starsapart prepares for takeoff

[starsapart]

Please appreciate our beautiful show flier (designed and drawn by one of our aerialists, who specializes in trapeze and why BY THE WAY is only 16)!

 

 

[KB Girl]

Awesome  

 

[Kishi]

Hey, just thought I'd drop in and say that you're a badass mother, and the rest of the world better recognize.

[mitch_dee]

8 hours ago, Kishi said:

Hey, just thought I'd drop in and say that you're a badass mother,

not only a badass but a mega talented hottie...

 

Keep killing it out there!!

[starsapart]

19 hours ago, Kishi said:

Hey, just thought I'd drop in and say that you're a badass mother, and the rest of the world better recognize.

 

11 hours ago, mitch_dee said:

not only a badass but a mega talented hottie...

 

Keep killing it out there!!

 

Thanks, all. I appreciate you. 💖

 

And boy oh boy, what a weekend I've had. I feel about 2/3 human today, but my body is crying from overwork, and this is likely to continue until we get through this show. So as of now, I've decided to cut my lifting goal and revisit it the last week of March. I know the lifting is good for me, but I just don't have the juice for it, between my main act, subbing in on a second act (which is a story all on its own; stay tuned for storytime with stars later in this post), recovering from illness, and trying to, y'know, parent. I'd rather focus on mobility and recovery for now, so I'm going to replace the lifting with mandatory foam rolling after every practice or performance starting in week 3.

 

Okay, so that said, let's catch up on the weekend.

 

WEEK 2 DAY 6:

• Nutrition grab bag: +3 (IF, deficit, veggie day)
• Lifting: N/A
• Flexibility: none
• Family time: none

 

Friday after work I ran off to the act 1 run-through which was my first exposure to the full number I'm subbing into which is, frankly, a bit of a disaster. Storytime with stars under the cut!

 

Spoiler

I mostly just watched while they ran the parts of their act which are choreographed (which isn't the entire thing - and there is no choreography for the battle scene yet AT ALL) and had the injured performer talk me through rough timing of the silks portion. This was not helped by the fact that not everyone was at the run-through. In fact, I discovered on Friday that they had never once had a rehearsal with everyone present at once, and there had rarely been fewer than three people missing from any rehearsal up til now... and this shall continue through the tech and dress rehearsals, so the first time this act will come together with everyone is... opening night? I guess.

 

Gulp.

 

There's a lot of dysfunction in the group in general, which really made me reassess how well my crew rallied after our challenges last month -  suddenly, we seem like model poster children for collaboration and camaraderie.

 

It seems like one of the contortionists is trying to wrangle everyone. She's only 16 and honestly should not have to be the group's designated adult, but she's trying because no one else is doing it. The individual pieces (this act involves silks, sling, teardrop [a lyra-like contraption shaped like a teardrop with a bar on top], AND contortion on the floor) are in various states of readiness, but there is no cohesion, and it's very hard to understand what is going on. The costumes will probably help a little, but the fact that everyone's sort of in it for themselves is glaringly obvious and it is probably too late to fix that - nor is it really something I can address, coming in at this late stage. There are a few big personalities among the more advanced aerialists involved in this number, and they seem to have taken the road of  polishing their individual solos and duos in order to look pretty and not really bothering to assist or in any way guide the less advanced members of the group, leaving the overall act to suffer as a result.

 

To make things that much more complicated, for the battle, it was decided that everyone would move away from their primary apparatus and work on one that they do NOT know, which is a fairly insane proposition to begin with before noting that none of this is choreographed yet and no one has someone who DOES know the new apparatus helping them. Let's add some more fuel to the fire - the injured girl I'm replacing is in a knee brace due to a torn ligament but wants me to basically roll offstage near the end of the number so she can hobble on for the battle, which she and her partner are trying to choreograph JUST NOW on sling (though neither does sling) with the limitation that choreography can use only one leg. In my opinion, this is past the line for insanity, because when you're on an apparatus with another person, it takes almost nothing to accidentally kick or shove someone, and she can't wear her brace, so she could get even more seriously hurt than she is now. On top of it, to be blunt, the one-leg-only choreo looks sloppy and will not play well to the audience even if they pull it off, and this supposedly climactic moment is just going to look a hot mess. It's a bad idea, but as a sub I feel like I can't say that (and the contortionist who is de facto group leader tried to say it but got brushed off). I asked as nicely as I could to be taught the sling battle sequence just in case, but so far, no dice.

 

To say I'm deeply concerned about this is putting it mildly. I feel like I'm not the right person to try to right the course of this sinking ship, but now I'm going onstage with them, and my professional pride, such as it is, isn't going to let me just shrug it off. I did talk to the show director after the fact and wonder if she might step in to at least bar the injured girl from trying to perform and insist on teaching the sub the full choreo, but aside from that, I feel mostly apprehension about this whole business.

 

Okay, so after all of that amazing fun, my scene partner for my primary act came out and we worked on our floor choreo a little. I tweaked my wrist doing a cartwheel which went off balance (seems finally better now, Monday), but aside from that, it was a productive practice.

