euro wings vol. 7

EuroWings no.７ London – Febuary 2007

Page 7

In this Edition Numbers 2 In Russia we have a saying 2 New faces corner 3 Premiere 4 Lederhosen in London 5 School Page 6,7 60 sec with Frank 8 Job Suggestions 8 Changing chefs 9 Lets hope that… 9 Arrivals/Departure 10 In and out of London 10 The Cool section 11 Last 2

Euro Wings! Team: Charlie, Ken, Shannan, Tania Contributors: Ilona, Nick, Charlie, Shannan, Lisa Photos: Tania, Charlie, Ken, Lisa

From the editors by Shannan

A French commenter once said, « The American way of making cheese is, by far, the most effiecient, rational and cost-effective way of making cheese. But have you ever tasted American cheese ? » I try to think about that every time I employ one of those adorable, overpriced London Black Cabs.

Sure, they’re expensive. London is the only city I’ve ever paid the equivalent of 30 USD to travel a distance I can walk in 17 minutes. But they have folding seats that face each other. How cute is that ? In this way, London has made me notice the small things—the gas lamps on private roads, the grit boxes on sidewalks, the double-decker busses and historical-looking abundance of public payphones. When every day is rich with details like these, it’s almost enough to make you forget about the conversion rate. …..Isn’t it ? But London has been a strange city, with more than a few details missing.

With less than 2/3 of our usual team, 2.25 hours between shows, no tents and barely any sunlight, I get the distinct impression that at least a few of us have felt a bit uprooted from our usual touring lifestyles. They say that theatres and arenas are the most effecient, rational and cost-effective venues to tour a show—and they’re probably right.

But damn, I can’t wait to get back into those tents!

For those of you who were absent in London, know that you were missed. And for those of

you here, I’ll see you on the beach in Barcelona. Enjoy this issue of EuroWings—and hey, think about contributing to the next one, would ya ?!

Numbers by Nick A new miniseries of some fun numbered facts! Numbers are fun. They can prove and disprove things, provide goals, and solve problems to name a few. I have heard of so many interesting facts and figures since I arrived here at Alegría, I decided to start writing about some of them. So as long as I find some cool numbers to share with you, you’ll find this little corner in Eurowings. Over the last couple months, I have been discussing with some people on our tour about how they felt about the new tour plan that was released back in November. Some were happy and excited with it, others just content, and some a bit frustrated.

Quite often though I heard something along the lines of : “Alegría is the workhorse of this company…” or “We’re the worker ants, plowing the way for new hives of ‘Cirque’ …” After I heard this, I decided to take a look back at the 2006 tour plan and see what was up. Before I knew it, I was sitting at my desk crunching numbers and finding out some very interesting facts. So, how many days did our tour work last year? AND how many days did the other tours work? Who worked the most? What tour worked the least? Well, here’s what I

came up with… According to the Tour Plan found on our internal servers, out of 365 days last year, Alegría had a total of 290 show dates. This means that for 290 days last year, the show performed for a paying audience. This was followed by Varekai with 276, Corteo 262, Dralion 257, Saltimbanco 218, and finally Quidam with 204 show dates. Resident shows perform on an average, less than 260 dates per year. This is because they work with a five day per week schedule, and almost always two shows per day but, they also have extended darks, up to four weeks per year. So, if you are feeling a bit tired, maybe you should be. But, before you get upset, I’d like to point out the other side of all these numbers. Let’s take Quidam for example, performing for only 204 show dates. That’s almost three whole months with no work! Since most of us get paid by the hour or by the show, we made a lot more money to support our families, pay off our student loans and mortgages or put away for retirement than anybody else. So maybe it’s not such a bad thing that Alegría performed more than any other Cirque show last year? Truthfully, that’s for you to decide. One thing is for sure though, if you are one of those people that thinks that Alegría is the “workhorse” of Cirque du Soleil, you were right, at least for 2006 it was. I‘m proud to say I am a part of the hardest working show in the “Cirque” show business, are you?

Not all gold is shining

- I’m not rich enough to buy cheap things

The scrooge paid twice

In Russia

we have a saying! By Misha

New Faces Corner

Name:Rob “Roski” Petrinovic Born in Chile, lived in the US for almost 30 years, but now he is back in Chile. Before Alegria he was Travel + Lodging Coordinator for Saltimbanco in South America. Other fun facts - he was a ski Instructor for 30 years and also a

baseball umpire. His First impression of Alegria… “What a great group. Lots of families that have all come together as one big happy Alegria family.” People from everywhere getting along like they’ve known each other all of their lives.” Hey guys! So I’m Anastasia Kitsos from Montreal and before coming to Alegria I did the creation/production of LOVE. I was assistant Production Manager on the project and worked on it for 2.5 years 6 months of which I spent in Vegas at the mirage hotel putting up on stage. That was my first project at Cirque and before that I did some PR, journalism, photography and even some TV reporting. Now I’m with you crazy people and want to get you all involved in the social club so I’ll be coming after you very soon! Cheers!

