Our First Show
We were invited to take place in a circus/variety show on Friday, by our friends "occupying" the large and no longer abandoned building that we´ve been frequenting for a practice space. The building is owned by a nearby church that apparently knows their building is being inhabited, but has yet to make any moves toward removing them. So for now, it is a free place to stay for anyone interested in the circus arts that is also willing to help with renovation (squat laws here seem to be favorable to inhabitants that make the building better).
The building has many entrances and was, at one time, sectioned off so that there different spaces for different businesses, but now these sections are all connected by large, rectangular holes in various walls. The main entrance opens up to a large staircase to the second floor with a hole in the wall on the right to enter the main floor. The second floor is the one that has been occupied the longest and is, naturally, the most inhabitable one, full of bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room. The main floor looks like its being remodeled, the supplies of a multitude of projects in each room. There are bedrooms popping up on this floor now too, but it is mainly used as the practise space. The middle of the building is all open to allow for a giant skylight that sheds light on both of these floors. There is a wall down the middle of the space separating it into an open floor space for practice, and a huge hole that a previous inhabitant had put in to allow easy access or light to the basement. Not sure about that one, its kind of a strange sight. Each floor has ceilings about 15-20 feet high, so juggling is possible anywhere and with the ceiling in the open middle spot being as high as two floors, it was easy to string up a trapeze and some silks.
The show was in the basement. Most of it took place below where the floor had been ripped out (the silks and trapeze moved for the occasion) though some of it took place in the many corners, the audience moving in darkness, among the concrete pillars, to where lights indicated the next act would appear. And the acts were amazing.
Some clowns hosted the show and started with an act about finding the lights which became a nice glow-club routine by a Venezuelan girl who does some incredible contact and swing moves. She has a lot of stuff I´ve never seen before. Next came a contact routine that was okay and then came the gringos. We called ourselves the 3 Gringo Circus (Tres Gringo Circo) for lack of a better name, and while we dropped a fair amount (crazy stage lights, you know), we were very well received. The crowd was mostly circus kids though, which helped. Of the 75+ people that were there (not including performers), at least half of them had juggling props or unicycles with them, so they were all very accepting and every drop was met with a chant of, "Otra, otra, otra..." which, for the non-Spanish speakers, means "try it again." Lebn opened walking on the slack-line, then juggling these Skilsaw blades that he had Willy weld to some handles. We followed with 2-high passing (where I pass to Sam who´s standing on Lebn´s shoulders), then the round-a-about (a juggler favorite), which lead into the drink-a-bout and and empty bottle of booze. The crowd loved that one. And we ended with (thank you Juggling Jollies) The Human Platform of Death which the crowd also loved. I was glad we finished early because it made relaxing and enjoying the rest of the show that much easier.
There were so many acts, I don´t know if I´ll be able to recount them all, but here goes anyway.
There was a diabolo routine done in the dark with a black-light and a string above him that he would sometimes sling the diabolo against. There was a flaming devil-stick to a Nine Inch Nails song, a hanging trapeze act, a very dramatic (but really original and great) silks routine to a Braveheart song, and some clowns. One was incredible. He used a lot of mime work and acted out a story about a guy with bad luck. He was so expressive and had incredible control over his every movement. The other clowns were just dirty. Pollo and his girlfriend Negra did a killer routine with 5-clubs, and they were dressed like they were ready for Vegas. Make-up, sparkly clothes, and lots of teeth. Pollo also did a routine on a vertical pole which included feats such as flipping on and off of it, and, with hands extended past his head, held himself perpendicular to the ground. We saw a video of this guy in the middle of a 3-high. He´s super-circus. My favorite act though, was this strange avant-garde, Brechtian kind of a mini-play that started in a set built in one corner of the basement, but which had the audience following it all over the space, sometimes scurrying backward suddenly, as one of the masked performers came charging toward their next mark. It ended on the silks with a decent, though not exceptional routine.
