The Adventures of Trixie Little

JANUARY 2010

2010-03-23T10:13:00.000-07:00

PARTY SHOW TOUR! On our way down to Key West, we did a mini-tour through the south with Clams Casino, Little Brooklyn and Anita Cookie. Monkey inspired one Atlanta gal to create a fashion statement using bananas.

KEY WEST HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA was amazing. Read my article about it here: http://www.pinup.me.uk/family-vacation-the-key-west-burlesque-holiday-extravaganza/
The photos say it better than words...

FALL 2009

2009-11-23T09:46:00.000-08:00

"WIZARD OF BRAS" at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn. Produced by Rita Men Weep. I was Glinda and Monkey was an evil flying monkey. Little Brooklyn as The Scarecrow- lost her stuffing to puppet crows!

HALLOWEEN at The Slipper Room. With Dirty Martini, Bambi the Mermaid and Zombie Gal Friday who had to hold onto her body parts so they didn't fall off.

BURLY-CON in Seattle was an educational weekend for burlesque performers to take classes, listen to talks, receive feedback on acts and network. Here is the BOYLESQUE PANEL and a photo of me and the living legend Marinka...who had just taught us a class on walking and on how to fuck stage curtains.

Leland Bobbe is a NYC photographer taking serious portraits of burlesque performers...here are some of our shots:

EXOTIC WORLD, CONEY, NEW ORLEANS

2009-07-14T12:03:00.001-07:00

After breaking my camera in Key West during the winter, and losing the habit of shutter-buggery- I am finally back on the blog-horse! I'm going to catch you up quickly and then keep things more up-to-date from now on...here are some photos from the Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend in Las Vegas, our Coney Island show and a trip to New Orleans for a Hendrick's Gin party and Bust Out Burlesque show.

BACK IN VERMONT

2009-01-08T19:16:00.000-08:00

We're back in the LAND OF ENDLESS SNOW...it's almost spirit-crushing, but we have been working hard in circus school during the day and trudging home to hot cocoa by night. On the up side, my abs are rocking from all the shoveling we've done and my butt is going to look good too after all the times I've had to walk up the long road that leads to The Chalet- it's so steep the truck often can't make it up.

HELLO, 2009!

2009-01-08T19:10:00.001-08:00

AN ELEGANT CHRISTMAS

2009-01-08T18:49:00.001-08:00

We had an epic 12 hour drive from Vermont through a blizzard to get home to Baltimore for 2 awesome shows at The Patterson. The drive was worth it cause we spent the weekend with Miss Astrid, Dirty Martini, Lukki, and Taro. The day after our shows, we took our Burlesque-Family Holiday Party over to the infamous 2 O'Clock Club that used was where Blaze Starr got her start and eventually owned and operated. Now it's a gem of a strip club- probably hasn't been re-decorated since Blaze retired in the 60's- we smothered our favorite dancers (Elegance, Spice and Movement) with oppressive holiday cheer! Then we went home and listened to records...Monkey and Taro danced to Thriller in their matching outfits.

HOLIDAY MADNESS BEGINS!

2008-12-15T19:53:00.001-08:00

I was THRILLED to be doing holiday numbers this year. Friday we were at Slipper Room and Saturday we performed a new Elf-Trapeze act at Murray Hill's HUGE holiday show at The Zipper! An online review of the show said this about us: "But perhaps the most memorable performance was the dirty, gravity-defying trapeze dance between Trixie Little & The Evil Hate Monkey, which was so weird as to defy description." Perfect.

BURLESQUE IN BRATTLEBORO

2008-12-15T19:41:00.000-08:00

I taught a really fun Burlesque Bootcamp class at Luminz Studio up here in Vermont this fall. We had two packed nights for our recital show- it was CRAZY fun because everyone in town kinda went nuts over all of the acts! In addition to helping them all create new solo acts, we performed a very "Vermonty" group number and stripped off our sweaters and mittens! The act that practically stole the show, though, was by our stage manager and sound tech- named "Twink & Berries." They are in the circus program we did last year and they rocked it.

THANKSGIVING AT THE CHALET

2008-11-28T19:38:00.001-08:00

SAN FRANCISCO

2008-11-23T21:48:00.000-08:00

I GOT A NEW CAMERA! The blog is back in action. This past weekend, we left Vermont on Wednesday night, flew to San Francisco Thursday, had a gig Friday, flew back to NYC for a gig Saturday and made it back to Vermont by Sunday...welcome to show business. The SF gig was amazing- the gorgeous Catherine D'Lish was there with the adorable Kitten on the Keys! Monkey helped Catherine by scaling the wall to bring her her sponge...that was after he sexily applied glitter to his nipples.

SEPTEMBER GIGS IN NYC

2008-09-28T20:10:00.000-07:00

We're back to training like dogs at circus school in Vermont during the week and drinking like fish and stripping like steaks in New York City on the weekends. There's not much to show of our circus training yet since we're still just getting back in the groove and trying to pick up where we left off last May.

