Ahoj!
After an incredible breakfast and heated debate over the presence of pulp in orange juice, we traveled by tram to Cirqueon, a contemporary circus in Prauge. Cirqueon prides itself on flawlessly blending playfulness with political consciousness, and after workshopping with them, I can certainly say that Cirqueon has achieved its goal. When we first arrived, I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of equipment in the workshop room. There were multiple silks hanging from the ceiling, beanbags and pins to juggle with, and giant hula hoops littering the wall next to us. Immediately on the left were tightropes of varying heights to walk across. And it was in this moment I had suddenly realized that tightrope was a misnomer. Stretched across the room was what looked like a telephone wire about the thickness of my thumb with sharp metallic ridges spiraled the whole length. I immediately understood the amount of practice and dedication one must have to walk across that telephone cable for fun.
We first were introduced to group calisthenics by individually coming up with a motion and vocalization. Then, we went around the circle trying to remember each person’s motion and adding our own. Our instructors showed us incredible footage of some communist mass calisthenic performances from 1985. The first video depicted a stadium just outside of Prague (which we later found out was nine football fields in size) filled with what seemed like high school girls. They all wore the same shiny pink and white uniform, and moved in sharp synchronization. The second was a mass of male soldiers in white shorts and white canvas shoes. Their choreography was much more acrobatic, featuring lifts and rolls throughout. Since the men were rehearsing on real grass, the places where their shorts and bodies made impact with the ground were stained brown. Our instructors informed us that schools in the Czech Republic would receive a pre-recorded government sanctioned video to teach the students with. After rehearsing in their own separate schools, participants met together once a year, for four years, in the stadium to rehearse all together. In watching the videos, I recognized movements that my peers created too. It was so wonderful to see history in front of you and not only watch it, but to manifest it in our physical self.
As we talked about what life was like under communist rule, our instructors reminded us that most of the revolutionary thinkers and activists of the time were people our age. Through our conversations, it was clear that communist-occupied countries were fearful of the western pest that threatened them. It was also clear that subscribing to western media and learning was incredibly dangerous. Not only were you at risk of being found out by the law, but you were also at risk by the secret police and any friends who might rat you out as a free-thinker to the wrong people. We were then given materials to construct our own college revolutionary friend out of cardboard and crafting materials. After we named them and gave them college majors and life stories, we then had to “”expose”” our friends to the secret police by burning them. We started a small blaze which was challenged by the wind. We watched our new revolutionary friends catch fire and turn to ash in front of us. Our instructor who had been playing Czech revolution songs on his guitar, now sang softly:
“Now he’s gone, I don’t know why
And ’till this day, sometimes I cry
He didn’t even say goodbye
He didn’t take the time to lie
Bang bang, he shot me down
Bang bang, I hit the ground
Bang bang, that awful sound
Bang bang, my baby shot me down”
After lunch we started the circus workshop. Now that I had been in the space for a while and had spoken to the instructors in Cirqueon, I felt so much more comfortable with the idea of stepping farther outside of my comfort zone than usual. We started with a few games where we traveled across the room as certain animals, each trek became more and more complex. Then, we started tumbling. Rolling around on mats on the floor and allowing myself to be playful reminded me so much of elementary school gym class. We learned a few different front rolls, a back roll and a cartwheel. We then moved on to the pyramids and learned how to safely stack upon one another. I was a little scared at first, but, like I had witnessed with my growing comfort around circus equipment, it became enjoyable the longer we worked together.
At the end of the day, the group’s split up between silks and balance beams/the tightrope. I stole one more look at the tightrope. The curved edges in the wire still frightened me. The fear of falling terrified me much more. But, instead of pushing myself even further out of my comfort zone, I realized that it’s okay to not want to do things. I was scared of walking that tightrope, and that was okay. So, instead, I placed myself on the silks and reacquainted myself with silk dancing after 3 years. It was just as hard as I remember, if not more. But, as I was standing on top of the silk knot, I looked down to see all of my friends laughing at their silly mistakes, learning new things about themselves and having fun. It was the greatest view in all of Prague.
