Firefly Tour, performance #1

First performance of the February 2006 tour for Firefly Aerial Entertainment went well. It was an amazing party; like Marti Gras in North Carolina. You can check out the website if you care to at www.castlemccolloch.com. You can get an idea of what kind of events go on, and you can get a video clip of the same party last year.
Basically, this guy wanted to build a castle in the woods in North Carolina....so he did. It isn't as big I would have thought, but it is beauitful and the grounds are amazing. They had various tents set up around the grounds with different parties and performances all night, fire dancers and drum circles and EVERYONE was in costume. I was impressed.

We drove from NYC to Baltimore and then D.C. on Thursday. We stayed at (my sister) Reis' friend Yvette's house overnight. We drove down to North Carolina on Friday and we leave this morning, Sunday, for Georgia, where the tour continues.

The tour started out a little rocky...people just not getting along so well and unresolved issues, but as it continues, we are loving eachother more and more and bonding and having a wonderful time. I am very happy to be here and experiencing this with these amazing people.

Meet the crew:


These are the female performers in the company:
Courtney, Me (louise), Rachel, Ashley




Our amazing make-up artist and costume designer makes us all pretty. (this is the director, Cypher, getting his face painted).




Rachel and I in our stage make-up, back stage in the green room.




Me, hanging from the silks, in the castle, during our third set. It was so fun to perform!!!

Firefly goes on Tour

Even though I will be participating as an injured member who pretty much just sits around and stretches, the circus group I am in, Firefly, is leaving on tour tomorrow morning. We head out of NY early Thursday, Feb. 23rd and go to Baltimore to audition a potential new member. The heavens have finally granted me time with my sister, Reis, who coincidentally will be in D.C. visiting her friend, Yvette when we pass through that way. Yvette and her good-natured housemate have agreed to let 7 poor circus artists crash on her floor for the night. It will be good to hang out with them. I am excited.

We then head down to North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and full circle back to D.C. and then home to NY.

I will hopefully have pictures of the tour to post at some point. I am bringing my camera, which has been sitting around collecting dust cuz I always forget to take it with me when I leave the house.

As for pictures of me performing...
Well, there won't be many as my part in the show is all of 30 seconds because my back is really quite bad. I finally sat down with the director in tears, and explained that as much as I want to train, the pain is too much and I need a break for a couple weeks so my back can heal---whatever is wrong with it.
I saw a doctor last week and was taking a prescription of cortizone but it did no good.
We had a student recital and performance last Sunday, for which I performed my trapeze act I have been working on. One go was all I had before the pain was too intense, so I saved it for the actual performance (hadn't practiced for over a week prior) but it was fun and I got a lot of good comments such as "You looked great" "Weightless" "great stage presence" "Your underwear were sticking out of your leotard." :) (well, most of the comments were good).
Hopefully at some point I will have permission to post some of the photos the photographer took.

I am excited for this little adventure we are calling a tour. I am prepared with 5 hours of c.d.s on "non-violent communication" for in the van on the way (I'm sure everyone else will be really excited about that--but I am telling you, we could use it around here cuz there is a lot of bickering).

Hugs back "home"

The long, snowy path

Hey all

If anyone is still keeping up with this oh-so-rarely updated blog, know that I miss you all.
I miss the weather in California.
I miss my family and the love of my life.
I miss my unicycle and the Santa Cruz mountains.
I miss getting enough sleep.
I miss my girls.
But I love my new family here and the common goal.

There was an amazing blizzard on Sat. night and Sunday. I wish I got a picture while all the snow was fresh. It was amazing. Like 18 inches or more of snow overnight! Wind and big snowflakes floating every which way. It was hard to believe they were going down, cuz they all just looked like they were going to float sideways or on circles forever. I was screaching and jumping up and down with excitement, while my housemates were calling me a big dork and feeling annoyed at the inconvenience and wondering how it would effect getting to rehearsal. Our rehearsal space is rarely more than 15-20 degress warmer than the outside temperature and the HIGH yesterday was 29 degrees F so you can guess how cold it is to stretch and train. Kind of dangerous actually.

I wonder if that is why I injured my back.
Yes, you got it, folks. First my right ankle, then my left and now the right sub-scapular area in my back. I have been off training since Thurday night (I hurt it on Wed. but tried to train until I really couldn't stand the pain--smart). I got a massage but it made it worse. Cypher, the director, finally convinced me to see a dance injury or sports medicine specialist. So I got an appointment, but it is sort of stressing me out because with our tour coming up in less than two weeks, I won't even make enough to pay rent for March, let alone be able to afford a doctor visit.
But I guess that is the best use for a credit card--to take care of my health when I can't afford to.
And then there is the TOUR that I am supposed to be performing a trapeze act in but I can't train right now. Arg.

When we get back from tour I need to either:
A. get a raise
B. get a new job that pays more
C. get another job and work on my one day off
cuz I'm just not making it financially, and I already cut out everything that could be cut.
But that is the life of a poor artist, or someone with a full-time hobby. : )
I love it. It is worth being a little broke.

The tour should be fun. We are going to North Carolina and Georgia and Virginia. And we were going to D.C. but I am bummed that got canceled because it is my birthday weekend and my little sister was going to coincidentally be in D.C. that weekend. Bummer.

I guess that is the one thing that is getting to me a little. I miss my friends and family back home and I know the life in this line of work doesn't offer a 2-week vacation time to go on a cruise or a unicycle festival or a family camping trip. There are no days off--not consecutive. I miss being outdoors in the sun and riding or hanging out in nature with my friends. The summer will be busy with gigs here and touring, which is great in its own way, but leaves me little time to visit. I'll just have to throw big parties when I am on that side of the states again so I can see everyone all at once when I pass through town while we are on tour.

The community here is amazing, though. I already know more people that have similar interests here than I met in years in the bay area. There is quite a tight, underground art community that is really fun to be a part of.

I went to a cool party last weekend. It was run by members of the "freak factory." It was a very burning man type event: costumes and d.j.'s and people wandering around serving snacks, and a kissing booth for Valentine's Day with mints and Hershey's kisses.
I had a great time meeting people and hanging out. I ran into a bunch of students from the circus classes we teach and I even met a guy who looked like Elvis, (he even had the glasses) who I ended up staying up till 4am talking to. I get out very rarely, but when I do, it really makes me feel better and is fun. I love to dance!!! If you haven't been out for awhile, I highly recommend getting out and shaking your rump a bit, cuz it sure clears the mind.
(although it doesn't really help a bad back).

I am currently involved in a HUGE cooking project in my kitchen. I am alone in my house--a rare event. And we dancers eat SO much food. Our grocery bill is crazy and we go shopping every other day, it seems. But at least we aren't going hungry and no one around here is gaining weight so we must need it all.
I am cooking split pea soup and rice and beans and a curry vegetable thing...yummy


This must be the most boring blog ever, but really, my life is pretty dull day-to-day. The "glory" of running away with the circus is really just long hours of training in a cold room, bruises, sore muscles, long hours at work to pay the rent, late nights planning the next tour, long, cold walks to and from work, good books on the subway (thanks reis and JM) and many good laughs with the others walking the long road with me. I love waking up every day and knowing I am improving and following my heart, but there isn't much to talk about.

I always love to get email and know what all those that I left back home are doing.
Hugs to All.
And I'll try to post pictures soon...