The Rhythm of Japan

We are just about halfway through our performances here at Huis ten Bosch, and we've settled into the rhythm.  We usually sleep in a bit, until 9:30 or 10, then get up and have tea, make breakfast (on the unbelievably slow and underpowered hot plate) and then do a little wandering during the day - visiting local shrines, exploring the neighborhood, or taking a train trip into town for shopping.  

Our work day starts at around 4, when we pedal our bikes into the park and start getting ready for our shows - makeup, lots and lots of stretching, prop repair, etc.

The first show is a mini (solo) at 5, then we've got shows at 6, 7, and 8 and sometimes 9 and 9:40.  We all like that they're pretty much back-to-back so there's not a whole lot of waiting around.

We are becoming absolute masters of efficient shake-off and show prep.  We can prep all 14 props in about 8 minutes, give or take.  

We are also becoming masters of performance in inclement weather.  Who needs to be able to feel their fingers while fire dancing?  Not us.  30MPH gusting winds during fire eating?  Not a problem.  Last night I found myself balanced on Darrell's shoulders, leaning waaaay back while a terrifying gust of blizzardy, snowy wind nearly put my fire poi right out.   I just smiled and gave the crowd a wink.

The audiences are troopers, huddling in their coats and braving the conditions to see us out there in the storm.  It's a little rough on us, though... they clap, with their gloves on, and we can't hear them.  They're too cold to cheer and they're all covering their faces so we can't even see them smile.  But they stay to the end, so I guess that means they like us.

We pedal home in the moonlight, and the next day we wake up and do it again.  The sameness is strange to me.  I ran away to the circus partly because I want each day to be different, and here I am, reporting to work at the same time every day, following the same routine.   I'm trying to let it relax me.  No worries about where to be, no decisions to make, no problem.  I must admit, I will be happy to get back to a life where the day of the week actually matters. 

It's also fascinating to me how accustomed I'm getting to the absolute weirdness of our environment.  Electric disco swans and people in giant tulip costumes no longer get a second glance.  It's just Huis ten Bosch.  

It's still a challenge, and we're still dragging home exhausted every night, but it's manageable.  The main variable of each day is still the weather.  Fire dancing in a blizzard is really no fun at all, and if the temperature gets way up into the 50s we all find ourselves grinning like idiots all day long.  Muscles and joints are not made for below-zero-acrobatics, and while the heat of the fire helps make it possible for us to do this at all, it's still not much fun in the bitter cold.  

Day Trip to Nagasaki

It's my day off!  I just got back from a day trip to Nagasaki.  It's about 1 hour and 15 minutes by train from Huis ten Bosch, and I set out this morning with no plan whatsoever.  I knew that I did *not* want to go to the Atomic Bomb museum (my heart is too soft and couldn't take that kind of tragedy) but I had no idea where my feet would lead me.  I decided to follow them, and see.

It turns out.. I don't really like cities.  I've done enough traveling and have seen enough big cities that I fear I'm starting to get a bit jaded.  Yes, there are differences, but really when you get down to it, a city is just a city.  There's traffic, there are buildings and restaurants and people, and cars and buses and lots of ugly gray corners.

I am drawn, instead, to parks.. to gardens, animals, statues, and green spaces springing hopefully up from amidst the hustle and bustle.  When I just let my whims guide me, I wind up at the quiet green spaces in whatever city I am visiting.  At the end of the day this makes perfect sense to me, but this morning before I left I couldn't have predicted where I'd go - I think my mind learned something about my heart today.

It's winter, and the green space is mostly brown in Nagasaki, but the life is still there if you look - lots and lots of teensy little dogs, cats, pigeons, turtles, and koi ponds (OH! the koi ponds!).  Gardens that are carefully pruned back, with the occasional early rose all alone on the bush.  Trees, just starting to think about budding.  I realized I can hardly wait until February when the cherry blossoms appear and all Japan turns pink!  

I visited the seaside park (wherein there was an absolutely delightful lunch that surprise-included an all-you-can-eat chocolate fountain!), the Peace Park, and having grown up a Glover, how could I miss the "Glover Gardens," Nagasaki's main tourist attraction?  

