There were too many jugglers in the Payasadas Festival opening Variety Show. “I perform a hula hoop routine, if you are interested” I told the organizer. And like that, I was in. The show was in a restaurant theatre. People ate and watched the stage. I stepped out from behind the curtain and looked at the audience. A table at the front began laughing. I turned my attention towards their table and advanced skipping with the hula hoop. Now at centre stage, I began the first phrase of tricks. Out in the street a car screeched it´s brakes. I stopped the tricks. And directed my energy in the direction of the screech. Laughs again! I continued on with the tricks and then heard a crash backstage. I stopped at looked at the audience with the eyes of “we all heard that right?” and then I turned at looked towards backstage. We all laughed together! The routine went on, and I found myself spinning the hula hoop around my waist, rocking my weight from my back foot to my front foot. Below the floorboards creaked like motel beds. It made me embarrassed. I shared this with the audience before leaving the stage with the routine at its end. After a 2 week seminar with Sue Morrison, I felt more present on stage and more alert, and due to this, I was able to enhance a simple routine with external accidents and better actor/audience conversation.
Whilst in Rosario I stayed with Tallarin (Spaghetti) and Banana (Banana), an acrobatic clown duo. On Thursday afternoon we loaded their truck, and drove down to the Pedestrian strip. We arrived at an intersection, and luckily for me, there were two firm street lamps, a nice distance apart, and went about setting up the slack rope. As I set up the structure, people automatically gathered and formed squarish U cutting off three streets. Once I had it all set up I went to plug in my music and … my ipod wasn´t packed! And I remembered it was in my jean pocket, and my jeans were in the house. “How many blocks?” I asked. About 15 was the answer, so I grabbed the keys and began running. In the meanwhile, Tallarin and Banana performed. I ran about 9 blocks before getting a stitch. I walked a block, and then ran the remaining. When I got to the house I couldn’t get the key to work. Flustered by all the running and the rush, I tried in vain, focusing all my energy on opening the lock. It wasn´t until I took a breath, that I realized that below the lock was another lock. Presto! I got in, grabbed my ipod, and then took one of the bikes from the patio and began pedaling back. I arrived back to the spot puffed and with my legs burning with lactic acid. Tallarin and Banana still had a few minutes remaining, and then Rocina was going to perform, so during that time I stretched and regained my energy as best as I could. When my turn came to perform I felt awesome. I had a new spring in my step. In the pre show setting up, I found games with an old lady, a young couple and a stray dog. By the time I started I had a nice crowd in front. The show was going flawlessly until the stray dog took the umbrella in his mouth and began to trot off. Here began a wild chase, which never got to disperse or out of control, and I was able to retain the umbrella, farewell the dog and provoke laughter all in one unanticipated event. The show continued on, and all the tricks triumphed and the show ended on a high, with me in my boxer shorts, standing still, looking at the audience happily after a fun strip tease. I had performed a marvelous show! (From my point of view at least). The following day we returned to the same spot, all enthusiastic to perform again after our success. But the show didn´t feel as fun. I wanted the audience to enjoy the show like yesterday, rather than allowing them to enjoy the show like yesterday. I didn´t feel as present in the show, and I didn´t feel the audience were as present. In stead of being a conversation, the show had become more of a lecture on this occasion. How to retain spontaneity? How to retain honest surprise? The more present I am in the show, the more occupied I am in my body and open, the more possibility I have to register and interact with all these gifts that are ever present in the street (the dogs, the sounds, the smell of foods, the litter and all the people).
