Light and Motion
I suppose I should do a recap of this, since I have every other year.
This year was... not as awesome as previous years. I think it’s partly to do with the overwhelming anxiety from work, as well as general disorganization. No one seemed to know what was going on until practically the day of the event. I also humiliated myself in front of everyone, which did not help.
Day 1
I got there bright and early and noted there were over 20 spots open for my aerial silk class on day 2, so I scribbled out the open spots, limiting the class size to 12.
Morning
The first workshop I attended was Capoeira, and while it wasn’t as punishing as the first time I tried it, I was still pretty wiped out, but having fun. The second workshop was acrobalance, which I foolishly went to despite having just spent an hour working very hard. Acro was fun, and I learned some stuff. I got to work with my new circus crush, Nicolai (he is not nearly as dreamy as Schuyler, but he is very fit and knows how to use a bullwhip).
Lunch
Came and went. I did not bring enough food, and ended up paying $3 for a tiny cupcake, and then another $4 for a butter pecan tart. I would have been further ahead to buy an energy bar or two from the vending machine, but I was not that clever.
Afternoon
I was exhausted and wanted a nap, but the next workshop was balloon sculpting, which I figured would be pretty low key, so I did that. Afterwards I mostly just laid around and napped for most of the afternoon.
Supper
There wasn’t enough time to go home for supper, so I went to Denny’s with some other people. I ended up sitting with a few people from Vancouver, who are some of the organizers behind Madskillz. I discovered that the reason I didn’t really enjoy Madskillz was not just me, and that the people really are less friendly. They grilled me about the juggling scene in Calgary for a few minutes, and when it came out that I wasn’t a professional performer they lost interest in me completely and proceeded to talk about next year’s Madskillz and prettymuch completely ignore me. They also complained about the service and declared they weren’t going to tip. Yes, the service was a little slow and the waitress kept forgetting things, but it really wasn’t that big a deal. She was probably distracted by the fact there were people balancing hats on their noses and generally acting strangely.
The Show
In a fit of insanity, I decided to perform a ridiculously hard trick that I could barely do back when I was practicing all the time. I decided to unicycle, hula hoop and juggle simultaneously. So I was practicing that on and off during the afternoon, and in the evening before the show. I actually got to the point where I could do three catches pretty consistently, and thought it might be ok. When my turn came, Carissa played “I like to ride my bicycle” for my act (I had not requested music, but that was cute). I attempted to mount my unicycle and had a false start. I tried again, rode a few feet and fell off. On my way down I decided to try to somersault out of it so it would look better/intentional/something, but I got tangled in my hoop and that didn’t work out so well. I tried again and nailed it, did my bow and left the stage. I hoped maybe people would think the faceplant was part of the act, since I did get it on my third try, and prop artists often work on the “rule of three” (fail the first two times to make it look harder, then nail it on the third). I was really embarrassed though, and was feeling pretty down (not to mention tired) so I bailed immediately after the show, skipping the jam.
Day 2
I woke up and my legs hurt so much I could barely stand. Austin tried to massage them for me, but it hurt so much I was crying. Eventually I crawled out of bed and took a shower (had to cling to the wall to make it to the bathroom). Coming downstairs sucked a lot, but Austin made me breakfast, packed my lunch for me and sent me off.
Morning:
Aerial silk: even though it hurt to walk, I managed to warm up with the students... sort of. I ran with them, but when it came to conditioning, I made them do push-ups and v-snaps and whatnot, but I didn’t so I could make sure they were doing it right >.> I taught them how to climb, then we worked on a footlock sequence. Only one student was able to complete the entire sequence, but that’s one more than I thought would get there.
About halfway through the (one hour) class, most of my students were too tired to do much, but they still hung around, and kept trying from time to time. People were also starting to experiment and got creative. One guy got into a footlock and started spinning a hula hoop in his hand. So I got up there and spun a hula hoop around my foot. A third girl got up and had someone pass the hoop to her with the silk inside, so she hooped around her waist in midair. Good times were had. At the end of class we did a quick cool-down stretch, and a bunch of them helped me put away mats and equipment and stuff, which was really good because I was teaching another class immediately after.
Unicycling: I actually ended up with more unicycles that students, but that’s ok. I had three who already knew how to unicycle, but they all said they wanted to learn to idle but were having trouble with it. It turned out they were all making more or less the same mistake, so it was easy to correct them and get them practicing correctly. I started out with a fair number of newbies, but because of the nature of unicycling, most of them drifted off after about half an hour. I wasn’t surprised or upset by this, since an hour is a really freaking long time if it’s your first time unicycling, plus most people don’t make much progress in the first few hours, so there is very little gratification. Two people stuck it out to the bitter end, both of them were new and both made remarkable progress by the end. They weren’t riding or anything, but they were going up and down the wall and were able to lift up their hands and ride unsupported for a few seconds from time to time. It probably took me weeks to get to that point.
