Last year I toured regional Australia with Circus Oz. This clip is from one of my performances with them.
I’d already performed with the company at the New Victory Theatre in New York City, at which point the other cast members were fresh from an Outback tour with all of its hardships and rewards. I wanted to experience small-town Australia myself. So when the directors were ready for another injection of my brand of Canadian energy and the time was opportune for me, I traveled Down Under for seven months.
Some of the outpost towns we visited had only enough audience members for one night of performing, so the bulk of everyone’s work was “bump in/ bump out”—setting up in each town’s venue—rather than in performing!
I still managed to have lots of fun adventures, like riding a bike between Orange and Bathurst under clear blue Outback skies with my double-trapeze partner, with pink galah birds chattering by the side of the road, and gum trees lining our path, and hunting fruit trees, yum, and finding fresh figs in the dry interior of the country.
In Tasmania, we had our only five-day chunk of time off before performing in the oldest theatre in Australia. I seized the chance to hike (or “bushwalk,” as they say here) the Overland Track in winter conditions—yes, it does snow there! As fit as I was, I wasn’t prepared for the cold, so when I stopped walking after three days of walking 90 kilometers nonstop, I literally couldn’t walk anymore (so I went kayaking instead), and required intensive massage of my shins over the following weeks to be able to walk easily and continue hanging by my feet during my performance. It was rather silly when I showed up to work the first day in Hobart’s Royal Theatre. Everyone else was refreshed from five days of rest with their partners/dogs/gardens/homes, while I sheepishly whispered to my double-trapeze partner that I’d have to cut all the toe hangs from our act, along with any walking cues I had in the show! It wasn’t even a work-related injury. When we finally settled into the big-top season in Melbourne for the last month, I was a bit worn out and managed to sustain a wee neck injury.
Soon after leaving Circus Oz, I performed my newest act, “Matador,” as part of an ice show in Toronto. The lighting was unique, reflecting off the ice and enhancing the performance.
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