Shanghai Circus School Doco

I went to a circus school in 1996. I paid for the three-month course with money I had made performing with Dad and doing street shows. Let me just say Circomedia was nothing like the Shanghai Circus School.

The kids in this PBS documentary are pushed to the edge and beyond. The results are extraordinary, pinnacles of human achievement in body control, but so I would hope, for the sacrifices and struggles are great. But in the end when you have mastered your craft, created your art and overcome the obstacles the triumph of the Showman makes it all worth it.

The documentary is hard to watch sometimes, but these kids are amazing. The kid in this picture fights hard, they push him, but man, the results are unbelievable.

Hope you all enjoy this glance of the work involved in becoming an Acrobat. 

Thanks to Circobat over at the Kicking Sawdust blog for putting me onto this.

Watch the documentary on youtube by clicking here.

Lessons from the Way of the Showman - 41

Everything that happens on stage is part of the show. The act, the mistakes, the random interactions from the crowd are all part of the Crowds experience. Each opportunity missed is a brick in the fourth wall. Sealing you off from the crowd, driving them out of the moment. Enjoy your mishaps, they make you more human, and the performance more real.