Cirque Monti.....

It was Elle's last weekend and the circus just happened to be in town. Unfortuately, we'd had a random night of wine and food at the museum the night before as a leaving party and I was definietely feeling the after effect! However I managed to drag myself out of bed and make it to Bern- and I'm very glad I did!

 Circus Monti was founded in 1984 and still tours each year around Switzerland. Although the show was in Swiss German we had no problem following what was happening and the clowns stories still came across.

 There was ALOT of aerial in this circus- wwhich of course made me happy. (And also made me miss- not long til I'm back though!)

I don't think I've ever seen a doubles act on rope before so this was great. I loved that both women were as strong as each other so there wasn't that clear line of base and flyer it felt like the worked really well togther.

I think it was also my first time in a traditional circus tent too, not as bizarre as I always though it would be. The atmosphere was really nice and it was great to have the live band there too!

Loved it!

Zurich.........

Another day off so we decided to travel to Zurich. Our origianl plan was to go to Zermatt and see some mountains up close at the weekend but we have to work the weekend so it was easier to travel to Zurich on a week day.

 A very cloudy day in the city although we managed to avoid the rain- luckily!

And of course we ended the day with a wee cup of tea (well coffee in my case). Mmm........

A day in Bern...

We took a little trip out to Bern on Saturday. I'd been before with some friends but it was on a Sunday- and apparently thats when the Swiss like to sleep as nothing was open. Better luck this time though!

We managed to catch the market- amazing bread, cheese and unidentifiable fruits and veg- what a good way to start the day! We got some breakfast and decided to have a wander round.

Bern is well known for the "Bears of Bern", so of course we stopped to pay them a little visit. I don't know how I feel about these little bears cooped up in the middle of the city. They are really cute though.

New York- we meet again.....

So I got to spend a little more time in the Big Apple- which is always nice!

We arrived a little later to the city than I expected but once we'd checked into our hotel I made a dash up to see if could get tickets for Cirque Du Soleil at the Radio City Music Hall. I was in luck and it was a pretty good seat too!

The venue alone is amazing, what a great place for a Cirque show! As always, there were so many inspiring acts but I think some of my favourites were flying trapeze, the sand art and the handbalance/contortion(slightly spoiled by the guy behind me saying to his girlfriend "uuuuuh, he's totally gay, isn't he". Yeah mate, he could be, however I'd like to see you try and pull of a one handed handstand then slide gracefully into box splits!).

Afterwards I headed to Blockheads to meet the rest of the gang for a little $5 margarita! Mmmmm...... the mango was my favourite! I only had two but was definitely feeling the effect after- these babies were pretty strong!

The next night we managed to see Peter and the Starcatcher, which is a sort of prequel to Peter Pan. I had a few friends who had gone to see it and reccommended it- I'm SO glad they did!
I loved the way the whole performance was put together, using the actors as scenery was playful and clever.
And of course Matthew Saldivar's perfomance as Black Stache was brilliant.

Well til next time NYC.....

Stagedoor

I had wanted to do a series of posts while I was in America working at camp but truth is I REALLY didn't have the time! This is a little catch up on some of the things I got up to.

I was employed as a scenic artist for this theatre camp, we produce 39 shows in 8 weeks and I was one of only 3 painters! As you can imagine, thats ALOT of work but its also alot of fun. It always astounded me we were able to transform the same perfomance spaces into completely different setting within just a few hours.
Unfortunately I was so busy I didn't even have time to take many photos of my work, so here are some I've stolen from some friends.....

Flying in New York...

So here I am, I've landed in New York and whats the first thing I do- get on a trapeze!!!

TSNY are an aerial company whose Flying Trapeze rig is set up on a rooftop along the harbour. When you leave the platform and fly trhough the air, your heading towards Downtown. 

We started the class of with a few swings, hanging from the bar by our knees just to get use to the sensation. I've done Flying bfore in London with Gorilla Circus but that was almost 2 years ago so it was really exciting to do it again.

Once we had mastered our swing we got the chance to fly in to the arms of our catcher who was on the other trapeze. This was my favourite part of the lesson, I could have done it all day! :)

 

                                        

                                        

I loved it, the location was really cool, and the staff were all very frindly. So if you're ever in New York City and feel like doing something a little different- give them a try!!!

http://newyork.trapezeschool.com/index.php

Bricks, Bricks, Bricks...

Bricks- every scenic painter encounters them at some point in their career!
I've medled with bricks a few times so far- plastic ones, sawdust ones, 2-dimensional, 3-dimensional and my recent job was no exception! Shiny bricks!!!

However my job particular role for the past few days has been to paint in between the lines. On my hands and knees with a little paintbrush and my steady hand!

 I'm really excited about this show as it is for NTS. Its going to be playing at the Tramway for a few weeks, then the company is going over to New York. We had to make a duplicate to send over there, which meant- oh yes, double the brick fun!

I'm actually not going to get to see it over here in Scotland as I'll be in New York for summer so I'm hoping I'll be able to catch it when opens over there.  It'll be kinda weird seeing a show I painted in a little warehouse in Glasgow onstage in New York. I guess its one of those bizarre moments life presents you with...

Hopefully once the show is open I'll be able to post a bit more about with some better pictures!

A mountain of paperwork...

I've recently came across the work of Guy Laramee and his book sculputres.

Biblos and The Great Wall are two incredible series of carved book landscapes and structures where the dense pages of old books are excavated to reveal serene mountains, plateaus, and ancient structures.

The artist says:

So I carve landscapes out of books and I paint Romantic landscapes. Mountains of disused knowledge return to what they really are: mountains. They erode a bit more and they become hills. Then they flatten and become fields where apparently nothing is happening. Piles of obsolete encyclopedias return to that which does not need to say anything, that which simply IS. Fogs and clouds erase everything we know, everything we think we are.

Glamsterdam...

Yes, its that time of year again for our aerial groups annual Boot Camp. Usually we go camping somehwere in Scotland for a long weekend of acrobatics, but this year we got to go over to Amsterdam!!! We collaborated with the Movement Academy over there doing aerial workshops, yoga, massage and our perfomance group did a show on the Saturday night.

The space we were training in was a lot smaller than we were use to but, it was nice to have a everyone in the same room so you could see what each group was working on. Boot camp is a great change to learn new trick and work on equipment you dont usually get the chance to in normal classes. I learnt some cool new moves on the silks, hoop and got to do some more doubles trapeze.

 I perfomed on the hammock (or aerial sling) again for this show. I chose Nina Simone's Blues for Mama for my routine, which is a bit slower than other music I perfomed to. I usually get pretty nervous performing but the show was quite intimate this time and I felt a bit more relaxed. Maybe the music had that effect on me?

 The rest of the performers. The venue we were in was covered in graffitti so there were lots of photo opporunities...

             

It was a really brilliant weekend with my friends, the people over there were lovely and really keen to learn so hopefully we'll be able to collaborate again.....