Here some lovely moments from our NYC gigs this month: Yeo backstage at The Box. Nasty Canasta & Darlinda Just Darlinda show support at Tigger's Man-A-Tease Show. Dirty Martini & Violet Eva at the New York Burlesque Festival. Dr. Lucky with Melody Sweets and her "assistant". Tiggo The Clown at Pinchbottom's "Pretencion" show. Me and Murasaki Babydoll. A 9/11 light memorial. Our little friend, Nick, inside of a box at The Box.

SUMMER 2008- PART THREE

2008-09-10T18:28:00.000-07:00

At the end of August, I squeezed in two photo shoots while we were home in Baltimore with my favorite photographers and my dear friend and stylist, Nikki Verdecchia: First was a shoot with Mike Lee: http://www.flickr.com/photos/curiouslee/ We shot these in his backyard while drinking wine and laughing at his adorable daughter who was being a ham in the background.
About a week later, Nikki teased my hair into oblivion for a BRIDE OF MONKEYSTEIN shoot with Steve Parke: http://flickr.com/photos/imagecarnival/ Steve is a whiz with Photo Shop, so included the "before" shot as well.

SUMMER 2008- PART TWO

2008-09-09T17:59:00.001-07:00

More from the Rothbury Music Festival...Here is me, Monkey, Lucky, Scotty, Una, Stephanie Monseau, Sxip Shirey and Gravity Plays Favorites!

We performed in the same tent as the BEST marching band ever- Pazzo Luna- from Chicago.

Monkey and I spent the entire month of July gigging in NYC at The Box, Corio and more. We would ride our matching pink pom-pom bikes over the Brooklyn Bridge at the wee wee hours...this is the last Saturday of the month...after 4 weeks of 10 shows per week...with the sun coming up.

We did the 3rd Virgin Mobile Music Festival in Baltimore at the beginning of August. Una Mimnaugh of Circus Una invited us to perform in her MOTOR CYCLE THRILL SHOW! Totally amazing, Evil Knievel antics with a motorcycle on a 40' tight wire with two gorgeous trapeze gals beneath- all set against the backdrop of a blue sky at Pimlico Race Track!

The Mermaid and Neptune were there too.

We had 3 amazing weeks at home in Baltimore after such a busy summer. Bill Stevenson finished out our trip at the Baltimore Tattoo Museum with a design we've been talking about for over a year- it's a tribute to our dearly departed house rabbit, Mahatma Bun Bun.

SUMMER 2008- PART ONE

2008-09-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

Man, we've been too busy to even update the blog! But here it is in a nutshell...from the Miss Exotic World Competition in Las Vegas (I won 2nd Runner Up & Most Innovative), to our appearance on Comedy Central's "Gong Show with Dave Attel", to the Rothbury Music Festival in Michigan...

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JOLLY OLD ENGLAND- WEEK 4

2008-06-29T20:33:00.000-07:00

This week...a lovely visit to the Blackberry Wood campground in the glorious English countryside ( www.blackberrywood.com ), High Tea (really champagne) with burlesque legend Immodesty Blaize, and shots from gigs we had with DJ Margaret the Gimp and at the rowdiest gypsy party we've ever seen!

JOLLY OLD ENGLAND- WEEK 3

2008-06-29T20:24:00.000-07:00

Here is the beer tent at the Udderbelly, shots of a pavillion and the decaying West Pier at the beach and a shot of us playing chase near the Arundel Castle.

JOLLY OLD ENGLAND- WEEK 2

2008-05-19T12:38:00.000-07:00

The first week was mostly spent promoting the show- it finally got up and running only to receive a bad review from the local paper. They called Monkey "hideous" which he took as a compliment and delivered bananas in his thong to the reporter! We had bruised feelings for a few days but then realized that everyone hates the paper that wrote it and took the review favorably! By the of the run every show was sold out! The Wau Wau sisters were here for 2 days doing the festival and we got to catch up with them too.

In England a Pasty is actually a type of pot pie thing. So, "pasties" are actually called "nipple tassels."

JOLLY OLD ENGLAND- WEEK 1

2008-05-19T12:19:00.000-07:00

We're off to England for a month to perform in the British debut of the NYC cabaret show Le Scandal at the Brighton Fringe Festival. The trip got off to a THRILLING start when we were seated on the plane next to the female-to-male tranny porn star- Buck Angel! We know Buck from The Box as "the man with a pussy"- and he enthralled me all night long with stories about the porn world! He even invited us to stay with him and his wife in Mexico!

Brighton is a really cool sea-side town along the English Channel- it's known as being the "Little London" and kind of classy and gay. Le Scandal is doing 14 shows in this upside down purple cow tent called the Udderbelly.

