Yesterday I went to the Ekka, and since my journal is full and I'm waiting on a new one, I guess I'll write this here.
I found a mime on stilts near the showbag pavillion in the afternoon. He was wearing a black, dusty-looking tailcoat suit. He was bald, with a large hooked nose and a walking stick that looked like an old fashioned lamp post with a candle in it. He had on lots of make-up, fake spiders and snakes all over him, and contact lenses that were white with black Xs over his pupils. He had a rubber rat that he posed with. He was very creepy looking, but moved so daintily, and he always had his pinkys up.
When I first saw him I was with Jerome, and I told him to give him some of his fairy floss. When he took a bit, the whole lot came with it. He made a funny surprised face and raised his hand to his cheek before Jerome pulled most of the floss back. He shook my hand, too.
After racing back to the dairy cow pavillion to get Mum, I followed him around for the whole afternoon. One man stole his rat, so he took his wife by the arm and started to lead her away, until the man gave the rat back. He was incredible to watch. With every step he took, he gathered more people. He made them laugh, surprised them and scared them silly, as well as giving them a wonderful memory to keep, all without uttering a sound.
I've always wanted to be a performer, but I've never known where to start. Seeing this guy brought up a whole new perspective on this kind of performance. I followed him around until it started to get dark, then he went behind a screen that had a sign on it that said "No Entry, Authourised Personnel Only". I figured that was where teh dressing rooms were, so I waited outside for about 2 hours. (It gets very cold quickly in winter, I've never realized just how quickly.) The whole time I was supposed to be meeting up with Mum, and it was by sheer luck that I found her, as there was a smoking area (kind of like a small pen for people) across from the dressing rooms. We both waited until came out, because I wanted to find out about his character, and how he got into this line of work.
When he emerge, clean-faced and dressed in jeans an a polo shirt, he was wheeling a bicycle. he introduced himself as Frans, and I asked him about his character. It's called "The Gentleman" and is based on a character on an episode of
Buffy. He answered all my questions gladly, even though he was obviously as cold as I was, and his wife was waiting in a No Parking Zone to pick him up. He's from Holland,where he's studied all sorts of performance arts with people like Marcel Marceau! He's also dyslexic, which is part of the reason why he loves mime so much. He gave me all sorts of useful information, telling me about circus training programs in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast. His wife is part of the Volcana Womens' Circus, and he encouraged me to get as much practical experiance as possible, and to start young. Mum told him about the character I made up for my self while I was watching him, which embarrassed me a lot, especially when she asked me to explain it to him. We exchanged emails and he gave me the name of his website.
I'm so glad I didn't chiken out. I almost didn't even think about it. I'm going to remember this as a prime example of the good things that can happen when I ignore my shyness.
Now I'm off to research the Circus University, another of Frans' recommendations. It's the only circus uni in the world, and it has campuses in Melbourne and Sydney!
Love, Remarkable
