Free Standing Aerial Rig - First time assembly!

A week or so ago my aerial partner Miriam ordered and received a brand-new free standing aerial rig from Trapezerigging.com.  We found a day that wasn't too rainy and headed over to her place to unpack it and assemble it.  SO MUCH FUN

It's like a giant swing set!  A *giant* swing set!

Which piece goes where?

Set up at the 14' height

It's up!  Installing the tissu

Woo Hoo!  It's working!

I had to try it too

The web site claims that 2 people can assemble this rig in about 10 minutes.  There were 3 of us, and it took us about an hour, but that includes unpacking time and head-scratching time and a space that was juuuuuust barely big enough for the rig.  The base requires 24x28 feet of space, which is just about the exact size of the yard we were in, so there was a little bit of wiggling and scrunching to get it to fit right.

It was incredibly easy to put together.  I think having 3 people is probably the way to go, but could have done it with 2 in a pinch. 

Its height is 18.5 feet maximum, and it can be assembled at 14 feet by leaving out one of the pole sections.  The rig is incredibly well designed, and will be really easy to take apart for transport.  It will fit in a midsized car (if it's just the rig and the driver), at least, we *think* it will.  Haven't tested that yet.

So .. bring on the outdoor summertime aerial shows!  We are equipped!

Las Amigas del Fuego - New Tissu Routine

I love doing aerial tissu.  I love it when I've been doing regularly for a good long while and I'm feeling strong, and most especially I love it when I'm working on a new choreographed piece.  Regular practice is fun, but working towards a goal is just SO much more satisfying.

Right now I am choreographing a piece I'll be performing in New Zealand (!!!) for our upcoming trip in April.  It's about a 4 minute piece, choreographed to Las Amigas del Fuego, which is an original song by my hubby Darrell.  I sing harmonies on the song too, so this piece just feels creative all the way down to the roots.

It's got a bit of a flamenco "feel" to it, so I'm learning a few flamenco "florellos" and planning on working up a flamenco-inspired costume. Maybe I need a rose in my teeth.  Hmmm.

I'm at the stage where I've got all the moves I want to do, and I'm hammering out timing and synching with the music, and adding in flair and dance-y stuff.. and this morning, for the very first time, I completed the entire routine (including ending drop) in time with the music!  This is SO exciting, especially considering how a week or two ago I couldn't even get halfway through the choreography without gasping and losing grip and falling out of the tissu.  

Don't get me wrong.. I've got some good stamina, but learning a new routine is taxing on so many levels that one often forgets to do things like "breathe".   And I'm incorporating two rather scary moves, a dive and a drop - and that fear of letting go never seems to wane completely.

Still: I made it through!!  YAY!  Now it's time for tweaks and polishing and costume design.. and soon, performance!

Cirque du Soleil and inspiration

Yesterday being Darrell's birthday, I took him out to (an unfortunately mediocre) dinner and then to see Totem, the Cirque du Soleil show that's playing in San Jose.

There was nothing mediocre about Totem.

OH I loved it.  I had a smile of absolute delight on my face from the opening act all the way through to the very end.  The costumes!  The music!  The impossible feats performed in front of my very eyes!!!  Oh, I loved it.  Yes, I did.

This morning, instead of going to the gym, I stayed in and worked on my aerial tissu.  I started choreographing a new piece to Las Amigas del Fuego (which is a kickass original song by Darrell).  We've been kicking around "music video" ideas for this song for ages, and I've also been wanting to choreograph to it, and it seems that everything is starting to come together nicely.

I worked for an hour and 45 minutes and I have maybe the first 3rd of it sketched out, with ideas about the middle and the end.  I'm doing a dive!   I've always been afraid of dives.  I also feel like the choreography is already really unique.  I'm at the point in tissu where I am knowledgeable enough that I can come up with new transitions and stylings for moves, and have even made up a couple new moves over the last few months.  (New to me, probably someone somewhere has done them before, but I still think that counts)

Next week my aerial partner is getting a freestanding rig (!!!!!!!!!) and so here's hoping that she wants to take it to lots of fun places and rig a tissu on it and play with me this summer!

 

Purim Fire Dance Show

Last night we did a fire show for a local Synagogue to celebrate Purim.  Since I'm not Jewish, I didn't know much about this holiday.  I'd heard it was a rather fun one.  Last year one of my Jewish friends brought me cookies, called Hamantaschen which was OK with me (cookies are always ok with me) and I'd heard that this is a drinking holiday. 

I didn't realize it was also a costume holiday!  We got to the venue and more than half the audience were dressed in silly costumes.  Costumes, drinking and cookie delivery?  This is my kinda holiday.

We did the show in our Renaissance costumes (that costume always makes me feel so twirly) and we fit right in.  There were dozens and dozens of Princesses (of all ages), people dressed as food (notably a whole family dressed as pizza slices and a VERY cute little 2 year-old cupcake), people dressed as Esther and King David to celebrate the meaning behind the holiday, and a fair smattering of ninja, jedi, hippies, and the like.  There were also a lot of people dressed as Italians - an Italian bike racer, an Italian dancer, Italian gangsters, and Italian Renaissance costumes.  Also there were two kids dressed as soldiers from the Israeli Special Forces. 

I love these little slices of life and culture I get to witness as a performer.  :)  The San Francisco Bay Area is awesome.  Happy Purim everyone!