I Performed for the Prime Minister in Hotpants...

...no, really I did. And I met the pet sheep named Colin- he is fantastic.

Since I last wrote we've been to many places after Cheltenham including Broadway, Tackley, Stadhampton, Lechlade, and we are now in Barrington on a two-week stay. The shows are continuing to go extremely well, and as you can see from the photos above, I have had a chance to meet some celebs once we reached Tackley. First I met British tennis player Tim Henman, then Johny Greenwood from Radiohead, and in Lechlade Helena Bonham-Carter and Tim Burton came to the shows with their kids. They were both fantastic people and their kids so cute! I was giving them a tour of the back tent and the ring at one point and both of their kids started to try on the pig head, goose head, and others from the show and then Tim and Helena did as well and took some photos on their iPhones. It was hilarious! I was thrilled to have a chance to talk to Tim about his work and how much I enjoyed his MoMa exhibit (it is currently touring in Melbourne, Australia) and Helena was telling Nell Gifford and nanny Phillipa and I about her current filming of the movie "Toast." What a day that was!

After Lechlade we arrived in Barrington where we are currently, and Kate Winslet's director ex husband and kids came to the show (she no longer lives in Barrington) as well as Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron with his wife and kids. I didn't want to bother the Prime Minister for a photo but I did have a chance to greet him after the show, and he said he loved it! I was slightly embarrassed by the hotpants I have to wear in the second act, but no matter...I work for the circus!

Besides the shows we've had some great fun as a circus family going out to pubs and clubs in Oxford and Cheltenham as well as people's birthday parties. Lance the chef had his famous birthday party on a river boat in Lechlade (where the mouth of the Thames is) and we all drank, danced, and even went for a swim in the river! The next day was our day off so everyone relaxed at Rob's house and had a barbeque and played some tennis and drank some Pimms and lemonade, which I must say is quickly becoming my favorite summer drink. Now that we're in Barrington we are at a wonderful pub called "The Fox Inn" next to our site, and everyone comes down for drinks after the shows and we have a fantastic time.

I was hit with a spout of homesickness recently as we're at the halfway point in our tour and everything, but that's only natural. I am loving every minute but also missing my family, friends, and boyfriend back in New York and Connecticut. Two of my best friends got engaged recently (and I'm going to be able to make it to Katrina's engagement party hooray!) and my family is going through some changes but I will be there soon enough to join them. I have had my boyfriend and parents visit so far, and I just found out my best friend Veronica and her husband will be coming to visit in Minchinhampton, so that is really exciting to hear! She is an amazing makeup artist and we met on modeling shoots back in New York and became instant best friends. A lot of London friends have come to the shows, and another New York friend Kayleigh who I went to Fordham University with might be making an appearance in August and then traveling to Paris with me after the tour. Yupee!

What else to tell? Oh! I booked a modeling gig for a yogawear company coming up in the next few weeks, so that's very exciting to have a little bit of my old work to look forward to, and we've also appeared in a few magazines such as "The Lady" "Country Life" and "Cotswolds Life" among others. The Lady featured some photos of Roxane and I in our tutus with Yasmine and the horse Zigfield. It is the July 17th issue with Nell Gifford and nanny Philippa and the two twins Cecil and Red on the cover with the headline "Nell Gifford: Mum in a Big Top."

Here is a funny story: we had the craziest day last Tuesday when we found out that our tent was too close to the electric lines so tent master Ian told us all we would have to take down the tent and pull it back up again all in the same day (mind you this is usually split up between two days and we don't have shows) AND do two shows! You can imagine how tired we all were after the shows, but it was a hilarious process and I've never seen us all work so fast and so together on tent duties before. Poor Ian was so upset that Rob wasn't in fact "taking the piss" when he told him what Toti had ordered but that he was, in fact, serious. Yet another perfect example of my favorite line: "Yep, I work for the circus."

Tonight we have another house party from one of the locals in Barrington following our last show of the day, so that should be fun! Tomorrow night is our last night in Barrington before our move on Monday after the last show, so I'm sure we will all be at the pub to celebrate. The Fox Inn has by far been my favorite pub on this tour as the landlord Paul is so funny and he never closes for the circus.

More soon,

with love

Carolina the traveling circus gypsy

xxx

You Know You Work for the Circus When...

You Know You Work For The Circus When......

