Circus maneuvers cap a five-day camp
Jada Hall-Stanger, 14, of Durham practices. She was participating in The Starfish Circus camp from April 18th to 22.
BY VIRGINIA BRIDGES - Correspondent
May 1, 2011
DURHAM -- To prepare for her first circus performance before a live audience, Natalie Braun, 9, coated her eyelashes with mascara, covered her lips with shiny pink gloss, and had her face painted with glitter.
A few minutes before show time, Natalie and fellow performer Jada Hall-Stanger, 14, hid behind some stored costumes at Legacy Studios off North Duke Street as the audience - their parents - entered.
"Welcome," coach M.A. Harrison said. "Without further ado, we present a beautiful partner acrobatics routine by Jada and Natalie."
The performance capped a five-day circus camp offered during Durham Public Schools' spring break. The camp was taught by Starfish Circus, the teaching arm of the Aerial Angels, a high-flying show based in Kalamazoo, Mich. that performs acrobatics, fire-eating, whip-cracking, trapeze swinging, and clowning across the world, according to the company.
Starfish Circus has taught skills to students from Alberta, Canada, to Tampa, Fla. Jada and Natalie's coaches included Harrison, 24, Zay Weaver, 27, and "Figo," 28, a man with a Scottish accent.
Harrison and Weaver said Aerial Angels performances fall somewhere between the traditional big top and the complex Cirque du Soleil.
"We are not as cheesy as the big top," and more approachable than Cirque du Soleil, Harrison said.
By the end of the week, Natalie and Jada both had blisters on their hands - a rite of passage in the high-flying circus world that was celebrated with high fives, they said. The girls said that while the acrobatics are much more physically demanding than they expected, they are achievable.
"There is nowhere to go from 'can't,'" Natalie said, echoing a phrase repeated throughout the week.
Also, you should maintain a cheesy smile no matter what. "You have to look competent," said Jada, an eighth-grader at Durham School of the Arts.
Jada's parents, Robert Stanger and Libbie Hall, said they were not concerned as their daughter, who sported pink hair,hit various poses on the spinning hoop.
"She's always been very adventurous," Hall saidRead more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/05/01/1166762/circus-maneuvers.html#ixzz1LBNVbgv7
BY VIRGINIA BRIDGES - Correspondent
May 1, 2011
DURHAM -- To prepare for her first circus performance before a live audience, Natalie Braun, 9, coated her eyelashes with mascara, covered her lips with shiny pink gloss, and had her face painted with glitter.
A few minutes before show time, Natalie and fellow performer Jada Hall-Stanger, 14, hid behind some stored costumes at Legacy Studios off North Duke Street as the audience - their parents - entered.
"Welcome," coach M.A. Harrison said. "Without further ado, we present a beautiful partner acrobatics routine by Jada and Natalie."
The performance capped a five-day circus camp offered during Durham Public Schools' spring break. The camp was taught by Starfish Circus, the teaching arm of the Aerial Angels, a high-flying show based in Kalamazoo, Mich. that performs acrobatics, fire-eating, whip-cracking, trapeze swinging, and clowning across the world, according to the company.
Starfish Circus has taught skills to students from Alberta, Canada, to Tampa, Fla. Jada and Natalie's coaches included Harrison, 24, Zay Weaver, 27, and "Figo," 28, a man with a Scottish accent.
Harrison and Weaver said Aerial Angels performances fall somewhere between the traditional big top and the complex Cirque du Soleil.
"We are not as cheesy as the big top," and more approachable than Cirque du Soleil, Harrison said.
By the end of the week, Natalie and Jada both had blisters on their hands - a rite of passage in the high-flying circus world that was celebrated with high fives, they said. The girls said that while the acrobatics are much more physically demanding than they expected, they are achievable.
"There is nowhere to go from 'can't,'" Natalie said, echoing a phrase repeated throughout the week.
Also, you should maintain a cheesy smile no matter what. "You have to look competent," said Jada, an eighth-grader at Durham School of the Arts.
Jada's parents, Robert Stanger and Libbie Hall, said they were not concerned as their daughter, who sported pink hair,hit various poses on the spinning hoop.
"She's always been very adventurous," Hall saidRead more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/05/01/1166762/circus-maneuvers.html#ixzz1LBNVbgv7
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