Pipemakers Park, Circus

On Friday, the Melbourne Women's Circus opened their end-of-year show. The venue was an old bluestone building in Pipemakers Park. In the late 1800s, the area belonged to a large meat cannery. The business began as a way to make use of sheep no longer suitable for shearing and it did good business for quite a few years.

Walter Hume purchased the land in 1912 and started up a concrete pipe factory with his brother. Within a couple decades the Hume Pipe Factory had become the largest supplier in Australia and exported their goods worldwide. Additional buildings were constructed for increased labor and production; but the company's continued growth led its relocation to Laverton where more space was available. The factory still produces pipes today.

While the factory was located along the Maribyrnong River, many pipemakers enjoyed spending free time on gardening. The location was ideal for growing plants and some men used leftover factory materials to craft structures for the garden.

I read inside a large pipe, out of the rain, while waiting for the show to begin.

The Women's Circus is not a professional circus; rather, it's a community of women from across the city with different strengths and different reasons for coming to circus. Some women are in their 20s, some in their 50s. And they all are amazing to watch.

photo from Womens Circus

It started up in 1991 as a resource for women of sexual abuse. It was meant to be a safe environment where they could learn to take control of their bodies and appreciate them in a new way. Other women use the circus to focus on the strength of their bodies instead of just appearance.

Two of my housemates performed in the show. All three of them actually take circus classes, but Hannah chose not to be a part of the show. Scarlet did trapeze and acrobatics, Jayt played with fire and rolled in a barrel. Though the latter doesn't sound incredibly interesting, it works very well as a humorous interlude. Overall, the show was a fantastic blend of physical beauty, amazing feats and comedy.

A Day with Flat Isabella

A friend recently e-mailed me about one of her students who is taking part in a 50 states class project modeled after Flat Stanley. They were going to start the project in November, but this student has Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia so my friend sent out e-mails to try and get responses quickly.
Instead of printing out the photograph of Isabella, I drew her myself so that she could be more comfortable. It is, after all, not quite the right weather outside for the long sleeved shirt and pants she was wearing. Hopefully she likes the new outfit.

We hopped on the tram and spent Saturday wandering around around town to see the sights.

Once we got into the CBD, we went to Federation Square. There just so happened to be an Indonesian festival going on when we got there. Performers had been flown in from various islands in Indonesia to dance and play music. We sat and watched for a while under the warm sun. There were intricately designed costumes and plenty of beautiful dances.



Just across the street was Flinders Street station. It's a train station and one of the landmarks for Melbourne--seemed like another good place to show Isabella.

Then we crossed the bridge over the Yarra River. There's a ferris wheel in a park along the river, but we didn't have a chance to go for a ride. We did, however, take a brief trip to the Queen Victoria Gardens and smell some roses.

We finished off the day with a visit to the Melbourne Theatre Company. It was the last day of the International Arts Festival and there was a play I really wanted to see. Thankfully, she didn't mind coming along. We took a picture outside the theater with my sister and Stephanie who are both visiting from Seattle. Then I hid Isabella in my bag and snuck her in so she didn't have to pay for a ticket. There certainly are benefits to this method of traveling...

We saw the Apocalypse Bear Trilogy. It wasn't the most appropriate choice for a 2nd grader, so Isabella stayed in my bag. I loved the play with all of its oddities and eeriness.

Throughout the play there was plenty of humor and even a song sung in a school cafeteria. The three sections all involved the bear showing up, doing things such as preparing after school snacks and offering to pick up groceries, but then the bear would burst into a fit of his violent personality. We never saw him kill anyone, but he spoke of death in gory details. Overall, a very strange but intriguing play.

Arts Festival Events #2

A friend double booked herself for the evening and was needing to unload a ticket to Körper. My original plans were to see a different show, but the German modern dance performance was calling.

The stage was bleakly set. There was a black tiled floor and a freestanding wall with a window. The music, as well, was minimal. It was reminiscent of sound effects, not so much melodic.

Parts of the show were spectacular. The group had amazing choreography in blending with one anothers' bodies. They lifted men into the air with the slightest of touches. Figures seamlessly wove in and out of the crowd. One man's legs became those of his partner, then the pair switched and her legs were his. It was all quite poetic and strange.

One of my favorite parts of the show was a scene taking place entirely within the wall window. Two women started in the window. They slowly moved to make room for two men, then two more, then even more. As it grew crowded, the dancers inched their way around and between the others. Using the glass and the wall, some of them rose to the top of the frame, all the while appearing to not be standing or holding onto anything.

There almost always tends to be an annoying patron or two who, for whatever reason, decided to see a show they clearly weren't going to enjoy. This time, the two men
were directly next to me. First, they had forgotten to turn off their cell phones. When the first man's mobile rang, his friend acted quite high and mighty. A couple minutes later, his phone rang too. They continued to talk, fidget and finally ended up standing up, stepping on the seats and exiting from the row behind. Now, these were relatively old men and were not at all graceful or speedy in their departure. Instead, one of them kicked my seat as he stumbled over the back of his chair.

After Körper, I headed over to Federation Square to see the end of Mary and Max--my original plan for the evening. I joined the group sitting on the cobblestone and watched the last half hour. It was cute and visually appealing. Perhaps I'll go back to see the first part another day.

There was also an installation at Federation Square with six young rappers from Sudan, Liberia and Tanzania. Though the video that goes with their music is slow, repetitive and not that interesting anyway, the teenagers' lyrics are insightful. Some of the topics I was already familiar with, but hearing them in this medium was interesting.