Our producer/host (Fiona) put us in an AMAZING flat and it's awesome! It has a balcony, a big comfy rug, flocked wallpaper, fancy old shudders and you can see the sea from the window! It's a part of Brighton called by the locals "Hove, actually" because it's fancy. Across the street all week this famous boxer who just went through a messy divorce after his reality show bombed stayed in the Landsdowne Hotel. He drove a BIG RIG around. We couldn't help but take photos with it one night.

CIRCUS SCHOOL- THE END....FOR NOW

2008-05-19T12:04:00.000-07:00

Monkey and I had to leave our Pro-Track peeps in Vermont two and a half weeks early to do the Brighton Fringe Festival. It was bittersweet leaving early- we were happy to get the work but were sad to not be able to perform alongside all the bad-ass circus friends we trained with for nine long months! Monkey and I are definitely coming back in the fall to train more though- so it's not exactly good bye!

PHILADELPHIA

2008-05-19T11:56:00.000-07:00

We flew down to perform at a few of the Philly Film Festival after-parties and caught up with the Peek-A-Boo Revue and Skeletor!

Here I am in the lobby of The Prince Theater. We went there to watch a documentary called "The Tingler" about the master of cinema gimmicks- William Castle. Flying skeletons, buzzing seats, insurance policies- the works! Such a great self-made American entrepreneur.

MOISTURE FESTIVAL SEATTLE

2008-04-07T19:35:00.001-07:00

We performed 7 shows in 5 days at the 5th annual Moisture Festival. This was our second year performing alongside hilarious and inspiring vaudeville, variety and burlesque performers in the glory of blooming cherry blossoms, perky daffodils and the bright green grass of Seattle in April.

Oh- the glamour! Being in the presence of these gorgeous creatures was like a succulent dessert, an impeccable cocktail and a racy romance novel all poured into a sequined gown...Miss Indigo Blue, Waxie Moon and The Swedish Housewife.

These are the A-DORABLE Aerialistas who performed the cutest synchronized cupcake-inspired aerial hoop act.

Over at Hale's Brewery Palladium, we caught up with the Rasypini Brothers. We had worked with Dan (on the right) at Baltimore's Mini-Fest and greatly admire and respect him- he's profoundly funny in my book.
http://www.moisturefestival.com/

PASTIES IN BALTIMORE

2008-04-07T19:30:00.001-07:00

March 28th & 29th we performed "Dial 'P' for Pasties" at The Patterson to sell out audiences. This is the fourth version of the show and we keep adding new writing, tightening the dance numbers and just making the whole thing better. We want to do some touring and longer runs of this show this year- it went over amazingly well with our hometown crowd!

CIRCUS SCHOOL- WEEKS 29 & 30

2008-04-07T19:22:00.000-07:00

I've been working on hula hooping one leg while in this move! It's really hard to take new photos of what we're working on since we're kind of just refining, rehearsing and working on transitions for moves we already have. We've been working hardest to have a new, fancier version of Kama Sutra ready for our trip to Seattle's Moisture Festival on April 1st-6th.

CIRCUS SCHOOL- WEEK 28

2008-03-24T20:04:00.001-07:00

The whole Pro-Track program had a sleep over at the studio this week- we promptly made a fort with the fabric and stayed up late playing games and watching You Tube.

In other news- Monkey and I had some major break-thrus this week! We finally nailed some tricks we've spent a few weeks working on.

In the Risley department: first time log flips- flipping from back to front perpendicular to Monkey's feet. We also got a drop from foot to foot to front balance. And our pop to foot-to-foot from sitting was like 100%! In the trapeze department: Monkey can do an ankle drop while supporting all of my weight from sitting. In the acro department: I was able to pop Monkey up to a 2-high instead of having him climb up to my shoulders.

Accomplishments come in fits and spurts and then you have to figure out how to make them reliably performable. But this was a major week for us.

THIS IS....A BATHROOM

2008-03-24T19:49:00.001-07:00

We spent quality time with Peekaboo Point and Helen Pontani in the itty bitty teeny weeny Corio dressing room this weekend when we guest starred at their regular "This is Burlesque" show! http://thisisburlesque.com/

It was also our beloved Bradford's 40th birthday....now, I ask you- does this look like a grown up to you?

CIRCUS SCHOOL- WEEK 26

2008-03-24T19:39:00.001-07:00

This hurts. But we keep working on it- trying to make it easy-peasy and consistent...it's all about baby steps.

Snow keeps falling and melting and falling and melting- which makes for homicidal icicles such as this one- it's like 5 feet long!

CIRCUS SCHOOL WEEK 25

2008-02-29T20:24:00.001-08:00

At the culmination of a crazy-busy month, I was out of commission the first part of the week with a fever and cold. Our teachers were away in Spain so we had a clown teacher- Stephen Stearns. I managed to make it to half of my classes- in which we mostly work-shopped our Kama Sutra duo trap number. We got great feedback from the class and Stephen and have a lot of work to do to implement the suggestions.