It seems Thomas Glover was quite the man around these parts.. he is responsible for the first Japanese locomotive, Kirin Beer company, and his son built the first paved road in all Japan.  They credit him with bringing Nagasaki into the modern era.  Great-great-grand-uncle-once-removed perhaps?  

It was fascinating to wander through the "western style" house he built and see the juxtaposition of the familiar (I grew up with almost that same wooden hutch.. The rooms are the right size and proportion.. those are almost the exact same stair railings we had.. the building materials make so much sense.. and on and on) superimposed with Japanese land, Japanese gardens, roofs, and koi ponds.   Also, the view was fantastic.

The Glover Garden also housed the Nagasaki Performing Arts museum, wherein I learned all about the Kunchi festival (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4411.html).  It looks SO awesome.  It's in the fall, so I'll miss it this time around, but seeing the actual boats and dragons these guys spin around and toss up into the air was pretty freakin' cool.

Next month they'll be having a Lantern Festival in Nagasaki, and so I may need to go back.  Also there may be cherry blossoms to see, and I now realize I probably need to follow those wherever they may bloom.  :)

Japan Wanderings, Fractal Malls and Tex-Mex

It's the weekend!  It's actually a 3-day weekend here in Japan.  Monday is a national holiday - it's Coming of Age Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming_of_Age_Day).  Maybe we'll see some Kimonos!  Anyway, with the holiday it's been super busy at the park, with huge audiences full of little kids.  Little kids are my FAVORITE..  They clap and scream and get wide-eyed with terror and delight.  It's awesome, and gives me tons of energy.. which I need, since the show count's back up to 3 full length shows and one mini-show each, every day.

Sign in the mall in Sasebo featuring... FIRE PIXIE

Yesterday morning we ventured out to the mall in Sasebo, in search of a fabric store so I can do some costume repairs.  We found it eventually, with some help from our translator-friend Ayaka.  I swear, that mall is like a fractal.  It's a mile long, and the first couple times you walk through, you think that's it.  But when you go into one of the stores you realize that there are stores-within-stores-within-stores, with dead-end escalators and hidden video arcades and restaurants and pharmacies all repeated with precise, uncanny regularity.


Found the fabric at last (and I felt SO at home in the fabric store -- I absolutely love the universal kinship between crafters and sew-ers).  After that, we hunted down Mike's, a tex-mex restaurant that caters to the guys from the local American Navy Base.  At first we couldn't find it, but after a bit of wandering we decided to ask a "local" so we walked up to the whitest guys with the shortest hair we could find and sure enough, they led us right to it.

To give them credit, the one who'd been here a while tried hard to talk us into the Ramen joint across the street instead ("it's like, cup-o-noodles only WAY better!") but we persisted and relaxed with some delicious-but-not-quite-right chicken tacos with guacamole.  Heaven.

We've got another full day today but I'm not as exhausted halfway through the weekend as I was last weekend.  This bodes well.  It may be that the weather's a few degrees warmer this weekend, or it may be that we're toughening up, or maybe it's the big enthusiastic audiences..or it could possibly be the tacos.  Whatever, I'm feeling good today and looking forward to going to work (though I may spend the entire morning in the bath tub first).

Our Commute

Fire Sculpture at the Palace

Fan Dance at the Palace

Fingers at the end of the night.  You can tell we're working.

I'm Sorry Darrell!

Saturday morning and it's beautifully sunny and cold outside. We're a little tired and achey - our show count goes up on the weekends, and that extra few burns really takes it out of me, but there was fresh crab with melted butter for breakfast so that helps.

It's not the fire dancing. The fire dancing is great. Fun, exciting, exhilarating, especially for big excited weekend audiences. It's the cold cold weather, and the "shaking out" - the 20 minutes of prep time before each show, fueling up all the tools and spinning them around vigorously to get the extra gas out before lighting them so it doesn't spray the audience. My body is sick to death of shaking out.

Last night during our 3rd show I didn't shake out quite well enough, and I could feel the little microscopic fuel droplets spraying me as I started our finale choreography. My tired mind started repeating, "don't hit yourself, or you'll catch fire. Don't hit yourself, or you'll catch fire.."

Now, you know what happens when you repeat a mantra like that, yes? You HIT YOURSELF. Or more specifically, you hit your partner. Bang on top of the head, with both wet poi at once. I managed to light almost his entire head on fire with one perfectly-aimed strike.

