CANOPY SHOW

We've been in the house for two days now, but still have lots of work to do. We're camping in the guest bedroom since renovation is due to start in two weeks for the main bedroom and bath. Somehow we found time to go to another aerial exhibition because a young relative was one of the performers. Her ambition is to join the Cirque du Soleil, but if that doesn't work out, she thinks her education should prepare her to be a physical therapist. Sounds like a sensible plan to me!

The entire show was based on a children's book, Juniper Gets Wet, by local author and artist. A little girl dams up a gully on a rainy day and makes a big ocean that she sails away on.

The man who did the illustrations read a scene, and then the aerialists performed to songs chosen for their references to water. Not sure, but I think this was the first scene: "It Had Been Raining For Weeks." The music was "Into the Unknown."

If I remember correctly, this picture represents Juniper's brothers and sisters who are tired of the rain. The scene is titled "The Books Had All Been Read" and it's performed to "I Can't Stand the Rain."

I think--and I'm not sure about this--this scene was when Juniper is washed away in the flood: "When Water Was All She Could See" and music was "Orinoco Flow"

Juniper comes to a stop in the scene "She Trekked Through a Lush Jungle" as we listen to "Welcome to the Jungle" and the aerialist performs with the ring.

After different scenes where Juniper meets a Princess (with a fun rendition of "Dancing Queen") and goes through a Room of Wonders, she keeps having adventures. This pole reached all the way to the ceiling and this shot was taken when the performer was about halfway up. The scene is "Sailed Through the Night" and music was "Chasing the Beat of My Heart."

This was one of my favorites: "Prepare the Submarine" with, naturally, "Yellow Submarine" along with "Deep Blue Sea" for the music. The two metal structures moved back and forth, depending on the performers' powering them.

So we did manage a fun outing despite being in the midst of our move. We needed a break. Very enjoyable!

AERIAL DANCE

Last weekend we went to an aerial/trapeze dance exhibition. Little girls used to take tap and ballet but nowadays they've branched out! This is something you usually see in circuses but now it's found a place in everyday life!

The ones we saw use trapezes and hanging silk ropes. They did some amazing postures and poses, including swinging by their legs and/or feet and falling, only to have the silk catch them.

This duo shared a trapeze and at one point, had one girl supporting the other with her knees, among other difficult feats. Amazing!

Then we come to the silks. They're two long panels of silk that the performer climbs, holding up a loop and putting a foot in it, then repeating until she's in the air. Then she uses brute strength to go through various poses.

Here's another silks performer. I wish the camera could have captured one movement where the silks are wrapped around the body and then the performer suddenly drops several feet. It was quite spectacular!

And this is a group performing on the silks. You can see how the performer has to have upper body strength, lower body strength, and core body strength to do all these stunts.

An amazing show, considering they were all kids who'd only been taking trapeze a few years!

We saw this spring exhibition at the Canopy Studio in Athens, GA, but I learned the founders have moved to the coast near us where they've constructed a large studio and give classes and workshops.

Not that I'll be taking any, thank you very much!