Pontardawe Summer Festival

The event organizers of Pontardwe Summer Festival have asked if we would like to take part, this year they have asked for more than just the parades.

First the parades, Fridays parade starts 9.15pm from the Gilbertson suite car park to the bottom of Herbert St, like last year this is the torchlight Parade so get those glow toys out folks! Saturdays parade follows the same route and starts at 1.30pm. I have already agreed with the organizers that we will attend both parades, with as many members as are willing and able to be there.

Now for the interesting bit! We have been offered not just 1 but 2 slots to perform, the first on Friday at 6.30 on the band stand at the bottom of Herbert St, this is for half an hour, with the possibility of 15min on the main stage outside the arts centre later on.

The second is on the cross area on Saturday at 12.30pm, which will have be completed by the workmen, this is a stage at the back of the newly developed area opposite the post office, for another half an hour performance.

I have explained to the organizers that we may end up repeating ourselves, but they expect a different type of crowd at both places so it doesn't matter.

We can chose to do either or both, it is up to us to decide.

To Re Cap

Friday 6.30pm half an hour on the Band Stand on Herbert St, followed by the parade at 9.15pm.

Saturday 12.30pm half an hour on the stage on the cross, followed by the parade at 1.30pm

Rules For Our Safety!

No Fire! Fridays parade although torchlight only the special torches supplied by the organizers can be used.

No Workshops! we are there as performers only which covers us for Insurance, if we run workshops we require additional Insurance and CRB checks

I will be attending the next committee meting on Tuesday the second of August (02/08/2011), where I hope to give the committee our answer to there offer.

I will be late arriving to ENI(28/07) but will see you all there where I can give more detail and answer any of your questions.

30/30 Challenge Day2-3, Daniel

It was another late one for me last night started juggling and lost track of time, I must have been juggling for a hour. By the time I noticed it was late I had managed to work out a cascade, not that I could do the cascade but I do know how its done, all thats needed is a little more practice.

Elephants meet tonight so I have much more room to practice, plus I can use the clubs equipment to practice.

30/30 Challenge, Daniel

So I have decided to take up the 30/30 Challenge, and the skill of choice is juggling, I have been able to juggle for a little while now both Balls and clubs, but while only practising twice a week I haven't made much progress, and going down the pub after elephants each Thursday wont help me remember what I have learned.

So today I started with half an hour of basic 3 ball juggling, (Probably yesterday to all of you, but I haven't been to bed yet so its still Tuesday to me!) just sitting on my bed while playing my top rated tunes in my collection, still hurting a bit from Monday night Swansea City Circus so I took it easy for now but not long till Elephants!

"THE LIST"

Already pushing towards the end of january I have come to realize, "I had no new years resolution". But I intend to do it differently this year, each year I say what bad habit I plan to drop, how fit I plan to be and what I'm going to achieve. Based on last years resolutions I failed most of them. so this year will be "THE LIST!"

"THE LIST" will be changeable list of the things I would love to do this year. Last year I was full of plans to do a one man bike ride around Wales which changed rapidly and was forgotten as I became engrossed in all things Elephants. Happily I have no regrets not doing the bike ride as I have learned much more about myself than I could have on a bike ride.

So to "THE LIST"

I would Like to:- Learn to juggle 5 balls, Juggle fire, Master the staff, Highline(Slackline above 20 foot), Start unicycling, Become competent with Poi, Fire Eating, Improve my Isolation Juggling, Dance more with my hula-hoop and Perform/Play in public more often. I also would like to improve all my circus skills in general.

Rules of "THE LIST"

1. Nothing can be removed from the list.

2. Anything can be added.

3. A Half Attempt don't count as done.

4. Never rule anything out of the list

If you think "THE LIST" is a bad idea just remember, the list is also a reminder of stuff I might forget, the list is full of fun stuff I want to do, and its not a list of things I cant or shouldn't do

Rule 5. Smile! people don't think your mad if you look like you enjoy what you do!

