I thought it appropriate that if we were to go around calling ourselves Circus Geeks that we take a moment to explore Geeks, or Geekdom as the collective sub-culture is sometimes known. Being a geek myself, I started by looking up the word in the dictionary. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word geek as:
1 : A carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken or snake.
2 : A person often of an intellectual bent who is disliked
3 : an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field or activity *computer geek*
A carnival performer? In the first definition? Interesting. I would have assumed that the second or third definition would have been the primary definition. Let’s leave the fact that is says geeks bite the heads off live chickens for a moment and take a quick look at the origins of the the word geek.
It turns out the word geek actually has its origins in carnival and circus. Etymonline.com describes the history of the word geek in the following way:
“sideshow freak,” 1916, U.S. carnival and circus slang, perhaps a variant of geck “a fool, dupe, simpleton” (1510s), apparently from Low Ger. geck, from an imitative verb found in North Sea Germanic and Scandinavian meaning “to croak, cackle,” and also “to mock, cheat.” The modern form and the popular use with reference to circus sideshow “wild men” is from 1946, in William Lindsay Gresham’s novel “Nightmare Alley” (made into a film in 1947 starring Tyrone Power).
So the original geeks were fools and sideshow freaks and over time it came to be applied to anyone who got paid to do work considered odd or bizarre by mainstream society. Nowadays you’re a geek if you are particularly knowledgeable in any particular field, especially if it involves technology (computer programmers were the original tech geeks, an activity that was considered odd or bizarre by mainstream society a number of years ago) or is a subject that most people wouldn’t know too much about.
And so here we are: Circus Geeks – circus folk geeking out on an internet blog about circus. It seems we have finally come home.
I’ve always enjoyed making routines that use custom props. I’m not sure if it’s due to an insecurity in my ability to create with ‘standard circus props’ or due to the fact that I come from a family of engineers.
I love thinking up improbable ideas (and then struggling to make them a reality) and think these ideas have gone on to be some of my strongest work.
Normally I come to an ‘effect’ that I want and then work out how it might be achieved, a little like how I imagine a magician might work. Then I take these collection of slightly random thoughts to my prop builder and get his opinion, argue about the detail and then help as best I can in the building of the new prop.
I’m really lucky, my Dad is my prop builder. He’s built me everything from skipping rope machines to fake iPods. Being an engineer by trade he often has his own ideas on my routines, most of which a pretty lame but sometimes he strikes gold.
I wonder if there was a USSR circus prop workshop back in the 1950s that made all the props for the acts back then? I wonder who made Alexander Kiss‘ club firing device or rising platform. Maybe his Dad?
Funny I should find myself writing this on a bus on my way home from Bristol after just reading Jessie’s blog post about the very same commute.
But I’m not on a national express coach, I’m on a bus kindly organised by Circus Space to take anyone who wanted to attend Open Spaces, an event at Circomedia.
It’s Circomedia’s 25th anniversary and as part of the celebrations they have organised a networking/conference event for people interested in the future of British circus.
I’m a little surprised at the lack of artists on the trip but unfortunately it coincides with the 3rd year show at Circus Space so I suspect that didn’t help numbers and the coach also left at 7:15. Us circus artists are a driven bunch but morning people we are not!
The day was run on the Open Space method hosted by Improbable. The over all title of the day was ‘Devoted & Disgruntled. What are we doing about circus in the UK?’. Anyone can suggest issues they want to be raised and set up their own conversation at a given time and place in the room. One can drift in and out of conversation as one please and interject if feeling inclined. You can read more about it here.
The intro to Circus Open Space
I suggested a topic about ‘Circus & The Internet’ which a handful of interested people came and listen to me rant and rave about the failing of circus to embrace the internet and the various free useful web tools available to circus artists (watch out for an essay on this in the near future). It was great to meet the brains behind Sideshow Magazine and hear of some future projects they have planned.
Overall I found the experience a little frustrating, it felt like the conversations didn’t produce any clear outcomes or future goals – an action plan. While I think it’s great that people interested in circus actually meet each other and share opinion, it’s all rather academic if there is no real change. You can easily share opinion in the comfort of your own home and be far more concise and clear. Solution takes longer to work out and benefits most from dynamic conversation. I’m not convinced the conversations I heard produced real steps that people could undertake.
