Hey everyone, my name is Maeve Beck and I am about to head out on my 7th tour with Cirque Us! It feels like a lot of time spent on the road, but at the same time it has really gone by in a blink! Between packed creation and rehearsal periods, then busy travel days once we are on the road, teaching workshops, and performing many shows a week, tour always seems to fly by once we get into a rhythm.
I am once again looking forward to another couple of weeks of rehearsal and show creation. In just about one week we will be together as a cast in Rochester, NY piecing together new acts and transitions, relearning choreography from last fall, and of course finding new adventures and fun shenanigans through it all. I’m really excited to tour with cast members and friends who I have worked with through Cirque Us or outside of the company before, and equally as thrilled to get to know and perform alongside the few new faces joining this season!
Each new show and new group of cast members and performers involved bring fresh energy and ideas, new inside jokes and cast traditions, and overall a completely different vibe than the last tour! I am definitely grateful to have crossed paths and have gotten to learn from and work alongside many talented circus artists through Cirque Us!
One of the many reasons I continue to return to work for Cirque Us is just that; the talented, hardworking and kind people involved and the fact that each show is so collaborative and ensemble driven. When we do our first full run through (as hectic and choppy as it may feel!), there is something so rewarding about coming away from those few weeks of grinding and thinking on our toes, knowing that we now have a show that can only grow and improve from that point on.
My favorite parts of rehearsal specifically are the first few days when we are really just trying to develop as much potential show material as possible. Trying out any and all acrobatic combinations and pyramids, creating sequences and lists of goal skills for each act, developing character relationships and transitional bits. All of which may or may not make it into the final product of the show, but each maybe or initial idea often takes flight and inspires something better down the line that really sticks!
I am really happy that we are bringing back Cirque Us Stories for another season this fall! Not only is it such a fun and light hearted show (group jump rope is a real bop and my favorite!), but I think it’s so important right now to be putting out a show that focuses so heavily on the joy of reading specifically, but also generally on the importance of celebrating all of our unique stories. Cirque Us Stories so heavily emphasizes the beauty in each others’ differences and on a broader scale how arts and literature/education go hand in hand and are equally beneficial; that feels so wonderful to be a part of! As a kid I was a very big reader and still am, so it’s fun to be in a show that combines two of my favorite activities!
On this fall’s Cirque Us Stories tour we are returning to many of the same venues and cities, but also hitting some new areas, like Kentucky and Pittsburgh for example! I am very much looking forward to returning to spaces and circus schools that we have performed and taught at before and am equally excited to bring Stories to new communities.
-Maeve
Photos by Steve Sarafian
