Shambala Festival 2013

Shambala is one of my very favourite festivals.  It is set in a beautiful location near Market Harborough.  I didn't know who any of the bands were (I never do!) but I danced along to some absolutely mind blowing music all festival.  I got to catch up with a lot of my performer friends.  And the whole festival is a sparkly sequinned place full of fun and amazingness.  

Last year I performed as part of the Kamikaze Cabaret, which the photo in the programme above was from.  But this year I brought my whole new fabulous 'Diamonds' act to the Social Club Cabaret.  It went beautifully and got marvellous feedback.  I have no official photos but here are a few from my phone.

Future Posts

I have so much i wish to write and share with people on this blog, from ways to better your handstands, increase your flexibility, to anatomy of the spine when backbending, to injuries and injury prevention, as well as all my usual types of posts about all my gigs and my random kershazzle.  I qualified as a physiotherapist prior to becoming a professional performer, and the geek in me is massively interested in anatomy and physiology and injury prevention.  If there is anything specific you would like to read about in the future let me know :-)

Don't compare yourself to others

There will always be someone who is younger, bendier, stronger, technically better than you are.  Don't compare yourself with others, be happy with who you are today.  We always strive to be better, that is ok, but be your own competition.  Someone who has more skills than you, they may lack in many other areas.  Onstage we just show what we are good at, but everyone has their weaknesses whether they are on display or not.

I write this firstly because it is true and makes you a happier person, and secondly because the circus world is becoming inundated with new people at the moment, and there are some people who i have seen/heard berating others who have done nothing nasty to that person, sometimes publicly on social media.  Never speak bad of others if they have done nothing wrong to you, blowing out someone else's flame does not make your's shine any brighter.  Respect each other and our different talents and abilities, everyone has their strengths and you can learn from each and every person you meet.  Everyone has had and is on their own journey.

Have fun, it's a pretty world if you let it be.

Picture: Michael Josephson

Looking For a Male Base...

I am looking for a male base who would be interested in creating a male/female acrobatic/adagio act with me.  They need to be London based, have experience of acro and performing, in shape, a full time performer, and preferably above 5'7.

Contact: dancingupsidedown@gmail.com

Natural History Museum - Duo Acrobalance

This week me and Lisa performed our very fantastic duo acrobalance act at the Natural History Museum at a corporate event.  The Natural History Museum is such a fabulously beautiful venue and it is always a pleasure when I get to perform there.  We wore beautiful sparkly animal print costumes and had our hair and make up done by the fabulous Wendy Olver.  Just some snaps from mobile phones, one of our performance, and the others are of backstage stretching/warming up for the event, we would have done some more duo balance'y photos but most of our photos were us taking photos of each other :-)

London Photoshoot with Michael Palmer

This time last year I rushed back to London from being away on a gig and I did a photoshoot with the fabulous Michael Palmer (www.michaelpalmer.com).  I have worked with Michael a few times now, he is great to work with and he always manages to get absolutely awesome images.  Partly my fault but I just got the images last week.  I had many favourite images as per usual but after narrowing it down then here are my three favourites :-)

Ezmeralda's Night Circus - Video :-)

This video from the fabulous Incandescence's Ezmeralda's Night Circus premiered at Glastonbury 2013 is a must watch!!!  It features me handbalancing + doing my duo with Lisa.  It is a very fun show to be a part of, it is a brilliant show to watch, and as from the video you can tell how much i LOVE diamonds!!! :-)