That Looks Painful

Last week, Gigi took me to Cirque du Soliel at the Stampede show grounds. Pretty much every Canadian you meet has seen Cirque at least once, except for me. This was my first time.

It was incredible. Words can't describe, so here's some pics. And if you get the chance, go see it. It's totally worth it.

"Thumping" Ain't Just For Your Neighbours Downstairs

Happy Mother's Day from the Canadian Pork Industry!

This was on W5 today.

Maybe they hate mothers.

*very graphic+violent material*

This Makes Me Cry

Yes, that IS me.

We played this song all the time at my dance studio, and in my high school dance classes as well. I've also used it in dozens of relaxation and meditation classes, forced though they may have been.

Now my skin just crawls whenever I hear it. THANKS A LOT, CBS.

Though I guess I didn't have to download the song and play it on repeat for four hours.

Excuse the commercial...

Happiness

The best book I bought this year...




.

Do It With A Rockstar

Burn

This world rejects me
This world threw me away
This world never gave me a chance
This world's gonna have to pay

~ Nine Inch Nails


Oooooops. Sorry for the long wait. I know I said that I would post pics "tomorrow", as in "the next day", as in "the day after the show", as in "24 hours later". But what I MEANT was "I will post them in a week or so if I ever get my shit together".

So...the show didn't go exactly as planned. We had a start time of 12:45; at 11:30 someone came running up to us and said, "You're next!" We had about five minutes to get ready, which is kinda stressful when you're playing with fire and piercing your groodies. We pretty much doused the entire dressing room in accelerant before making our way onstage for our set. There were a couple of minor choreography hiccups; Dee discovered that piercing her boob and then lighting it on fire is actually quite heavy; the stagehands forgot to sweep up the salt after the piercing show; I completely forgot every-fucking-thing I was supposed to do the moment we stepped onto the stage. But the best cock-up was saved for last... we were about a quarter of the way into our third and final song, when the music just....stopped. Stopped dead, for like ten whole seconds, and then some  kissy face R&B song came on instead. Dee just kept twirling her fire, she was a total star, but needless to say, it kinda ruined the atmosphere.

But enough of that. Without further ado, here are The Dark Carnival Dolls...

BonBon and her poi...

Dee piercing her groodies...

Dee spinning fire...

Kage, BonBon and Dee

And the evening ended with no casualties. The End.

Girls On Fire

Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Time square in outer space 
I kick the move right in your face 
Satanic fantasies 
Get it, she want it 

She's on fire 
That girl's on fire 
Burn me up, burn me up 

~ Rob Zombie

Last night, Dee, BonBon and I met for our last rehearsal of their fire act, the Dark Carnival Dolls. The performance is tonight, in just a couple of hours actually, and I have surprised myself by not being in the least bit nervous. Not yet, anyway. The calm I am wallowing in now only tells me that there will be a true shit storm when it is time to go onstage. I know this because yesterday was the first time I had truly come to terms with what I had gotten myself into, assisting in a fire act. I only realized last night just how close I am going to getting to...well, the fire act.

We have rehearsed every night this week, but last night was the first time we did it with fire. BonBon went first with her flaming snakes, which actually made quite an impressive show - except the first run through, when she hadn’t shaken off enough of the excess gas and ended up throwing little fireballs everywhere. I looked up in alarm at the huge tree squatting in the middle of the yard, then turned to Dee. 

“Where’s the fire extinguisher?” I asked nervously.

“In my truck,” Dee answered mildly, still watching BonBon’s show.

When it was Dee’s turn, she ended up with too much accelerant on her torches and the flames were HUGE, coming very close to her face. Amazingly, she just kept going, swinging the fans through the dark night air as though they couldn’t possibly hurt her. And then there was me, screaming every time the fire got too close to Dee or BonBon and I thought someone was going to get burned, and completing each step of my choreography while leaning as far away as possible from each girl and her fire.

Dee and BonBon thought it was pretty funny, howling with laughter every time I screamed with fear or ran away from their flames. They were amused. I thought I might throw up. 

What have I gotten myself into? I HATE fire! It HURTS!

Too late to pull out now, though; we’re onstage in four hours. We each know our choreography pretty well, and have gone over it a number of times, though honestly I wish we had a bit more time to practice. You know, with the fire. So I can stop screaming. At least we are going on kinda late tonight, which is always helpful. People will be drunk by then, and much easier to impress. 

The theme for tonight's is the circus, and the Carnival Dolls are decking ourselves out in black and red. We are wearing corsets and tutus and stockings, and our hair and makeup are really crazy and out there. I know this, because I just stopped at Fanny’s Fabrics to get some ribbon and nobody would talk to me. Dee found our music, a creepy but brilliant band called The Circus Contraption. It’s going to be something else.

I’ll post lots of pictures tomorrow, if I live.

Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee