As always, first: the pictures! Hover over them for captions. I did it! I drove a roughly 3,000 mile round trip to perform "Shedding Skin" at the Elgin Fringe Festival. What a wonderful experience! Wonderful because it definitely built my confidence (That is a LONG trip! and I did it by myself! Also smartphones are amazingly helpful things!) and wonderful because I met the most amazing people. THE SHOWS! It's no secret that part of the reason why I LOVE Fringe is the chance to see other people's work. I took in: JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS by Olive Juice Theatre Fun, well-done participatory children's theatre. I'm still singing the songs. Also, I got to play: GOLD DUST
by La Groove Fatale Gorgeous belly dancing. The a capella zills opening piece was captivating! (The whole show was captivating.) IMPROVISED MYTHOLOGY: an interesting experiment in long-form comedic improv. Long form improv scares the snot out of me, so I'm always impressed with people who have the balls to do it as a performance. SWEETHEART by Titterglitz It was modern dance. It was humorous. It was feminist. It was visceral. I FREAKING LOVED IT. Also, the women of Titterglitz are awesome, and I was so happy I got to hang out with them. EVERYBODY KNOWS YOU'RE GAY DAVID BOYLE by David Boyle Warm, humorous, wonderful storytelling. A LIFE AMONG SECRETS by William Pack It occurred to me that this was the first time I had actually attended live, in-person a magic show. MUCH more compelling than seeing the glitz and glitter I used to see on TV as a kid. (I mean, it's kind of disturbing and gross to see "The Human Blockhead" in person, but...also really cool.) I don't know much about the history of the art of magic, but William's entertaining and knowledgeable storytelling made me want to know more. Also, lots of really well done audience participation. TAKING FLIGHT by Imaginez Ensembles Delightful. Acrobatics and clowning and aerial silks wound into a story about taking risks and following your dreams. LAUNDRY NIGHT by Captain Ambivalent Sparkly boots, an inflatable T-rex, great storytelling...and giggle-worthy songs. On an accordion. My pun and wordplay loving friends would have ADORED this. A DIFFERENT WAY OF THINKING by Cody Clark Whole-hearted, heartwarming, enthusiastic storytelling and delightful magic! PAPER DREAMS by Madeleine Hicks Charming stop motion combined with storytelling THREE DAUGHTERS WHO ARE NOT DAUGHTERS by The Group Project I'm still processing this one. Complex and layered, passionate and compelling. MAMALOGS by Debbie From This. This is the one that made me cry. Lovely storytelling. Honest and intimate and raw. KELLY BOLTON Kelly Bolton is a goof and I love it. So many great characters. So many giggles. HUCK POE In his persona as "Diagnostradamus," he told my fortune using a combination of cootie catcher and diagnostic manual. In a teeny tiny (kinda creepy) closet. It was awesome. So, was it worth the three very long days of road tripping to get there? Well, I am already trying to figure out how I can make it again next summer.
Inspiration and connectionFirst, some pictures! Recently returned from our second year participating in the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival! I am continuing to fall in love with the whole Fringe Festival scene and vibe. I got into a bit of a discussion about what the appeal of Fringe Festivals were on twitter, and it boiled down to: 1. Innovation. Risk taking. These are encouraged rather than pushed to the side in service of ticket sales and the almighty dollar. 2. Accessibility. It may take planning and saving, but the entry fee and venue costs are do-able even for small (tiny!) companies. Far more within reach than it would be for me to secure a venue, pay rent, technicians, insurance, etc. 3. Structure and promotion. Even though it is up to each individual company/artist to promote their own shows, having the structure of the festival does give the shows a level of visibility that individual shows might not otherwise have. 4. My favorite: CONNECTION! Meeting other artists, getting to see their shows, talk to them, etc. THE SHOWS Aside from performing "Shedding Skin" four times to small but appreciative audiences, I took in the following shows: - "Behind These Walls" from Act Risk No More Theatre Company. Raw and honest, these kids had important stories to tell. - "Stories of Uncreation" from Theatre Dojo We were so very glad to get to experience Theatre Dojo's storytelling and music this year. (Last year we had identical performance schedules.) Wisdom and warnings from stories from our past, and hope that we can work together in community to make the world better. - "Hamlet and Ophelia go Swimming" from Brabble Arts. Such a very human take on these two characters we know so well. A show that makes you remember that they were just teenagers at the time the events in Hamlet took place. - "Filament: from Cat and Fish Dances was beautiful full-bodied modern dance. - "Resolved" from Company of Cohorts promised a party, and delivered. With all the fun, ridiculousness, and drama that parties can bring. - "An Oak Tree" from Sackerson Theatre Company was utterly fascinating. An exploration of the power of suggestion, of loss, and mourning. We're going to be talking about this one for a while. - "Apt 404" from Who's Louis was an