stumbleDance Circus's Box of Frogs

Box Of Frogs by Stumble danceCircus - Trailer from XTRAX on Vimeo.

stumbleDance Circus's Box of Frogs demonstrates circus as a bipolar art form, representing the state of a bipolar disorder sufferer's mind as the stage.  Characters would run wild streams of speech, frantically change costumes, receive packages for things they'd bought in frenzied online shopping, and leap about with sheer mania.  Soon after, the depressive side would emerge – characters would slow, stop speaking, music would shift, lights dim.  Other flavors of mania emerged too, such as the exploration of an enraged mania triggered by a juggler on TV screens upstage (the juggler representing that irritating sound or movement somewhere in the room that you can't ignore, a feeling I'm all too familiar with...).

Each performer utilized two routines to show the extremes of the disorder – an opening bicycle routine piled all of the neutral and manic on top of a depressed rider, perhaps to demonstrate the burdening and crushing weight of a depression, especially as the rider gradually fell to the floor.  This contasted with a later act styled in classical circus costumes and character – costumes themselves contrasting with the bicycle itself, a new circus prop.  One performer started on the Corde Lisse, counting as she ascended and wrapped herself in various ways, as she copes with the irritation of the juggler.  Later on, she explodes in a violent ascension, trying to hide herself in her rope and appreciate its softness.  A pair of acrobats, who were especially manic throughout, started the show with very difficult and energetic tricks.  Later on, however, they came down from their mania, and did a simple, dark routine while airing depressed thoughts.  Though working together, each seemed very much alone

The routine that struck me most, however, was a hula hoop routine of all things, performed by Silvia Pavone.  While her manic routine was mostly standard spinning – multiple hoops and in odd places – the depressive routine used only one hoop with great effect.  Beautiful manipulations and shapes were alternatively whirled with violence or somber slowness.  Silvia would suddenly thrash the hoop around herself and moments later sink to a slow, almost careless spin, as a lone bassoon played softly beside her and dim blue light lit the stage.  The effect was of a lonely struggle, much as the acrobats achieved in their depressive routine.

A lot was revealed in a talkback session after the show, such as the reasons for the projector screens, the significance of the juggler, and the opinions of the performers themselves on their work.  The opening acro routine, for example, is much more technically difficult than the later, depressive, one, but the latter is consistently the one that audiences appreciate more.  The projectors were to show an inner monologue (and, conveniently, enabled them to have a consistently dropless juggling routine on display).  Another, perhaps more interesting, thought that came up was that the directory had tried to realize this show as a play, and simply couldn't do it.  It could only be done as a circus show, because it is the circus itself that, in her vision, shows a bipolar characteristic.

This being the first full contemporary circus show I've seen in Bristol, I am thrilled to see more.  Next week I'll be seeing The Invisible Circus's production of The Happiness Machine.

First day of class – running too fast, and a little history

I went running in the morning with Seamus and Elliot – Seamus is a second year and I ran at his pace for most of the way, until we got to a hill and they started sprinting.  I tried to keep up, pushed myself too far, and puked.  A little embarrassing, but they tell me I ran farther and faster than most other first-years.  I'll try running on my own next, and work up to that pace on the hill.  2.5 miles total, in under 15 min (of course, not counting walking back after puking).

Enrolment in the morning (paperwork), then a tour, then an aerial lesson (learned safety bits and then how to ascend the rope, also a suspension on the rope, and Hock Sit Stand Sit Hock on the trapeze.

They are REALLY strict about being on time here.  Five minutes early is late.  It's a good thing I'm on campus, and that for the most part we're staying in the same groups throughout the day.  Most students are here for aerial it seems.  There are a handful of jugglers here, very few among the second-years, but all can pass.  This should make things interesting :).

There's a the Bristol Juggling Convention this weekend – tempting, but probably ill-advised so soon after arrival.