Since I was sick, Monkey had a whole private lesson to work on conditioning for bases with Colleen and Bill.

Obviously it was beneficial- by the end, Monkey was basing our 6' 3" HUGE acro coach, Bill!

BURLESQUE IN BRATTLEBORO

2008-02-29T20:06:00.000-08:00

In a daring feat of performance pioneering, Monkey, Lukki, Bradford and I staged 2 nights of our brilliantly brainless burlesque caper, Dial "P" for Pasties, in the sleepy little town where we go to school...Brattleboro, Vermont. It was a smash hit! Sold out, turning people away...one person declared "Better than Wicked"...the next night it was a standing ovation (granted only 3 people were standing, but it still counts)! And Brattleboro will never be the same....

After the show a local woman came by the dressing room to show Lukki and Monkey some of her burlesque costuming talents...

Note the orange cone barricade- part of her installation.

CIRCUS SCHOOL WEEK 24

2008-02-29T19:57:00.000-08:00

HOLY COW- HAVE I GOTTEN STRONG OR WHAT?! I based Monkey in all kinds of crazy trapeze moves this week- the one below being the tamest of the bunch. We also worked on him dropping to hang by my ankles, straddling under one leg and then I squeezed his head between my thighs for a move we invented called..."Choke the Monkey". I feel like we made major head way this week!

VALENTINE'S WEEKEND

2008-02-29T19:41:00.000-08:00

Valentine's night at The Box...

And Dr. Donut's "BRIDE OF DONUT" cast at Joe's Pub.

VAVAVOOM ROOM

2008-02-29T19:24:00.000-08:00

Back in NY again for Miss Astrid's astounding show at The Zipper. Here are some back stage antics....Ukulele Louie (aka Bradford Scobie) puts his best face forward, Julie Atlas Muz and her husband, Leo, rekindle the romance with Tigger's derriere and lastly, Julie's alter ego, Mr. Pussy receives some styling tips from Monkey.

CIRCUS SCHOOL WEEK 22

2008-02-13T10:18:00.000-08:00

Tuesday was a normal day of classes. I must admit, it's becoming difficult to take still photos of most of the tricks we're learning because they are getting more dynamic. But we have been toughening up the skin on our calves in order to rock tricks from this leg-to-leg position. Our hand callouses are really macho too.

The rest of the week, we had a guest teacher (Jesse Dryden) for physical theater classes. Jesse is awesome. This is the second time he's worked with us. He'll come back in April and May to help direct our BIG ACT that we will complete by the end of the program. Some of his exercises included re-telling a memory while the rest of the class acts it out, creating movement pieces about elements, words and emotions and writing our own eulogy and acting it out in movement. Jesse is part of this GORGEOUS circus show called Birdhouse Factory: http://birdhousefactoryshow.com

HIGH BROW IN BALTIMORE

2008-02-13T09:53:00.000-08:00

We took our roommate (Contortion Chris) home to Baltimore with us for a show at the Ottobar with Scotty the Blue Bunny! The show was crazygoodtimes. We did an American Gladiators spoof, re-enacted serious plays and performed our duo trapeze Kama Sutra with some of new tricks from school thrown in!

The day after the show, we had a photo shoot with Mike Lee and my dear friend and woman-who-makes-me-beautiful, Nikki. We used an old refrigerator for the shoot- I wore my mermaid tail and Monkey was dressed up like Gordon's Fisherman.

Contortion Chris had his way with the fridge as well.....

CIRCUS SCHOOL WEEK 20

2008-02-11T12:16:00.000-08:00

This Risley-foot-business is no joke. I spent most of class time this week getting kicked from Monkey's feet while holding all my limbs in tighter than pantyhose on a hippopotamus. At the end of the day I wind up feeling like I've been in a car accident. In these photos I start standing on Monkey's feet and do a back layout to land my hips on his feet. It's not exactly a trick we'll be performing soon, but we're chipping away at it....

CIRCUS SCHOOL WEEK 19

2008-01-26T19:17:00.000-08:00

Weird Bruise #67
This one came from working on Risley (aka Icharian Games/ Foot Juggling). I started sitting on Monkey's feet and did a back flip off backwards. His toes pushing me up gave me a major pain in the ass. It didn't subside for 3 days either.

Some of us who need remedial tumbling lessons are now taking an additional class at a local gymnastics facility. This was week 2 and our first time getting on a serious regulation trampoline made with stretchy criss-crossed strings- it was kind of like being sling-shot! Here's me during and after a scary jump into the foam pit- kind of like an energy sucking vortex- it's so hard to climb out!

We learned a bunch of cool chair balances this week. They are fun and really helpful for stretching your back and shoulders!

