Hello Spring!

Hi! It has only been a week since my last update but I am trying to be a good blogger woman and update the adventures much more regularly. After ten months in Montreal we are only left with 6 more weeks until tour officially starts! We have started doing exciting things like choosing our hotel to stay in for the 4 weeks and deciding what to do for our one week holiday in between Montreal and Quebec City. All of the hotel and apartment choices are very nice, we have a choice of about 5 different places, with different qualities like closeness to the tent, swimming pools, gym etc. All are very beautiful and I feel a little bit spoilt. However, I feel we all deserve the best after spending nearly a year in this tiny, empty room in the residence. I can't say it has been the most exciting accomodation, but hey! It provided a bed and a roof over our heads and that is all we really needed during creation. I chose a hotel 2.5 km from the tent and in the heart of Quebec City. It is a rustic, homely looking hotel with a nice king size bed, I am very excited! My dear Australian friend Karina and I have decided to stay in Quebec City for our one week break. We were tossing up between a variety of places but it seemed more relaxing to just settle in and enjoy the full 7 days without having to worry about flights and all that! I would really like to find some National Parks or nice walking trails and a lake to get my nature fix though. I miss swimming and being around the purity of nature so much. I got a little today on Isk, Ellen and my adventure to St Helene island. There is some beautiful areas around this island and it was very interesting to visit the Biosphere and learn about the human impact on the environment, water and the efforts some amazing people put in to help sustain our lovely planet :) My favourite part was the fashion exhibition where Canadian artists were given the challenge of creating a garment out of recycled materials. There were some very unique and special pieces on show, including a dress made out of salmon skin! Initially I thought the Biosphere was where all the animals were and this is what I had intended to show my friends, but I mistook the sphere for the dome and took them to the wrong place! but anyway, I took them to the Biodome as well which was also very interesting. It is an animal sanctuary with lots of different 'habitats' set up. There are some very amazing animals on show, my favourite was the otters. I also got the honour of exploring a random mans house today. My friends Isk and Ellen are staying in a room in an art teachers apartment. They found the accomadation on a great website , I think it is a fantastic idea which gives travellers the opportunity to stay and experience civilian life in Montreal. So yes, I loved 'Ian the art teachers' house, it was very quirky, artistic and colourful.

Back to our show,
the intensity of 10 shows a week will begin to simmer down very soon, and our Saturday shows are starting a little earlier soon so we will be able to enjoy a Saturday night. It has been peculiar not having weekends. We finish work on Friday and Saturday night and see so many people out and about while we still have work, but then again, it feels nice to have Monday off while everybody else is having to work! It is really good if you want to go to places that are generally busy on weekend, as they are much  more quite on week days. Next week we have a 'double dark' which means we have two days of no shows. This is a great opportunity to fully rejuvenate, as one day off in between ten show weeks goes pretty dam fast! My lovely coach Stacy is beginning to face the challenge of moving out of her apartment and cottage and she invited us to come help her at her cottage. I enthusiastically volunteered and I am really looking forward to spending my double dark away from the city next week!

Tea at Babette cafe

The amazing Sakaino sisters

Montreal is like a different city when it is sunny! So much nicer.

My amazing physio, Myumi

Nap time..

Brunch at Old Hen

'Ian's house'

'Fashion for a New Era' exhibition 

Salmon skin dress

Pill bottle dress

Recycled book dress

Hi!

I profusely apologise for being so dam lazy with this blog! I haven't updated it for three months, and by george, lots has happened in this time! After 9 months of training, creation and long stagings and rehearsals our beautiful show finally premiered in April. Since then we have done 52 shows and in those shows experienced the wonders of pleasing an audience, the wonders of technical problems and to me, most importantly the coming together and bonding of a group of amazing people. The casting department did a good job when it came to choosing people for Amaluna, because the energy and atmosphere is perfect, I really couldn't have asked for a better cast. Together we have experienced an array of very challenging, magical, boring, fun and special moments that I think will stick with each of us for a long time. As the routine of "tour life" slowly takes shape, I am beginning to realise just how lucky I am to have this as my "job". As staging sessions decrease I have the entire day to enjoy before our show call in the afternoon. It was nice to finally have some to spend with Richard, as the poor boy hardly saw me during our loong creation, but we didn't time ourselves very well and he is back in England doing his own thing for a while! My free time has been filled with hot yoga, pilates, massage, physio, crochet, cross stitch, writing and reading, but my favourite moments are in the tent, eating in the kitchen, doing our pre-show rituals and finding ways to make each show exciting and unique on stage. I think the last part is very important and definetly one of my favourite things to do at the moment. Doing 10 shows a week for two years is clearly going to become a little repetitive, so finding moments to do a little joke, pull a stupid face, or dance like an idiot on stage make the shows much more fun. Of course, you have to be very smart when doing this so you don't get caught :p but that makes the thrill of it even better! Playing with the audience has also become a very fun part of my job, each show you get to experiment with different personalities, moods and reactions and learning how to react is very cool and challenging. I find old men and women the most fun, I have had some people growl at me, wave while I am trying to be a monster or hilariously get so frightened they jump out of there seat. I have been offered popcorn once but sadly had to decline :(

I have one and a half months left in Montreal after a long 11 months or so of being here. I feel ready and rearing to start tour which begins in Quebec City first. After we go to Toronto, then HOME, Vancouver, Seattle, Edmonton, then I can't remember, then San Jose and San Francisco! I am trying to enjoy being routed to one place as best I can though, because I know I will miss having a 'home' once I begin tour. Soon, I will have to start tearing down all the things that made this tiny room 'home' and stuff it all into my suitcases for life on tour! The last month in Montreal will and has already been fabulous though. The weather is warming up and is absolutely delightful, so we are leaving on a good note. For an Australian, the one Winter I experienced was enough for a lifetime and apparently this years Winter was nothing compared to normal! I am much happier now I have got my colour back and I am able to sit out on those comfy Canadian style chairs and enjoy the sun!

I promise to keep this blog updated from now on!

Amaluna

Hello! I am terribly sorry I haven't updated this blog for a while, I will try and get back into the swing of things now that my life is becoming more and more eventful. The last few weeks have been very challenging, exciting and captivating. The year began with building a cluster of different scenes and all of a sudden, on the 23rd of February we were presenting our whole show to Guy Laliberte and being praised for the excellent foundation we have built as a cast. Now, after 12 hour days, challenging staging sessions and multiple presentations our show Amaluna is ready for the big top. As I type boxes and boxes are being transported to the Old Port in downtown Montreal, where we will stay and perform until July. We do not premier until April but we begin staging in the big top in two weeks! Already, in the Cirque headquarters we have been given a taste of show life, I have learnt to do my own make up, I wear my costume in run throughs and I sit backstage and watch the small screen to know when my next cue is. Doing these small things excites me so much, these are the things I have always wanted a taste of, and now it is my life for the next two years at least. I hope to keep this enthusiasm for the small delights as my touring life progresses, I do not want to lose the love that led me to work for Cirque du Soleil in the first place.

Many artists will tell you that the three month creation period at Cirque is tough, and I couldn't agree more. It is the love and passion for performing that keeps me going, without that I don't think I could get through the challenges put in front of us. Staging is difficult, physically repeating cues over and over again is taxing on the body, especially at 9pm at night when I have been training for 12 hours already. Mentally, you have to keep sharp, directors and choreographers are depending on you to concentrate and remember your roles, there is a lot of pressure to be on the ball and keep a very proactive attitude. But after doing your act in front of an audience all of the hard work seems more then worth it, the adrenaline and excitement is what we all do it for. I promise to keep this blog more up to date from now on!