With flaming poi in my hands, I couldn't do a thing about it either.. except get wide-eyed and start blowing for all I was worth like my 50th birthday cake was lit up in front of me and I was guaranteed to get my wish if I could get them all out. (note to the uninitiated: when you blow on a fire, it.. um.. flares up higher)

The audience ooh'd and aah'd while Darrell calmly reached up and smoothed the fire from his long, flowing red tresses and then grinned at the audience while comically shaking finger at me. His big smile calmed the audience (and ME) down to the point where everyone relaxed, I jumped back into the choreography and we finished the show spot-on.

He's fine. He just got out of the shower and honestly, I can't even tell that I burned off a good portion of his hair. He's not even mad at me as far as I can tell. I feel guilty as hell though.. couldn't sleep too well last night, so I am baring my conscience and begging forgiveness. Darrell, I won't light your head on fire anymore, ok?

Japan Adventures

Yesterday there was all sorts of excitement. In the morning,Darrelland I decided to take it easy and take the train to town for some milk and gloves and a Smart Media card. We rode to the Daito station, home of Jusco, our favorite shopping mall, and the train doors didn't open. We waited patiently, and then the train took off and headed for the next station. Aack! 

When we got off at the next stop and showed the conductor our tickets he glared at us and told us to WAIT, probably intending that we should get on the next train headed back and not miss our freakin' stop this time. The next train was in 50 minutes, and it was an outdoor station (and freezing and windy).. ugh. We decided instead to walk back to the Daito station.. it couldn't be THAT far.

So much for a relaxing, "take it easy" day..

But it truly wasn't that far. We made it back in about an hour, at approximately the same time as the train, with lots of exploring along the way.

After our shopping misadventures, we came in to the park to do our shows, and at our first big show, Fukai our fire safety told us the second big show (at the Palace) was cancelled that night.

You see, our wicks are BIG. They use a lot of fuel. We conserve as best we can, but we have still been going through 2 1/2 cans of white gas every day. Huis ten Bosch is providing our fuel and they underestimated the amount we'd use. It's been a solid week of holidays over here, and every business but ours is closed, it seems. So, Huis ten Bosch hasn't been able to find us any more fuel. The last couple days we've been scaling back the shows a bit and squeeeeezing every last drop possible out of our wicks before lighting them, to make it last. There was even a note on the fuel can today that said "This is the last can! Please make it last through one big show and two mini shows today. More fuel should arrive tomorrow".

So we squeezed and stretched and saved about 1/3 of the can for the two mini shows, and then decided to go out for coffee with our unexpected time off. We headed back to the dressing room and then got a call from our manager - "Where are you?? Your Palace show starts in 8 minutes!"

Turns out the left hand wasn't talking to the right hand.. they'd stashed away some more fuel at the Palace and the audience was gathered, expecting a show.

By this time Sequoia had gone home for the night, and it was Shaina's day off.. so Darrell and I grabbed our stuff and hauled ass for the Palace (3/4 mile away). We got there, soaked our tools in record time, and pulled off our 4-person show with just the two of us, starting only 6 minutes behind schedule.

Luckily the stage at the palace is small, so we were able to fill it fairly well. I don't know if the audience could tell that we were missing half the troupe. :)

There's a quick-change after the palace show, and we were already running behind, so we grabbed our stuff and RAN back to the van, which pealed out and took us to the fire canal, where we soaked and were ready to go for the mini shows with 3 minutes to spare. (One thing I LOVE about the Japanese - they are as ridiculously punctual as I am!)

Nothing like the unexpected to kick your adrenaline back into gear. :)

Huis ten Bosch explorings, and Darrell's day off

Yesterday was Darrell's day off, so we had a "girls only" day at the park.  I went in a little early and did some wandering, found where the good cheese is sold, (I may be in the only place in all Japan where one can find quality gruyere and smoked gouda) and checked out the docks during the daytime.  Huis ten Bosch sure is an odd place.

Our shows went pretty well - it was fun subbing for Darrell, and getting my "badass masculine" on.  (I don't think I can do it quite like he does though)  Doing a 4-person show with just 3 people is a little bit challenging, but we're all really versatile dancers and I think we pulled it off with just a little bit of rough around the edges.