interesting experiment in non-linear, overlapping storytelling. - "Innovation" created by Jared Larkin was an evening of physical theatre storytelling with clever use of minimal props and some absolutely lovely and moving moments. (That's Julie Speak for "It made me cry.") - "People from the Future" from Jaron Hatch was an evening of skillful physicality, enthusiastic storytelling, as well as audience participation and a refreshingly optimistic point of view. - "Aerial Odyssey" from Arial Arts of Utah was an absolute thrill for my inner five year old who wanted to be a trapeze artist! I'll be honest, 42 year old me was pretty thrilled as well. I found a surprising preference for the trapeze bars and hoops over the aerial silks, just because it felt there was more of a continuous flow with the movement that could be performed. - "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind" from Youth Theatre at the U was the last show we took in before heading back to Pocatello, and it was an utter delight. Fast paced, funny short plays with social and political commentary performed with enthusiasm and abandon. (And if I didn't include a link, it was because I couldn't find one, so leave a comment or email me if you have one for me, or if you'd prefer a different one from the one I used!) BEHIND THE SCENES: One or two stories from our experience -Getting there: How long does it take to get to SLC from Poky? Oh, about two and a half hours. And we took off with just enough time to get there for our tech rehearsal, and...forgot about that whole "road construction" thing. Which, living in Idaho, we should DEFINITELY know better. Still, we made it just in the *nick* of time for tech. I am spoiled in that Glenn usually does the tech for my shows, so it's a minimum of fuss for me. I am going to miss his help and support terribly when I do my next two festivals and he can't be there. -What's a show without at least one technical difficulty, right? Preparing for the first show: "Hey Glenn, how's the projector set up and focusing going?" "Don't ask me that." (Bless his heart, he was doing everything in his power to not let me know that he was panicking at this point.) Turned out his computer had decided to update at the WORST possible time and got stuck in a weird loop. Of course I had decided to leave my Mac at the hotel to make our bag a bit lighter, since we had "everything we needed" on Glenn's computer. (Yeah, don't do that. Backups. ALWAYS have backups.) We hauled out my Ipad since I had the sound score on it and hooked it up, but it was looking like I just might not get to have my projections. (Which aren't *absolutely* necessary to the piece, but add a nice texture and dimension. And I had also spent many many hours filming and editing, so I was bummed to be missing them.) Luckily, we were able to have a five minute hold and get all the tech working. Hurray! -We took a few hours to visit some USU theatre friends who we had not seen in too long, and hung out with them while they built their delightful five (and a half!) year old kid a playhouse. There is something very amusing about watching someone you hung out with in your twenties Dad-ing it up. (EMBRACE the middle-agedness.) - After seeing "Behind These Walls" I gave many of the kids hugs. They then came to my first show that evening. Glenn has been teasing me ever since about my new strategy of "hugging people into the audience." Which, take note, Pocatello - if that's all it takes to get you into the audience for original shows, I am ALL OVER THAT. Can we ever truly leave who we were behind?
What do we leave behind when we move on? What do we continue to carry with us as we grow? An exploration of transformation, a moving meditation on change. Coming soon to the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival! Friday, July 29 6:30 pm Saturday, July 30 11:00am and 5:00 pm Sunday, July 31 3:30 pm at the Fringe Forge Theatre. I can't wait to share this with you!
CHANGeZ
An exploration of change, transformation, and growth with movement, music, words, and film. April 15, 16, 18, 21, 22, 23 at 7:30 pm Call 478-6886 for reservations Julie Leir-VanSickle and Scott Lindenberg utilize physical theatre vignettes to ask: Can we ever truly leave who we were behind? What do we leave behind when we move on? How do we change each other? How do we deal with uncertainty change can bring? How does change and transformation help us to grow? Featuring music from local band Walther’s Wallpaper. https://www.facebook.com/Walthers-Wallpaper-120670838149/?fref=ts I'm going to space! Well, my artwork is anyway! This was my submission for this project: http://www.asteroidmission.org/WeTheExplorers/
Because calling something a "leap year" sounded like an invitation to me! If you'd like to support my videos, (and get sneak peeks and behind the scenes look at the creation process,) you can become a Patron here: http://patreon.com/creativemoves
I was having one of those days where everything was just getting under my skin and turning me into one giant ball of... you guessed it, IRRITATION. So, I went and took a short little walk by the river, came home, and then I made this video about the feeling.
Cross-posted on my Patreon |
AuthorHello, I'm Julie and Dance owns my soul More performing artsArchives
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