Monday, May 13, 2013

Circus in Wonderland - a photo essay

What a whirlwind couple of weeks! I've been thoroughly entrenched in a tiny, windowless, airless sewing lair at the circus school sewing my little heart out for 43 incredible teenage performers. There were four wonderful moms working on the over 100 costumes required for the show and we had a great time supporting CircusWest  in A Circus in Wonderland. After spending almost 40 hours at the gym over the last four days, repairing popped seams, washing make up and blood out of costumes (a cut toe!), attaching D's unicorn horn part way though each performance, mopping dirty floors, bobby-pinning buns and braids into place, I am really looking forward to getting back to working with cotton in the peace and quiet of my sewing room tomorrow.

It takes a small army of dedicated volunteer moms, former CirKids and make up artist students from the Blanche MacDonald School to prep the kids and get them into character.

Circus in Wonderland 2013

The morning starts with an airbrush machine,

Circus in Wonderland 2013

Circus in Wonderland 2013

 then lots of braiding/backcombing/pinning and hairspray, then to detailed makeup, finally ending with this:

Circus in Wonderland 2013
The unicorn is my D, the lion is one of her circus BFFs. They did a fun acrobatic act representing the unicorn and lion's duel for the crown.

The show was even better than last year's and the Alice theme brought in hundreds of audience members (30 members of the Vancouver Lolita cosplay group came in elaborate costumes!) that might not otherwise have been exposed to this amazing youth circus. I think 5 out of 8 shows were oversold, which is amazing since 400 seats was considered a sell-out.

Here are just a few photos so you can get a sense of it.

Circus in Wonderland 2013
Alice first goes through the looking glass

Circus in Wonderland 2013
A whirlwind of Alice imposters dance inside the looking glass

Circus in Wonderland 2013
The Red Queen on her trapeze

Circus in Wonderland 2013
The card queens enjoy a cuppa on the double trapeze before getting down to business

Circus in Wonderland 2013
Alice and the Mad Hatter enjoy a flower poi act

Circus in Wonderland 2013
A backstage silhouette of the tissu (aerial silks) performance

Circus in Wonderland 2013
Super cool tightwire trick!

Circus in Wonderland 2013
A stack of Blind Mice

Circus in Wonderland 2013
Stacking cards handstand act final style (D in lower right)

Circus in Wonderland 2013
The amazing cast of Circus in Wonderland!

There you go! It was really a pleasure to spend so much time around positive, supportive, motivated and hard-working kids. They are total slobs, but hey, you can't have it all.

I completely missed out on participating in SewMamaSew's giveaway day and I feel rather disconnected from blogland, but I'll try my best to get back in the swing. I'm eager to get sewing for myself again. Hope you are all well and working on fun projects!


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18 comments:

Kirsty @ Bonjour Quilts said...

That looks AMAZING! No wonder you've been off the radar - you must be exhausted. Time for a nice cup of tea and a good lie down (plus some sewing). Top work, Mum (Mom).

Dianne said...

The performance was amazing and your costumes fantastic! Well done Moms and performers!! Not sure how they will top this next year but I look forward to it.

Holly said...

It was a truly incredible show! Kudos to you and the other volunteers for making amazing things happen behind the scenes!

karen @ badlandsquilts said...

Looks fabulous! It is so rewarding to watch your children do that which they are so passionate about.

mascanlon said...

Looks like a wonderful production!

harmony and rosie said...

I'll say it again: That was one of the most exciting performances I've seen in a long time, my daughter and I LOVED it. Well done to you Krista for all your hard work and commitment and, of course, to them for such an amazing show. Truly amazing!
Now, get that W.Tank made :D

Canadian Abroad said...

You must be so, so proud and it looks an amazing show!

Jess @ Elven Garden Quilts said...

Looks like an incredible performance!

Elsa said...

Looks like it was an amazing show and such wonderful costumes everyone was wearing!

Katy Cameron said...

It looks fab, though it sounds like you need a holiday afterwards!

Mrs Flying Blind... said...

Unlike Katy, I think you deserved to be in a small airless room, having subjected us to the jealousy-inducing holiday snaps for months before!!

Looks like an amazing show though xxx

Danielle said...

It looks like it was an amazing show, what an experience and what a lot of hard work for everyone involved. Going to do it all again next year?!

Leanne said...

What fun, it looks like a great show!

carol said...

Wow, that sure brought back memories for me. A LONG time ago, a lady and I made costumes for an Alice in Wonderland performance with kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade kids and made all the costumes from scratch. What a ton of work! But what fabulous memories. If I remember correctly, the process took the entire semester and consisted of over 70 costumes. You will remember your days working on this chore, always and how wonderful for your DD.

Barbara B said...

Really enjoyed the picture herE and on Instagram
Barbara

Barbara B said...

Really enjoyed the picture herE and on Instagram
Barbara

Kristie said...

Okay, we need to improve our act for the next Loon Lake acrobatics....will start working on costumes ;)

monika@mysweetprairie.ca said...

WOw Krista! Lovely photos. I miss that scene. My oldest boy was in Ballet & Jazz for four or five years. I DID NOT miss the $$$$, travel, costumes, $$$, and living in the van while we waited for him to finish each class... (wait why do I miss it?)
hmmm

such a pleasur eto watch all the kids pull of something so spectacular. Maybe that's it. : )

~Monika
(been wondering where you've been...)