4 days to go!

Show time comes around so quickly. I realised that we only have a few more days before it's time to go on. Our director is running around madly trying to follow through each of the performers with their routines. Half of our training is happening in our circus hall, the other half at our local gymnastics club where we have a sprung floor and full sized trampolines.

At this point I'm in two acts - a fire routine and our tissu routine. The band and director still want me to do an acrobalance routine with them but I still haven't rehearsed with them so it may not happen. We still have three nights of rehearsals but I'm confident that the acts I'm involved in will happen without any problems. The aerial equipment is going in the night before the show and we'll have one night to rehearse in the venue. It's so important to have the opportunity to train in a new space because it can play tricks with your head. We have to get familiar with the roof height, the forward space and the space around us. Last year I had the added difficulty of a short drop area underneath me plus big gusts of wind blowing my tissu around below. It's going to be so good to be able to perform in a closed area!

The Score

So strange to have a ‘score’ for the Tissu routine. We’ve been training for the last two weeks on a tentative routine. Today the director and I spent four hours nutting out the routine so that it went well with the music. This involved me going up on the Tissu and repeating moves and groups of moves so that the timing and the look worked. It pretty much changed the entire routine we had been working on! I was wrecked after the first hour of this process but like the director, determined to get this sorted today so that we can start training it.

Our third Tissu performer got back from France yesterday which is a relief because we’ve been concerned considering how much training she needs to catch up. But with three show training nights each week plus the regular Tissu class I teach I’m hopeful that she’ll have enough time to build up her strength and stamina. Knowing how dedicated these girls are though I’m sure they’ll commit to a fifth training night if I suggest it in the next few weeks.

I’ve also found out that the band want to do an act with me alone. I’m not sure exactly what they have in mind but apparently it’ll involve them carrying me around doing simple acrobalance moves whilst they play their instruments. I’m a bit nervous about it though because I haven’t got many free nights and I would expect to rehearse this with them before the show!