Name: Valérie Fortin Position: Merchandising Supervisor From: A little village an hour away from Québec city… no need to name it. What was I doing before? I was a merchandising supervisor/ interim manager on Dralion for about 1 year and half. And before that, I was working in administration (payroll) for Dralion, Alegria in 2003 and also Quidam in 2002. I also had a life

before Cirque. I was working in accounting for a small company and worked in a bank. Need any tips for a bank robbery? Come and see me! What do I do in my spare time? I love curling, backgammon, puzzles, re-organizing my CD’s and DVD’s collection in alphabetical order (depending on how I feel: sometimes it is by Album/Movie title, sometimes by artist/director name). I also like watching Magnum PI, Dynasty and K2000 TV series over and over again.

Knitting is probably my favorite hobby.

Alison Beaton / Physio Halifax, NS, Canada Spent the last year with Delirium. Before that at Dalhousire University, Sports Clinic. No comments:)

My name : Michel Guillemette / IT Birthplace : I come from St-Anselme, a town of 3000 people. It’s about 45 minutes from Quebec City in Canada. My professional life before Alegria : I worked for Saltimbanco during the last 2 years. Before Cirque du Soleil,

I worked in Quebec City as an IT administrator in a company that made stainless steal for 5 years. What else? Some people say I look like Harry Potter, but I prefer when people say that I look like John Lennon. You’ll get to know why I say that J Name : Pablo Gomes - clown I’m from Alicante south of Spain and now I live in Murcia. Before Alegria, I was in theater for 10 years and 5 years ago we (4 other friends) formed a theater company called “Les Buffoons”. We worked with other companies (tragedy, comedy, contemporary etc.) creating shows around Spain. What do you like about Alegria? I like the music, the costumes, but what struck me the most was the bird mask. My hobby is to read, make stupid videos, and play board games. Last comment: Hello everybody, sorry if I don’t remember all of your names. I hope that we will have a

great time together.

Name: Lucky Luke From Sunshine Coast, Australia. Before Alegria I was a technician on Saltimbanco. Quote “ Are you Ready to rock! Then lets party!”

Name: Corinne Kuzma I’m from Troyes, 150 km from Paris. I was a teacher at the conservatory in Paris, and was responsible for shows

in a big vacation club in France. I also played with Ukrainian musicians and made an album with my compositions. I am glad to have responded to a cirque add in an accordion magazine. It enabled me to discover the magic of Cirque Du Soleil - I absolutely love all the shows and the music.

Premiere London

Lederhosen in London By Charlie Dennard Vienna sounds like the perfect place for yours truly with its rich history of classical icons and philosophical frontiersman who used to roam the cobblestone streets there as they set out to change (and pervert) the world for the better. Although I’ve never been to Austria - luckily for me, I may have stumbled upon quite possibly the next best thing right here in the seedy underbelly of London’s Bayswater district during our all-too-short of a visit with the circus this year. A rather peculiar looking fellah greeted me as I traversed down the dingy staircase and after mumbling the secret password (huh?) and flashing my credentials (circus ID) permission was granted and I entered into the most surreal oasis of Austria genuinely hidden inside an urban hobbits hole. The first thing that I noticed was the carnival-like oompah-doo-pah blaring from the fat man enclosed in this little cubicle covered with Alpine bric-a-brac as he pumped out the beer barrel polkas and kitschy national anthems of yonder. I would dare say that if an accordion had a baby with a karaoke machine and adopted a Scandinavian synthesizer as a love child it might resemble something close to the Farfisa organ of the future that this guy seemed to maintain. The curious clientele sang and danced almost naturally in spasmodic spurts not unlike an electrical storm in the quiet of night and I showered in its warmth and affection. Short skirts, lederhosen and Bavarian dialects protruded from the waitresses as they poured my Weiss bier in such a special way as to create the perfect foam cap in the tall and sexy glass that it conjured up dreams of wiener-schnitzel and masochistic bratwurst covered with mustard. Places like these don’t exist on the mere tourist maps or hotel magazines. Big Ben doesn’t stand a chance next to this joint and, by the way, who hasn’t seen Buckingham Palace a million times on TV anyway? I think Mozart himself would have thrived on a place such as this as he manhandled the keyboard improvising melodies in between hysterical laughs and farts of relief and satisfaction. Everyone knows that all geniuses are a little ‘mad’… So, if you haven’t been to Austria and you find yourself in London one of these days – do yourself a favor and head on down to the Austrian Pub – you won’t regret it. And perhaps when I finally do make it to Vienna one day I will have a pint of lager in a nice little English pub somewhere and my eyes will weep like the dark grey skies of London as I remember these days gone by…