Sia Nol, Sia Mlan

Its been (as usual) a busy time with many things afoot, the Elephants have been playing and partying hard with Halloween offering us a chance to have our first party and to take part in Pontardawe Autumn Festival, on top of that it was the second year for the welsh folk music festival Sia Nol Sia Mlan, which is based in the towns of Ystalyfera and Ystradgynlais where there is folk music sessions over a weekend, so there was no shortage of things for me to do.

Sia Nol, Sia Mlan is welsh for backwards and forwards, we look backwards for music and inspiration (or as far as i can tell this is why its called Sia Nol Sia Mlan. I might get corrected after posting this) and take it forwards and look forwards to the future. its much the same with what I have learned at Elephants, less than 7 months ago if you told me I would be juggling clubs, slack lining, stilt waking and Corde Lisse, I would not have believed you. but oddly here I am and now considering the next 6 months, looking forward I have plans to do so much more I plan on going to Southern Lights festival again with the intention to learn much more now I know what to look for, I want to use fire with hoop, staff and much more. Even considering pushing the slack line higher and doing some high lining.

Seeing how far I have come is inspiration to keep going, not only because of the fun I have had on the way but also to see how far I can go.

Changes

Sorry for not posting in some time but I have been very busy moving house. So, what's been happening? I have now progressed to juggling clubs, the slackline was packed away for a while after a fall to let my ankle recover, and I have just got hold of some LED juggling balls.

I cant remember when it started or how, but I now recognize a week as the boring bit between Elephants Not Included, I have friends who live for the weekend for the time they can go out and have some fun, I live for 7pm Thursday. That is just one example on how my outlook on life has been changed, this became more apparent at work when I looked at an air freshener and concluded it was to light for juggling! not exactly its main function, and some how I don't think the air freshener had any aspirations towards a life as a circus prop, it was probably quite happy with being an air freshener and decided not to mess with Karma.

Last night there was a small but important moment that might have passed by without notice, but I did notice and as important as it is I have decided to give some praise to Rob. Rob riding passed me on his unicycle as he has done hundreds of times, when he came under fire from a club I had dropped, it fell in his path with only a second to react Rob avoided the club with no effort or panic, only weeks ago Rob may have stepped off the unicycle or fallen off by hitting the club, but with no effort he continued on turned around and crossed back over the length of the hall with only a little smile to himself to celebrate, it was at that moment I had to give him a hi-five.

Keep an eye out for the little moments in life, they can pass in a flash but be more significant than you realize.

SlackLife

Slacklining has taken over my life for the past 10 days, and now all I want to do is slackline. After trying slacklining at Southern Lights Festival I have been looking forward to getting my own slackline and now I have one that's all I want to do.

Elephants has been fun as always, having got the basics of juggling three balls I now need to perfect it and get it to look a lot smother. Perfecting and improving seems to be the way of Elephants at the moment with quite a few of us making lots of progress, the unicyclists are now playing with tricks and moves as most can now travel some distance and can free mount without any problem. new members are still popping in, and we are talking in terms of performance as well as playing with our skills.

The title of this post was coined by a world class slackliner Andy Lewis as the way he lives his life, I don't think I have a slcklife yet but I'm working on it.

Elephants on Parade

Sorry for the long spell since my last post, it has been a very busy time of late.

Pontardawe is in the middle of two great weekends in its calendar, the Summer Fest/Dance Fest and the up and coming Folk Music Festival. And the Elephants have been out strutting there stuff, with two parades in the summer fest, one torch lit and the other in broad daylight. and another this coming weekend.

I have done public performance many times in the past and know how hard it can be, my respect goes out to all who took part, you all gave it your best and didn't hold back, you went for it!

On a more personal note, I have also been having fun. As well as Elephants I have been playing with two bands, PLEBS and Yr Alltud, both bands have been attending the festivals. And I have also attending my sisters wedding who I am very proud of.

I have been working on the staff moves I know and feel much more liquid in my movements, I haven't battered myself half as much as I usually do. Although no new tricks have been learned, I feel improvement has been made. But I'm most excited about my new toys, I have had my first contact balls(no jokes please) I have been using and playing with them and cant wait to show them off(Aww! Grow Up) I will post again soon.