Brian the Goose wakes you up sqwawking outside your window

The horses poop in the ring and there’s no time to scoop it so you dance on horse poo in the ball scene

You practice walking the wire in your spare time

On your day off you decide to learn aerial dancing on the silks

The cook’s electric scooter is called Henry William George

Your fellow performer has a pet sheep named Colin

You go clubbing and the Russians start dancing like Borat

The showers get turned off on move day so post-show the cast is taking down the tent in full clown makeup and high visibility jackets

You wear wellies with your tutu when not in the ring

You are admitted to see Buena Vista Social Club for free at the Hay on Wye festival because you’re “with the circus"

It has really been the most incredible journey so far. We've rehearsed for three weeks in the Cotswolds (Bourton on the Water where the circus is based), then had ten days of previews in Gloucester followed by two weeks in Hay on Wye, Wales during Hay Festival, and now we're in Cheltenham on the racecourse. As you can see above...there's really never a dull moment when you work for the circus, and I couldn't be happier to be a part of this experience.

The Hay on Wye shows were jam-packed and we had some amazing reviews (just Google Giffords Circus) such as the one done by "The Stage" here in the UK. On our day off we had a chance to record the official Giffords Circus "Yasmine! A Musical" CD so that will be out soon ready for purchase. We had a lot of fun recording it. We've also had some celebrity writers, cooks, and comedians come to the shows so far, but apparently once we reach Tackley or Stadhampton (the closest shows to London) we should have some of the celebrities from last season showing up such as Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter as well as Kate Moss, Kate Winslet, and Vivienne Westwood. I would die if I get to meet any of them, how exciting. I'm such a fan of Tim Burton (see previous post regarding his exhibit at the MoMa when I was back in NY). I don't even need to say anything about Kate Moss or Vivienne Westwood as I model in NY and I am the biggest fan of anything fashion but especially those with the talent of Kate and Vivienne. As for other goings-on in Hay, there were interesting lectures, movie showings (such as the "Dharma Brothers" regarding introducing Vastassna meditation in prisons: great film), and concerts. Buena Vista Social Club was just one of them. I had a great moment listening and dancing to Buena Vista where they played the song "Chan Chan" that Ballet Hispanico danced to in their "Noche Latina." Seeing them live and having danced for Ballet Hispanico made me immensely happy.

Anyway, lots to tell and my mind is so scattered. We are about to pull up the tent here in Cheltenham and my little caravan is all unpacked after the pack-down process we all go through before moving towns. I don't know how I'll ever get used to living in my one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan anymore! I rather like this little caravan of mine. I've also worried less about the unimportant things while out here in the countryside. I'm still a New Yorker at heart, but living in my homeland of England with the carefree-ness of a Brazilian.

Speaking of Brazil: THE WORLD CUP STARTS IN JUST TWO DAYS!!! I have to root for Brazil first as allllllll my family lives there except my parents and brother, then I will root for England next as I was born here, then Spain and USA because I lived in each country for a long time. I can't wait to watch the matches. I've got a World Cup poster hanging on my wall tracking all the games with spots left for filling in the results and who makes it to the next round from each grouping.

More soon, with love

Carolina the Circus Gypsy

I Ran Away With the Circus...

....and it's everything I imagined and more!

I have finally arrived at Giffords Circus and completed my first official week of rehearsals at circus headquarters in Bourton on the Water (Gloucestershire), England in the Cotswolds. It has been a busy and fun-filled week of dancing and band rehearsals as well as watching the other acts rehearse in the ring. This year's show is called "Yasmine A Musical" and it revolves around the life of horse-trainer Yasmine Smart (playing herself in the show) in three stages of her life. Sophia from Russia will be playing little Yasmine, Emily from England will be Yasmine as a teenager and in her twenties, and Yasmine will be playing herself. The musical is set in a glamorous 1940s setting for our costumes and set design as well as the musical score written by Sarah Llewellyn. The costumes are to die for! I won't give too much away but I had such fun with my fittings this week.

