Barbette's Skeleton [XIV]: (Patreon)

My dear, strange, and wonderful patrons,

I left you hanging a few days ago at the edge of a valuable but surprising twist of information I received from The Producer: that he was not, in fact the decision maker; that a man named Pascal Jacob was; and that Mr. Jacob is a big fan of Barbette. 

If this sounds like a good thing, it might be. 

But we might also say that it's also not unlike as if you decided to narrate a short nature documentary and submit it to a festival that evaluates you on nature-documentary-narration, only to find out that the person reviewing your work is a non-ironically-thin-scarf-wearing high-level French academia version of David Attenborough.

Allow me to offer the following brief overview...

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Pascal Jacob is a prolific, intelligent, and serious man with a wealth of experience in the fields of circus history and circus arts. 

He has written many books (30+) on the subject of circus and performing arts, some of which hold cherished places on my Circus Library bookshelf at home. 

He has a collection named after him at the National Circus School library – some 5000 documents, rare books, show programs, and other various archival items.

He's the circus history lecturer at ENC. He lectures in multiple languages around the world on his fields of interest. 

He's curated museum exhibitions around the world. 

He sits on circus festival juries around the world. 

He has worked as a production designer and talent scout for major companies around the world.

AND –I didn't know this until I wrote this Patreon post, but honestly, PAR FOR THE COURSE– he is the artistic director of the Cirque Phénix and Cirque de Demain Festival.

(I mean, as an aside, this also fills in some gaps as to why the Cirque de Demain festival is held in such high regard – Pascal Jacob and his Mount Everest sized, well-earned reputation is part of the contemporary foundation of it...)

Although, this last detail makes what I was also going to add, make a lot more sense. Which is ...

I've already met Pascal Jacob.

I met him at the 40e Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain, with Troy. He was part of the jury panel there. I met him again at the 6th China International Circus Festival in Zhuhai, with Troy. He was a member of the jury panel there as well.

And –judging from the cold waves of disappointment rolling off of him in waves both times– I got the distinct impression that he was incredibly unimpressed with what we had brought to the table as artists, and didn't belong in the company of the other artists at these festivals whatsoever.

Is it possible that I was in an incredibly stressed, sensitive, and vulnerable state during these points of meeting and contact?

Yes, definitely.

But is it possible that he did, indeed, weigh us and find us wanting, based on the half-fearful, always (sometimes grudgingly) respectful deference to his opinion and expertise from other artists and creatives in Montréal who've interacted with him for years and choose their words very carefully when describing him, his standards, and his values?

Also yes.

Big yikes.   

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EVERYTHING NEEDS TO CHANGE...

... screamed my brain.

While my version of 'Le Numéro Barbette' that I'd been merrily trotting down the creation-path of was one I feel quite fond of, it most certainly wasn't, as The Producer helpfully hinted, "a clear relationship to Barbette".

Maybe if you read this Patreon you'd know ... but to look at it on stage, in the form that it was developing in?

Definitely not.   

My subsequent internal dialogue went as follows (there's a succinct summary following this section if you'd prefer to skip all the capslock and italics):

*I'VE SPENT MONTHS AND MONTHS CREATING AN ACT THAT ISN'T THE ACT, THAT ISN'T GONNA STAND A CHANCE OF BEING CONSIDERED BY BUDDY BOY* [Pascal Jacob]  [[[ that's not true. you don't have to change anything, by the way ]]]

*BUT THIS GOAL FEELS IMPORTANT STILL.*

[[[ okay, then do what you need to do to reach that goal ]]]

*BUT WE CAME <THIS> CLOSE TO MAKING AN ACT THAT WOULD'VE TOTALLY FLOPPED IN REGARDS TO SAID HIGHLY SPECIFIC GOAL–*

[[[ right, but now you've got new information, so ... you can course-correct ]]]

*BUT WE ALMOST DIDN'T.*

[[ [but now we do ]]]

*BUT WE ALMOST DIDN'T.*

[[[ BUT NOW WE DO ]]]  

*OKAY FINE BUT WE'VE BEEN BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE THIS WHOLE TIME–* 

