By Tara, on July 7, 2010, at 11:53 pm During our last weekend in Port Townsend, we played with the locals at the Farmers Market on Saturday, then the kind folks at Madrona Mind-Body Institute welcomed us for an impromptu performance on the Fourth of July. We even did a bit of street performing down in town, rearranging our show acts for the pleasure of passers-by!
Now it’s finally summer weather in the Pacific Northwest, but we’ve reached that sad time: the conclusion of a grand adventure. We’ve spent the last six weeks pedaling madly, painting strangers’ faces, sleeping on couches, parading on the street, and making new friends. We’ve got plenty of photos as evidence of our antics, a string of new Facebook fans, and some truly ridiculous memories (bagrobatics, anyone?).
Many thanks to our countless supporters, among them: Eve, Jack, and Ian McLeod for giving us a truly homey home base; Bryan McLellan for his basement, bicycle advice, and friendship; Islando, Della, Ariel, Isabelle, and the rest of the folks at the Bellingham Circus Guild for hosting us and having us as guests in their visionary community circus world; Margaret Hall for the attic loft and BBQ; Erica and her housemates for sharing their space and teaching us the Lady Gaga Bad Romance dance; JES Schumacker for her enthusiasm and networking; Jean, Alan, and Corvus for backyard camping and circus geeking; Alison and Marple for sharing their uphill digs; Kristian Brevik for being our circus stage mom and patient friend; Emerald City Trapeze Arts for their delicious free open brunch; Aletia and Maggie from Madrona for their organizing; Fremont Arts Council for putting on a smashing Festival and Fair; Ryan and Kelley from the Harlequin Hipsters for pulling us into the dancing; Luke, David, and the Titanium Sporkestra for banging out some awesome tunes to circus to… and then there were those lovely people who waved at us on our bicycles, watched our shows, played with us in the park, talked circus and bicycles and life, and sometimes even tossed us a few dollars. Though we don’t know all your names, we’re glad to have met you and are grateful for your support too.
Though now that the INTERROBANG tour has come to a close and troupe members are shifting their focus to other commitments (farmwork, summer-camp coaching, and European travels, to name a few), don’t worry – The Downside-Up Circus will be fermenting other projects, shows, and collaborations in the future. Stay tuned!
By Victoria, on July 2, 2010, at 6:11 pm Well, time flies when you’re having fun!
Our friend Juliana came up for an all-too short visit, but we had a wonderful bike ride with her on Wednesday from Bothell up beautiful Whidbey Island and on to Port Townsend. Though she’s now back on her way to the Bay Area, we at least had the chance to attempt some acro on bike posts downtown. Meanwhile, we’re getting ready for a few performances. We’ll be at the farmer’s market tomorrow and Fort Worden for the 4th.
During our time together, Tara and I have figured out a few goofy little tricks on our tandem, Sweet Ride. On a related note, if you know anyone in Port Townsend or nearby who has been looking to buy a thoroughly loved tandem, we’re selling ours! Email Tara (tara@downsideupcircus.org) for details!
By Tara, on June 29, 2010, at 12:11 pm Tara, Molly, and Victoria have had an excellent week in Seattle following the Fremont Solstice Parade! (See the latest pictures of Interrobang’s various gigs and adventures on Flickr.)
We recovered from our circus-on-concrete extravaganza and did some sightseeing at the Pike Place Market. We went to see Just Add Water at the School for Acrobatics and New Circus Arts, a new collaborative show put together by seven young circus professionals who did a short summer residency at SANCA. (It was a thoroughly enjoyable show, though some parts were more polished than others.) We stayed with many different friends (thanks to Allison, Marple, Erica, and Bryan!), practicing our juggling and enjoying the well-earned break from long-distance biking. And to top it all off, all week the weather has been gorgeous – sunny and warm!
On Saturday we joined in the fun at Artopia in Georgetown, juggling in a procession with our friends the Titanium Sporkestra and the Harlequin Hipsters, witnessing the absurdity and destruction of the Hazard Factory’s power tool races, wandering the market stalls, and catching several acts by various configurations of SANCA’s three youth performance troupes. The night closed out with a rather hectic marching band & fire-dancing blowout on the street!
