up. "Well, I didn't figure they'd say 'no'."
It must be the pleather.
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We left the rig in Cinncinnati for powder-coating at Ken Engel's Powder Coating Specialty. He did an amazing job - suddenly, we have a beautiful clear-blue rig that looks like a set piece instead of equipment. Thanks, Ken! Call him at 513-353-1378 - we highly recommend him!
At the last minute, Beth wasn't able to come to Kingston, so Zay piled into the van with just two hours notice - thanks, trooper! We arrived at 2:30AM, in time to wake up and be on TV at 6AM. We were on a national Canadian morning show as well as getting on K-Rock, whose DJ Taz was hanging out trying to get on TV with us. We used his groin for the celery pop on the air. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and prepping for the weekend to come, and then went to perform at the opening party. The best part was improvising on the aerial hoop while the Australian band Oka played for the cocktail hour - it was even more fun than our actual performance :)
For Kingston, Vince learned to play the electric guitar in a week - wow. Adding that to switching locations for every show - that is, setting up the rig, doing a show, taking down the rig, moving anywhere from 50 yards to ten blocks, and starting over - heat, humidity, and a five-show day on Saturday plus the fire show that night, we felt like we climbed a mountain together. There was only one show we really had trouble with - it was raining and we had some equipment issues - but the rest of the time was great. Hard, tiring, draining work, but great. We did the biggest circle shows we've ever done - probably 5-600 people at our last Saturday night show, maybe more when we had the City Hall Steps venue - and the whole town was so welcoming and friendly. Please use our bathrooms, come in and change, have some water, sit in our A/C. After seeing so many towns who can't stand their local Renaissance Festival, it was great to be welcome.
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We were honored to be chosen one of the 9 best acts for the Grand Finale, and it was terrific to perform in front of nearly 5000 people in Confederation Park! People started setting out lawnchairs at noon for a 6PM show, which really made us realize what a big deal the Busker Rendezvous is in Kingston.
I think my favorite part of the whole trip was the Saturday night fire show. At Busker Festivals, there's often a fire show featuring all the performers who work with fire. Fairy Fire World did poi and acrobatics, Trulee Odd (Paul Maskell) blew a huge fireball atop one of the largest giraffe unicycles I've ever seen, and everyone did a big finale with torches and clubs and poi and the whole deal. The big catch - about fifteen minutes before the show was due to start, it began to rain, steadily and pretty hard. Everyone fluttered backstage, hemming and hawing about whether or not to go on. Later, Jacob from Fairy Fire World thanked us - "You guys were the ones who said, 'let's do it' - everyone else was still on the fence." We looked out at the 3500 people gathered around the huge stage, and they weren't leaving. "If they're in, we're in. Let's do it."
Fire in the rain - unplanned, improvising, covering as best we could for whatever we couldn't do. And a bit of a blessing - we originally came out and said, OK, Kissy will swing poi, Isabella will eat fire, and Spike can be the tongue part of the tongue transfer so we all have something to do. But in the rain...I lit Spike's hands, her toes, her nose, her tongue, and to the crowd's delight, the middle of her chest! All tricks that would be very difficult and much more dangerous were she not soaking wet. Thanks, God, it was a blessing in disguise.
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So it's been a ride. We're gearing up now for the Great Lakes Medieval Faire, followed closely by the London (Ontario) Fringe. See you down the road.
Allison
Vince's perspective:
The ladies were performing at Newport - right across the river from my home - at the same time that I was performing at the Western Michigan Renaissance Faire. We traded states for the weekend. I hurried back to see their shows on Monday, the Fourth of July, in order to see what they put together musically in my absence. I was really stricken by how well popular music worked in non-Renaissance venues because, no matter how well the dulcimer fits the beauty of their movements in the air, the driving beat of rock and roll really suited the show.
So Wednesday night I bought an electric guitar, a drum machine, and various accesseries. Over the years I've picked up the rudiments of guitar chording (the "cowboy chords" as a friend of mine calls them), but the instrument was still very new to me. I went OCD on it for a few days (when I first pick up a new instrument I tend to play for 4-6 hours a day) and kept hitting a few key songs to put together enough for an Angels show. I got a huge, and surprising, boost from working on the Renaissance lute - it turns out that John Dowland in 1596 used the same power chords as Green Day.