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Making bubbles just make’s me smile…

School Page Compiled by Ilona

Spooky Stories

The Alegria School was lucky to have a tour around the Royal Albert Hall, and we were told about ghost sightings. There were 9 different stories that were told to us, all very spooky. We went to the ladies bathroom, the roof and more!

The Ghost in the Hall By: Natasha Plotnikova Once late at night a man named Max was cleaning the boxes on the first floor in the auditorium. But suddenly he saw a blurry figure walk past the opened box doors. At first he thought it was a person. But then he realized that it was walking too fast for a person. In seconds, it went around all the boxes and disappeared at the last one. And from then on people called it the Hall Ghost. The Old Creaking Winches By: Nikita Long ago on the roof of the hall there were winches to pull up all the props. Now there are electric ones. Now, sometimes the old ones move by themselves. People say it is Albert, a man who liked working so much that he changed his name to Albert Hall. Maybe it is Albert moving the winches, or maybe not! The Whispering Ghost By: Natasha Plotnikova One night, a lady named Mo was walking through a room on the Grand Tier. Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming from the door. She turned around and saw nothing. She walked a little more and again she heard footsteps and she was sure that she heard someone or something walking behind her. But unexpectedly,

someone started breathing in her ear! And it was almost laughing like “huh-huh-huh!” Mo turned around and shot through all the doors until she got to people. She would never forget that experience. Party Time Ghost By: Anastasia Novozhilova Before they built the R.A.H, there was a small house owned by Count Duffy. He was always having parties, but so the R.A.H could be built, they destroyed the house. Now on Nov. 2 at 2:00am, you can sometimes see 2 ghost ladies walking from one door to another. People say it is Count Duffy’s nieces. This takes place at the bottom of the staircase by door 6. This is now known as the most hunted area of the hall Royalty or VIP Only! By: Ikaika Sanft Whoever will dare use the Queen’s bathroom will be in darkness, because Queen Victoria’s ghost will switch off the lights. Some have experienced this ghostly activity, and were going to the bathroom in the dark. Only Royalty and VIP are allowed to use this bathroom. The Men Of The Organ By: Eloise Before, there was an old organ. One day, workers were installing a new one, and they saw Willy, the old organ builder, climbing down the stairs. But they didn’t exist

anymore… He was walking were the old stairs were placed and he was walking on air! Look, a Ghost! By: Anastasia Novozhilova One time a singer didn’t want anyone walking behind him while he was performing. So the hall didn’t sell tickets for the seats behind the stage. But when it was show time, lots of people saw how a pale person appeared at the back part behind the singer. How can he go there if there were guards standing on the sides? Was it a ghost? Nobody knows! The Uninvited Guest By: Eloise A security man was sitting on a chair on the second floor. Then he saw a woman who was dressed in the old fashioned clothes with a cup in her hands. She looked at him, then she passed through the wall. Before in that wall there was a door! But not anymore… The Ghost of the Gallery By: Nikita Once there was a lady who was patrolling the Gallery and checked the girls’ bathroom and she saw a big sinister grey cloud covered in black dots. She screamed but that made the ghost cloud approach her and she hid in a bathroom and fainted. Her colleague found her 20 minutes later but no ghost was found!

School Page

AT THE SCIENCE MUSEUM

I went to the science museum and I saw an IMAX movie and bubbles. And I saw fire bubbles! At the IMAX there were sharks and it was scary. And we needed to put on glasses. We saw different sharks. And it was fun. It was a long movie.