On Sunday we met up with Lindsay and Kristian in Kirkland for a family barbeque, where we showed off our choreographed acts for our hosts. Next: Port Townsend for Fourth of July weekend, our last major leg of the tour! (Plus, for a few days we have the pleasure of a guest member, our friend Juliana who’s joining us from Oakland, CA.)
By Tara, on June 21, 2010, at 12:12 pm Despite infrequent drizzle, the Fremont Solstice Parade was an uncontainable ambulatory party made up of alternative marching bands, naked bodypainted cyclists, unassociated costumed ‘free radicals’, elaborate, ridiculous, non-motorized floats, dancers, kids, and (of course) circus performers. The Seattle PI even caught us on camera. It was a thrilling (and exhausting) experience to join forces and march with our newfound collaborators the Titanium Sporkestra and the sensational Harlequin Hipsters for two miles of turning cartwheels, juggling clubs, and forming towers to entertain the throngs of people lining the streets. Many thanks to those at the Fremont Arts Council for making this wonderful event happen!
By Victoria, on June 18, 2010, at 12:07 pm Phew, we sure had a busy few days! As Tara mentioned, we had quite a haul up to Bellingham from Bothell (and back) loaded down with everything we’d need for the week. We stayed with a lovely friend of a friend, Margaret, and had the chance to show off our acts! We also stayed at the quarry with circus folk and saw a wonderful fire show by Vulcan Studios from Oakland, CA. Vulcan Studios is a self described “artist’s colony” consisting of painters, sculptors, ceramicists, photographers, musicians, film makers, actors and performers of all types.
The next day we went to (and better yet, performed in!) Vaudevillingham, which was incredible! Tara, Lindsay, Victoria and Molly (with Kristian as our loving stage mom) opened the first show with an acro-based 5 minute act that was received really well. As the night went on, the acts got considerably less family-friendly, but hilarity abounded. It was wonderful to see such a wide variety of skills and acts; some acts were polished, shiny and nearly perfect, while others were thrown together with about 24 hours notice. Still, the audience hollered long and loud for everything from housewife acro (by yours truly) to toy room contact juggling, to mustachioed silks, pirate aerials, character guitar, dance trapeze, and Dresden Doll cloudswing.
Now we’re back in Bothell for food, showers and laundry, but soon we’re headed down to Seattle for the Solstice Parade!
By Tara, on June 14, 2010, at 2:39 pm Tara, Molly, and Victoria biked from Bothell to Bellingham in two days, covering about 85 miles! Our first real long-distance test of moving ourselves and our things from place to place entirely under our own pedal power, it was predictably a trial by fire. The tandem suffered a flat tire and the chain slipped a few times – all minor fixes we took care of on the road. We did have absolutely gorgeous weather (so sunny we had to break out the sunscreen), so we just kept pressing on, enjoying the passing scenery and the burning in our thighs!
In the last few weeks, we’ve had the pleasure of meeting quite a few bike-handy people who helped us get road-ready. In Port Townsend, we spent a delightful afternoon with Chauncy at The Recyclery’s weekly open community bike maintenance session, learning some very useful bike basics like lubricating cables and adjusting derailleurs. (In PT we also got the chance to meet up with Jim Rohrssen, who is organizing Bikes for Haiti, an excellent initiative to collect donated bikes and ship them to Haiti.) Then there’s our new friend Bryan (who we stayed with our first time in Seattle) who’s been our shining-knight-on-wheels time and again, when at first we thought we’d never get the tandem and then that we’d never be able to fix it! When we did get Sweet Ride fixed, she was well taken care of by the wonderfully friendly and knowledgeable Jay at Tim’s Bike Shop in Everett (instead of at an overpriced chain store).
Yesterday we had the chance to check out the Bellingham Circus Guild’s Cirque Lab here, where we will be performing Tuesday night at their monthly Vaudevillingham show. It’s a friendly, spacious arts center in a converted industrial space, with a stage, loads of aerials rigging points and floor space for juggling and acrobatics. Lindsay and Kristian joined us in the afternoon and we ran through our acts to entertain our lovely Bellingham hosts yesterday at an informal house BBQ. Today we’re heading out to the Lookout Arts Center at The Quarry a ways outside of town for a fireshow and to spend the night with fellow circus folk!
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