Memoirs Of A Modern Day Pirate

        Long time no blog! Alas, after some months of a hiatus due to lack of motivation, being busy with shows, and the constant grind at the traffic light - I shall make an attempt at returning to writing. At least for today. I'll pick up right where I left off, graduating from circus school in Portugal.... When I finished my schooling, I had absolutely no idea what I would do next. In the meantime, while I figured out the next move to make, I spent a couple of months working the traffic lights and applying for each and every open call/opportunity that I came across. I mostly didn't receive any responses. And for the few that did respond - it was a "No". I kept hustling, waiting, and applying. I figured that even if I had to wait some months before I found work or decided to leave Portugal, I could at least build up some savings from the traffic lights to fuel my next adventure. This decision ended up serving my future self because I would end up needing...

"No Elbows On The Table" - Imaginarius Festival ...2022?      During my years as a student at the "Instituto Nacional de Artes do Circo" in Portugal, I had many opportunities to hone my craft and to dabble with all sorts of different styles of performing. Performances included group shows with my class, duos, trios, a 15-minute solo show that I spent one year developing, a show at a bar where I stripped down to my underwear, street shows (as mentioned in the last blog), and multiple festivals. In this post, I'm going to share a rough overview of some of the performances and experiences. My years as a student and the performances that I took part in can be summed up with the same words that are also the title of a classic western from the states: "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." Those words are pretty self-explanatory... "Won't You Dance With Me"      To conclude our first year as circus students, we performed as a class in a festival ca...

     In the last blog, I summarized a great tool that circus artists use as a way to navigate this wild rollercoaster ride of life - traffic lights. This blog will be about another commonly used tool - street shows.      There is an art to doing street shows. It's an art that usually takes refinement and an understanding that typically comes through many "failures." Though I don't use the word "failure" in a heavy negative sense, because in reality - to mess up on the street (or at the traffic light) is not such a big deal. In fact, it comes with the territory. It's very important to mess up in all the ways imaginable so that when it comes to doing shows with more at stake, one will be ready. I had one legendary teacher and director who always said, "What can go wrong on stage, will eventually go wrong." In other words, it's not a matter of "if," but it's a matter of "when." It's important to be prepared for each...

...working the light with my partner (at the time) Manuela...            During my two years of circus schooling in Portugal, I, along with many of my peers, had to find ways of making money on the side of our schooling. Since circus school demands everything and squeezes you for both your time and energy like a juiced fruit, one has to make money in creative and lucrative ways. That's the thing about circus. For the first many years of training, it's very difficult to make money that is sustainable to live off of until you reach a high enough level. Until you have a high enough level to be on the "big" stages (whatever that means), you still must find a way to make money along the way. I've always seen it as an investment. It's as if you are a gardener who is cultivating a beautiful tree that will only bear edible fruits years after planting it. This brings us to a subject I've been wanting to write about for a long time now—traffic lights and street ...

     I quickly found my peace and my place amongst the circus freaks in Portugal (I use 'freaks' as a term of endearment). It's like that with the circus. It doesn't quite matter where you go, circus people take care of circus people, and that's exactly what I felt. I had once again found another family in this new place. Portugal's circus life seemed to be much more fitting for me compared to my life in the Netherlands due to many factors. Because of this, I was able to further flourish. I made sure not to make the same mistakes as I did in the Netherlands. After having used and abused myself in the Netherlands, I now emphasized my personal health and well-being. I was eating properly—more consistently and more caloric-dense meals. I quit doing my insane fasting regimen, which just wasn't manageable with the number of hours I was training. Furthermore, I think my fasting was just an eating disorder in disguise. I was prioritizing sleep. I wasn't working...