Most of the band members are from France and a few from England, the other dancer Roxane (I have been practicing my French with her) is from Paris, we have a Chinese ball and tricycle act, Olivier from Belgium's "Freres Taquins" act where he plays a puppet with a performing partner, Sarah Schwartz from Germany is our high-wire act, Gabor from Germany is a comedian, and Bibi and Bichu are Ethiopian jugglers. In addition to running the warm-ups and rehearsals with Molly Molloy (our American director who I am assisting) I've been notating all of the choreography and helping direct some of the comedic interludes with Barry Grantham. When I learned that Barry had been in the film "The Red Shoes" (which inspired me to dance) as well as "Tales of Hoffman" I was flabbergasted. What an amazing man! His comedic timing and dance and theatrical training are so vast yet he is so humble and fun to work with. He directed Roxanne and the band and I in "Run Rabbit Run" and the "Classical Music" interlude. In two other interludes expect some hilarious surprises in the form of role reversals. I won't say more!

At night when rehearsals are over for the day and the meetings I attend with Molly are over, the cast has a chance to relax by a campfire and the band members play the guitar and drums while others sing and I sometimes get up and dance. A night last week a flamenco tune began to play on the Spanish guitar as Emily began to sing a song about her sombrero and the rest of us chimed in and improvised. The song took a dramatic turn as I got up and began my overly dramatic flamenco dance around the fire with flamenco arms, footwork, and intense facial expressions. It was priceless. On another occasion Gabor tasted his first toasted marshmallow and his reaction was "amaaaaaiiiiiizzzzzziiiiinnnnggggg!" We all, of course, broke out into song following Gabor's hilarious response.

This weekend we've had a bit of time off but unfortunately it rained last night and today, though it didn't stop a few of us from going into nearby Cheltenham to do a bit of shopping, and today we went in two cars to downtown Bourton on the Water to do a bit of sightseeing and go out for British teatime. What a gorgeous and historic little village Bourton on the Water is! All the old stone buildings and little river with bridge running through the downtown are picturesque. I will be sure to post some of my own photos in my next post as soon as I upload them. Disclaimer: the photos won't be of a sunny day as we are in England after all, but the village is just lovely!

Finally, I must share a bit about caravan life. How amazing the caravans and wagons are! I'm in a shared wagon but everyone in the circus has their own bedroom. There is a little cooker, sink, shelves, and bed in each bedroom and room to hang and store things. It is just what one needs, with a heater inside for cold nights, and two windows per room. Some of the trailers are larger and are for the veteran performers and staff. I am so exited to have gourmet meals prepared for us by cook extraordinaire Lance and his assistant cook Evie. The dinner car will travel with all the wagons and trailers as we begin touring in two weeks time, and every night after the shows audience members can join the cast for dinner on a large country table set outdoors in a covered tent. Tickets for this can be purchased online when show tickets are purchased.

I am so thrilled to be a part of this adventure that is Giffords Circus, a theatrical and vintage circus that is well-known across England and the UK. Apparently some celebrities have come to the shows such as designer Vivienne Westwood (Nell Giffords's good friend), model Kate Moss, actress Kate Winslet, and Prince Harry to name a few. We've already had quite a bit of press anticipating the 2010 tour, and I look forward to reading more press once our shows begin! For tour dates and tickets please visit http://www.GiffordsCircus.com.

More to come and thanks for your support!
with love,
Lina the now traveling Ballerina
xx

You May Say I'm a Dreamer...

photo by Younghoon Kim

...But I'm not the only one.

The day for me to finally run away with the circus and leave New York City for a little over five months is drawing nearer, and as much as I want to be excited and envision how this vintage circus and caravan lifestyle will play out (lets be honest I'm peeing my pants and having daydreams of running through the fields of England's countryside wearing flowy flowery dresses and my new brown lace-up mens dress shoes)... I must be careful. Expectation takes the joy out of everything, right? So says Sandra Bullock anyway. She's right!

My life lately has been a tornado of extra work for tv (a new day job.. like I needed more) and the usual modeling gigs/temp work as well as the go-sees my agency sends me out on. Only one thing isn't there and I'm happy to not have it in the mix for a while: the auditions for musicals. It's nice to not have to sit at the cattle calls a few times a week, and I don't need to be there as the auditions now are for the summertime. I've also taken on a new so-much-more-than-a-day-job: I've been asked to join the Jennifer Muller scholarship program. I get to take company class as many times as I want during the week in exchange for a few hours work every week. This has been such a blessing not only because I love the company but I have friends in the company and the style of dance is so freeing. I describe Jennifer's class as a mixture of ballet and release technique. It takes a while to click but once it's in your body it frees and lifts you up out of your normal constraints. I will keep working to perfect this technique up until I leave and hopefully after I return too.