It’s too early to tell if there will be any lasting positive change from today’s Circus Open Space but I really hope there are. I enjoyed meet new people and listening to other passionate people talk about circus.
Thanks to all those who came and contributed and special a thanks to Circus Space, Ciromedia and Improbable.
Funny I should find myself writing this on a bus on my way home from Bristol after just reading Jessie’s blog post about the very same commute.But I’m not on a national express coach, I’m on a bus kindly organised by Circus Space to take anyone who wanted to attend Open Spaces, an event at Circomedia. It’s CMs 25th anniversary and as part of the celebrations they have organised a networking event(?) for people interested in the future of British circus.
I’m a little surprised at the lack of artists on the trip but unfortunately it coincides with the 3rd year show at CS so I suspect that didn’t help numbers and the coach also left at 7:15. Us circus artists are a driven bunch but morning people we are not! BTECH?
The day was run on the Open Space method hosted by Improbable. The over all title of the day was ‘Devoted & Disgruntled. What are we doing about circus in the UK?’. Anyone can suggest issues they want to be raised and set up their own conversation at a given time and place in the room. One can drift in and out of conversation as one please and interject if feeling inclined. You can read more about it here.
I suggested a topic about ‘Circus & The Internet’ which a handful of people came and listen to me rant and rave about the failing of circus to embrace the internet and the various free useful web tools available to circus artists (watch out for an essay on this in the near future).
I found the experience a little frustrating, it felt like the conversations didn’t produce any clear outcomes or future goals – an action plan. While I think it’s great that people interested in circus actually meet each other and share opinion, it’s all rather academic if there is no real change. You can easily share opinion in the comfort of your own home and be far more concise and clear. Solution takes longer to work out and benefits most from dynamic conversation. I’m not convinced the conversations I heard were real steps that people could undertake.
It’s too early to tell if there will be any lasting positive change from today’s Circus Open Space but I really hope there are. I enjoyed meeting new people and listening to other passionate people talk about circus.
Thanks to all those who came and contributed and to Circus Space, Ciromedia and Improbable.
What can you and can’t you say? Politics is driving me nuts. What have I said to people that I shouldn’t have said? Probably quite a lot.
Sat in a breakfast bar this morning watching the world go by and chatting about many things. Started with meeting with Mish. We were talking about her new show, Box of Frogs, which, frankly, I cannot wait to get cracking on. Also talking about our new show, Backgammon for Beginners, and what we’re doing with that. Finished all the show chat, rehearsal chat etc etc and inevitably got down to the gossip part – which I always enjoy and Lauren is a particular specialist in. She remembers details as I am left flailing over who actually said what about whom. Mish had seen the 3rd year show last night and it was duly dissected. I love doing this. Listing who was your favourite, then maybe your top 3. Then changing it. Then really enjoying going over the one you hated. There’s always one, no matter how much you try and sit on the fence. We’re not going until tomorrow night but I sometimes enjoy listening to people who have already seen it. It’s like pre match build up I suppose. Then Sam, Matt and Em arrived and we went over it all again and there was the lovely “which did you like moment” which I already knew Mish’s answer to. And then, that beautiful moment when someone carefully asks what you thought of person x’s piece. And then the disagreement – or, in some cases, almost salivating as you get going on a particularly juicy shared like/dislike of someone’s act – or even the person themselves.
It’s a crazy world because everyone can’t like everyone all of the time but it’s rare that these tensions even remotely surface. It just leaves you wondering what people said about you when you graduated – or every time you do a public show. Is it best to know or not? Therefore, is it best to say or not say whether you loved or hated a piece/performer/person or not? Or is it better to polish that smile and pretend you love everyone and everything no matter how bland/badly done/offensive it is just in case it comes back and bites you in the arse? I just don’t know. I suppose the aim of the game is just to know who to sit on the fence in front of and who to tumble off the side with.
I look forward to seeing the 3rd years do their thing tomorrow night. I love going to the shows each year. Especially the banter afterwards and just enjoying watching that fleeting moment that anyone who has been on any kind of long intensive course feels: of standing on the edge of a huge unknown. Good luck to them all.
