Winter Quarters Days 12 - 15

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Day 12

More rehearsal of course!
Brian and I recorded samples for the clown blowoff.
I think we are presenting the blowoff concept to the Felds on Sunday.
I'm kind of nervous, but the ratio of excitement is higher :D

Tonight was Clown Gag Night. This means that the Red Unit's Clown Alley presents their gags to the Felds
and their circus peeps for consideration for inclusion in the show.
Here's a video of Blue Unit's gag night from last year:

It must be very stressful, but all of the gags were very well done and came off well :)
The gags that I liked best were G's 'horse act' gag, Jeff and Aaron's 'construction' gag,
and Aaron's suitcase gag.
As you can see, many of our clowns have other skills besides clowning!

(Photo courtesy Nicole Feld's Twitter)


Day 13

I got to borrow a rental car for about an hour, so used it to run some errands!
Mostly I needed to find a post office. There are seriously no drop boxes in Tampa :/
After that I picked up a pine wreath and garland, and a set of lights I'd ordered from
Restoration Hardware. These aren't ordinary string lights; they're strung on a wire that
holds its shape. I will use them to light my room after the holidays.
The pine smells very nice in my room, and makes me think of Christmasy things :)



Day 14

Tonight was Act Night! This is very similar to Clown Gag Night that we had two days ago, except it's the circus acts performing for current and former circus members, and the Feld family.
Another video clip from last year's Blue Unit act night:

Elliana (human cannon) started the show off by flying across the arena, very impressive of course!
Then we got to watch Duo Fusion's hand balancing act. Those two are SUPER strong.

After that...it was the 'band gag' with Alex and Irina Emelin!
I don't want to spill the beans, but I will say two things:
~ Afterward many people asked whether we had rehearsed the act or not,
which is great because you're not supposed to be able to tell it was rehearsed ;)
~ It was a LOT of fun and an AMAZING privilege to participate in a circus act!!!!
Hopefully our act doesn't get cut...but if it does, I'm so glad we got to do it once!

Alex and Irina are skilled animal trainers as well. Their 'animal magic' act involves rabbits, ferrets and other hard-to-control small creatures. The Emelins make it look easy! And their dog act is totally TOP NOTCH...the dogs performed beautifully and with great skill, needing no corrections.

There were many other fantastic acts, including
the high wire, wheel, aerialists, trampoline, and clown soap gag.
The best part of the whole thing...was being a part of the whole thing!! :D

This was the circus performing for the circus.
Even though I'm just in the band, being there and experiencing the acts before they're perfected for the public really made me feel like a part of this 143-year-old American icon.
The skill, strength and easy grace of the performers made me a bit jealous of those born with circus blood.
But watching them work made me so happy :)

After Act Night, we all went back to the train for a punch party that's still going on as I type this!
Bottoms up!

Day 15

A day off!
Brett and I went to the Dali Museum!!


Cool building, huh!
Inside is a freestanding spiral staircase, to illustrate Dali's interest in the Golden Ratio, among other mathematical and architectural subjects:


We weren't allowed to take pictures inside (bummer).
It was amazing to see these original works up close, and far away, and sometimes crosseyed!!
Probably the most impressive painting was the Hallucinogenic Toreador.
There are so many dimensions to this work, so much going on.
Can you see the Toreador?


My other favorite was 'Bed and Two Bedside Tables Ferociously Attacking A Cello'.


I hadn't realized how much religious symbolism was in Dali's art, and how much of himself too, and how much of that was intended as tribute to other artists. He was multidimensional in so many ways.

After that very enjoyable experience, we arrived back at the train just as it was beginning to rain :)
I'm going to relax and enjoy the rest of the day off!