[[[ well it's not really the 'wrong tree', though, is it? it's just an alternate interpretation ]]]  

*HYPERVENTILATES*  

[[[ what've your two biggest roadblocks been lately? (1) Time: it's been proving near-impossible to get this thing under 6 minutes because you've got FOUR characters; frankly, that version would breathe so much better as a 20-minute or even 40-minute concept; (2) Costume: your costumer is out for the count for who knows how long and quickchange costumes are an undiscovered level of Hell that you absolutely do not have time to try to teach yourself how to do so ... going back to high-femme-glam-glam is actually ... easier. this could actually be a good thing, dude.]]]

  *Freaking Out Brain Pauses And Considers It* 

[[[ calm brain continues ]]] [[[none of this research has been wasted. come on. you know better than that. the fact that you've done all that you've done so far is what would make going back to an earlier concept potentially successful where you'd dismissed it as impossible before]]]

*picks up steam again* *YOUR PATRONS ARE GOING TO THINK YOU'RE IRRESPONSIBLE*  

[[[ literally HOW, dude? ]]]

*BECAUSE IF YOU DID ALL THIS THINKING AND WRITING AND YOU'RE STILL CHANGING YOUR MIND THEN THAT MEANS YOU WERE WRONG* 

[[[ so a project evolving makes the earlier versions of it 'wrong'? ]]]  

*BUT I'VE WASTED SO MUCH TIME*  

[[[ do you actually believe that ]]]  

*WELL .... No ... I guess not ...*

[[[ This is a super normal part of the artistic process. Things change. It's okay if it feels a bit squirrelly because it's a more external motivating factor, but, so what? ]]]

In summary, instead of keeping my Professional Artist™️ hat planted firmly on my overflowing skull, and instead of observing new developments with calm curiosity (e.g. ah, beautiful, the continued evolution of the work! the Artistic Process is so mysterious, it unfolds continuously and reveals itself to us anew each day...), I reacted to this shift with all the grace and composure of a chicken with its head cut off.

But once the dust settled, other realizations began to gently sneak in:

If it has to be a 'clear relationship' to Barbette, then that's not so bad: you literally just go back to what the contortion proof-of-concept version was. You can try that again.

You have the GIANT FLOOFY MAGICAL DRESS that you were just resigned to *not use* for the aerial straps 'Le Numéro Barbette'. It's a far more responsible use of your resources to incorporate that into your current work instead of letting it gather dust in your closet.

You dismissed that as an option in the beginning of this grant because you had nowhere NEAR enough straps experience to handle a giant costume like that AND be on your apparatus. But now you've got some solid technique. And WAY more experience. It's different now.

It would mean a simplified act dramaturgy. Maybe that'll translate even more clearly to an audience. You won't need all those characters to be part of it. It would be just Barbette ... and you.

I thought about how I might try going back to the source material –Barbette's original act itself– for clues about how to create clear visual references tying this historical persona to my present-day proposition. 

I talked to Marie-Josée, my artistic counsellor, about the ways in which these changes in narrative would create echoes of dramaturgical change in other facets of the work.

I realized I could simplify the twisting I was doing over the music: simply, I would use the music from the Scheherezade ballet for much of it, just as Barbette did 100 years ago. 

I could go back to simpler costume design with Michael Slack, if he ended up being able to handle the project after all: no quick-change mechanisms needed. Just high-glam, beautiful burlesquey showgirl pieces our of textiles to replace the latex ones from the original contortion version that didn't survive the recording. 

You've done so much research, I thought to myself. 

Pascal Jacob is scary because he's seen it all. Literally.
(I like to joke that if there was a Circus Illuminati, a deepstate-shadow-circus-government that actually pulls all the 'strings' of trends in body types and acts and disciplines and so on, he would be high up in the food chain).

But he's just a man. And if he doesn't like it, so be it. 

But ... it's also not bad parameters to help you distill this act back down to its purest elements. 

You can make this pivot.

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And so I have been. 

You'll have one final note from me before this year is out and the new one begins -- until then, stay strange, wonderful, happy, and healthy. XO - Ess