This week was memorable for me also because I had an amazing private lesson with Mark- he stretched me waaaaaayyyy out and helped me pin point a possible reason for why my splits have constricted and left me. Since so much of what Monkey and I have been doing the past few weeks has been Risley, acro or really intense core stuff where I'm in hollow body position most of the time- he wondered if my lower back was staying tight and not really releasing ever....which can yank your hamstrings up as tight as guitar strings. This makes a lot of sense with how my body has been feeling. It's such a sensitive balance with this stage of my training- I'm realizing that I have to match my efforts in strengthening with double the amount of flexibility work. Even though I still get steam rolled every day in class- I am FINALLY feeling a hair more strong than I am weak....literally just this week that has happened. This is clearly a race the tortoises will win!

STRETCHY TIME WITH CHRIS

2008-01-23T11:24:00.000-08:00

I spent a WILD Saturday night stretching with Chris, my contortionist roommate. We stretched our legs and backs with the warm up routine from "The Contortionists' Handbook"- which takes over an hour. It was a totally different way of stretching than what I'm used to- you only hold things for 5 seconds, then rest for 5 and repeat 10 times- but it's all pretty intense. The good news is that keeping tracks of all the counting makes the time go by really fast!

CIRCUS SCHOOL WEEK 18

2008-01-23T11:06:00.000-08:00

An amazing Australian acrobatic-stilt-theater teacher/performer named David Clarkson* came up from NY to teach us for 2 days. The first day he taught us some acro moves you can do on stilts- one move in particular was really fun to try to perfect- it's the first part of a Fish Flop (pictured left w/o the stilts). We gave our bodies a break on Friday, but worked our physical theater skills instead. With new variations on spatial awareness games and a REALLY emotionally intense 25 minute staring exercise- I was totally impressed. David was a great facilitator- supportive, challenging with lots of new insights.

*See some of David's unbelievable stilt/catapult/break dance/weird apparatus work here: http://www.stalker.com.au/

CIRCUS SCHOOL WEEK 17

2008-01-16T17:38:00.001-08:00

We're back to hard-core training again! We split our time between duo trapeze and partner acrobatics. Here is a one-knee hang on Monkey's foot. My body feels like I've been beaten with a bag or oranges from just this type of activity this week- hanging all your weight on various limbs requires a surprising amount of callouses and toughening...let alone the strength and coordination!

This is a Spanish Web- a totally dizzy-good time. You just strap your hand in and someone on the bottom whips your around super fast! Dizziest I've been since I first drank champagne and sangria together in high school.

NEW YEARS + LOAD OF FUN

2008-01-09T19:09:00.001-08:00

BEST NEW YEARS EVER! It was a show, a dance party, an hour long Polaroid session and crazy-good times at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn on New Years with Dr. Lukki, Darlinda Just Darlinda, Little Brooklyn, Baby New Year, Nasty Canasta, Johnny Porkpie, Gal Friday and Albert Cadabra.

The party was definitely over January 2nd-6th.
We had to move out of our amazing rehearsal studio at Load Of Fun....many tears were shed in the process. Since we have decided to stay in Vermont longer and the rent on the space increased, it just didn't make sense to hold onto it. We had been at Load Of Fun for 2 years, were the second tenants to move in (even with rats, no heat and broken windows!) and were proud to be part of what has grown into an inspiring artistic community.

We packed up 2,000 sq feet of stuff and moved it into an 80 sq foot storage unit (and gave/sold uncountable things too). Here is my giant closet that Monkey made for us to store all of our costumes- it wouldn't fit out of the door. It had to be cut in half horizontally and I could only fit the bottom half into the storage space, but some closet is better than none!

Good bye Closet.

Good bye Rainbow.

Good bye Load Of Fun.

CHRISTMAS, HON!

2008-01-09T18:55:00.001-08:00

We left right from the recital to rush home to Baltimore for our 3rd annual HOLIDAY SPECTAC-U-THON at The Patterson with Miss Astrid, Lukki, Paco, Bayo, Justin, Shortstaxx and the Stage Kittens.

Here's Monkey on 34th Street in Hampden...

Two days after Christmas, we opened up for The Dresden Dolls! Judging by the look on my face, it was practically an orgasmic experience!

The glamorous Meow Meow was charming as well...even on on all fours trying to pack her suitcase.

CIRCUS SCHOOL WEEKS 14 + 15

2008-01-09T18:27:00.000-08:00

After 4 weeks of work, the NECCA Pro-Track's "Team Acro" unveiled our bad ass recital number- Kung Fu Fighting!
We really worked hard- learning tough, brand new skills and lots of choreography with 7 people in only 4 weeks. The night of the show, everything was going fantastic- we had tons of adrenaline and excitement. When it got to my first big move, I was pitched from Henry and Colleen into a "Oiseau" above Monkey's head...we were so pumped up I literally flew OVER his head! He caught me low on the legs instead of the hips, but Monkey broke my fall entirely! We went down like a ton of bricks! We both jumped up and goofed our way into place, immediately picking up with the rest of the sequence! The irony is that that trick wasn't the one that terrified me the most- the one below was! Luckily we have had enough clown training to cover even this major fuck up! It was still fun and funny for many days afterwards...only Monkey is still nursing a sore shoulder- poor Monkey!

