Blog du Wren

2018 Summer Juggling Recap

	Another summer of performance is behind Della and me, and as is my wont, I like to collect some of the images we were fortunate to happen upon and post them here for posterity. We performed at libraries, festivals, parties, fairs, and more. It was a great summer of doing a job that I love so much. And while the pictures might not capture it (esp. compared to years past ('17, '16)), we were as busy as ever. Thanks so much to those who hired us, watched us, learned from (and with) us, and esp. shared photos and videos of us! The end of summer isn't the end of performing for the year by any means. I'll get some Halloween pictures and videos posted soon and we're not far from holiday party season which is always a lot of fun! Keep an eye on our website for a list of our upcoming shows or keep it turned to BdW for some pictures maybe, but probably really delayed and with needless commentary...

Thursday November 1 2018

File under: juggling, circus

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Della and I again this year had the privilege of being in Bellingham Circus Guild's My Circus Valentine. It makes the 4th year I've been in the event and Della hasn't missed one yet (often times with 2 acts!) Our act this year turned out to be our best, IMO, but it was hard fought to get there. Dual creative pursuits, such as act creation, isn't our strong point and each year, after going through it, we swear we'll never do it again. But we do and after we have an act that I can be stoked on, I'm so glad that we did.

You could see the act, posted along with other videos of our acts, over at our website www.wrenanddella.com, but I will post it here as well in the interest of posterity. We ended up getting this awesome edited copy from BTV show broadcast the event. I hope you get as much a kick out of it as I did totally nailing it.

(The costumes (a.k.a diapered cupids) were made by none other than Della, of course.)

Saturday April 14 2018

File under: juggling, circus

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The Beastly Frightful Unspeakably Spooky Circus of Doom

This year, the Bellingham Circus Guild put on its first Halloween show* and it was awesome! Della and I wrote a whole new act for the occasion. It was a little gimmicky, a little over the top, a little funny(?), and hopefully a lot fun. I sure liked how it turned out, anyway. Check out the video below.

(Since you can barely see our costumes in the video, here's a we snuck in the photo booth. And since we're talking about photo booth photos, here's of the cast and crew. What a group!!)

Before the show, I did ambient as a . was the cutest little teapot you could imagine.

Overall, it was an awesome experience. The gal the put on the show did a knock out job promoting it (3 total sellout shows plus a last minute show that almost sold out!) as well as all other aspects. It was really an honor to be a part.

Wednesday November 15 2017

File under: circus, juggling

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Circus Camp

This year, as a sort of New Year's resolution, I set forth to try to make it the year of "Yes!", accepting opportunity more readily than I have in the past. That was especially pertinent to my burgeoning circus career. If there's an opportunity, I'm on it. And it led down some interesting paths. Some turned out to be thankless gigs that paid very little. Some were gigs that pushed our limits and made us better performers. Some were hidden gems. And some were, well, just plain new.

It was through this yessing that Della and I found ourselves teaching circus camp to kids on San Juan Island, Lummi Island, and in Bellingham. Teaching circus is something that we've done quite a bit of in the past, both through Chautauqua and as part of festival, parties, etc. But these are always shorter sessions that let kids (and adults!) come and go as their interest waned or was diverted. The circus day camp where the kids get dropped off and picked up many hours later is a whole different ball game, one which we weren't entirely prepared for.

For the most part, it was awesome. There were some amazing kids who were super into learning, being helpful, and being fun! And from the feedback from students and parents, I'd say that the camps were a success, with the kids having a good time and nobody getting hurt*. But kids are kids, and there was definitely more "don't hit her with that", "pick up your trash", and "take that sharp stick out of your nose" than we expected, esp. with the younger kids. I can hardly blame them for not wanting to juggle for 3 hours straight, but it was still a bit of a learning curve.

Faces have been blurred because of privacy or whatever

Faces have been blurred because of privacy or whatever

One thing about the year of "Yes!", you learn a lot. And that has been wonderful. For next year, however, if circus camp opportunities roll around, we'll have more knowledge about what variable best suit our talents and interests. What does that mean, I don't know. But I know that at least for now, I'm happy to going back to just performing for a while.

Wednesday August 9 2017

File under: circus, juggling

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Something Wonderful

Arrrrrggg! I'm a pirate— or at least I play one in the Bellingham Circus Guild's new production, Something Wonderful. The show tells of a boy taken through a magical world of sea creatures, ship wrecks, dreams, and more. The show is more highly produced than any I've been a part of so far which makes it really exciting. The costumes are top notch and the professionalism regarding timelines, rehearsals, and contracts has been very refreshing.

Last week, we had our first showing, on the big stage at Western Washington University. The huge stage with all the necessary contraptions, lights, staff, and more made it feel all the more big deal. The show went great, except for a couple drops by the pirates (opening night jitters, I guess). This upcoming weekend, we have a 3 show run at the Cirque Lab in Bellingham. There are tickets still available. The shows are going to be so fun!

The do a juggling bit that involves 2-highs, complicated moving patterns, and a neat little passing the bottle routine. I also got roped into doing a little black suit puppetry as well, a new one for my resume.