In a lecture from co-founder and artistic director Bim Mason, I learned some neat history of Kingswood  (this area of Bristol) and the school.  "Kings wood" was originally the king's hunting woods (16th century), with a special hunting lodge castle.  The state eventually sold the land, and Kingswood became the dodgy 'outlaw' area outside of Bristol.  Missionaries came in to save everyone, which is why there are so many abandoned churches around here (saw a neat one later, actually, walking with an Israeli student Odelia).  On this site, the first Methodist school in England was built, in the 18th century, and then turned into a school for "naughty" children.  These kids were taught to build walls as a form of constructive activity, and they built the original layout of the grounds to expand on their school.  It was then turned into another naughty children school, but where there was much abuse (19th century).  Supposedly, the choir in the church nearby would sing louder to cover the screams from the school.  Scandal!  It was then closed, abandoned for decades, ransacked by 'gypsies' (the locals called them) in the 1970s, then the south wing caught fire (damage is still visible now, a bit) rebuilt in 1986 as Fooltime.  Fooltime was an ambitious project meant to rival other European circus schools, but ultimately failed in the 1990s due to a lack of funding.  Circomedia was created from its ashes in 1993 as part of the Kingswood Foundation, which holds much charity programs for youth, and eventually developed its accredited 2-year FdA course (Foundation Degree in the Arts) with Bath Spa University.

Psyched to see Box of Frogs tomorrow!

Arrival

I flew Jet Airways (an Indian company) from Newark to Brussels, sitting next to a very nice older Indian woman.  The PA system announcements were given in Hindi, English, and French.  For the layover in Brussels I bought 20 EUR and used it to purchase Starbucks and a bottle of water --  Both expensive, but at the moment well worth the price.  It struck me how much I enjoy visiting french-speaking countries.  It's such a flowing, pretty language, and I wish I could understand it better.

The connecting flight from Brussels to Bristol was ADORABLE -- two seats one side, one on the other, and larger carry-ons had to be stowed.  Beautiful views of Bristol countryside during descent.  There were no issues at the border or customs despite some concerns over the incomplete visa application linked to my passport.

The Kingswood Estate

I arrived at Kingswood estate and was introduced to Sam Astill who gave me my room/house keys.  It's a cozy room in a small, on-site housing unit (see pictures).  I met some roommates: Seamus, Sweta, and Sophie -- all second-year aerialists.  They took me around campus showing me the various spaces.

We went downtown on 42 bus to do some necessary shopping, they warned me of how the Foundation Tech class is -- tons and tons of physical training.  There was to be a Fitness Test the next day (deserving of capitals), which they told me is agony.  I must push myself to extremes to set a good benchmark for improvement.  In actuality, the fitness test was not so bad (this time).

The jet lag has been funny.  I was tired earlier, probably because my body had seen the trip and first day as one long all-nighter (after staying up for almost all of the flight over the Atlantic).  If I can stay up to a reasonable time tonight and wake up early tomorrow, I should beat it quickly.

So an astrophysics and math student from New York runs away with the circus...

This is my attempt at a travel blog, to document and share my experiences in something few Americans have the chance to do.  There has been some interest among my group of friends for such a blog, but I hope to achieve more with it – namely, to promote a new image of the contemporary circus.  As I prepared to leave, I had the opportunity to share and explain my program to family and friends, as well as classmates, professors, and coworkers.  Responses have been informative, to say the least.  Some have asked about my experience in lion-taming.  Some seem to think the school is in a tent.  Many have wished me the best of luck at 'juggling camp,' perhaps thinking I'd be here with a bunch of kids.

I don't claim to be any kind of expert on contemporary circus, (hence taking a year to study it), but I have seen much of the juggling and circus community and I know that it deserves a better reputation than it seems to have.  As the Circomedia Artistic Director Bim Mason commented on our first day, on the arts in England, "you have opera, music, west end theatre, ballet, then down a bit is modern dance, then way down at the bottom is contemporary circus" (paraphrased).  Circomedia's goal is to raise circus on this scale, as it seems to be in Canada, France, and China.  Circus is an art, one that can generate visions impossible in other forms of performance.  As I study and train here, I hope to bring this message home.

Feel free to ask any questions about the program