our final Australian adventure: The Tasmanian Circus Festival
Lengthy trip report ahead...feel free to skim.
Day 1: The road to Golconda
On Friday the 28th of January, we packed up most of our things from our Melbourne abode and headed to the airport for the last leg of our Australian odyssey: a flight to Launceston, Tasmania for 10 days at the Tasmanian Circus Festival. The only thing notable about the trip was that nobody ever asked us for our ID at the airport. Ever. Air travel around Australia is almost fun, like the good old days. You can still meet your friends at the gate, and you don't even need to take your shoes off or present your liquids at security. It's so much less stressful.
Unlike my last trip to Tassie, there were no other obvious circus freaks on our flight; apparently they were all on a slightly later flight on a different airline, because we had to wait an hour and a half for the bus that would take us - and them - to the festival site. No worries - it was a lovely warm day, and the Launceston airport is not exactly a busting hub. We pulled up a bench in the sun and read while we waited for the others (and our bus) to arrive.
The festival is near Golconda, which is a tiny dot on the map about 50 km from Launceston. In other words, the middle of absolutely nowhere, on an island. This would be a great place to be when the apocalypse comes. And lovely to boot!
The ride took over an hour, not counting a stop for provisions, but was anything but boring. When you're in a bus full of circus performers, things are always lively. Within the first 5 minutes, folks were attempting press-up handstands on the seats - and then we started quizzing the bus driver - first things about Tasmania, and then personal questions. We were at the site in no time.
Because we're festival crew, we arrived a day before the trainees, which felt a bit like getting to Burning man the weekend before the gates open. It was a gorgeous day, perfect for setting up camp. Of course, we had little to set up given that we were using one of the festival's tents (already set up for us)
and our friends had arrived earlier and set up camp. All we had to do was unpack and stroll the grounds, listening to the kookaburras.
Day 2: More arrivals and rigging
We had a full day on site to relax before the training program starts, so we spent it doing yoga, meeting people, and testing out the equipment. I was to be teaching on the Panama Rig, which is conveniently located right next door to where our friends have set up camp. It's over 7m tall and (just barely) wide enough to hang two ropes, so I was in good shape for classes. Now all I could do was wonder who will sign up!
As the day went on, we watched the site fill with tents and vans and more and more circusfolk. More people I remember from 6 years ago arrived, including - to my great delight - Heleme Embling, who was my primary instructor during my time in Melbourne, and my first real mentor and motivator. if not for her, I would not likely be doing what I am doing now, so I was quite excited to see her - and hoping she would remember me! Well, not only did she remember me, she said she'd seen my name in the program and was hoping I would have time to work with her while we're here so that she can see what I'm working on! Squee!
Shawn had volunteered to be part of the day-to-day setup crew, moving mats to and from the various training locations, so he spent a fair bit of the day trying to figure out what that was going to mean given that most of the gear hadn't even arrived yet. At the very least, it meant he needed to get up in time to take yoga mats out to the workshop space for the 8 am yoga class, so we set an alarm for 7:30. At about 3 am I woke up to the call of my bladder, but managed to snooze it for another 2 hours. At 5 I gave up and roused myself enough to wander out to the loo, and was rewarded with the sight of a gorgeous, starry night and bright moon. On the way back to the tent, I surprised a pademelon, who hopped vigorously across the field and into the bush.
(A note about bathrooms the festival - please skip if you wish to avoid TMI: The Aussies have cleverly separated the facilities for #1 and #2, with men's and women's 'urinals" (i.e., holes in the ground) and then separate unisex "toilets" (holes in the ground with toilet seats). They use lavender to keep the smell down, and it seems to be working. This separation of functions has led to some highly amusing conversations about the muscles needed to control the "wee" vs the "poo".)
Day 3: First day of training
This is the day when everyone overdoes it. If you chose to, you could start at 8 am with yoga and go straight through til 7 pm. 9 am Pilates, 10 am group warmup, then workshops every 2 hours or so all day long. I decided to take it easy, do my own yoga warmup, hang my rope for a bit while others were warming up, and then watch the 11:00 class before mine at 1. That class was Aerial Kite, which sounded terribly intriguing - and turned out to be totally awesome. It's got slanted metal bars on top (like two trapezes hung at an angle from each other and attached at the center) with hooks on the ends, a mini-cloud swing hung from the bottom, and a tissu hung from that!. Really innovative and visually interesting. I mostly watched class but jumped up once or twice when they did something really cool.
My first class went well. I had 8 students, ranging from total rope newbies to folks who have done a bunch but not really retained a lot of the skills. Everyone was really open and good about trying things even if they had already done them, and I managed to keep everyone challenged for 2 hours. The hardest part was the sun, which was beating down on the rig and turned the mat into a giant blue pit of lava. Ow ow ow!