My original goal was to play dulcimer at the Kingston Busker Festival and have the guitar ready for the London Fringe Festival two weeks later - I figured that I could put a show together in a month. After a few intense days of rehearsal, however, I pitched Allison the idea of using the guitar at Kingston. Always up for experimentation, she agreed, and my first public performance with the guitar was on the opening night of Kingston - Wednesday, one week to the day of my beginnings with the guitar. Of course, being Allison, she promptly dubbed me "the Guitar Geek," a label that seems to be sticking.
Kingston was an amazing success. Like Allison said, we were given an extremely warm welcome by the town and the other buskers. High points for me included watching Allison wield a whip in a low-ceilinged radio studio (thanks Joe96!), hearing my playing improve with every show, and skinny-dipping in Lake Ontario (don't ask). (From the girls: He was ALONE. And not because we didn't want to come!)
I'm continuing my efforts with the guitar, having doubled my repertoire in the week since Kingston. I hope to have a completely different line-up of music available by London so I can mix and match the best parts of both, and I'm looking forward to experimenting with a live audience to play off of. The only challenge is in waking up not able to move my left hand because of over-practicing... (From the girls: That's one excuse...)
Cheers!
Vince
Spike’s Sparks
An Angel blog through the crazy eyes of Zay
June 15, 2005, posted by Zay
I call this blog:
“The Happy Curse of the Traveling Jerky”
So a week ago we went to a street fair at Yellow-Something, Ohio. Despite the rain and the massive sun-burn due to our own negligence from going sans-screen, we had a wonderful time. Allison’s injury has been healing nicely, though we’ve had to cut the popular partner-acro from the show for the time being. All the vendors were very warm and receptive, but none so more that the jerky boys, who, at the end of the fair day, gave us two grocery bags full of salty-protein-goodness.
Having been with the company now for officially one and a half months, it has been my astute observation that where there are angels, (or perhaps chicks in leotards), there is also free jerky. It follows us, everywhere we go. Not that I’m complaining, although the quarter-pound package marked “Hot Stick Randoms” gives me some cause for concern (as I shove another teriyaki slice in my mouth… mmm… jerky). In any case, I consider the phenomenon a blessing, for the good book (don’t ask what good book) says, “Let they who play hard eatith dehydrated meat and be merry, for their efforts causeth the smiles of many.”
We shall see if the doctrine holds true for Newport. If not, we’re sufficiently stocked and prepared for Armageddon. Now where did I put those batteries?
June 10, 2005, posted by Zay
I call this blog:
“If you are obnoxious in the ER waiting room, they will give you things to keep you quiet.” Or, “Yes, I am fully aware that I change tenses half-way through. It’s a style choice.”
So we’re in rehearsal and I’m up in the slings of the hoop testing out new moves and the up-chuck factor of spinning really fast while improv-ing to the Monkee’s “Goin Down,” when I hear what sounds like a watermelon getting bludgeoned by a sledgehammer, followed by a string of choked profanities that resonate with a pre-exorcised-Raven. I’m thinking “No, watch my head spin,” as I jut out my legs in an attempt slow down the one-woman merry-go-round that is the top of the hoop.
On the ground near the back of the yard I see two, then three bobbing figures, which of course must be Allison, Shelli, and Beth. The nether-world-anglo-cursing continues as the hoop finally slows and I grab the sides of the rig for stability. Life comes into focus, and a frightened and scratched “I CAN’T BREATHE (with a wheezing, whistling attempt to intake oxygen immediately proceeding)!” becomes audible and unmistakably from Allison, who is lying half on her side, face buried in the acro-rug.
As if on cue, she raises her face, red and puffy, and seems to look straight through me in my perch, before engaging in another vain attempt to breathe. Her face changes color completely, from dark red to stark white – but this isn’t the scary part—as her face takes on a ghastly color, it also physically changes in shape, as if someone were forcing the square peg through the round hole. She morphs into one of the masks they keep in the basement.
That was scary as (insert nether-world-anglo-curse word).
I pop out of the hoop, grab my cell off the porch and 9-1-1 this emergency while Shelli and Beth get her to lie flat and coach her through breathing. Kneeling next to Allison (as instructed by the calm voice on the other end of the phone) we wait for the ambulance to arrive. During which time her breathing becomes more regular, albeit shallow. She asks us if she can pass out, and is met with a resounding “NO!”
This negative affirmation sends her back into Capricorn-Allison mode, and suddenly she’s all business again, giving out requests like normal:
“Shelli, will you go in my office and in the file marked ‘Medical,’ find my Health Insurance card.”
