Where in the world am I today?: Shanghai, China
So I dragged my family to the opening of the new Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre last weekend primarily to see a 10 meter tall marionette made by my friend Peter Boulanger. I’ve known Peter for years and must admit to being a huge fan and at times mildly jealous of his brilliance as an inventor. Peter and his wife, Ninon, have created several new and very unique circus apparatus starting with the Tesseract which they developed after leaving Cirque du Soleil. As their projects grew in size and scope they formed The Under Ground Circus and began creating new, interesting structures to throw acrobats onto. Not only did they create the equipment they also took it upon themselves to train the acrobats! I’ve throughly enjoyed watching as each new piece debuts and comes into it’s own, but was absolutely blown away by Peter’s latest creation.
Over the course of about four weeks he took the idea for a giant marionette capable of holding up circus apparatus from concept to reality for the opening of the trade and convention centre and left people gawking in amazement. Five puppeteers operated the 10 meter tall puppet which held up two suspended circus performers in it’s hands. The short 10 minute performance was mesmerizing and the audience was left spell-bounded.
Peter looked exhausted which is completely understandable given he had some very very long nights dealing with the rigging of the marionette and must have been running on fumes. Still, he made it and the results were fantastic! I left the Exhibit Hall feeling energized and inspired by the work he had pulled off and the effect it had on the audience. Now the real challenge – take that inspiration and turn it into action as I pursue my own goals and dreams. Not sure my dreams and Peter’s are quite on the same scope, but what matters is bravely attempting the impossible for in the attempt, the impossible often becomes a reality.
[…] how email can turn into a huge time suck. Last week I posted about the Underground Circus and their 10 meter tall marionette. So how do these two things relate to the heading ‘Practice and Training?’ Let me […]