Coming Up This Week: (Patreon)

Good morning, dear patrons!

Today marks the beginning of my final week of rehearsing and preparing this new act!
I mentioned at the veryyy end of last week's post that my initial goal was to shoot a demo of this thing this past weekend; that was impossible for a variety of reasons, so now it's happening this coming weekend! On Saturday, to be precise. And then Sunday I shall edit video like the Energizer Bunny and send it off to the producer in Europe for my fate to be decided.  

I don't have large chunks of writing prepped to send out to you in instalments this week like previous weeks, and am in pretty much the highest gear my body/brain can run on trying to make this all happen by Saturday – so delightfully suspenseful cliffhangers are not in the cards this week. BUT!  I have lots of progress photos to share of the costume elements as they're coming together for you to enjoy; I have source material from my research on Barbette that I'm excited to share with you for some fun reading material; and I have some more musings / thoughts on 'Ceci N'Est Pas Une Femme' from last week's final post to share at some point, too.

That also means that this week is the final flurry of Monday-to-Friday posts around this act creation!  
There's lots more to say about it, and I have lots left to share still, but as September moves in I'll be taking a more reasonable pace with the roll-out of your patron-only posts (as in – it almost definitely ain't gonna be a daily thing).
For those of you who are newer patrons just joining this page, the current M/T/W/R/F posting pattern is definitely not what I generally do here and I'll settle back into a different equilibrium of content creation :)  (AKA, just a heads-up, for those of you who have been looking forward to these 9am emails!)

All that being said, here's what's happened over the last few days, and what's to come!

THE GOOD:

• The GIANT FLOOFY DRESS was successfully retrieved from Napanee, ON (where Michael Slack drove to hand off the costume to me). I learned that truck stops in Napanee (our meeting place) sell freezer/freeze-dried versions of poutine. ::shudder::
  
• I got to help carefully pick out all the beautiful, fine laser-cut latex detailing for my Marika-related costume pieces! I'll be sharing photos from that with you all in a post later this week and telling you folks about the cool things I got to learn & do [though, spoiler, I don't think there's a future for me in latex garment fabrication after circus ;) ]
  
• The music by Greg Harrison is complete!
  
  

THE BAD:

• I had some costuming issues during dress rehearsals last week: I had to go back to the drawing board with Marika on one of the key elements of the latex costume layers and reimagine an alternative solution.
  
• This has slowed down the completion time of the finished wardrobe: Marika is hoping to have the cone bra to me by end of day today (Monday), and the thong/underwear piece that goes beneath the harem pants by Tuesday morning. This is very far from ideal. I needed/wanted all those pieces by the start of dress rehearsals this week. I have no idea how performing in a cone bra with memory foam implants inside them will work / look with contortion and I'm just praying that it's a non-issue. We'll find out soon.

THE PRODUCTIVE:

• I've reserved some studio space at a beautiful studio two of my friends are opening up in downtown Toronto called 'Birdhaus' to film in on Saturday, starting in the late afternoon. Yes, it's a bit of an odd place to film a circus act, BUT– there's a vintage vibe to the place that gives off a 'salon' sort of feel that I think is translatable to a cabaret producer (and, hey, if your friend's own a studio space in downtown Toronto, your rental rate is going to be at least a little better than trying to secure a half-day rental from a total stranger).
  
• Tig Fong, who filmed VACUUM for me, is once again helming the technology side of things for me. Tig and I are going to be having a location scout of Birdhaus together sometime this week so that lighting can be discussed and we can plan out where equipment needs to be to film the act.
  
• I'll be at Birdhaus this morning, tomorrow morning, and possibly one more day this week for dress rehearsals to practice with the GIANT DRESS (pictures coming in tomorrow's post!), since I haven't been able to do that yet. My plan is to film my practice runs in the space in whatever finished wardrobe I have available and see what works and what needs to be adjusted in my choreography to use that space to the best of its availability
  

Phew!
There.
That's the Coles' Notes version of things, in any case.

Ready?
Set?
SPRINT! 

* * * * *
[ to be continued! ]