Kat's Cambridge Catch Up #7 | Debut Circus Performance
- The Beginning -
Earlier this year I asked my trapeze teacher, Will, how quickly I could be performance ready. At the time, I was only sign off for a couple of weeks to train by myself but I wanted a goal to work towards. He told me month should do it. In March, Cambridge Community Circus (aka CCC) announced that they were putting on their Spring Show in May. I immediately put my name down to perform. My goal was set. I had two months to prepare.
- Putting the Routine Together -
Spotify has been my lifesaver, so many good playlists and recommendations. I had favourited a bunch of songs from listening to random playlists on the way to work and such so I had a handful to pick from. I'm mentioning choosing the music first as being a dancer, I feel the music is the driving force of my movement.
It's a bit different on the trapeze though.
I had no idea where to start - "Just put some moves together and see if they flow". What ended up happening was I had a list of moves I could do but when I tried to do them to the cues in the music, it was way too fast paced and I got so tired by the midpoint. I was told to slow everything down. It was really hard to get out of my choreographer mindset. I wanted to do so much but physically couldn't. This was super challenging. I ended up changing songs a couple of weeks later to help drag out my movements. There were sections of the routine I wasn't happy about and kept making changes after each practice session. After I was mostly happy with what I came up with, I changed my music back to my original choice. And it seemed to fit together so nicely. Funny how things work out.
- Music & Costume -
I had two costumes ready to go as I was between songs and naturally I needed two different ones to suit the theme. I picked a beautiful cover of Sia's Chandelier by Madilyn Bailey. The costume was a lovely gold/nude lace leotard which I kind of wanted to reflect the original music video (although it's not at all close). I didn't know how the leotard would translate in the air but it ended up looking stunning!
- Performance Day -
Saturday 13th May was performance day. I was so excited and nervous. It had been ages since I performed in front of an audience, almost a year. I had that nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I was going to mess it up. I usually mess up in one of my dance performances every year. I was the second act to perform so my nerves didn't have a chance to build up too much and before I knew it, I was up on the trapeze waiting for my music to start.
I hope you like it.
Then it was all over! How three and a half minutes fly by! All the other acts were amazing and I'm so grateful that I was able to perform alongside them.
- Thank You -
Will | Firstly, for introducing me to trapeze. I am proud to represent team trapeze! For believing in me and that I could actually get a routine ready with having not much experience. You are a knowledgable yet patient teacher, even after all the times I manage to hit you during training (oops). And thank you for allowing me to be a part of your act. It was wonderful!
CCC Team | For having the facilities for regular people to come and experience the aerial and juggling life. For organising this amazing show from the decorations, catering, backstage and music.
CCC Family | For watching my run throughs and giving me sound advice, constructive feedback and so much love and support.
Daniel | For not getting sick of listening to the same piece of music over and over and over again (although I'm sure you must be use to that from me by now!) And for letting me loose to the circus world.
Gary | For capturing the most stunning photos (after requesting him take a million of me haha).
Matthias | For capturing my performance on video and being an awesome aerial buddy.
Family & Friends | Who came to watch the show. It was amazing to be able to perform for you.
Photo credit: Gary
Photo credit: Gary, Will & Tatiana
I will be performing a NEW trapeze routine this Saturday. I'm super nervous but I'm really happy with what I came up with. I'll let you know how it goes after!
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