Week 2: January 18,
2017 - January 23, 2017
Number of Shows: 7
Location: Jacksonville,
FL
On Wednesday I went to the arena for
my load-in responsibilities. As a First of May it is my job to set up all of
the trunks in Clown Alley. All of the clowns on the show have their own steamer
trunk in which they keep their makeup and props, and those trunks travel in the
big show wagons (costumes are kept in different wagons specifically for
wardrobe). Once the wagons arrive at the arena, I use a hand truck to arrange
the trunks in the alley, giving certain spots to certain clowns based on
seniority. This week went pretty quickly, and I was able to return back to the
train within an hour.
Wednesday evening was a free roll with
the Gator Clowns, a local clown alley here in Jacksonville. Free roll is
whenever people give us presents, usually food, and is traditionally done when
friends of the show come to visit. The Gator Clowns treated us to dinner at
Golden Corral and showered us with food and home items to take back with us to
the train. For me, the highlight of the evening was seeing Bubba Sikes. I have
known Bubba since I was five years old when he taught at Clown City's January
Jamboree, and it was great to catch up with him. Once again, thank you Gator
Clowns for your kind words and wonderful hospitality.
Thursday was opening night, which
meant that Thursday afternoon was our weekly meeting in the seats. We were told
that we are no longer able to give discount tickets to friends and family, and
tickets for the upcoming shows are going FAST. This means that if you are interested in seeing
Circus Xtreme before it closes, please buy your tickets ASAP. Ticket prices are
extremely reasonable right now, but will only go up. I will not be able to help
in getting tickets whatsoever. For a complete list of the cities Circus Xtreme
will be playing in, please visit www.ringling.com. Thanks!
After the meeting we had a brief
break and then we started rehearsal. We only practiced a few parts of the show,
mainly the big production numbers.
The show went very well. I wasn't on
the concourse with the crowds like I was in Orlando, so I got to start preshow
down on the arena floor. The first few minutes of preshow are pretty empty
because the audience hasn't trickled down to the floor yet, so we just dance
and pass clubs. Since the big closure announcement last week, there are lots of
people telling the clowns during the preshow just how much the circus means to
them and how sad they are to see it go, which is extremely touching. We are
also signing a crazy amount of souvenir programs-can't wait to see how many of
them end up on eBay in a few months.
The show is starting to feel much
more comfortable now, and I'm nowhere near as sore doing it now as I was in
Florida. Additionally, my costume has been altered to allow for better neck and
head movement. Originally, the top button on my shirt was replaced with a large
metal snap. Whenever I would take a front fall, and I take quite a few, the
metal would hit my throat, which was rather uncomfortable. It was replaced with
a small strip of elastic from one side of the collar to the other, so now I can
take falls with ease. Thank you wardrobe department!
Clown rehearsal on Friday wasn't
until the afternoon, so everyone got to sleep in a bit. While some of the
clowns were going over the blowoff (when the clowns hype up the crowd in
between the preshow and the actual show), I learned how to repel from the grid.
Simply put, repelling from the grid involves putting on a full body harness,
climbing up a forty-four foot wire ladder to get to the lighting grid, walking
on the top of the grid to get to the repelling lines, hooking into those lines,
and then jumping off. You are always attached to a safety line to catch you if
you fall, but there is still that psychological hurdle of being forty-four feet
off of the ground. It's essentially the intellectual and the visceral colliding
at top speed; the intellectual part of your brain says that you are safe and
secure, but the visceral part says that you are going to plummet to your death.
Practice I guess.
During Entr'acte (right after
intermission) Friday night everyone was treated to a nice surprise: Usually,
the band is introduced and then they play a medley of show music. However, Friday
night's show they played Thunder and Blazes! Now even if you don't recognize
the name of the song, you most definitely know the song itself. Thunder and
Blazes is one of the most traditional piece of circus music in existence, and
it is featured in pretty much any piece of pop culture with a circus. Go ahead,
search for it on YouTube. I'll wait. The audience went nuts and started
cheering, and the clowns on the floor also completely lost it. Theoretically
this change will stay in the show for the rest of the run.
Saturday was a three show day. Nothing
major to report.
Sunday was a two show day. We
incorporated a new clown, Gabor, into the show. Gabor's last time clowning with
Ringling was the 134th edition, so he is already familiar with how the company
operates. Sunday evening was also Taylor's last show with Ringling. Taylor
started off as a clown with the blue unit for three years before becoming Boss
Clown on the red unit for four. He has stayed on for an additional two weeks of
2017 just to help me and Beth learn the show, as well with the transition of former
blue unit Boss Clown Sandor to red unit Boss Clown. All of the clowns put a
little bit of glitter on their makeup for finale in honor of Taylor's last
show, and he was pied multiple times after exiting the floor. Thank you Taylor
for are of your help and guidance these past few weeks! I couldn't have done it
without you! You'll be missed!
My costume was packed in a garment
bag to take back to the train with me instead of going in the wardrobe boxes
after the Sunday shows. Some of the clowns have a PR on Tuesday and there is a
chance things won't be completely set up at the arena for us to get ready there.
We are currently headed for Tampa, but the train will be arriving much later
than expected. Since last week's train run took place during night hours, this
is my first train run where I actually got to spend real time outside on the
vestibule. It is truly fascinating to see the back roads that you can't get to
by car, and it is a nice feeling to see people get out of their cars to take
pictures and wave to us. Here are some pictures I got from the run:
See
you next week with pictures of my train room!
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