After my class, I found Shawn by the acro area. We watched people doing their own practices for a while, and then stuck around to see if we could join the advanced class even though we are far from advanced. Luckily they were really easy-going about it, and quite a few pairs who hadn't signed up were allowed to just jump in. We got some great tips for 2-highs and arm-to-arm balances, and had fun watching all the amazing things that the more experienced folks were doing. Really inspiring. We stayed for handstands as well, and then were hot and tired and ready for a shower and dinner. And in Shawn's case, a bit more work putting mats away.
Coolest thing we saw today: juggling volleyball. 2 or 4 on a side, all juggling red clubs except for "the ball," which is a white club. White club is passed over the net by the server, caught and juggled by one or more opposing players, and then passed (or spiked) over the net. Amazing.
The evening was balmy compared to the previous nights, which had found me digging out thermals and gloves and scarves. We never even bothered with long pants, and after an awesome and hilarious cabaret show at the Be-Bop-A-Blue Bar, we enjoyed a walk under the stars before retiring and passing out for the kind of sleep the comes from good, healthy exhaustion.
Day 4: Second day of training
Today the black cockatoos flew overhead, squawking. This apparently, is a sign that it's going to rain. Except in this case, it was indecisive about it: sunshine, then thunder, then showers. It wouldn't ever commit to raining for more than a few minutes, except of course when I was supposed to teach, in which case it came down for about half an hour. Poor Shawn and his crew spent the day running around putting mats away and then getting them out again as the whims of the weather gods shifted back and forth. I had 5 dedicated students turn up for the last hour of class, when the rains let up, so we worked hard and fast and I think they were all nicely tired afterwards.
Days 5-7:
More of the same. The days fall into a rhythym: get up, eat, warm up, teach, train, eat, observe, chat, walk around, acro, handstands, eat, watch the cabaret show at the bar, sleep. After a while it feels less like camping and more like we've moved into an alternate reality, a circus refugee camp where all of life is about training and taking care of the basic necessities of life. It's not half bad, and I only miss the Internet a few times a day. I did dream about it one night, though.
Day 8:
And on the eighth day, we rested. Our plan was to go into Launceston and go to the Roman Baths for a hot shower and some pampering...except we learned that they had closed. So then we were going to go to the Gorge and go swimming and have hot showers there....except it turned rainy and cool. The highlight of our jaunt into civilization was therefore the use of actual flush toilets where you don't have to worry about whether you're going wee or poo. It's the liittle things. We also restocked a few supplies, had a hot meal not cooked over a camp stove, and checked the Internet to make sure nothing catastrophic had happened in the outside world.
We returned to find a changed world back in Golconda. Vendors had sprung up around the Oval, and the Muggles - er, festival patrons - had arrived in droves, as evidenced by the sea of tents and campers we saw as we drove back in. It was hard not to feel just a wee bit peeved that our cozy little family was being invaded by outsiders, even if they were the people we were there to entertain.
Days 9-11:
Festival time! While the training week was about working with fellow crew members and trainees, the weekend's energy was directed outward toward the public. Workshops, concerts, and shows of all kinds filled the schedule from 9 am to the wee hours of the morning. There were a lot of kids. A LOT of kids. Running free for the most part, despite the rather risque nature of some of the performances. I guess they need to learn somewhere...
I have to say that as much as I love to perform, I far preferred the energy of the training week. I'd have been happy to have a few more days to just play, trade tricks, perform for each other, and enjoy the gorgeous grounds. But the show must go on.
I performed in the Aerial show on Sunday - the only all-aerial show of the festival and one of the most popular. I'm guessing maybe 500 people were jammed onto the field around the rig. It was an interesting lineup: four trapeze acts (solo swinging, duo swinging, duo static, and singe-point) and two rope acts (mine and a duo Spanish web). No tissu, no lyra. The most notable thing about the experience was that on my way to the tent that served as our green room, I encountered a wallaby. We considered each other for a few moments, and then it hopped off into the bush. Not something you see backstage too often. :) Also, I've never had to just pee in the bushes before a performance.
The act went fine. I've done it better, but it was OK. I went on following an amazing swinging trapeze act, so I figured the pressure was off and I'd just relax and do my thing, A lot of folks found me after to express their appreciation for it, so I guess it went OK. *shrug* There is video.
And now we are on a bus back to the Launceston airport, to return to Melbourne for a few days. We are pretty circused-out, but still...it was sad to leave the festival. It was just such a simple time, focused and yet relaxing. We come away from it with new friends and new skills, and only a few nasty bug bites.