 

WEEK 2 DAY 7:

• Nutrition grab bag: +2 (IF, deficit)
• Lifting: N/A
• Flexibility: 2/2
• Family time: +1 (family meal)

 

Saturday involved a lot of laundry, a visit with a friend, and a pretty fussy baby. I've used various nicknames for her on these boards but I think I'll take a leaf out of White Ghost's book and just start calling her starlet for ease (and because it's darn cute). Anyway, one of starlet's top front teeth is basically in at this point - there's a strop of white all across her gum. The teething symptoms seemed to ease a little at mid-afternoon, thankfully. @stillskies actually got out of the house a little, and after starlet was in bed, a friend came to sit with her while she slept as I sped off to rehearsal with the group I'm subbing into. It was a long, frustrating night (see storytime above). I stretched my splits and straddles for 15 minutes after I got home to finish out flexibility.

 

WEEK 2 RECAP:

• Nutrition grab bag: +15
• Lifting: N/A, goal suspended
• Flexibility: 2/2 complete
• Family time: +4

I feel a bit like the last week punched me in the stomach repeatedly, but at least half of that is the fact that this stupid cold is wearing on me. Let's take a look at Sunday and catch all the way up now...

 

WEEK 3 DAY 1:

• Nutrition grab bag: -1 (surplus)
• Foam rolling: done
• Flexibility: none
• Family time: +1 (fun outing)

 

On Sunday, we went to brunch as a family, and I'm not even sorry. It's been months, and I had a great time (and delicious breakfast tacos). After starlet's nap, we went to the aerial studio all together. I met with the other silks person for the subbing act and polished up choreo with her for an hour. Then we did the act 2 run-through. It went pretty well, though there's still some work to do on ground choreography. I played with the foam roller between stints of being in the air. My parents came and got the baby on their way home from the opera, so we could take our time finishing up rehearsal and then heading home into peace and quiet. My last meal having been brunch at 9:30, I ate a bowl of ramen at 8pm, which I also would not regret except the part where my stomach got insanely upset afterward, SIGH. Once I got that sorted, I sat in a hot epsom salt bath with a book for most of the evening, then took cough syrup and slept like the dead.

[starsapart]

This week's schedule at a glance:

 

Monday: Rest! Day!

Tuesday: Late evening rehearsal with main group; mostly floor choreo

Wednesday: Possible rehearsal with scene partner? Not sure; possibly a rest day.

Thursday: Heroes and villains rehearsal with main group

Friday: Entire show run-through

Saturday: Possible evening rehearsal with subbing group

 

Oof. And this is why I'm not lifting.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Dang, you're sticking with that performance longer than I would have. I'd have bailed by now due to concerns for my own safety and not having time for that dysfunction.

 

[starsapart]

1 minute ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Dang, you're sticking with that performance longer than I would have. I'd have bailed by now due to concerns for my own safety and not having time for that dysfunction.

 

 

To be fair, I feel 100% safe. The person who was injured was not injured due to unsafe conditions - she was injured because she incorrectly prepared for a move that honestly she was probably not advanced enough to complete safely. There are no rigging/safety issues on my mind.

 

That said, I love the troupe overall and I love the studio owners/directors of the show. I want to help them put on a successful performance, but I definitely want to have a long talk with them after this is done to discuss some of the issues that reared their heads this time.

[mitch_dee]

18 hours ago, starsapart said:

I want to help them put on a successful performance, but I definitely want to have a long talk with them after this is done to discuss some of the issues that reared their heads this time.

This could be a good thing, sometimes people are to involved/too close to see issues that are starting.  We went through something like that at the jitz school once, and had a talk with them and everything got better and avoided some issues.

[Mad Hatter]

Geez what a flustercluck.

[starsapart]

1 hour ago, mitch_dee said:

This could be a good thing, sometimes people are to involved/too close to see issues that are starting.  We went through something like that at the jitz school once, and had a talk with them and everything got better and avoided some issues.

 

Yeah, we'll see how much good it does. I think at the very least the assigned groups need to be smaller and if there isn't an instructor/clear group leader cast in the group, someone should be assigned the role because otherwise, this happens.

 

1 hour ago, Mad Hatter said:

Geez what a flustercluck.

 

MTE............

 

WEEK 3 DAY 2:

• Nutrition grab bag: +4 (IF, deficit, no junk)
• Foam rolling: none
• Flexibility: none
• Family time: none

 

Rest day! I ate well, though! And starlet and I had a pretty fun playtime in the evening when my wife went off to work. One of her two top front teeth popped through! Waiting for the second one...

[KB Girl]

So good you had a rest day!

you know, if nothing else then at least subbing in with this performance gives a large dose of perspective on other work you’ve done  and maybe you can help them out- if not on time for this one, then for the future. 

[starsapart]

WEEK 3 DAY 2:

• Nutrition grab bag: +2 (IF, deficit)
• Foam rolling: none
• Flexibility: none
• Family time: +1 (family meal)

 

Not much to say. Had a 3.5 hour rehearsal but 90% of it on the floor figuring out transitions and dance-type floor choreo. All of us are feeling pretty beat up. It was a long night but worthwhile - I think we plugged the final holes and I feel fairly ready for the Friday full-show run through (when it comes to my primary number, at least). Didn't foam roll as I didn't really aerial.