I just arrived at a venue for a tech rehearsal: as arranged I was there 30 mins before the official start time.
The theatre is really beautiful, but a very awkward space for me. Imagine a huge old wonderful theatre auditorium and proscenium arch. Now, dig 10 feet down into the auditorium, and drop in tiered seating all around a central stage area. Have 3 entrance/exit runways going onto the stage, and no clear front or back. As I said, beautiful, but not my perfect habitat.
No problem, I am here early. I will warm up and plan how I will use the space. I ask if I may go on the (empty) stage to do so.
“You may walk around, but you may not juggle until the technicians arrive. Union rules. You know how it is”.
No. No, I do not know how it is…
Here is a video of John Cage performing Water Walk. Sans working radios, because the electricians and sound union couldn’t decide who was allowed to plug them in:
Another drizzly Tuesday morning and yet again I am making the four hour door-to-door commute from London to Bristol to pack in a couple of days training with my circus partner, Lisa. By now I know the coach drivers speech by heart (along with the well rehearsed ‘jokes’), and have perfected the art of getting a doubles seat to myself (eat a banana, take off layers of clothing and spread them across the seats etc.)
Lisa and I take this journey on alternative weeks to each others cities to battle to keep our doubles trapeze skills up to scratch, while at the same time developing a new roller skating routine. Despite our marathon training sessions we never seem to fit quite enough in as it seems like every new job we get we have to change some element of what we do – the height, the character, the costume, the music…. People are so demanding!
However despite the schlep to the West Country, training in a different space does also mean training in a different headspace, which can be great. Knowing what an effort you’ve made to get there means we both work harder to make the most of our two days, and the slight desire to ‘show off’ to people who you don’t normally train alongside, pushes us both that bit further.
Our roller skating table arrives next week – scary! Suddenly we’re going to have to relearn our act within a tiny circle, and a few feet off the floor. A few feet may not sound like much, but when you are spinning fast by your neck off someone else’s neck and are quite disorientated it makes all the difference! But however scary the skating may look, nothing compares it to my least favorite 5 minutes of every week – jumping to feet. This is move where Lisa is sitting on the trapeze and I am hanging from it. I then have to swing my legs and let go and catch her feet. It is a move I have done safely for well over a year, and I have only ever fallen from it twice in practice, both times for very clear reasons, and yet it still has the power to terrify me. This mental block has been going on for about 6 months now and we still practice it every week, and every week it still scares me – sometimes your brain can be very irrational!
Another element of my regular visits to Bristol is a chance to see another side to circus life – one very different to London. The training spaces are dependent on volunteers and community support, with regular users all pitching in to run the training spaces and many of the shows. Whether it means cleaning the hall, or calling out a locksmith when he lock is broken, or organizing a fund raising cabaret, it’s all a job for the circus community. And for the most part it runs very smoothly. I was first initiated into this when I moved to Bristol briefly a few years ago to volunteer at a circus school in exchange for training – my warm up one morning was doing the ‘shake and vac’ and hovering the huge training space room! Which actually, did warm me up pretty well!
Back on the bus again, this time headed back towards the big smoke, and straight back to watch the circus space graduate show, hopping from one circus community to another.
Tired, bruised and ready for a drink, but overall feeling like I’ve done a proper days work.
Barcelona!! Such a beautiful horizon. Or so sang the beloved Freddie. Not wrong. What a beautiful city. The sad fact being that we only got to spend a day there. Rubbish. We were working for a company called the New London Consort performing as part of their production, The Fairy Queen. Originally they wanted us to travel out on the Sunday but we had teaching all day and it was the last day of term for our youth circus so we agreed to a ridiculously early flight on the Monday instead.
Up at 4am and on the plane at Heathrow at 7.10. Neither Lauren nor I are morning people and this was no exception. I insisted on getting the biggest cup of coffee in the universe before we went through security. No liquids. Lauren grumbled. A lot. The only think to appease her morning grumble was a Krispy Kreme donut.
