Cirque in New York

Last summer, Sweet Pea was invited to join an adult cirque company here, as they prepared a show to perform in New York at the Association of Performing Arts Professionals conference. This past weekend was the trip, and Sweet Pea did great!

Leading up to the trip, there was only one rehearsal. It was a bit nerve-wracking, but I had been warned that professionals don't need as many rehearsals as students are used to having. And the other performers in the group lived across the US; they only all came to town once to rehearse together before we all met in New York.

Sweet Pea was the only child in the show, and in fact, she was the only child we saw all weekend out of thousands of performers in hundreds of shows. She was a little shy with everyone else, but the other cast members were very kind and gentle with her.

We arrived at noon on Saturday, and all had a nice lunch together at a deli (Sweet Pea had a burger, and immediately declared that she loved NY delis). After lunch, we had about an hour to ourselves before the first rehearsal. She and I walked around midtown, and were thrilled to see that the Rockefeller Christmas tree was still up! We also walked through FAO Schwartz, which was packed but fun, and she picked out a few miniature Jellycat stuffies for Little Man and CC.

Rehearsal that evening was rough. It was in an empty studio, so the apparatuses weren't available. Sweet Pea was dropped several times, and there were a lot of last-minute changes to choreography, costumes, and timing. She left feeling very nervous -- the performances were the next day! But we ended on a high note: grabbing some New York pizza for dinner ("It was bussin!") and getting to bed early.

Early the next day they did a tech rehearsal in the theater where their performances would be. It went much better, and they had the chance to get on the lyra, trapeze, and rope. I sat in the audience to record the show, and prayed hard that she could clear her mind of distractions and remember all her notes. The show went great! She came off the stage afterwards with a big smile of relief. 

Here's a video of her major scenes:

Direct link to video: https://youtu.be/CLnWUq-OLls

We had a few hours before the next show, so we took off to walk though Times Square, get lunch at a different deli, stop by Magnolia Bakery for dessert (the banana pudding was delish!), and visit the top of the Rockefeller Center for some amazing views of New York. (She loved that the elevator to the observation deck was on floor SIX SEVEN!)

The final show again went very well. Afterwards, we packed up and headed to the airport. Sweet Pea had a window seat, and got some great nighttime views of the city as the plane took off. We got home late but happy, and I let Sweet Pea sleep in a few hours before going to school the next day. It was an exhausting but incredible trip. So many performers would give anything to have such an opportunity! I'm so proud of her hard work, which led to this invitation. She loves cirque, and it's wonderful to see her rewarded like this.