 

Today, starlet is fussy and I am tired and work is work. No rehearsal tonight due to scene partner's back being angry. I'm going to try to yoga after starlet is asleep.

[starsapart]

WEEK 3 DAY 3:

• Nutrition grab bag: +2 (IF, deficit)
• Foam rolling: none
• Flexibility: none
• Family time: +1 (family meal)

 

Yoga didn't happen. Nothing active happened, in fact. I'm tired and overtrained, a novel.

 

WEEK 3 DAY 4:

• Nutrition grab bag: N/A (suspended for one day)
• Foam rolling: done
• Flexibility: done
• Family time: none

 

Had a semi-productive rehearsal with my scene partner. Found out in the course of the day that my great uncle does not have very long left to live (and still will not let me or anyone else who has contact with small kids come see him because he thinks the doctors "made up" his cancer diagnosis and he just has a really bad flu; yet another trip to the hospital did not change his mind) and that my high school music teacher, who was extremely influential in my life, died in a car accident. I gave myself permission to say fuck nutrition and had comfort food at 9-something in the evening before falling into bed. I did manage to do my foam rolling and some flexibility work while my wife went out to procure Chipotle and ice cream.

 

Trying to function again today. We'll see how it goes.

[KB Girl]

Ugh that is rough.. sorry to hear it!

i hope a bit of comfort eating and hopefully hugs from your wife improved things. 
 

at least you’ll be a little less overtrained?

[raptron]

So sorry to hear about the personal tragedies you're dealing with right now. Hugs. ❤️ 

 

[Kishi]

Gah, I'm sorry to hear this is your hand to deal with right now.  *hugs*

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

How are you feeling today?

[starsapart]

Thanks for the worry, guys. I'm doing okay, but super tired, overworked, and overtrained. Nutrition has basically gone out the window since my last update - I've been eating at night after rehearsals because if I don't, I feel like death warmed over. There was also birthday cake. But emotionally I'm all right! I'll get back here and try to right my course in a couple of days, assuming work eases off.

[KB Girl]

Hey as long as you’re mentally feeling somewhat ok then screw the plan and do what you must to get through the other stuff  shows on this weekend?

[starsapart]

Work did not ease off and my great-uncle passed away yesterday. Things are pretty lousy. I'm taking a partial bereavement leave from work - did a few hours yesterday and will do a few things this morning, but my mind and heart aren't in it.

 

The show is still on this weekend, which I can't help but have mixed feelings about - on the one hand, we've worked so hard and I want to do it SO bad, but on the other I'm scared that maybe we're being really irresponsible, seeing as people in Denver are starting to get sick. I don't mind so much for myself, but I tried to tell my parents not to come to the show since they're in high risk groups, and they won't hear it so... I don't know, I just hope someone in the audience doesn't get everyone who comes to see it sick. That said, the show is looking AMAZING, and dress rehearsal last night felt really good, despite a few hiccups (expected, as it's dress rehearsal). I'm really excited to share this production with whoever braves the outside world, and I'm so proud to be a part of it... even if I do feel completely wiped out thanks to being in two numbers.

 

I can't even begin to catch up on challenge tracking after the week I've had, so I may be scoring my performance this challenge subjectively. I will definitely get back to IF next week, but this week it's just not practical thanks to the late nights and immense amount of physical activity.

 

I have a funeral to go to on Monday, but aside from that, once the show is done, we're going to be practicing social distancing, so here's hoping we're not waiting too long... come Monday afternoon, we're locked up in the house and doing our best not to lose our bloody minds.

[Mad Hatter]

I'm so so sorry about your great-uncle. Lots of hugs. ❤️

 

2 hours ago, starsapart said:

seeing as people in Denver are starting to get sick

Getting diagnosed. 😞

 

Last minute, but maybe you could do a live stream?

[starsapart]

This morning, the directors made the call to postpone the show to May. Predictably, some people got really shitty about it. Personally, I'm glad. I was feeling conflicted these last few weeks and I think this is the wise choice overall. I will now spend my weekend hunkering down and sleeping a lot. Maybe by Monday I'll feel human for the first time in weeks.

[KB Girl]

Sorry for your loss! 

 

Glad you’re mostly glad about the show cancelling.. these things are sad but probably for the best 😕

Rest and recover this weekend! 

[sylph]

On 3/13/2020 at 3:23 PM, starsapart said:

This morning, the directors made the call to postpone the show to May. Predictably, some people got really shitty about it. Personally, I'm glad. I was feeling conflicted these last few weeks and I think this is the wise choice overall. I will now spend my weekend hunkering down and sleeping a lot. Maybe by Monday I'll feel human for the first time in weeks.

This is smart of them. And I'm happy for you so that you can (hopefully) take a little time to recover. ❤️

 

 

 

Sorry to hear about your great uncle