Nothing beats a great review..

My hoop video has been reviewed on Hooping.org :D

http://www.hooping.org/2014/03/eve-everard/

An unexpected adventure

Sitting in our studio apartment, we watched our social media as people posted that they were all converging on Ireland for our favourite event of the year. The European Juggling Convention 2014.

It had been a bit of a rough winter - Luke was out doing street shows and I was struggling to find the motivation to keep up with my training. For the first time in my circus life I was working a 'normal' job to pay the rent, and it was not making me a happy human.
We were still teaching the circus classes over the holiday program, but the gigs were few and too far between.

A week out from the convention something happened that most people have happen on a regular basis.. It was payday, normal job payday - A month of my wages in one single day.
So I did what any circus-obsessed individual would do, and decided to find my circus feet again.
I booked two flights, for Luke and I, to Ireland to join the other 3000 circus artists in what can only be described as the craziest, wackiest, convergence of humans on this planet.

The event did not disappoint! Each day was spent in different masterclass workshops, training sessions, a 24 hour juggling hall, an acrobatic space, an aerial rig, a bunch of big tops, open stage acts, watching a show of the juggling legends (AMAZING btw) and somehow finding time for sharing tricks, and ideas with new friends and old circus classmates.. The inspiration was never ending.

I really could rant about how incredible the adventure was, but to sum up:

51 hours of travel to get there, 6 hula hoops, 8 juggling balls, 2 travelers, 3000 artists, and 9 amazing days of circus in Millstreet, Ireland. Win.

Spiegel hoopings

Hoop video link

So... I have been away from the blogging for nearly 3 months. We came back to Canberra for a break after the Glastonbury tour, and took up with a Spiegel tent show that was passing through. We were not working as performers for the show, but we traveled with them to Newcastle and then on to Sydney working as ushers and helping to crew the isles.

While in Sydney I arranged with the Stage management team to shoot a new video of my hoop routine. I brought in an amazing Stunt film/TV man - SYNiMAK - who did a beautiful job putting this edit together of my routine. The full video  is up, so feel free to check it out - I'd love to hear feedback. :)
By the way.. Tomorrow we drive to Perth! (4000+ km!!)

What ever next?

Luke and I arrived back in Australia to the unusual experience of being in a real house. My family have played Tag-team and disappeared to Paris, giving us the wonderful opportunity of house-sitting.

It is a strange thing to be able to make toast and tea at the same time without blowing out a generator. Or to be able to go to the bathroom without having to put on boots for the outside world. Or even to be able to walk in the door without unhitching the house from the car and putting stabilisers down - maybe this is a healthy break from caravan life!

Here are some pictures of our casual training sessions at our favourite park. Luke is practicing his 7 ball juggling, and I am practicing an 8-hula-hoop split.

However..
While at home, coincidentally, a circus rolled in to town.. 

Now most normal people might go to the show, tell their friends, and continue with their planned break from work. That really isn't our style - So we ditched the idea of a tour-free holiday and joined the circus.. We are still kind of having a break though as we are not performing in the show. We are working as front of house staff, ushering, and the occasional crew job.. That is still a break.. isn't it?

Twice as nice

We gradually settled into life at the Glastonbury festival, and pretty soon our first show times were upon us. Our opening show was in the main circus big-top and was a crazy array of complex aerial rigging, carefully choreographed juggling routines and lots of work on stilts. It was pretty amazing to premier it in such a prestigious venue.



Our Aerial show, however, was not the only performance that we had for the festival. Each night we also lit up our venues with a fire spectacle piece.
I think in many ways, I actually had more fun with the fire show - The audiences were great for both, but we had a little more freedom to play with the fire, and that show was also entirely under UV lighting which made my hoops glow like radiant spirals. Such fun :)

There are a bunch more photos on Will-o'-the-Wisp Flame Arts site.

 

Hoop play

Pretty new hoop routine

Does anyone know how to make the photos sit side by side??