The First Half

Gosh, time flies when there’s a million things to do and keep up with!

Just a brief update on some happenings thus far as we reach the middle of the year. In personal news, I’m so thrilled to announce that I’m now on the Social Circus Committee within the American Circus Educators and- wow. Has it truly been an eye opening experience into the real nature and need of the work that we are doing. It truly is not unique to any one city or place but a phenomena everywhere that there needs to be better understanding of one another and ways to grow our industry forward in a more equitable and just fashion. I’m really happy and excited to be facilitating a connection call in June on a topic that is close to me- which is barriers to BIPOC being, not only in circus, but in leadership. If this is interesting or any of the other future topics- please consider showing up to the call! Registration link can be found at Social Circus Connection Call | American Circus Educators Association.

In other, not performing but circus related news, Nouveau Sud put on a production for the CLT Shout Festival in April called Ancestral: An Ode to the People of Charlotte. It really was a lovely show wherein we were able to collaborate and learn and be in community with other arts sectors from the Catawba leading some educational moments with the audience, to the African traditions of ring shout with Moving Spirits, and also Wendy and Rodrigo highlighting Latin dance. Unfortunately, I sustained an injury during rehearsals that took me out of the show which was really heartbreaking but it gave way to a fun new hat to wear as I was able to choreograph the finale group acro piece and the cast executed amazingly especially given that it was such a last minute change. I also got to run around doing stage manager stuff for the show so that was a fun experience as well. Thankfully I’m feeling better and able to perform again.

On the topic of performance– we recently did a gig for the city of Perry, GA and the event was so nice! There were so many kids engaged in learning how to acro and we got to throw our pitch 180 F2H without spots or mats over grass with wet slippers a few times. It was really good conditions/situational training and always fun working with Down to Earth Aerials! We were also able to support the local artists and vendors there which is a win/win.

The future of gigs/performances is also really packed out now that Summer is upon us and we are… a little stressed but so so excited! Getting my traveling legs back has made me feel more like myself. On the horizon we have a few more gigs with DTEA including a lovely wedding, the official Spelling Bee in DC, and potentially other summer themed events. With Nouveau Sud we are ramping up training and creation hard as we move towards our first national tour– we’re headed to Chicago for a week and a half long residency showing La Bestia and I couldn’t be more excited to dive into that process. Post Bestia we also have just back to back mainstage endeavors including a new production, and touring that as well but in a different capacity.

I’ll attach some pictures from some of the aforementioned moments but the future is feeling busy busy busy!

I hope everyone has a lovely summer and thanks for following our journey. ❤