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Someone could have all the technical skills in the world, but if they have no creativity their performance could be anybodies, and if they have no passion their performance dies.  Passion can not be taught or learnt, it lies in the heart and projects through every movement, and every word you speak.  It is a powerful thing.

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A lot has changed in the last year.  I think it has made me a better person, it has made me see things differently, it has allowed me to grow as a person, it has allowed me to be more at peace with my own self.  I am learning to love and appreciate life more than i ever did before.

Strength

Sparkle

Lucky :-)

I am grateful for each day.  I have never had everything I have wanted, I didn't grow up in poverty but my mum worked 4 jobs to keep us afloat.  One day i came to realise that i didn't need everything i wanted to be happy, that happiness is dependant on my actions and the love i surround myself with.  That i wake up each day a roof over my head, food in the fridge, and am blessed with good health.

When you really stop to look at life you realise just how god damn lucky you really are.

Don't fake your 1 arm handstand pictures!!!

I screw my face up when i see a picture of someone doing a one arm handstand that is not being held.  I see it so often, the quickly lift my arm and take a photo shot.

BUT TO A TRAINED EYE IT IS CLEAR (mostly)

To the trained eye then you can tell in terms of body/arm/shoulder position and technique if the handstand is held or not, because to do a one arm handstand you know what happens when your body is not in the correct alignment (ie you fall...).

It shocks me that some people can post a picture of them walloping their hand off the floor and people still believe they are holding that thing !?!

Of course sometimes i am wrong, sometimes some people can hold the most wild shapes :-)  

The secret of becoming really bendy and really good at handstands...

There is no secret.  If you are dedicated, work hard, use good technique, don't over rush it, then you will improve.

There are also no quick fixes, it takes time.  For steady progress without plateauing or getting injured you will also need to work with correct technique, for example learning a bad shaped handstand, or just lifting your arm from the floor, is not going to progress you to a one arm handstand, you are better off stepping backwards and getting the shape right/doing the correct progressions and then the one arm handstand following these correct progressions will happen a lot lot quicker and consistently.

I currently teach acrobatics to two awesome identical twins.  When I first met them it was amazing because they were both identical in flexibility, their bridges were identical in shape and bend, their splits also looked very much the same (they both had and still have very good flexibility).  As they have got older then their flexibility is no longer the same as each others.  We only train twice a week.  One broke her ankle (skiing) and missed a chunk of lessons.  But she has done enough to maintain what she already has, the other has been working hard and consistently and her back flexibility is becoming really rather amazing. It is fascinating to watch. 

Me by Jason Lunn, these hands work hard to keep me upsidedown :-)

I will always rise no matter how hard i am pushed down

I love my career, I really do.  I have this passion for handstanding and performing that will always be with me.  Some people in my past have tried their best to push me down, but my passion for performing is just too strong.  I always rise.

I have had one of those careers that has not always been smooth.  It has had many ups and downs, times when i was flying and times when i felt like i was sinking.  One of the hardest moments in my performing career was when a person really really tried to destroy me, i can't and won't go into full details or name names, but this person following a day that they made into one of the worst in my life, then this person then decided to further the pain by bullying me relentlessly.  This included a lot of verbal bullying, nasty threats, calling me useless, pathetic, reducing me to the exhaustive crazy state of tears where you can not breathe 5 minutes before i would have to go on and do a performance i really didn't want to be doing but was too scared to walk away.  I forgave them, i forgive too easy, or i ignore too easily, pretend everything is fine, but then they did something else to attempt to further my misery and kick me down a few months later that is a totally separate event and story and i do not wish to discuss here but can say it had a good ending.  But you know what, although i still hurt, i still cry, i still fear, and will never forgive them for some of the things they did to me, then ultimately this person strengthened me, they made me a stronger person, they proved to me how much i love performing and how nothing will stop me doing what i love doing, they showed me i can deal with a lot more than i thought i could, they showed me who i was and that i was stronger than i thought i was.

Life can sometimes throw bricks at us, sometimes little ones and sometimes they feel like big boulders, sometimes we get so scarred invisibly inside.  But these events shape us, make us who we are today.  You can not change things that have happened, only accept what has happened, learn from it, and see how you can grow from it rather than wither.

I don't know why i am writing this, i guess it is because i want to tell the world however bad things are then if you have a passion that burns so fierce then that fire inside of you will never disappear, i love performing, it is my fire, it has at times been reduced to a small ember but it always re-ignites into a big flame that burns so bright and happy.    

