About eighteen months ago Brett and I decided that it might be fun to expand our acrobatic vocabulary on the ground. For the first twelve months we were just experimenting, asking our friends to show us some neat tricks, goofing around, feeling uncoordinated and weak ("We are so much better in the air!"). Our progress was slow, we had Aerial Acts to focus on and we struggled to find time to consistently train our ground work. We put together a few phrases that we felt comfortable with. A lean out here, a star lift there.... we soon began to open our existing Aerial Acts with a few ground moves to build our confidence. The audience response was positive and motivated us to continue training, all be it still somewhat inconsistently
Goofing around with our friend David Matz in Kensington Gardens, London
Then in July this year I got a call from an event planner who had seen our videos (Thanks Gregg Curtis of Airealistic for the referral!) and wanted to hire us to perform in two weeks time for the wedding of the Vice President of Cirque Du Soleil! Wow! Seriously? I was so excited "How high is the ceiling?" I asked "Free-standing rig or motor"? I was giddy with excitement, what an amazing opportunity to showcase our duo Fabric Act that we had spent the past two years performing with different circus companies around the world, we were ready for Cirque! "Actually, I don't want you to perform on the Silks" said the event planner "Everyone from Cirque will be there, if they see another Silks act the wedding might turn into a mass suicide.." (I may have added the suicide part but you get the point :)) "I want you to do what you do in the video" he added. Although i was totally confused i tried to act like i understood "You mean argue and throw each other around on a Hollywood rooftop?" "Pretty much" he said, "except i want you to act like you are a maid and a server at the wedding, have a big fight so the crowd gets all uncomfortable, then break into your acrobatic/dance act and finish with the champagne toast.""Oh" was all i could manage to say as i swallowed with difficulty. "Can you do that?" He asked and i was silent for a moment, thinking about what he was asking. Was i willing to be a complete and utter fool in front of the entire Cirque Du Soleil community, including their prolific founder and CEO Guy Laliberte "Yes" I responded, knowing I probably should have checked with Brett before I said this but i didn't want the event planner to sense my fear. "Yes, we can do that."And do it we did. We spent the next two weeks rehearsing our butts off. We focused on the moves we could do well and then performed the sh!t out of them! We trained with an acting coach to make our pre-dance argument believable (yes we had to use our voices OMG!) We studied the French Apache style, knowing that our strength lay in our ability to throw each other around and not in high level partnering skills, we developed back stories, we played improv games to get into character, we found costumes that were not costumes but what a maid and server would actually wear at the Hotel we were performing at.
Then we prepared, cried a bit (well maybe just i did) and Brett went out to start serving the most influential people in our professional lives. I followed a few minutes later, screaming my lungs out and accusing him of 'cheating on me!!'. I drank from peoples wine glasses, cried on the shoulders of men, and threw my shoes at a casting agent. Brett tried to carry me out of the ballroom while apologizing profusely to the shocked guests. "I just wanna dance!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs and the DJ hit the music. So began our act. We flipped, we spun, we tripped, we fell in what was some of the most physically intense minutes of our lives. We concluded the act at the champagne fountain when Brett popped the cork on a $300 bottle of Moet and took a massive swig ("Your supposed to pour it Brett!") The audience cheered and whooped and i let myself smile. We had survived!
While enjoying a quiet drink at the bar in civilian clothes as the wedding was winding down (the event planner said we had 'earned' it) we were approached by Guy's gorgeous wife Claudia Barilla, (Mrs Cirque Du Soleil). "I just wanted to tell you both how much i enjoyed your.... " she struggled to find the word "Act" she smiled beautifully. "Thank you" I stammered. She went on, lowering her voice conspiratorially, "Usually i don't love the acts they do at these events, I've seen all the shows obviously and there amazing, but, all those people playing animals and so on, i just...don't relate to that" I nodded, dumbfounded. "But," She looked at me directly with dewy brown eyes. "I related to you. Thank you." She smiled again and walked away and Brett and I looked at each other. "I think we should get a coach" Said Brett quietly. "Now that we have performed for Cirque Du Soleil I mean." We laughed hysterically and ordered another drink.
Since that fateful evening we have started training our ground work everyday. Working with coach Simon Chaban for handstands and the incredible Arthur Davis for partnering. Check out Arthur's work here with the stunning Shenea Booth
We love the sophistication and elegance of Realis as well as their incredible skill, they also happen to be two of the kindest most generous people we know!
Here are some more amazing duo acts we stumbled along while researching.
Duo Wind are a Romanian couple. We love their aggression, fierce sensuality and commercial appeal!
Nelson and Goulia Pivaral have an incredible act! Here they are with Cirque Berzerk
Duo Osmose take our breath away! Made up of French Olympic gymnast Ludivine Furnon and her partner Martin Chavrat
Our good friend Christine Van Loo is a incredible inspiration! Not only is Christine a gorgeous Aerialist, she is also a champion sports acrobat! Such control and precision.
Let us know if you have any favorite duo ground acts or performers by posting their links and video in the comment section below! We look forward to gaining more inspiration and knowledge that we can share with you as we explore this glorious and oh-so challenging art form!
Today at training we had a visit from our friend Johnny the rigger from LA Stage Call, he bought with him a curious device known as a Dynamometer , basically an oversized stop watch used for measuring force. He was interested to see just how much force we were generating with our particularly dynamic drops. Predictably Brett generated the most force, from 500 pounds when he was 'rolling out' of a drop (marking) to 1200 pounds when he hurled himself off the fabric! Rachel generated 500 pounds at the most, which is still a lot more then her 115-117 pound frame. The lesson here? Know the structure/motor/winch you are rigging from and how much dynamic force it can take. When plummeting fearlessly from the top of your apparatus to the bottom you are generating a force that is more then TRIPLE that of your own body weight. Be fierce, but be informed...
Hey guys! So we are in the final week of our Indiegogo campaign to raise money for the first stage of our Womack and Bowman clothing line! The development, production and distribution of the BurnFree Aerial workout Onesie! Check out the campaign here This campaign has been an incredible experience for us and we are so grateful for the generous contributions of our friends, family, peers and circus community at large not to mention the sharing and positive feedback our campaign has received. As important as the contributions are we have also realized the importance of developing an expanded network for our brand and Indiegogo has really helped us do that! Some highlights include: 1. A call from Nicole at Blue Lapis Light in Texas with an offer to donate 15 of her used Aerial Fabrics to our cause! We were so very moved by this gesture especially as Nicole mentioned that she had not been able to release the fabrics before because of their sentimental value but she felt that with us they would find a good home. 2. An email from D'AIIR project Aerial School in Atlanta Georgia saying they could see how our product would benefit Aerial students and they were interested in selling our Onesies! 3. A facebook comment from Yan Doyev in Israel: " This is ridiculous! It's only really an all in one (cat suit) with some velcro at the bottom to hold the loops (I much prefer the loops dangling then a little skirt anyway). I guess it's just an L.A thing..." Ha! Awesome. We then offered to send him a Onesie, free of charge, for him to try out for himself, if he didn't like like it, he could continue to hate on us, if he liked it, well then perhaps he would just continue on his way... There has since been no response. Anyway, as we said earlier, a HUGE learning experience. Thank you to everyone who has supported us! Keep flying, check in with you soon! xoxo Love, Rachel and Brett