I hate airports. I’ve hardly ever been in one and felt awake. I’m always there either at stupid O’clock in the morning, hungover or both. And they are so white. And the whiskey is not actually cheaper at all in the duty free. Upsetting. And I’m always a bit later than I should be and Lauren is inevitably always with me and panicking about missing our flight – which is right to do, as we almost always nearly do. Anyway, we were the last ones through the gates. Had a bit of banter with the two trumpeters who were also ‘deviants’ – meaning they objected to missing a day’s work for a badly paid job in Spain and so had also requested 7am flights.
Barcelona itself is a lovely place and the venue was like some crazy building dreamt up by a member of royalty. All murals and stained glass and statues. Amazing. It was called the Palau de la Musica. I’ve popped in a couple of pictures to give an idea of the space. It was truly breathtaking. Funny, the show is about the journey to ‘Arcadia’ and at a few points in the show we’re supposed to look up as if we are in some magical place. Up until last night our magical place hadn’t usually been that magical. Last night I almost forgot to stop looking around the magical place. Danger danger!
After the show went for a few beers in a bar called the Cat Bar. We managed, on our only night in Barcelona, to stumble in to a bloody English bar! We met with a couple of friends who hadn’t been to see the show as it was too expensive. Sandro and Maria. Hadn’t seen Maria for ages so that was really lovely. Had pretty heated – and by now somewhat classic – Cirque du Soleil debate. Would you or wouldn’t you. I wouldn’t. I’ll rant about it another time. Pretty cool though as two randoms on another table got involved. International bonding. Good to see Cirque are good for something. Sorry if that offends anyone reading this. Happy to argue my case, although I’m aware cirque fans will argue I’m wrong. I’m not. They are.
Went for one last beer after seeing them off and Lauren to bed. Was in another bar via another bar. Jose (Trigero, new found buddy and beautiful juggler) and Boldo (or ‘The Great Boldo’ as he’s known in the show!) were pretty ‘merry’. Was all a bit much for me after the epic 24 hours I’d had awake. Far too tired to deal with being extra nice to important people either so I left after one. Made a refreshing change.
Had to be out of the hotel at 8.40 this morning. Ggggrrrr. Considering the flight wasn’t for another two hours I did feel this was unnecessary torture. Such is life.
Got back at about half two this afternoon before having a brief cup of tea and heading out to Chatham for a rehearsal. Wonder how many other people have experienced the culture shock of a beautiful venue in Barcelona with a standing ovation to an empty plasterboard fake theatre in Chatham in the same day. Not many I bet. Crazy life.
Finishing now before yet another early start tomorrow for a cancer charity publicity stunt in South Bank and Manchester. Another long day but for a good cause and the other people doing it are lovely. And I get to have an endless stream of people standing on my shoulders. Pimp base. Although I do have to wear a lycra ‘wall’ costume. Mmmmmm. May not be posting pictures of that.
Going to grab a bit of grub, have a glass of vino and then shoot off to bed for a very well earned kip.
I just googled “first blog”, and didn’t find anything to help me out. So, I guess I am on my own…
Except I am not! I was always wary of blogging, partly because I felt it was too egocentric (perhaps a strange worry for a performer to have), and partly because I was concerned with having enough material to keep it up to date. Well, with this new blog collective (a blogollective?) those pressures are gone, and I can, hopefully, write some stuff without too much fear.
A quick housekeeping of the last 4 weeks:
i. 3 days in Barcelona: working as “outside eye” (outside eye is the new directing!) for circus company “eia”.
ii. Berlin: social visit (and a killer poker hand), training.
iii. 5 days in Rotterdam: teaching at the “codarts” circus school (http://www.codarts.nl/01_home_en/04_circ/index.php).
iv. Cologne (HOME!!!): rehearsing magic acts with Ken Bardowicks in preparation for our month together in GOP Hannover in May. Because we won’t see each other again until that time…
v. Berlin: social visit, plus attending a lecture by Erik Åberg on Paul Cinquevalli, and watching Wintergarten show (Paul Ponce!).
vi. 2 days in Bad Pyrmont: visiting the retired (on three separate occasions) juggler Bob Bramson (http://www.juggling.org/fame/bramson/).
vii. Now in Seattle, USA, for the Moisture Festival (http://www.moisturefestival.org/). Sitting in a strange kitchen, watching my replacement iPhone sync, wishing I had shows before Thursday…
OK, so I guess I shouldn’t worry about lack of themes to write about in the coming weeks.
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