On Thursday we fly to Sydney, and on Friday we head home. And start planning our next adventure. :)
Day 1: The road to Golconda
On Friday the 28th of January, we packed up most of our things from our Melbourne abode and headed to the airport for the last leg of our Australian odyssey: a flight to Launceston, Tasmania for 10 days at the Tasmanian Circus Festival. The only thing notable about the trip was that nobody ever asked us for our ID at the airport. Ever. Air travel around Australia is almost fun, like the good old days. You can still meet your friends at the gate, and you don't even need to take your shoes off or present your liquids at security. It's so much less stressful.
Unlike my last trip to Tassie, there were no other obvious circus freaks on our flight; apparently they were all on a slightly later flight on a different airline, because we had to wait an hour and a half for the bus that would take us - and them - to the festival site. No worries - it was a lovely warm day, and the Launceston airport is not exactly a busting hub. We pulled up a bench in the sun and read while we waited for the others (and our bus) to arrive.
The festival is near Golconda, which is a tiny dot on the map about 50 km from Launceston. In other words, the middle of absolutely nowhere, on an island. This would be a great place to be when the apocalypse comes. And lovely to boot!
The ride took over an hour, not counting a stop for provisions, but was anything but boring. When you're in a bus full of circus performers, things are always lively. Within the first 5 minutes, folks were attempting press-up handstands on the seats - and then we started quizzing the bus driver - first things about Tasmania, and then personal questions. We were at the site in no time.
Because we're festival crew, we arrived a day before the trainees, which felt a bit like getting to Burning man the weekend before the gates open. It was a gorgeous day, perfect for setting up camp. Of course, we had little to set up given that we were using one of the festival's tents (already set up for us)
and our friends had arrived earlier and set up camp. All we had to do was unpack and stroll the grounds, listening to the kookaburras.
Day 2: More arrivals and rigging
We had a full day on site to relax before the training program starts, so we spent it doing yoga, meeting people, and testing out the equipment. I was to be teaching on the Panama Rig, which is conveniently located right next door to where our friends have set up camp. It's over 7m tall and (just barely) wide enough to hang two ropes, so I was in good shape for classes. Now all I could do was wonder who will sign up!
As the day went on, we watched the site fill with tents and vans and more and more circusfolk. More people I remember from 6 years ago arrived, including - to my great delight - Heleme Embling, who was my primary instructor during my time in Melbourne, and my first real mentor and motivator. if not for her, I would not likely be doing what I am doing now, so I was quite excited to see her - and hoping she would remember me! Well, not only did she remember me, she said she'd seen my name in the program and was hoping I would have time to work with her while we're here so that she can see what I'm working on! Squee!
Shawn had volunteered to be part of the day-to-day setup crew, moving mats to and from the various training locations, so he spent a fair bit of the day trying to figure out what that was going to mean given that most of the gear hadn't even arrived yet. At the very least, it meant he needed to get up in time to take yoga mats out to the workshop space for the 8 am yoga class, so we set an alarm for 7:30. At about 3 am I woke up to the call of my bladder, but managed to snooze it for another 2 hours. At 5 I gave up and roused myself enough to wander out to the loo, and was rewarded with the sight of a gorgeous, starry night and bright moon. On the way back to the tent, I surprised a pademelon, who hopped vigorously across the field and into the bush.
(A note about bathrooms the festival - please skip if you wish to avoid TMI: The Aussies have cleverly separated the facilities for #1 and #2, with men's and women's 'urinals" (i.e., holes in the ground) and then separate unisex "toilets" (holes in the ground with toilet seats). They use lavender to keep the smell down, and it seems to be working. This separation of functions has led to some highly amusing conversations about the muscles needed to control the "wee" vs the "poo".)
Day 3: First day of training
This is the day when everyone overdoes it. If you chose to, you could start at 8 am with yoga and go straight through til 7 pm. 9 am Pilates, 10 am group warmup, then workshops every 2 hours or so all day long. I decided to take it easy, do my own yoga warmup, hang my rope for a bit while others were warming up, and then watch the 11:00 class before mine at 1. That class was Aerial Kite, which sounded terribly intriguing - and turned out to be totally awesome. It's got slanted metal bars on top (like two trapezes hung at an angle from each other and attached at the center) with hooks on the ends, a mini-cloud swing hung from the bottom, and a tissu hung from that!. Really innovative and visually interesting. I mostly watched class but jumped up once or twice when they did something really cool.
My first class went well. I had 8 students, ranging from total rope newbies to folks who have done a bunch but not really retained a lot of the skills. Everyone was really open and good about trying things even if they had already done them, and I managed to keep everyone challenged for 2 hours. The hardest part was the sun, which was beating down on the rig and turned the mat into a giant blue pit of lava. Ow ow ow!