“Zay, will you make sure that my purse, phone, and shoes are nearby.”
“Beth, find Richard Gere’s wallet.”
In four minutes and thirty-seven seconds the men in uniform arrive and I am instantly relieved. Shelli and Allison relay the story of the accident to the paramedics: we’re all circus performers and they were trying a new partner-acro move where Shelli stands on Allison’s feet, does a full rotation in the air, and is caught again, in some capacity, by Allison’s feet. Only in this instance, Allison missed, and all ninety-seven pounds of Shelli landed on Allison’s rib cage, knocking the wind out of her and possibly breaking or cracking some of the ribs on her left side.
This explanation was met with blank stares and the faint sound of crickets chirping in the background.
Much to my adrenaline rush’s dismay and the relief of Allison’s wallet, she was allowed to deny the ambulance’s request to whisk her away in flashing lights and sirens; instead, the blue, green, and red angel assisted the tall purple one into the backseat of Beth’s car. For reasons unknown, we took a scenic route to the hospital, and as Allison and Beth were ushered immediately into a triage room, Shelli and I scoped out the emergency waiting room.
To pass the time we played “dress-up” with the miscellaneous jewelry and cosmetics I had in the bottom of my purse, and encouraged a young lad of seven with a hospital wrist-band to play with all five – count ‘em – five of his wind up toys (which otherwise lived in his tiny pockets) on the Emergency Waiting Room floor. This got the attention of the orderlies at the front desk, and one quickly came over with a coloring packet and crayons, to which, after a signal from us, the little boy refused. After a little finagling Shelli and I convinced the orderly to give us the packet and colors instead, and as Allison and Beth finally re-emerged from the depths of the X-Ray Room, Shelli had completed her Sponge Bob picture, and I was one green flower away from my Hello Kitty on acid.
Thankfully, Allison was alright – nothing broken, just instructed to take it easy. We wondered how this would play out for the weekend; we were scheduled in Ohio, but we knew we’d figure it out.
Allison hung Bob and Kitty on the fridge, her get-well posters, her hospital trophies.
April 24, 2005, posted by Allison
Quote for the day: "If fear itself were to become physically manifest, it would take the shape of a bear." - Daniel MacIvor
I heard that from my favorite Canadian playwright, while interviewing him at my second-favorite sushi bar in my favorite city (Toronto).
Beth and I recently returned from Toronto and a gig at The Eaton's Centre, a giant indoor mall. We performed in front of Sears. Which was actually great, because it was Clinique bonus gift week, and I'd been meaning to stock up on the heinously expensive sunscreen I hope will prevent my face from mutating into a handbag as I work outside.
The gig was a lot of fun - after the first show, the client and the agent came to us and said, "That was good. But can you do a show about half that long with no talking?" So we worked a bit less hard than we'd planned to, and had a great time doing trick-trick-ta-da! to music. I was worried about my shoulder, which has been bothering me, but I did twelve aerial routines in two days plus bullwhip and diabolo, and felt good, although my calluses actually hurt badly enough to wake me in the middle of the night! Our friend and fellow performer Andy Blau came and did fire poi (the swinging ropes with fireballs on the end) in the show - thanks, Andy.
My bear became manifest in the middle of the last show - two girls began to catfight in the back of the audience. At first I ignored it - swan balance, hey they're fighting, rollover, now they're pulling hair, split hang, gee, they're down on the floor - but when about a third of the audience was watching them instead of watching me, I sat up on the hoop and yelled "Security!" over and over until they came. The bear was quickly subdued, though he then sniffed around the rig for the rest of the show, peeing on props and generally irritating Todd, Beth, and Andy, who had not seen the fight and had no idea what I was doing!
Back to Florida, where the Bay Area Renaissance Festival went terrifically well. With David Ballard (Fool of Moxie), we trained 25 college and high school students and two semi-professionals who are well on their way to being professionals. The last weekend was amazing and intense and brilliant. They were brilliant. We were brilliant. The audience was brilliant. Heather Robinson spit fire outside for the first time, Rachel Shepherd almost got Star Fall on the silk, Jackie Viscusi let me take bullwhip targets from her hands, Sean Fraser held the Pike Hang for two - count 'em - TWO renditions of the Jeopardy Thinking Music on a last-minute dare from a fellow performer, Shelli Nock and I figured out how to do acrobatics in the lanes, and I took a business card from a patron's hands with the bullwhip. Damn we're good. Makes up for the weeks of rope burn, bruises, whip welts, "no wait, we'll get it this time!" and other ignoble moments. The bears rolled over and we scratched their stomachs until they whined with happiness.