Lunch
I didn’t bring much more food, but bought a sandwich ($3, should’ve done that the previous day instead of getting a tiny cupcake), and I actually had enough to eat. I was tired as hell and incredibly stiff and sore, but I was pumped from teaching and felt pretty good mentally. I laid down for another nap (one of my favourite things about the location this year was that there was a large area with plenty of crashmats where people could relax, chat or nap).
Afternoon
The whip cracking workshop was about to start, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to nap through that so I got up and joined in. I cracked a whip on my first try! It was very sexy. Granted, I was using the easiest whip, but it still counts! I couldn’t get any of the other, more difficult whips to crack, and after a while I started hitting myself so I wandered off and relaxed and chatted with some people.
Originally, I had signed up for contact dance, which I love, but I was far too tired and sore to want to contimplate dancing so I was kind of planning to just do nothing all afternoon, but then there was a diabolo workshop and I decided I should probably go to that, because the kids I teach are all really into diabolo and I was running out of stuff to teach them, since I’ve only put a few hours into it myself. The workshop was good and I learned a lot. Then it was time for closing circle, aka “Make Carissa Cry Time” where everyone sits in a circle and shares something they enjoyed about the weekend. It always touches Carissa and makes her cry (in a good way). After closing circle, we did a group cooldown/massage session, and I went home (while everyone else went to the bar for an after party).
Conclusion:
All in all, it was a good weekend. I think this time it really was just me, when it came to any non-enjoyment aspects. I had attitude issues for a lot of it, although they went away by the end. I also learned that I must really love teaching, because as soon as I had a bunch of students in front up me, my energy level went way up and I forgot about the pain. I wasn’t soaring like I was last year, but that’s ok.
I met some really wonderful people, namely two kids. I started out helping one of them with some gymnastics skills, and we hung out a lot throughout the weekend. They were energetic and enthusiastic and friendly, and just generally lovely people. I met Nicolai, who is a hottie, but who lives in Edmonton (damnit!). I love that I still manage to learn something new, even though I’ve been doing circus, and this festival, for a long time and I tend to hop from one skill to the next, gaining basic proficiency before moving on to something new. But so far this year, between Madskillz and Light and Motion, I have learned club passing, knot throwing (which I’ve mostly forgotten now), lasso, whip cracking and a bunch of new diabolo tricks,. I learned that I love teaching, and as stressful as life gets I doubt I’ll be leaving the circus any time soon.
All in all, it was a good time and I’m very glad I had Monday off to recover.
This year was... not as awesome as previous years. I think it’s partly to do with the overwhelming anxiety from work, as well as general disorganization. No one seemed to know what was going on until practically the day of the event. I also humiliated myself in front of everyone, which did not help.
Day 1
I got there bright and early and noted there were over 20 spots open for my aerial silk class on day 2, so I scribbled out the open spots, limiting the class size to 12.
Morning
The first workshop I attended was Capoeira, and while it wasn’t as punishing as the first time I tried it, I was still pretty wiped out, but having fun. The second workshop was acrobalance, which I foolishly went to despite having just spent an hour working very hard. Acro was fun, and I learned some stuff. I got to work with my new circus crush, Nicolai (he is not nearly as dreamy as Schuyler, but he is very fit and knows how to use a bullwhip).
Lunch
Came and went. I did not bring enough food, and ended up paying $3 for a tiny cupcake, and then another $4 for a butter pecan tart. I would have been further ahead to buy an energy bar or two from the vending machine, but I was not that clever.
Afternoon
I was exhausted and wanted a nap, but the next workshop was balloon sculpting, which I figured would be pretty low key, so I did that. Afterwards I mostly just laid around and napped for most of the afternoon.
Supper
There wasn’t enough time to go home for supper, so I went to Denny’s with some other people. I ended up sitting with a few people from Vancouver, who are some of the organizers behind Madskillz. I discovered that the reason I didn’t really enjoy Madskillz was not just me, and that the people really are less friendly. They grilled me about the juggling scene in Calgary for a few minutes, and when it came out that I wasn’t a professional performer they lost interest in me completely and proceeded to talk about next year’s Madskillz and prettymuch completely ignore me. They also complained about the service and declared they weren’t going to tip. Yes, the service was a little slow and the waitress kept forgetting things, but it really wasn’t that big a deal. She was probably distracted by the fact there were people balancing hats on their noses and generally acting strangely.
The Show
In a fit of insanity, I decided to perform a ridiculously hard trick that I could barely do back when I was practicing all the time. I decided to unicycle, hula hoop and juggle simultaneously. So I was practicing that on and off during the afternoon, and in the evening before the show. I actually got to the point where I could do three catches pretty consistently, and thought it might be ok. When my turn came, Carissa played “I like to ride my bicycle” for my act (I had not requested music, but that was cute). I attempted to mount my unicycle and had a false start. I tried again, rode a few feet and fell off. On my way down I decided to try to somersault out of it so it would look better/intentional/something, but I got tangled in my hoop and that didn’t work out so well. I tried again and nailed it, did my bow and left the stage. I hoped maybe people would think the faceplant was part of the act, since I did get it on my third try, and prop artists often work on the “rule of three” (fail the first two times to make it look harder, then nail it on the third). I was really embarrassed though, and was feeling pretty down (not to mention tired) so I bailed immediately after the show, skipping the jam.