It was a great night. The lights and music were all very professionally done, there was cheap and delicious food and drinks, and a wonderful vibe permeated through the whole building.
Its nights like these that are making it very difficult to leave Valparaiso.
The building has many entrances and was, at one time, sectioned off so that there different spaces for different businesses, but now these sections are all connected by large, rectangular holes in various walls. The main entrance opens up to a large staircase to the second floor with a hole in the wall on the right to enter the main floor. The second floor is the one that has been occupied the longest and is, naturally, the most inhabitable one, full of bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room. The main floor looks like its being remodeled, the supplies of a multitude of projects in each room. There are bedrooms popping up on this floor now too, but it is mainly used as the practise space. The middle of the building is all open to allow for a giant skylight that sheds light on both of these floors. There is a wall down the middle of the space separating it into an open floor space for practice, and a huge hole that a previous inhabitant had put in to allow easy access or light to the basement. Not sure about that one, its kind of a strange sight. Each floor has ceilings about 15-20 feet high, so juggling is possible anywhere and with the ceiling in the open middle spot being as high as two floors, it was easy to string up a trapeze and some silks.
The show was in the basement. Most of it took place below where the floor had been ripped out (the silks and trapeze moved for the occasion) though some of it took place in the many corners, the audience moving in darkness, among the concrete pillars, to where lights indicated the next act would appear. And the acts were amazing.
Some clowns hosted the show and started with an act about finding the lights which became a nice glow-club routine by a Venezuelan girl who does some incredible contact and swing moves. She has a lot of stuff I´ve never seen before. Next came a contact routine that was okay and then came the gringos. We called ourselves the 3 Gringo Circus (Tres Gringo Circo) for lack of a better name, and while we dropped a fair amount (crazy stage lights, you know), we were very well received. The crowd was mostly circus kids though, which helped. Of the 75+ people that were there (not including performers), at least half of them had juggling props or unicycles with them, so they were all very accepting and every drop was met with a chant of, "Otra, otra, otra..." which, for the non-Spanish speakers, means "try it again." Lebn opened walking on the slack-line, then juggling these Skilsaw blades that he had Willy weld to some handles. We followed with 2-high passing (where I pass to Sam who´s standing on Lebn´s shoulders), then the round-a-about (a juggler favorite), which lead into the drink-a-bout and and empty bottle of booze. The crowd loved that one. And we ended with (thank you Juggling Jollies) The Human Platform of Death which the crowd also loved. I was glad we finished early because it made relaxing and enjoying the rest of the show that much easier.
There were so many acts, I don´t know if I´ll be able to recount them all, but here goes anyway.
There was a diabolo routine done in the dark with a black-light and a string above him that he would sometimes sling the diabolo against. There was a flaming devil-stick to a Nine Inch Nails song, a hanging trapeze act, a very dramatic (but really original and great) silks routine to a Braveheart song, and some clowns. One was incredible. He used a lot of mime work and acted out a story about a guy with bad luck. He was so expressive and had incredible control over his every movement. The other clowns were just dirty. Pollo and his girlfriend Negra did a killer routine with 5-clubs, and they were dressed like they were ready for Vegas. Make-up, sparkly clothes, and lots of teeth. Pollo also did a routine on a vertical pole which included feats such as flipping on and off of it, and, with hands extended past his head, held himself perpendicular to the ground. We saw a video of this guy in the middle of a 3-high. He´s super-circus. My favorite act though, was this strange avant-garde, Brechtian kind of a mini-play that started in a set built in one corner of the basement, but which had the audience following it all over the space, sometimes scurrying backward suddenly, as one of the masked performers came charging toward their next mark. It ended on the silks with a decent, though not exceptional routine.
It was a great night. The lights and music were all very professionally done, there was cheap and delicious food and drinks, and a wonderful vibe permeated through the whole building.
Its nights like these that are making it very difficult to leave Valparaiso.
posted by Zackataca at 5:50 PM
2 Comments:
Crazy shit, man...
You have no idea.
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