Cirque

myles and i performed our duo act at spire the church thanks to a show production via twisted windows; the most fleshed-out narrative we’ve ever had for this show (flesh husband attempts to resurrect ghost husband in a séance, set to seven devils). it was my first time performing with twisted windows and i thought it was run very well; we were the last act and the audience was really hyped for our performance. i wish i could have networked a bit more but i was so exhausted after being there for 6 hours (i basically showed up and tech rehearsal and stayed in the cold and cramped greenroom all night). ...

trying out some written documentation for this act with sable from ground, tension lock climb start with russian entry to tension (left foot crosses to right, positions as if russianing, right foot pokes through and replaces, should end in a tension wrap) (my mnemonic: cordes lie across the top of the foot, mirroring line of toes, with the pole in the direction of the big toe) one-arm handstand figure out which wrap to do? currently doing the “boxy” “diy trapeze” one descend to croc ...

i wanted to explore slitscan as it affected multicordes videos. i find the jitter on the visual lines of the cordes to be ideal for showing the action of the slitscan. i developed a “short multicordes” apparatus specifically for this video (gymnastics ring with hitched nautical sash cordes (properly whipped ends this time)) as i had extra material lying around from original development. extremely simple python code in a local notebook below ...

i think slitscan looks most compelling when drawing from regular or easily-traced temporal movement paths. this is just a simple straps spin with no special tricks, but the legs demarcate a clear double-helix (and for a beginning student, could potentially deliver information comparing one leg’s motions vs the other in a flare). ...

This move I (as a base) always think of as “grab the butt”. It’s a bit sensitive to the fabric worn by the flyer (too slippery = worse, and we first got this move by wearing leather shorts which were quite easy to hold).

i met many bar aerialists at necca and felt inspired at how passionate everyone was about aerial, and felt quite validated at being able to showcase my strengths (though obviously i learned a lot from this very talented group of aerialists). i was not very well-conditioned when i arrived so i held back a bunch, but was able to perform a small improv on day 3. i also tried swinging trapeze for the first time. definitely had a bit of fear here but it was potentially the most fun i’ve had with momentum outside of spinning (by contrast, i’ve never really been into tumbling, beats on static, or drops). ...

this took a lot longer to get than a split 1-arm handstand in the ropes. eventually i found that the weight is quite asymmetrical in terms of centering of the legs; most of my weight in the top arm is resting on one leg.

disclaimer: this is not a guide on how to safely construct multicordes for yourself. this is the rationale for how i constructed mine based on my personal risk assessment. goal i’ve been intrigued with the chaotic aesthetic of multicordes since seeing photos of them, probably first via instagram posts from european aerialists. construction-wise i had very little to go on when i decided to start prototyping some for myself. i started with observing the hardware i’d seen on a few different examples: circle, rescue-8, and bar. ...

i’m usually underwhelmed by shots of aerialists from below, so when there happened to be an aerial point at this venue in santa cruz, i took some wide-angle video from below to scope out problems and possibilities from this angle. i tried a few things and settled on this split in s-wrap, which looks a lot more interesting from below than it does from the side; it adds visual interest other than unintentional-seeming foreshortening. other considerations were the positioning of the tail (if i’d had someone to pull it out of frame and show the foot, i think that would make this image perfect). ...

was feeling wistful for dad rock when i did this flow after training. very happy with having found this single-arm handstand split with sable’s help: it is one of the few things i’ve discovered myself on the apparatus rather than seen someone else do and so feels very much “me”.