Wednesday 25th Octobre, 2023
I realise that I’ve been spelling October wrong… for the entire month… among other things.
(but I’m gonna pretend like it was on purpose…)
Here we are again! Hello, hello, & hello to you. I’m realising that I missed out on last weeks entry. Honestly, I was completely drained, both physically & emotionally. This circus course that I’m taking is really challenging… in all the right ways of course. It doesn’t help that I’m living in Swords again, & that I have a 2 hour commute each morning & evening… It also doesn’t help that I need to consume near twice as much food since I’m working so hard. But I’m considerably happy with the progress being made.
Let’s work backwards in the timeline… there are two things I wanna let you in on.
One : I just purchased my first wireless microphone system… I’ve also purchased my first ever aerial rope too! (not sure if I mentioned that) Either way… I’m well on my way to developing this singing rope act to show everyone soon. In fact, December 10th is the performance date. I’m always terrified when buying equipment… it doesn’t matter how many reviews I read, the people leaving them never perform like I do… so a lot of the risk in buying equipment is a little higher when you’re spinning around in mid air. I’ve spent the past week researching systems & costs, etc… then at the last moment I discovered an entry level mic system at half the price! Which I can’t wait to test out. There are so many moving parts to my show that my rehearsals really need to include all of the equipment / costumes that I’m gonna wear. You better be wishing me luck. :) If you don’t get out to see me perform the piece, I’ll have it filmed too… so keep an eye out for that!
Two : This Monday, I had my first ever fall on the rope. I mean my first ever REAL fall from the rope. It was fantastic & terrifying. I’ve fallen from enough things in my life to know that you need to get right back up asap (if you’re not concussed that is). So the video doesn’t make it look too nasty (& because I wanted to show my tutor that I was fine). I’ll upload a short clip of the fall, & the successful trick on Patreon today (for free, so don’t worry about not being a member). Hopefully I’ll have more opportunities to fall in the future… the dramatic & dynamic tricks are what really attract me to rope. We love a dramatic fall, flip, & spin after all.
Over the past few days, I’ve hit multiple walls physically. Moments where I just “couldn’t”. All of the teachers say, just keep going… in any way you can. Of course we find our ways to keep going. I had to do push ups on my knuckles cause my wrists were just not able to support me. I had to get really vocal & angry while trying to push through other exercises. I also had to accept when it was too dangerous for me to push through & sit out of certain things. Getting to know my limits & my body has been a great education, & something I can use in my music life…
The primary lesson to take is that of holding tension, even slightly. When doing a certain shoulder lift exercise, I was supposed to get through 20 repetitions of the move. At about rep 10 or 12, my body starts to slow down to a crawl. I need a break before I can continue… but I let all of the tension go to rest. To get back into that position was impossible from a completely relaxed place. The next time I hit a similar wall with a different set of muscles I tried something different. Instead of relaxing myself to rest, I would hold the smallest amount of tension in the starting position. Getting back into the exercise was so so so much easier this way. This is the lesson to take into my greater life… no matter how tired I am, or how sick I am of something, be it social media, networking, production, performing… it will be incomparably more difficult to start again if I let go completely. This doesn’t matter for my current hiatus. I’m taking a long time away from performing & social media… yes, it will be harder than usual to get back into the swing of things, but I’m not just taking a break to rest. When I need a rest… I have to rest with a little bit of tension. (that sums it up a bit better)
Okay, that’s all for now… I will actually make sure to write next Wednesday!
Nathan