While the amount of time spent on this, between rehearsals, teching, etc. has been more than I've been used to in the past (and makes the hourly wage far lower than minimum wage), the experience has been helpful and even fun. I'm proud of the show and I'm excited that it might get staged again in the future, maybe even at bigger venues! In the meantime, I look forward to the run this weekend. I hope to see you there!

Tuesday May 17 2016

File under: circus, juggling

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Minor Media Mentions - Bellingham Herald and Bellingham Alive

One of the great purposes of this blog has been to serve as a digital scrapbook for my future self. I know that 90-year old me will love sitting in my hover bean bag chair looking through the fun exploits of his former self. It is with that thought that I started my Minor Media Mentions series, snippets of when I've made newspapers, etc. Two such snippets recently showed up. The first is from the Sunday Bellingham Herald dated 1/31/16 about the Talent Show at Mount Baker Theater we were in (blurb and video here). The other is from the super fancy Bellingham Alive magazine from December 2015. The article has nothing to do with us, but it's a pretty fun picture of the street show we did at the Bellingham Night Market.

Tuesday February 2 2016

File under: juggling, circus

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Juggling at the Mount Baker Theater

Della and I recently had the privilege of performing on stage at the Mount Baker Theater in Bellinghm as part of the Be In The Show community Talent Show. It was a neat event put on by the Dance Studio and served as a fund raiser for Blue Skies for Children, a great charity. Super big props to the folks that put it together. It was well attended, super tight (27 acts in less than 2 hours), and better organized than any event I've ever seen.

For those who don't know the Mount Baker Theater, it is the venue in Bellingham, hosting the biggest names that come through town. To have my 5 minutes in the spotlight on stage there might easily be the highlight of my performing career. Seeing backstage, the green room setups, and looking out at the beautiful hall was quite a treat. And the way it was so well organized made me feel like this is how it must be for a real rockstar. They even put us as the closing act, which only added to the rockstar feel. We had a few drops, but overall, not a bad showing.

Della convinced her intern to get some video for us. Enjoy!

Saturday January 30 2016

File under: juggling, circus

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Real Food Show

Della co-wrote and is co-starring in a circus-inspired kids show about eating healthy and living a healthy lifestyle. The show goes into elementary schools for assemblies and the kids love it (and learn a little something to boot)! They are currently booking shows for the 2015-2016 school year. You should get them to come to your town! Check out the promotional video.

Tuesday June 9 2015

File under: circus

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Circus Club

Della and I just finished our first week teaching afterschool Circus Club up at Mt. Erie Elementary here in Anacortes, and so far, it's been a blast! Each group meets for an hour, 2 days a week and has 18 or so 4th-6th graders. We teach juggling, unicycling, diablo, devil sticks, spinning plates, cigar boxes, poi, and so much more. The kids are awesome: self-motivated, focused(-ish), so interested, and quick learners. And between the staff facilitator, Della, me, the number of kids is very easy to manage.

Circus club runs for 4 weeks. Hopefully by the end of the time, all the kids will have many new skills and lots of appreciation for the circus arts. Della and I, I know, will have a little more teaching experience under our belts, the joy of having shared our skills with the next generation of circus folk, and little money in our pocket. Talk about win-win!

(Forgive the lack of pictures, but the politics of picture of kids in schools is more than I was wanting to deal with. Going through the school's application, hiring, and fingerprinting process was annoying enough.)

Friday April 10 2015

File under: circus, juggling

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The Greatest Show on Earth Again

Circus, in this day and age, can be any one of many things: artsy skin-tight costumed acrobats of cirque du soleil to traditional elephants and lion tamers to prop based gadgetry to a bunch of hippies putting on a show at their converted rock quarry. But the thing they all have in common, in my mind, is fun. So when a circus comes through town, no matter what the type, I try not to miss it.

Well, Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey was passing through town on it's biannual tour of the country, so I just couldn't pass it up. While the animal laden 3-ring variety of circus isn't my favorite, it's still something I'm not wont to skip. And for good reason. While the animal bits were a bit hard to watch (except the tiny dogs atop tiny ponies) and the verve of the hosts and clowns were a bit lack-luster, the skills displayed by the highlighted acts were top notch and the overall feel of the show was fun fun fun!

What made the show even more fun was remembering back to the last time* I went, when we* got to go behind the scenes because I knew a guy. And while the comparison of the last experience to this one shows either that the greatest show on earth is getting a little less great or I'm getting a little more circus snobby (probably due to my constant exposure), having that previous frame of reference was just plain neat.

Yes, I love a circus. If I had my way, I'd be like a deadhead, but for following circuses. Imagine: touring the world seeing the best troupes and acts there were, getting to know the names, the sets, and the details. Yes, if I ever win the lottery, that's what I'll do: I'll become a circus-head.

(It should be noted that part of my disappointment with this itteration of RB + B&B was the lack of juggling. No circus should be without a juggler. So RB, if you're reading this, give me a call.)

Friday September 19 2014

File under: circus, juggling

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2018 Summer Juggling Recap

My Circus Valentine 2018 Act

The Beastly Frightful Unspeakably Spooky Circus of Doom

Circus Camp

Something Wonderful

Minor Media Mentions - Bellingham Herald and Bellingham Alive

Juggling at the Mount Baker Theater

Real Food Show

Circus Club

The Greatest Show on Earth Again