THANKSGIVING BREAK

We had 10 days off for our Thanksgiving break, 7 of which we spent in NYC performing 5 nights at The Box and one night with our beloved and brilliant friend, Bradford, in his "TURKEY DAY WITH PILGRIM WILLIAM SHOW." Monkey and I were the Turkey Day Dancers and performed a moronic ribbon dance and our "Cirque De So Gay" number.

Me, Miss Saturn, Bradford aka Pilgrim William, Fisherman, Monkey, Dirty Martini as Poke-a-hot-ass, Julie Atlas Muz as Masha Potata, Bambi, and Pinky Special

Lots to be thankful for- much love was shared....

Lukki, Dirty, Scott, Monkey, Tigger, Me, Bradford.

BIRTHWEEK!

I turned 33 this week and instead of putting all the pressure on one day to satisfy my feeling of specialness, I always* celebrate a BirthWEEK. In honor of that, I am doing 33 of something different every day.

DAY ONE- 33 drops into back bends from standing (plus one for good luck)

DAY TWO- 33 one-minute splits plus one for good luck (17 each side)

DAY THREE- 33 beverages (and one for good luck)

DAY FOUR- 33 minutes in the toe-point stretching device (torture!)


DAY FIVE- 33 bruises and blisters from trapeze and acro (things are getting WILD!)

DAY SIX- 33 pike-up headstands with my two roommates- Chris and Adam

DAY SEVEN- 33 other things that start with "o" (with a grand finale in one of the bathrooms at The Box in NYC that is outfitted with a padded cushion above the toilet, handle bar and foot shelves at the proper angle for....you know...comfort and stuff.)

*Unless it's a new decade- then I celebrate BirthMONTH (ie: turning 20, 30, 40, etc)

CIRCUS SCHOOL WEEK 9

This was our last week with Zina. She's moving out to Circus Juventas in St. Paul- so sad to lose her! I never got upset when she yelled at me to tighten up or mocked me when I said something was hard...."Oooh, it's haaarrrrd. Of coursse it's hard!" And she also never let Monkey get away with losing a fraction of exactitude as a base- be it with hands, legs, feet or arms. She is a tough and awesome coach- I'll miss her. Here was some of the partner acro we worked on with her this week.

Before:


After:

CIRCUS SCHOOL WEEK 8

Our primary teachers are still in China at a circus competition, so we had one day workshops in aerial dance, mime and then our regular acting class. As a result, this week was less painful than most, but was bizarre in that I became obsessed with increasing the dexterity of my left hand. It started to feel like a phantom limb or like it was alseep really deeply as I worked my duck-claw-daisy exercises. I thought often of how babies must feel when the learn to walk or like how Uma felt in Kill Bill when she was trying to wiggle her toes. Our mime teacher, Rob Mermin, taught us the Etienne Decroux method of corporeal mime (Decroux was an old French master who taught Marcel Marceau). Corporeal mime is really poetic- universal emotions and ideas made totally physical and tangible in microscopic moments. You just have to be really freaking dexterous with all of your limbs. The main things I gleaned were about leading with the elbow in arm gestures and on playing with fluidity and sharpness with hands. This stuff below you have to do fast and with many repetitions...kind of harder than it seems.
DUCK:

CLAW:

DAISY:

DECOMRESSION & BAM

My Camp Love Letters peeps and I made an appearance at the NYC Decompression Party at the Queens Museum of Art. Below Alice helps collect love letters at the mailbox...

L-O-V-E was dispersed despite high winds, cold temperatures and a tragic lack of inebriates. Despite all that, the UNI-SPHERE was unifying...



I also had a gig at Brooklyn Academy of Music that same night. The crowd was wrapped around the block!

BAM was a bitchin' venue- even at midnight the wardrobe lady fitted my baggy pants and helped amp up my SEXITUDE, in order to rock out with my hoop out. Here we are in her shop-

I also had some quality nap time on the World Famous BOB's soft pillows...ahhhhh, home at last!

(She really is that tall- no squatting, heels, or other enhancements used in the taking of this photo)