This is a back flip of Monkey's shoulders. (The photo is from rehearsal, I didn't have a spotter at the show...just so you know!)

WHITE ALMOST-CHRISTMAS

2007-12-18T20:26:00.000-08:00

After a tough week of rehearsing our group acro number and getting to know a new coach (Mark) who busted our butts, we spent an awesomely reclusive 3-day weekend at Bradford and Chase's "CHALET" located 17 miles north of Brattleboro (see September archive for a fall photo of the Chalet). It snowed on top of snow- and piled up quickly! With a fire place, cable TV and an awesome internet connection all wrapped up in a snowy Vermont package, we left feeling refreshed, inspired and productive!

Meal preparation was quite rustic. Due to changes at the Chalet, there wasn't any silverware....so we got creative:

I made progress on some Vermont-inspired past times- beer drinking, fire tending AND embroidery...

While "Monkey- the Meteorologist" kept track of snow accumulation...16 inches and counting!

CIRCUS SCHOOL WEEK 13

2007-12-07T16:15:00.003-08:00

We busted our butts this week learning skills for our show in a few weeks- most of which have been kinda tough to photograph because they involve dynamic things. Despite that, here are some of the things we spent HOURS on this week.

Standing on Monkey's head- truly killer on the legs to hold onto his head "like suction cups" as Serenity instructed. Monkey looks like he's having a GREAT time, doesn't he?

Below is a Hand-To-Foot Roll-Over. I start standing in Monkey's hands with his arms straight, then he starts to bend his arms as he rolls over to elbows/belly and then rolls all the way back to his back. It's crazy weird and involves all kind of nuanced balance and adjustments for us both, but this is some of the harder stuff we came here to learn.

2007-12-07T16:15:00.001-08:00

FIRST SNOW

2007-12-07T16:09:00.000-08:00

It's Vermont in Winter! The snow was six beautiful inches.
Below is the view down Elliot Street from our living room.

CIRCUS SCHOOL WEEK 12

2007-12-07T15:41:00.001-08:00

Holy cow- taking time off for Thanksgiving didn't do me any favors! Tricks that were easy before the break now seem like a distant memory. I had to try hard to smile and enjoy the wild world of sensation that awaited me this week- apparently you pay threefold for each day with out a split, handstand or backbend! To make up for it- I spent quality time stretching with my roommate Chris the contortionist:

In class this week, we separated into our groups for our "RECITAL" (that's what I'm calling it anyway!) on December 21st. There are 3 groups: Trapeze, Fabrics and Acrobatics (that's the one Monkey and I are in). We alternate each day between working on our act and continuing to learn skills on Trapeze and Fabric:

THANKSGIVING BREAK

2007-11-28T06:56:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-11-11T14:11:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-11T14:00:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-06T18:41:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-06T18:09:00.000-08:00

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)

TRIP TO DC

2007-10-28T21:57:00.000-07:00

Monkey and I flew to Washington, DC this weekend for The Lobsterboy Revue's last show ever. We have performed with them since they started- we only missed 2 shows in their 4 year history. They totally went out with a BANG!

Our flight down was delayed so we made good use of an extra 3 hours at the airport...

CIRCUS SCHOOL WEEK 7

2007-10-28T21:34:00.000-07:00

This week we worked on jumping up to hands-to-feet. It was awesome working so much with Zina- she had a partner act with her hustband for many years where she would do one-hand handstands atop a giant pole that he would hold. Our private lesson was with Zina this week as well- we got the infamous "treatment" from her during an hour of majorly intense stretching.

The fall leaves are in full form- some of my favorite spots to watch the TREE SHOW...

BALTIMORE WEEKEND- SHOW, ZOO, WEDDING

2007-10-22T20:15:00.000-07:00

Home after 6 weeks- this is our show at The Ottobar...so much love. (Camp Love Letters spotted far left!)
Bradford- I'm soooo sorry I had to post this photo- but Dr. Donut undressed is PRICELESS- just know I didn't make any money off this "Celebrities- They're Just Like Us- They even drink beer in their underwear!" moment.

I started researching a new show about the relationship between animals and their trainers- inspired by the real-life relationship of Scotty and Jumbo the elephant circa 1880's. Thusly, I went to visit my friend, Rick, at the Baltimore Zoo to see the educational animals and had the amazing opportunity to watch him and another employee brush Yang the Alligator's teeth! Small- but scary and scaly. They are like fleshy yet stony at the same time- positively prehistoric. And there WAS a small amount of blood shed even in this weekly dental routine!

On Saturday night, a dear old friend also got married in a Vedic ceremony- please have all the people I love gather around to shower me in rose petals ANY TIME. I think I would spontaneously combust, orgasminate, phosphorese and squeal with reckless abandon!