Amidst the chaos there have been those moments of clarity and dreaming that I described in my last post...only this time I'm not just absently wishing for something to come true anymore. I'm working towards something special. Next week the flamenco show I've been working on since last summer will premiere in New Haven, CT and all that hard work of weekend rehearsals in Connecticut (and week rehearsals in Manhattan) will pay off. It has been an amazing collaboration with choreographer Melinda Marquez and 12 other amazing women performers. The piece is a tribute to women freedom fighters and we are all dressed in non-traditional flamenco attire and dancing to percussion instruments and a recitation of a Pablo Neruda Poem. Last weekend I had the pleasure of going to see Angel Corella "Castilla Y Leon" perform at the NY City Center. It was their first run in NY after being established in Spain as Madrid's first ballet company in 2008. Angel (a Madrid native who became famous dancing with American Ballet Theater in New York City) took a tremendous leap and landed on solid ground with his company. The repertoire was classical ballet with a flamenco edge. In the duet with his sister Carmen where they combined flamenco and classical ballet I couldn't help but get emotional as it was just so beautiful and combines my two favorite dance genres. It gave me such inspiration for my own flamenco performance coming up! The grace of ballet coupled with the fire and precision of flamenco make for an unstoppable match: dance, in my opinion, at its best.

Today after work I took some time for myself and on a whim stopped into the MoMa to see the Tim Burton exhibit. I love Tim's work even if I don't necessarily share his gruesome imagination. The point is that he has such a tremendous imagination I can't help but giggle at some of his earlier drawings such as the "[Susan] and [Jim] like to hold hands" sketch where the couple are shown with half-dead facades and mischievous grimaces holding pairs of severed hands in their own. The one of another couple "...Enjoying Each Other's Company" had the couple biting each others' legs and arms. His polaroid photograph series and glow-in-the-dark sculptures were incredibly imaginative too. There were, of course, sketches, models, and costumes on display from his films such as Big Fish, Edward Scissor Hands, and The NightMare Before Christmas. Another favorite of mine was reading his handwritten notes of Tim's character descriptions of Edward or Jack. The hero is always a gentle "monster." There's a definite nostalgia to Tim's work that comes from being free to create whatever you please and developing that impulse as a style of your own.

So here I am, looking forward to the near future but nostalgic of the things I will leave behind and how much I'll miss New York, my family, and friends. Once again humble, grateful, and embracing the world in my usual optimistic way (unless someone sets off the Brazilian fire and then...ut oh!) with an excited hope for what's to come. In the meantime, I've got a 24th birthday to celebrate in less than two weeks!!

Carolina The soon-to-be-Traveling Ballerina

Don't wait...LIVE

(photo by Brittany Buongiorno)

Do you ever feel like you live in your own little world and instead of being fully present in the world you're living, you are almost existing in this "happy place" or "bubble" you've put yourself in? I have days like this once in a while where I go about my day through the eyes of a little girl: curious, thoughtful, and full of an inner giggle. I enjoy these days because I giggle at the impatience of a cab driver honking constantly down the street, or the angry person shoving me out of the way when exiting the subway car right behind me because I'm not moving fast enough for them. It doesn't affect me because I have my music playing or just my thoughts. It's in these days that I don't worry so much if I'm going to be five minutes late, and I take a minute to remember how lucky I am to have what I've been blessed with...until something snaps me back into reality and I'm forced out of my blissful state suddenly aware of all the craziness I am amidst.

Amidst my day jobs, auditions, and rehearsal lately I have been fortunate enough to have a few days where I am given the luxury of taking a [literal] break from the day to eat lunch at home while watching Obama's State of the Union speech on DVR, or to be able to go to dinner at Tao with friends (best lychee martini in the city there), or watch "The Hours" on DVD for the first time since getting it as a gift for Christmas. Nicole Kidman had a great line in that movie which was "You cannot find peace by avoiding life." This really spoke to me because the easiest way to take a [figurative] break is to pretend I'm elsewhere....or resort to my thoughtful state. However, I must live every moment and savor every moment for we never know how much longer there will be. Meryl Streep's character has a moment in the film where she tells her daughter that when she was young she would wake up at dawn and be so excited at the possibilities of the day, thinking life would always be that way. It then dawned on her that it was not the beginning of happiness she was experiencing and rather was happiness. It is about finding what makes you happy and keeping it around. I love my friends, family, and boyfriend and hope to nurture long-standing relationships.