Day 2
I woke up and my legs hurt so much I could barely stand. Austin tried to massage them for me, but it hurt so much I was crying. Eventually I crawled out of bed and took a shower (had to cling to the wall to make it to the bathroom). Coming downstairs sucked a lot, but Austin made me breakfast, packed my lunch for me and sent me off.
Morning:
Aerial silk: even though it hurt to walk, I managed to warm up with the students... sort of. I ran with them, but when it came to conditioning, I made them do push-ups and v-snaps and whatnot, but I didn’t so I could make sure they were doing it right >.> I taught them how to climb, then we worked on a footlock sequence. Only one student was able to complete the entire sequence, but that’s one more than I thought would get there.
About halfway through the (one hour) class, most of my students were too tired to do much, but they still hung around, and kept trying from time to time. People were also starting to experiment and got creative. One guy got into a footlock and started spinning a hula hoop in his hand. So I got up there and spun a hula hoop around my foot. A third girl got up and had someone pass the hoop to her with the silk inside, so she hooped around her waist in midair. Good times were had. At the end of class we did a quick cool-down stretch, and a bunch of them helped me put away mats and equipment and stuff, which was really good because I was teaching another class immediately after.
Unicycling: I actually ended up with more unicycles that students, but that’s ok. I had three who already knew how to unicycle, but they all said they wanted to learn to idle but were having trouble with it. It turned out they were all making more or less the same mistake, so it was easy to correct them and get them practicing correctly. I started out with a fair number of newbies, but because of the nature of unicycling, most of them drifted off after about half an hour. I wasn’t surprised or upset by this, since an hour is a really freaking long time if it’s your first time unicycling, plus most people don’t make much progress in the first few hours, so there is very little gratification. Two people stuck it out to the bitter end, both of them were new and both made remarkable progress by the end. They weren’t riding or anything, but they were going up and down the wall and were able to lift up their hands and ride unsupported for a few seconds from time to time. It probably took me weeks to get to that point.
Lunch
I didn’t bring much more food, but bought a sandwich ($3, should’ve done that the previous day instead of getting a tiny cupcake), and I actually had enough to eat. I was tired as hell and incredibly stiff and sore, but I was pumped from teaching and felt pretty good mentally. I laid down for another nap (one of my favourite things about the location this year was that there was a large area with plenty of crashmats where people could relax, chat or nap).
Afternoon
The whip cracking workshop was about to start, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to nap through that so I got up and joined in. I cracked a whip on my first try! It was very sexy. Granted, I was using the easiest whip, but it still counts! I couldn’t get any of the other, more difficult whips to crack, and after a while I started hitting myself so I wandered off and relaxed and chatted with some people.
Originally, I had signed up for contact dance, which I love, but I was far too tired and sore to want to contimplate dancing so I was kind of planning to just do nothing all afternoon, but then there was a diabolo workshop and I decided I should probably go to that, because the kids I teach are all really into diabolo and I was running out of stuff to teach them, since I’ve only put a few hours into it myself. The workshop was good and I learned a lot. Then it was time for closing circle, aka “Make Carissa Cry Time” where everyone sits in a circle and shares something they enjoyed about the weekend. It always touches Carissa and makes her cry (in a good way). After closing circle, we did a group cooldown/massage session, and I went home (while everyone else went to the bar for an after party).
Conclusion:
All in all, it was a good weekend. I think this time it really was just me, when it came to any non-enjoyment aspects. I had attitude issues for a lot of it, although they went away by the end. I also learned that I must really love teaching, because as soon as I had a bunch of students in front up me, my energy level went way up and I forgot about the pain. I wasn’t soaring like I was last year, but that’s ok.
I met some really wonderful people, namely two kids. I started out helping one of them with some gymnastics skills, and we hung out a lot throughout the weekend. They were energetic and enthusiastic and friendly, and just generally lovely people. I met Nicolai, who is a hottie, but who lives in Edmonton (damnit!). I love that I still manage to learn something new, even though I’ve been doing circus, and this festival, for a long time and I tend to hop from one skill to the next, gaining basic proficiency before moving on to something new. But so far this year, between Madskillz and Light and Motion, I have learned club passing, knot throwing (which I’ve mostly forgotten now), lasso, whip cracking and a bunch of new diabolo tricks,. I learned that I love teaching, and as stressful as life gets I doubt I’ll be leaving the circus any time soon.
All in all, it was a good time and I’m very glad I had Monday off to recover.