Classes at night have continued to be challenging and wonderful. Acrobatics class is the most "out of my element" of all my night classes, and it has become a really great class. I've been doing front handsprings, and working up to a back handspring (still in the safety lines, but hopefully removing those soon). I was hoping to have a back handspring by ENC auditions but because of snowed out Wednesdays in 2011, we've missed a few acro class nights, so I haven't had as much time to work on them as planned. Advanced Trapeze class is a super challenge, Aimee and Jamie recognize my need to clean and polish all of my trapeze repertoire. At times, I do find it frustrating doing the same maneuver/skill over and over, but then I check myself (before I wreck myself :) ) and continue with their guidance to perfect my technique.
This past month has had some exciting excursions. On January 28th, I went to see "PSY" by the 7doigtsdelamain (7 fingers of the hand) circus company at the Emerson Majestic Theater in Boston. I had the great opportunity to see the show when it had its world premiere in Montreal LAST YEAR during the Ecole Nationale de Cirque (ENC or National Circus School of Montreal) audition week. The show has changed a little, new performers have been added, and mostly all for the better. There were only a couple spots I would have rather not seen, but oh well, other people enjoyed those parts, so I'll shut up about them.
That same weekend, a group of NECCA students were offered free tickets by Elsie and Serenity (the owners of our school) to a show they perform in by Cirque Le Masque called "Evolution". Now here's where we had some controversy over the show. Obviously, we love our teachers Elsie and Serenity and the circus they do is BEYOND quality. But this show was just a hot mess, which I guess is ok for more "traditional circus". Mostly the circus acts themselves were well done. There were background dancers whom were not impressive, or dancing as a group. The music was awkward techno with choral samples screaming "EVOLUTION" (which was the only reference we could find to the title of the show). We were happy to see Elsie and Serenity perform (always a pleasure), but we were equally happy that we didn't have to pay to see the show in the first place, to most of us, it just wasn't our thing.
This past weekend, Serenity offered a "Trapeze Building" workshop.
I jumped at this opportunity, cause I love building, and craft work, and understanding of things I do from their most basic form to the most grand. So, this Saturday, all the workshop attendees gathered in one of the NECCA rooms, with a huge amount of steel bars, welded thimbles, free thimbles, nylon rope, markers, thin cord, cheap towels, dental floss, and upholstery needles. Serenity started the workshop with what would be the most confusing aspect of building a trapeze for the first time, which is also the part that ensures that your trapeze is safe...a daring mix :) We learned how to splice ropes (which is to combine ropes by weaving them together. This is how the rope wraps around the bar, and then comes back into itself (the thicker part of the rope right above the bar). Having done lots of knot work and rope crafts in life, I found splicing to be not too hard, and slightly therapeutic. The most tedious and frustrating part was the second splices, the ones that would be at the other end of the ropes from the trapeze bar itself. These are what you hang the trapeze to rigging with, and they need to be perfectly measured so when they are hung, the bar is absolutely level. To test this, we would splice our ropes, then hang them by one of the pulley systems in the space, and lower them to the ground, if one of the trapeze ends hit the ground first, we had to adjust the splice. That is how we all got very good at splicing. I had to adjust my splices 6 times before my bar was level. Serenity said that with experience, you get better at not needing to adjust as much. Here is my bar at the end of the workshop:
Now, I've reached the point in the blog post where I must discuss, the big three letter looming cloud of doom.
ENC...also known as the Ecole Nationale de Cirque (or National Circus School) in Montreal, Canada. This is pretty much the most prestigious circus school one can attend on this side of the world. It is a three year long degree program, where you can be specialized (majoring in ONE apparatus/discipline), or a generalist (specializing in TWO apparatus/disciplines). The program is rigorous and mentally and physically demanding...perfectly demonstrated by their audition process. The audition for ENC is a 4 day long fiasco of assessments in strength, flexibility, acting ability, dance, acrobatic ability, ability and potential in your specified areas of experience, endurance, and lastly, the ability to keep your cool! They also make cuts at the end of the first day, and the second day. If you make it to the third day, you can slightly relax, because you're automatically held for the fourth day as well. Making it through the audition doesn't however assure your acceptance at all, so in the end, it is a big frustrating ball of emotions.
I didn't get past day 1 last year, which was mostly the strength and acrobatic assessments; two areas I severely lacked in. This year, I have been extremely better trained for the audition to come. I am in a much better place physically, and technically with all the circus I do, and even in the circus styles I don't know how to do or do well, I demonstrate body awareness and control. I am going to be giving it everything I have, and hope for the best. If I make it past the day 1 cut, I will be happy because that is a huge difference between last year and this year, but if I do get cut day 1, I will still be happy, because I know how much I've changed for the better, and I know I'm not done on my path, but I can only hope they see what I can do, and they get to know the T performer who I must say, is gonna bring FIERCE to the audition this year :)
This week, I am polishing my trapeze act (you perform an act the FINAL day of the audition if you make it that far, so alas, everyone has to rehearse an act even if they don't get to actually perform it. I have been getting amazing feedback from my coaches who know what I can do, and really push me to be my best. I owe them so much for the faith they have in me, and the fire they ignite within me.
So, this coming Saturday, I will be travelling up to Montreal (with a brief stop in Burlington to see "ID" by Cirque Eloize with my friend Rachel Schiffer, who's also my driving buddy to Montreal). I will be staying with a Smirkus coach/friend of mine whom I haven't seen in a long time, Amanda Dunbar. After I settle in, starting Monday...it's ON!
