Hello!! My name is squid Kramer and I am a new addition to the Cirque Us “Stories” cast. We are two days into rehearsal and everything is going swimmingly so far. Meeting the returning cast and other new members, learning the show, and getting to share ideas with one another has been really fun.
When I first learned about the concept behind “Stories”, I felt really excited to get the opportunity to participate in a show that is fun, light, and cute, while also dealing with really deep human experiences like navigating fear and the importance of imaginative play with friends. The focus on reading and storytelling also intrigued me. I was an avid reader as a child, and traveled all over this world and many others from the small town in which I was raised. The ability to dream about places and experiences so different from this ten-thousand person town nestled in the Appalachian foothills of the Laurel Mountains expanded my worldview and gave me such curiosity about the larger world around me.
My undergraduate degree is in cultural anthropology, which is basically attempting to listen to others’ stories with an open mind. Learning about how people in many places experience the world without centering my worldview as correct or singular led me to travel to and live in Cuba and Brasil. I learned Spanish and Portuguese, which allowed me to express myself and connect with people in new ways and opened up new worlds of poetry and literature. Receiving the gift of someone telling their own stories allowed me to learn what was important to the people who were becoming important to me, and I shared my stories with them, too.
Being part of Cirque Us is also a type of exchange based on stories. Each cast member brings their life experiences, physical talents, and individual personalities to the team to create a new shared story of connection and dreams. I see the throughline of my life connected by books, imagination, storytelling, and sharing with friends from many places. Today for example, instead of jumping rope with my feet, as I have historically done, I did “the worm” for my jumps instead, and that is a story I will laugh and remember fondly as I tell it in the future. I can’t wait to see what turning the next page of this tour brings!
Follow Squid’s circus journey on instagram @_squid.the.kid_
Purchase tickets to see Squid and the rest of the cast of Cirque Us Stories at www.TheCirqueUs.com