My First Yoga Trip

I have just got back from my first yoga trip away, and it was amazing :-)

Yoga trips often conjure up images of a nice relaxing retreat to somewhere by a beach where you do yoga, relax, and sunbathe.  My yoga trip was a little bit different to this.  Instead of sunshine and beaches I was in Prague - a beautiful city and about 0 degrees with snow.  Instead of a nice relaxing trip i had full on intensive yoga asana training each day.  It was awesome :-)

Each day began with Bikram beginners class.  We then had sessions with 4 world champion yogis - Dev Kapil, Juan Manual Martin Busutil, Ky Ha, and Gloria Suen, plus compulsory posture training with Tereza Bonnet-Senkova.

We covered many many things over the course of the weekend and I learnt so much my head and body were filled and buzzing with new asanas and tips and progress on my existing asanas.  I achieved much and learnt much.  What a thoroughly enjoyable and amazing weekend :-)

Below is a little picture montage of me and my friends during out Prague trip.

Next weekend is the yoga asana championships, I am competing and look forward to demonstrating my asanas.  I have no expectations of myself or of others, and my main aim on the day is to keep calm and enjoy it.  What will be will be.

Event for Capita

My January kicked off performing at an event for Capita.

I performed an ambient set containing handbalance and contortion as the guests entered the venue.

 

I then performed my handbalance contortion act - Dancing Upside Down.

And here are two little warm up pictures :-)

An enjoyable event to begin a lovely January.  I hope to post some video soon :-)

2013 Review - Events and Media Work

I will not write a big long review post because I doubt anyone will read it lol, but here is a quick summary in a picture collage.  I could not take pictures at many of the lovely gigs I performed at but from the ones where i did get photos then here are a few :-)   It was a wonderful year with a lot of lovely bendy handstanding performances.

Flying from a Crane

I have just returned from a fun filled week working on the finale act of the closing ceremony of a big event.

A team of 6 core aerialists from the amazing Incandescence Circus Theatre, and 14 local performers teamed up to be taken 40metres up in the air and create an aerial spectacular.  It was a fabulous finale to a wonderful event.

 Me in rehearsals

The Social Club - Komedia - Bath

Last week me and Lisa took our duo Kurve to The Social Club at Komedia in Bath.  I also performed my solo Diamonds act here.

I rarely do cabarets because the pay is far less than my normal rates, but me and Lisa needed our act videoed and so it was the perfect occasion.

Our acts both had tremendous feedback and wow's, and one movement/dance specialist in the audience described our duo act as being like 'a beautiful moving visual sculpture'.

It was a really really wonderful night full of super acts and fabulous fun.  Anyone living in the Bristol/Bath area i strongly recommend you get yourself to this one when it is next held in March!!!

Happy Halloween

     

Me and Ky doing some bendy acro

Me and Ky decided to create some awesomeness :-)

(I hadn't actually warmed up my back yet in either of these as the main backbending stuff comes later on in class)

Photoshoot With Nick Delaney

I have some beautiful new images from Nick Delaney (www.nickdelaney.com).  Nick is a fabulous photographer who I highly recommend to anyone needing photos.

F1 Grand Prix Singapore

I have just returned from Singapore where I performed with the fabulous Incandescence for the F1 Grand Prix.  It was so fun I think i may just class it as one of my favourite events I have done and I have done a lot of events!

It is an absolute pleasure to be part of Incandescence's amazing shows, Satya who is at the core of Incandescence knows exactly how to make a show look beautiful and how she puts the shows together, costumes them, the music, the lighting, everything, it just works.  In Singapore we performed 3 different 20 minute shows - Night Circus, Cirque Surreal, and Masquerade.  The shows went down extremely well and we also had the pleasure of performing to the Royal Family of Brunei.

To add to the wonderful shows that we did then we were also in the most amazing hotel where our balcony overlooked a large chunk of the racetrack, the racing was absolutely amazing to see live :-)

Manchester Trafford Centre Contortion

This month I travelled up north to Manchester's Trafford Centre.  I performed 4 ambient sets of contortion around the shopping mall to entertain the shoppers.  It was very enjoyable :-)

Cool Picture

I saw this photo online, it is kind of cool!!!  I think it might be from the ICC but am unsure, but anyhow here it is :-)

Bikram Highbury and Islington Equity Card Offer

If you have an Equity Card (www.equity.org.uk), then you can get a lovely discount on classes at Bikram Highbury and Islington.