My second night in Buenos Aires I was invited to act in the Variety Show “From the outside, You don´t see”. I decided to perform an abstract from my new creation in process. I had set up the slack rope in the space, I had rehearsed a few times without the music, it would be fine I thought. How wrong I was!
Firstly, it wasn´t by choice that I had rehearsed without music. I had forgotten to put song for the routine on my Ipod. So I practiced the routine a few times, humming the tune of the song in my head. During these passes, it became clear that the routine was rusty. I hadn´t practiced it or performed in a few months, however by the time we had to go backstage, i had managed to perform all the tricks comfortably. It would be fine I thought. How wrong I was!
Before going backstage, I had to take down the structure. I marked the floor with where the structure needed to be, so that when I performed, it was be at the same height as when I had rehearsed. This idea turned out to be less easy than it sounds. Tenaza, who hosted the event, was to entertain the audience whilst I quickly set up the structure. It should have taken 1 minute. But the first attempt resulted in the rope being much tighter and higher that rehearsal. I tried again, and it turned out being lower and slacker. At this point I just had to go with it. It would be fine I thought. How wrong I was!
I began the routine, and received laughs from the outset. Good start!
I came to the first trick, and here I realized how low I had set up the rope, it was a little ridiculous, but the first trick worked. But the audience hadn´t realized it was a trick. It turned out afterwards that they thought it was a trick that hadn´t worked. Oh well!
The second phrase of the routine was also a little sloppy. When performed precisely, it had been successful in the past, here, again, the audience weren´t sure whether to laugh, clap or remain silent. I began to worry!
The third phrase is where I perform a back roll on the rope. In the past I had taken more time to perform this roll. It was more difficult. Now the trick isn´t that hard and it requires me less preparation. I hadn´t counted on this during the rehearsal because I didn´t have the music. On top of this, the height of the rope, meant that when I performed the trick my foot touched the ground. So the trick seemed less impressive, and it was performed too quickly creating a space of dead time. I improvised a trick in this time which was good, and then moved on to the next phrase.
This phrase is where I dance. The first part went well. The second part went well too. But in the third part I had forgotten the phrase. Here is where the crisis of doubt was most revealed to the audience. Shit!
Now I had the final phrase, the final trick, if it turned out, all the rest would be forgotten and the audience would applaud tremendously. The first part, where I had balance on my elbows on the rope triumphed. I took the ring and stepped up on the rope. I passed the ring over my foot and kneeled on the rope. I ducked my head and passed my head through the ring. Now I had to pass the ring over my shoulders. As I tried this, SLAM! I fell. My head next to my knee, trapped in the ring. Oops!
I tried to free myself quickly and in this panic, it just made it clumsier and harder. By the time I had freed myself, the song was at the point where I would normally be jumping off the rope, triumphant, and approaching the audience to finish the routine. So instead of trying the trick again, I continued the routine as though it had been successful, and finished. The audience applauded. I feigned glory. And the routine ended. And that was that.
A couple of days later, I bumped in to an old friend. He had seen the routine. He said “if it isn´t my old friend Tito, the slack rope walker that fails the last trick and ends the routine as though it was a total success!” I blushed, I felt guilty, I felt terrible. Laughing I didn´t know what to say. There was no explication. I had fooled. “Is it true Tito?” another friend then asked: “It´s true. Sometimes we have to fall to learn how to get up”. For future performances I had learned a lot, if I want thing to go fine.