Missing the fun

Work commitments mean that I would miss the occasional group meet, but after missing one whole evening once I decided that I would make the effort to go even if it meant missing the first half of the night, so at 8pm when I finish work I ride the 20 minutes home then walk/ride to Alltwen to ENI. This week I arrived damp from the rain and tired as hell. I haven't made any progress at all, no new tricks or moves, I haven't hooped in over a week and hate the fact that my job meant working 10 days in a row I had no energy to do so.

Arrive late and first thing on my mind is "what have I missed?". I hate to think I have missed something, getting close to the group means that when other succeed we all feel the benefit of the progress that person has made, and by missing the progress you feel left behind. the only downside to all of that has happened at ENI is the time I have missed out on, I wish I could be there every second because I have so much fun.

My respect goes to one individual who has made more of an effort than anyone to be at every meet, you know who you are, and I am jealous of you.

oops! sorry!

Once again this week it was a fun time at Elephants Not Included(ENI), despite battering myself with the staff and others with a diabolo.

Having decided that I would focus on the staff for a while, it has been my main ambition to be good enough to get myself a fire staff by the end of the year. And to that end I have been practicing all week, that included in my flat and losing control of the staff, missing my new TV by inches! loosing control is expected, I have battered the back of my head several times, my right knee is bruised and my arms ache. But progress is good I can now hand roll on both hands in both directions, my figure of eight is improving and I can pass the staff around my back.

While ENI had its busiest nights so far, space was at a premium and I was still loosing control at my usual rate, with the staff hitting the floor with a crash every minute or so. with conditions less than perfect for the amateur that I am, I decided the diabolo was a safer option with the hall quite busy, didn't stop me hitting others tough!. First victim was Vaughn, as he fell from a unicycle the diabolo went flying from my strings and hit him on the back, second victim was Greg, who to my luck was just siting on his unicycle and not in motion when the diabolo hit him too! "sorry sorry sorry!". I am so happy that both Vaughn and Greg were not hurt, but not only that, very understanding that I didn't do it on purpose, both were happy to be having fun even with the odd bump.

Even with the loosing control I managed to practice most of my new moves and even managed to do a Suicide first time(suicide is an around the world on the diabolo while letting go of one stick).

So after all the battering I just need to remember "pain is temporary and broken TVs wont heal, so go outside"

So much to do that's new!

This year has been a year of firsts, my first blog, my first festival and my first steps into all things circus and its all to do with Elephants Not Included.

I could blame Cath, and I would if it was a bad thing, she invited me along to a new club she helped establish with Lynne(Skully) and John. Being into lots of different things, and willing to try anything once, I went along. First impressions are all important and the group seemed very skilled, which they are. Lynne spins and dances around the hall in her hoops with grace and energy, John speeds around on a tall unicycle with the confidence of a pro and Cath bounces on her unicycle and juggles skilfully. My internal monologue said "I am out of my depth here!" but I was greeted, then dragged in and I have a go in a hula hoop and get fixed. Quite quickly I find that I can hula hoop and then do one trick, then another and one more.

That was over ten week ago and so far I have missed only one group meet. When I first attended I could only just hula hoop, now I can pull off some basic moves and tricks that look rather impressive with the diabolo, staff and hula hoop, and I haven't even started to focused on juggling, unicycle, spinning poi (I didn't know what poi was, but I'm not going to tell you! Go and find out for yourself) and lots more in-between.

Three weeks ago I was at my first festival the Southern Lights Festival, a festival for all the circus skills. My eyes were opened to all the possibilities of my new found hobby, and I came back with so much more respect for the skills, and an understanding of my new friends Lynne, Cath and John. As skilled as they are there is still lots to learn, the joy of learning a new trick is as good to them as my first, and having someone to play with is most important.

This blog will document my progress as I learn more moves and skills over the coming year, and tell you of the people I meet. I hope it will entice some of you to come and play with us.