CIRCUS SCHOOL WEEK 6

2007-10-22T19:24:00.001-07:00

This week was very nearly a break-down week. Things seemed more scary and horrifying than usual. It's normal to take a few steps forward and a step back when pushing yourself physically- so I took in stride and dealt with the lump in my throat. Aside from almost crying doing a back layout off the high trapeze bar, this was the week of back bends. I worked on dropping back to my hands all week and found myself back-bending off of people and chairs many times!

NYC VISIT. LOVE IS THE WORD

2007-10-15T18:38:00.000-07:00

Feeling expansive in my heart...Fort Tryon Park, NYC

And satisfaction in all things is apparently...automatic.

Maybe things are THAT easy!?

CIRCUS SCHOOL WEEK 5

2007-10-11T14:58:00.000-07:00

Splitsville, USA- After 2 days of really intense focus on stretching my hips, hip flexors and hamstrings- I made it to Splitsville on both sides! I managed to put on a happy face amidst the intensity just long enough to pose. Guess that's the showgirl in me. One of the funny analogies that made me and my stretching buddies laugh through the pain was talking about how getting splits is like anal sex- you have to coax it each time and never over push!

This week was the first week of skills training instead of just conditioning like we have been doing- which was exciting and fun, but also means we have to motivate for serious and do all the same amount of conditioning on our own time. The safety lines were brought out for the first time this week for us to learn Penny Drops- basically flips off a high bar onto the ground.

Life in Keene continues to amuse as well- this is a little after-dinner freak-fest with Sadie and Monkey. I'm sad to leave here in November, but we will definitely need to be closer to the studio (Keene is 30 minutes away) to become the bad asses we want to be! We're gonna spend the rest of our 9 months in Brattleboro with 2 guy contortionists in the program- isn't that hot?

PLAYA DEL FUEGO- FALL 2007

2007-10-08T19:11:00.000-07:00

I drove 7 hours Friday to join my favorite Baltimore nutballs who convened as Camp Love Letters- a brilliant interactive theme camp conceived of by Spoon- people came by to write love letters and then we would take turns delivering them! We brought a lot of joy to the world this weekend! Other highlights include (but are not limited to):

1. DONKEY! I never knew I loved donkeys so much!

2. Making my synchronized hula hoop video (with 28 hoopers and only one rehearsal!)
3. Our synchronized swim routine for the opening ceremony of the Naked Slip-N-Slide
4. Pickletinis (pickle juice, vodka, vermouth- YUM and WEIRD!)
5. Writing and delivering all the love letters.
6. Malcolm's Robot Dance
7. Gnome sitings Friday night
8. Joe's angry-dad voice for deliveries
9. Talking about pink bubbles, crystals, Mongolian vacationing, Chartreuse, roadkill photography, Britney, geology, William Shatner- to name a few memorable converstations.
10. And being in the best camp ever with the coolest and most creative people EVER- I LOVE YOU CAMP LOVE LETTERS!

CIRCUS SCHOOL WEEK 4

2007-10-08T18:38:00.000-07:00

Many of us were slowed down this week with sniffles and coughing from what became known as 'the cold'- but the highlight of the week was when we got to play soccer (with a rubber bouncy ball) and sort-of basketball in our stilt class! We also had an unexpected gig in Boston on Thursday. The scheduled performers were coming down from Montreal but weren't permitted to cross the boarder for some reason- so they pulled it together with Vermont peeps last minute. The skirt I'm wearing is actually one of their costumes- it is made out of hundreds of stockings- brilliant!

NEW ENGLAND CHARM

2007-09-30T16:37:00.000-07:00

New England Gay Pride or Elementary School Fall Equinox Festival? You decide.
The cute-quaint charm of this part of the country should be illegal. Or at least there should be warning signs- almost like traffic signs. "Dancing Children Ahead" or "Danger: Extremely Picturesque View" or "Cavorting Woodland Creatures May Distract Drivers"

As you can imagine, basic decisions like which butternut squash to choose become very difficult under these extreme conditions.

CIRCUS SCHOOL WEEK 3

2007-09-29T19:31:00.001-07:00

Theme of the Week: Run, Girl, Run!
Where the level of soreness in the past couple weeks was hovering around 9 or 10, this week never got above 8. I went running three times- at home and at the studio- always in cemeteries! Beautiful, quiet and serene but weirdly ironic somehow- when you feel your blood and breath so intensely- you're so acutely, physically alive yet surrounded by such formal reverence to the dead. It's nice and humbling.

Climbing is getting easier and important pain-preventing callouses are forming on my hands. On Thursday, Zina coached us in tumbling and partner acro- which we love and are proficient in, so we were able to help people too. I had never done a front limber before- from a handstand you lower both feet to the ground into a bridge and then stand up (different from walk-overs where one foot lands first). Our private lesson was with Serenity this week and we workshopped 3-person acro with chairs. It was hard to get good photos of it- video would have been better- but here are some of the positions above. Friday culminated in our second social gathering with our circus program peeps- we had awesome Thai food and plotted some smart-assery to inflict upon our acting teacher!