This month's imaginary horoscopes: "Sagittarius - Okay, okay, you're right. You're always right. Now go away and apply your correct advice to your own damn life." "Libra - It's possible to be too balanced. Are you really interested in being fair (whatever that means) or should you just take what you want when you want it? Or will that make you even unhappier? Maybe you should weigh this decision some MORE." "Taurus - Open up so that your friends can rescue you from your self-loathing and new people can meet the real you, rather than both sets of people despising you for the insufferable ego-maniac you appear to be."
Five things (more ooky-spooky than usual):
1) Leap. Take a big bite and trust that you can chew. As the Amazing Riki says, "Sometimes the space for what you want is filled with the stuff you've settled for." As I like to put it, you can't buy new clothes until there's space in your closet.
2) It is absolutely astonishing what your students can accomplish if you assure them of your absolute faith.
3) Is three Capricorns in one house begging for trouble? Stay tuned. We promise not to write anything about our "cycles".
4) The more you give, joyfully, and without hope of receiving, the less guilty you feel when you need to ask for help. The more you take, joyfully and without hope of repaying, the less put-upon you feel when you can give help. What goes around really does come around.
5) Nothing says happiness more than a clean car. Mine's also newly bear-free.
Allison
January 14, 2005, posted by Allison
Quote of the day: "Gravity plays favorites" - The Dresden Dolls
Rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal! This month, we're working with theatre students at Jenison High School near Grand Rapids, Michigan. They'll be doing Suessical in March, and there's a big jungle number with monkeys and birds. The monkeys will be working on aerial silks, rigged at both ends to be slings, and the birds will work on aerial hoops - it looks like we'll be rigging two high hoops with silks, a big low hoop, and three slings. The slings are functioning a little like cloud swings, except there will be a bit less back and forth since the boys have to sing while they hang J.
Shannon McPhee, the aerial captain, is also a terrific set designer - she designed the school's production of my script, The Tale of Tsuru, and it was amazing.
Shannon will be learning to rig equipment and they are all learning to coach and spot each other since they have almost two more months of rehearsal after we work with them. They're all great fun to work with - this is a school where the students applaud each other at auditions after they do their song call-back or their dance combination - and they swarm right up the silks!
It's very much a "yeah, let's do it!" place, and the actors all cheer when someone tries something new and impressive. One girl came to me after the first day and said she was discouraged that she couldn't climb yet. I told her, look, it took me two months to be able to climb, and you have good technique so it will probably be the end of next week that you are strong enough. The next rehearsal, she was so pleased that she got up a bit higher, and I was really proud of her!
Joining us at rehearsals is Angel-in-Training Zay Weaver - Zay's super-flexible in her back and really fearless without being stupid. Plus, we like spending an hour in the car with her on the way there, and that counts for a lot! We've been planning new bits for the upcoming season, focusing on street work and street aerial. The slings are going to be our new equipment for the year.
I've been entertaining myself by making up imaginary horoscopes. "Capricorn - your passion for social justice is merely a cover to allow you to tell people what to do for their own good." "Pisces - while you pretend to embrace dorkdom, you secretly believe that you are in fact much cooler than everyone else." "Aquarius - the intellectual posing is as obvious as you think it might be. Shut up and read an airport paperback, no-one's impressed by Proust anymore, anyway." "Leo - despite the obvious paradox, your deepness is all surface. Underneath it, you're actually shallower than most."
Five things -
1) It's important to find people who share your musical tastes but are from a different generation so that you can discover each other's favorite groups
2) Bright colors really do make you feel better in the winter. That's why an orange coat with a purple scarf, a green shirt, and matching green hair elastics is a fashion imperative in January.
3) Most people under 18 are young, strong, made of cartilage, and still covered by their parents' insurance. Exploit this.
4) Every so often, say what you really think - it's amazing how many people will crawl out of the freaking woodwork to agree.
5) Keeping your New Year's Resolution about not swearing is easier if you spend three rehearsals a week around high school kids in a very conservative community; say, one where you hypothetically had to write an apology letter to the entire cast's parents a few years ago for screaming profanity from the catwalks after banging your head really hard. Hypothetically.
Allison
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