Our schedule and show location keeps changing around every day, but at least we're on a "normal" schedule of two big shows and one mini-show apiece now.  Last night our final mini shows were done on a little island floating in the canal, and as we finished the show we lit up a whole bunch of little fire pots to fill the whole canal with fire.  According to the excitement on everyone's faces afterwards, I guess it was pretty spectacular.  We really dug dancing on the little island too.

Today is my day off!!  I shall get a massage, perhaps visit the hot pools at the Lorelei hotel across the way, and if I have the energy, perhaps go into town and explore a little bit.

I'm trying to take photos for y'all, but my iPhone screen has gone kaput.  Even Darrell's best efforts can't fix it.  The phone still functions as a camera, if I can navigate to the camera app "in the dark" (which I can!), but there's no viewfinder so I just don't know what I'm gonna get, and I don't have the ability to turn the flash on and off.  So!  You'll have to go to Sequoia for quality pics.  For now, here are a couple blind snapshots that turned out not-too-bad after all.  :)

Hot Rum & Coke?

Our Local Pirate Ship

Our Local .. Ummm.. ?

BRILLIANT.  Why don't we do it this way in America?

The Palace Gardens at Night

Japan Day 6

We've been here at Huis ten Bosch for a week now and are starting to feel the rhythm of our routine.  Today's show schedule is the same as yesterday's show schedule, and that's the first time that's happened - the week after New Year's is a major holiday week for the Japanese, so everything and everyone has been running on overdrive.  Our bodies are begging for rest, but we're all fit enough that I'm confident we'll make it through the next couple days.  We will all be glad when Monday rolls around and our daily show count goes from 7 down to 3.

The intense schedule has us making little mistakes.. singed hair and eyebrows, mini burns on hands and arms - nothing major, thank goodness, but enough to put us on our guard.  Yesterday I misplaced my fire hula hoop wicks, and had to borrow Sequoia's fans to sub for the hoop solo during one of our shows.  (Darrell found them before the next show, earning 10,014 brownie points and a gold star)  That put me a bit off balance, and then one of my poi handles caught fire during that show's finale and I had to finish the choreography with just one poi.  That's NOT easy, folks.

I dropped it in time to save my knuckle skin, so I'm ok.. but we've had multiple instances of handles catching fire.  I think it's the combination of the slightly different fuel we're using and the sheer volume of shows - the handles never have a chance to fully dry and breathe.  On my first day off, I believe I shall attempt to make some spare handles so we can rotate them out.

So, we still haven't had much time to explore either the park or the surrounding area, but we start getting days off next week so that will come.  This weekend is all about head-down and pushing through to Monday.

Japan - Day 4

Today was a lighter show day - only 5 shows instead of 7.   We are very much appreciating the break, and took advantage of the shorter work day to have an epic shopping trip (hot plate!  yes!  no more microwaved fish!) and to go see a delightful magic show (fire illusionist FTW).  Also I got a wonderful massage, wherein they shiatsu-ed the tightness away and then encased my legs in the fabulous Leg Massage Machine, which squeezed and squeezed and squeezed until I was in absolute heaven.  These cobblestone streets do take their toll on the ol' feet.

Tomorrow we will (hopefully) get our loaner bikes, which will give us a bit more freedom to explore.  We've got a heavier show schedule for the weekend but then it lightens up again for the weekdays, and we'll also start getting to take days off fairly soon.  I think we're all a bit wiped out and in need of a rest, but our show keeps getting better and better.

It's an interesting phenomenon.. as our show gets tighter, we seem to get more dissatisfied with it.  New interactions emerge, we get more laughs and more applause, and we really start to notice all the bits that don't work as well as they could.  We'll absolutely ROCK a piece of one show, and if it's back to "normal" at the next show we feel like failures.

We're also feeling the effects of oh-so-many shows and starting to get a lot of singed hair and mini burns, especially on our hands.  When the weather is really cold outside, that also takes its toll.  I'm impressed with everyone's resilience and grateful that our bodies work so very well -- in spite of minor things like burns and illness and below-freezing weather we are still jumping around, doing acrobatics and playing with fire.  My troupe members RULE!

This first week is the most demanding of the whole run.  Soon we'll settle into a comfortable routine and have a little time to relax, enjoy, and explore.  For now it's all about getting through the weekend.. and I have absolute faith that we're gonna rock it.