In Hula Hoop News: My transition to head stand foot hooping is getting smoother AND I finally figure out how to kick the hoop back up to hips from knees. My ankles are brusied pretty badly from starting to work on kicking up TO knees from the ground- when they heal, I'll be back to work on that one.

APPLE PICKING & THE CHALET

2007-09-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

This weekend was real New Englandy. Friday we got to go apple picking in New Hampshire with the girls who live in the house where we're living- they are brilliant and fun. One bushel and a bellyful of apples later, we were making apple crisp to take to a potluck dinner with peeps from the circus program. Saturday night we went to Bradford (aka Doctor Donut) and Chase's "CHALET" outside of Brattleboro. After many cocktails and embarassing (for me anyway) games of ping pong, foos ball and Clue by the crackling fire- we went to sleep only to wake up to more woodland creatures than Snow White could attract in heat. Literally, a wee little blue bird was staring at me through the window of one room, while a red squirrel chirpped and signaled with his tail out of another. I was waiting for them to make my breakfast, but Chase did that instead. The day culminated in a walk, some "chipmunk therapy" (staring in silence as the agonizingly cute chipmunk critters gobble up the scattered remains of the bird feeder) and one more rousing game- this time it was badmitton. Which we lost. Probably because of me. The Chalet was like a slice of Alpine wonderment- note the squirrel pattern railings on the deck that they designed themselves. So much cuteness IS PAINFUL!

CIRCUS SCHOOL WEEK 2

2007-09-20T18:36:00.001-07:00

Tuesday was startling for me. I was so cold in the morning that I had to get dressed under the covers. This was alarming because it's only September. I know the cold weather is coming, but really...changing under the covers in September? Luckily the rest of the week has been GORGE. And the leaves are just starting to change. Muscles and joints were tighter and more resistant this week- after so much exertion it's kind of normal. We got to meet Zina this week- the former Russian gymnast and coach to all the contortionists. She lived up to her nice/tough reputation during our tumbling class today- especially busting our chops on handstand form. Our private this week with Bill was spent mainly on me basing Monkey- a crazy feat for someone 50 pounds smaller!

This two-high shoulder stand above was like insanely painful- it felt like my whole ribcage could collapse into a pile down from the top of my collarbones. But we kept at it and Bill made me walk forward, backward, side to side with him up there a few times. As for the hooping update- I am now able to go from shoulder stand into a shoulder roll into head stand- all while hooping on my right foot and Monkey hooped whilst on the tightwire- SERIOUS TRICKS!

NYC Visit

2007-09-16T21:25:00.001-07:00

After our week of training, we went up to NYC for some shows. Miss Coney Island Beauty Pageant, The Murray Hill Show and Indian Larry's Memorial Bike Rally which involved tons of bikers, macaroni & cheese, pickles, and a dunk tank- guess who was the first one in the tank...

Circus School Group Photo- Week 1

2007-09-16T21:16:00.001-07:00

Foot Hooping

2007-09-16T21:05:00.001-07:00

Foot hooping was something I was able to do already when I got here, but I've been working on more ankle rotation and less leg movement. The shoulder stand part was something I just got this week.

CIRCUS SCHOOL WEEK 1

2007-09-16T18:32:00.000-07:00

Monkey and I got settled in last week for our 4 month autumn adventure at the New England Center for Circus Arts. There are 16 people in our class- all amazing and talented ALREADY- I can't wait to see our progress! Our main teachers are Elsie and Serenity- the "Trapeze Twins"- pretty much the nicest, most graceful and pleasant people you could ever meet...until they make you do crazy things that are insanely painful! Our week consists of 3 group classes (3 hours long), a 1 hour private lesson (with Bill Forchion) and another 3 hour minimum of open studio time- we also have to start running on our own several times each week. The first few days were challenging, yet manageable- full of majorly intense partner stretching and conditioning exercises mostly with Elsie. But then on Friday, Serenity took it up several notches- probably waiting until the last day of the week so we would have the weekend to recover. By the end of the week, I was generally tender and tired everywhere- but we had to give 200%. Some of the more memorable difficult moments included 1.5 minute handstands, followed by 1.5 minute crow (an arm balance), followed by another minute handstand and ANOTHER minute long crow, 30 slow press up headstands- 10 tuck ups, 10 pike ups, 10 straddle ups. Then over an hour of tumbling drills, trapeze and fabric ab exercises culminating in even more abs! Needless to say, I have been walking like Frankenstein with actual tears welling up in my eyes when I encounter a set of stairs (up and down hurts equally) and even laughing kind of makes me want to curl up and die. Having been in the studio all week has been super productive for our partner balancing and my foot hooping has made massive improvements in just this one week- it's exciting!