I'd like to thank my friends, family, and boyfriend for all that they do for me and hope I have or will do the same for them.

With very much love,

Carolina

I love New York I dance New York

sleeping like a dancer...

Although not a native New Yorker (and a native Londoner gone Madrid-ian via Connecticutian with my heart in Brazil before settling in New York for University and beyond) I feel New York is my home and always was meant to be. The dance world in New York is no doubt the toughest there is and it will chew you up and spit you back out if you don't have a thick skin.

Luckily for me, I took up kickboxing during my time as an Ailey/Fordham BFA student...when they told me to develop more of an "attack" in my dancing because I "danced too pretty." I got a thick skin..at least around my knuckles since that first time boxing only to unwrap my hands to bleeding knuckles definitely made me vow to toughen up. I also lived in Harlem for a year...and in the words of my friends I was "gangsta." I loved living in Harlem and getting to practice my Spanish everyday, I really did! (You should have seen my neighbors faces when I opened my mouth to speak Spanish...they were quite confused). Living there made me less of a priss and I appreciated what living in a real community was like, unlike my spoiled campus housing in Lincoln Center. I also must add that I lived with my best friend in Harlem and although we live separately now I have a feeling our friendship is going to last a long time.

I digress. The point of this post was to say that although times have been really tough in New York for the artist, things are picking up, despite a recent letdown. I won't be joining Human Affect anymore due to their pushbacks in scheduling...and my circus contract and other work commitments. However, I should be starting to work on the Darren Aronofsky feature "Black Swan" (where Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman play ballet dancers who are rivals) as a dancer in the company and in the background scenes. I'm really looking forward to that, as well as an upcoming flamenco performance premiering at the end of March. In addition, the day jobs aren't too bad either;)

Over MLK weekend I spent some time in DC and went to see a wonderful documentary at the Smithsonian titled "Journey to Mecca." It was so inspiring and really spoke to me regarding dance being my journey to inspiring others and using my God-given talent for the good rather than for showing off or fame or any other wrong reason. I dance because it makes me happy, and because I've known in my heart since I was four years old taking my first ballet class: I was born to dance.

Where There's a Will...

...There's a Way.

I am now back from London and had such an adventure on the last few days. Last Monday I went up to Gloucestershire, England (an hour and a half North of London) to sign the Giffords Circus contract. I did just that as well as getting a full tour of the farm where the circus rehearses, and I saw the vintage caravans we will be living in. What a beautiful, imaginative, and magical job this is about to become! I looked at their website and archives of past shows, and the costumes are to die for! The newspapers and magazines in England come from far away to see the circus and photograph it. Another thing I loved was the British humor (or "humour") from everyone I met. They are all just like my British father and the silly phrases they used were all too familiar to me. As my boyfriend says: I will be in touch with my British side...and I couldn't be happier.

I am also thrilled to be dancing (and assistant rehearsal director) for a type of project I have yet to embark on: a circus. My past projects have consisted of movies, music videos, modeling, musicals (including "Evita" at the Ivoryton playhouse in Connecticut where I played the tango dancer...one of my favorite roles to date), and concert dance performances.

On the plane ride from Heathrow to JFK last night I watched two movies which both used the saying "where there's a will there's a way." Coincidence, eh? I certainly thought so. The movies were Jennifer Anniston's "Love Happens" and the new Vanessa Hudgens film "Bandslam." In the former of the two films Jennifer's character takes Aaron Eckhart's character to a concert in an unconventional way: via cable-repair truck (where they both are lifted in the little bucket raised into the air by a crane parked just outside the concert) due to a lack of ticket availability. In the latter film Charlotte uses the phrase to refer to her best friend Will managing her band. It got me thinking how grateful I am for the opportunity to take on freelance jobs the way I do, and it is because of my persistence despite the constant rejection one learns to take when in the entertainment industry. As Jay-Z says in his new song Empire State of Mind: "If you can make it [in New York] you can make it anywhere." Thank you, (Sinatra) for your wisdom it certainly rings true!

I'm looking forward to recovering from jetlag this weekend and catching up with my wonderful New York friends. Home sweet home, New York City! Au revoir, London...see you in April!

***