After my class, I found Shawn by the acro area. We watched people doing their own practices for a while, and then stuck around to see if we could join the advanced class even though we are far from advanced. Luckily they were really easy-going about it, and quite a few pairs who hadn't signed up were allowed to just jump in. We got some great tips for 2-highs and arm-to-arm balances, and had fun watching all the amazing things that the more experienced folks were doing. Really inspiring. We stayed for handstands as well, and then were hot and tired and ready for a shower and dinner. And in Shawn's case, a bit more work putting mats away.
Coolest thing we saw today: juggling volleyball. 2 or 4 on a side, all juggling red clubs except for "the ball," which is a white club. White club is passed over the net by the server, caught and juggled by one or more opposing players, and then passed (or spiked) over the net. Amazing.
The evening was balmy compared to the previous nights, which had found me digging out thermals and gloves and scarves. We never even bothered with long pants, and after an awesome and hilarious cabaret show at the Be-Bop-A-Blue Bar, we enjoyed a walk under the stars before retiring and passing out for the kind of sleep the comes from good, healthy exhaustion.
Day 4: Second day of training
Today the black cockatoos flew overhead, squawking. This apparently, is a sign that it's going to rain. Except in this case, it was indecisive about it: sunshine, then thunder, then showers. It wouldn't ever commit to raining for more than a few minutes, except of course when I was supposed to teach, in which case it came down for about half an hour. Poor Shawn and his crew spent the day running around putting mats away and then getting them out again as the whims of the weather gods shifted back and forth. I had 5 dedicated students turn up for the last hour of class, when the rains let up, so we worked hard and fast and I think they were all nicely tired afterwards.
Days 5-7:
More of the same. The days fall into a rhythym: get up, eat, warm up, teach, train, eat, observe, chat, walk around, acro, handstands, eat, watch the cabaret show at the bar, sleep. After a while it feels less like camping and more like we've moved into an alternate reality, a circus refugee camp where all of life is about training and taking care of the basic necessities of life. It's not half bad, and I only miss the Internet a few times a day. I did dream about it one night, though.
Day 8:
And on the eighth day, we rested. Our plan was to go into Launceston and go to the Roman Baths for a hot shower and some pampering...except we learned that they had closed. So then we were going to go to the Gorge and go swimming and have hot showers there....except it turned rainy and cool. The highlight of our jaunt into civilization was therefore the use of actual flush toilets where you don't have to worry about whether you're going wee or poo. It's the liittle things. We also restocked a few supplies, had a hot meal not cooked over a camp stove, and checked the Internet to make sure nothing catastrophic had happened in the outside world.
We returned to find a changed world back in Golconda. Vendors had sprung up around the Oval, and the Muggles - er, festival patrons - had arrived in droves, as evidenced by the sea of tents and campers we saw as we drove back in. It was hard not to feel just a wee bit peeved that our cozy little family was being invaded by outsiders, even if they were the people we were there to entertain.
Days 9-11:
Festival time! While the training week was about working with fellow crew members and trainees, the weekend's energy was directed outward toward the public. Workshops, concerts, and shows of all kinds filled the schedule from 9 am to the wee hours of the morning. There were a lot of kids. A LOT of kids. Running free for the most part, despite the rather risque nature of some of the performances. I guess they need to learn somewhere...
I have to say that as much as I love to perform, I far preferred the energy of the training week. I'd have been happy to have a few more days to just play, trade tricks, perform for each other, and enjoy the gorgeous grounds. But the show must go on.
I performed in the Aerial show on Sunday - the only all-aerial show of the festival and one of the most popular. I'm guessing maybe 500 people were jammed onto the field around the rig. It was an interesting lineup: four trapeze acts (solo swinging, duo swinging, duo static, and singe-point) and two rope acts (mine and a duo Spanish web). No tissu, no lyra. The most notable thing about the experience was that on my way to the tent that served as our green room, I encountered a wallaby. We considered each other for a few moments, and then it hopped off into the bush. Not something you see backstage too often. :) Also, I've never had to just pee in the bushes before a performance.
The act went fine. I've done it better, but it was OK. I went on following an amazing swinging trapeze act, so I figured the pressure was off and I'd just relax and do my thing, A lot of folks found me after to express their appreciation for it, so I guess it went OK. *shrug* There is video.
And now we are on a bus back to the Launceston airport, to return to Melbourne for a few days. We are pretty circused-out, but still...it was sad to leave the festival. It was just such a simple time, focused and yet relaxing. We come away from it with new friends and new skills, and only a few nasty bug bites.
On Thursday we fly to Sydney, and on Friday we head home. And start planning our next adventure. :)