Leonie

I went to the Natural History Museum. I saw dinosaur bones. I saw a spider. I played games. The games were fun. By Timofey

60 sec with …Frank Salcines

How did you feel, being back on Alegria after 2 years? It was great to be back and to see everybody again. I love the “Trip” of being on stage, pushing myself

physically and artistically with the team. It felt like I never left. After 7 long years of traveling with Alegria, what were some of your most unforgettable moments? Driving in the middle of the night in the south of Australia, we where joking about kangaroos while driving in the car. Suddenly, 10 meters in front of us, a family of 4 kangaroos skipped joyfully across the road. We had to slam on the breaks and just missed them, but the kangaroos seemed to be as surprised as we were. We ended up laughing and trying to chase them. Another one is when we arrived in Mississippi and were looking for a house to rent. Arriving at one house the owner told us that it was better not to go into the garden at night because of crocodiles. He saw that we didn’t believe him so he brought us to the garden and sure enough 2 crocodiles were quietly staring at us, their eyes just poking above the water in the swamp.

What will you not miss about Alegria? Tamir’s laugh, Bruno practicing sax… The make up and the music… well… at least for the first 6 months. (Laughing) Best bloopers of the show? - During Cube act one of the angels in full character

went on stage without realizing that he forgot his angel wig. Even funnier was that his hair net happened to be standing up vertically in the shape of a palm tree.

- One of the levs slipped during some choreography on the structure, fell, and miraculously landed on his bottom between the catcher’s swing.

- But my best blooper was when Nancy fell backward from stage on her 2nd show performing. I was glad to be on stage for this hilarious moment.

Anything you would like to add? Words of advice: “Plan ahead and be mentally prepared for the real world because when you ever decide to quit cirque, let me tell you that it is a

F#&%#ing Jungle out there. So what is your plan after? Hmm… We will see

Well Franky it was fun working with you and to feel your energy on stage. Good luck in your future endeavors. (P.S. do you think we might see you on the Alegria stage again?)

Job suggestions Taking Franks advice into account, here are some likely professions for few people in Alegria…

Tamir ~ Lingerie model Marcos ~ Librarian Kristin ~ Pop singer Irina ~ Body builder Aliaksei Liubezny ~ Sumo wrestler Ilya ~ Priest Nancy ~ Nun Casey ~ Rocket scientist Misha ~ Translator Mitko ~ Comedian Olga ~ WNBA Basketball player Corinne ~ Dance Choreographer Renat ~ Ballet Dancer Martin Nielson ~ Go Go Dancer Fedor~ Radio broadcaster Luc~ Gladiator Yasmine ~ Percussionist Matt ~ U.S. Citizen Andriy ~ Movie Star Charlie ~ Bum Masha ~ Farmer Maui ~ Author Frank ~ Police Officer David Pelltier ~ Hair Dresser Bruno ~ Nobel Peace Prize winner

Changing Chefs by Charlie

Before our chef d`orchestre, David Pelletier, departs in Barcelona – we would like to thank him for all of his hard work and dedication to Cirque du Soleil and especially the music of Alegria. I had no idea that when I met Dave in a small jazz bar in New Orleans back in 2000 that I would have the honor of traveling around the world playing music with him in the circus for almost 5 years afterwards. Dave`s extensive knowledge of music theory and arranging, the Apple Macintosh, bass, guitar, keyboards and studio recording techniques and production are just some of the many skills that have enabled him to lead the band of Alegria so impeccably through countless shows in countless cities throughout the 4 corners of the world. So, without further delay - here`s some famous last words from our fearless leader himself: CD: Wow! 8 years… how did you do it? Dave: I don’t know man (laughing)… CD: When did you

officially start? Dave: Rehearsals started in March ’99 for Biloxi. CD: What sound will you remember the most from Alegria? Dave: Um, I don’t know – Bruno’s farts? No, oh yea – Tamir`s laugh! CD: Where on tour did you fell that you were the most productive? Dave: The last couple of cities in N. America before the Japan tour. I was programming the new Apple Macintosh computer set-up that we are using on stage now.

CD: Any plans to re-unite that heavy metal band that you used to play with (when you had hair) before Cirque? Dave; Actually, I’ve been thinking about it – but adding some loops and stuff to make it a little more up to date! CD: What’s your favorite Cirque soundtrack? Dave: La Nouba CD: Preferred beverage at the end of a 10 show week? Dave: Red wine (smiling) CD: Any predictions regarding Cirque and/or Alegria? Dave: You’re all doomed!!! CD: Any regrets? Dave: Well, this past year or so I have not been that productive which is the main reason I have decided to leave. I need to find that inspiration again…

Well Dave, we’re certainly going to miss having you around but I’m sure that Ron and I will be emailing you regularly about computer questions and such (ha-ha)! Thanks again for everything and best of luck. Hopefully we’ll see you again on another Cirque show somewhere down the road…

Lets hope that the wind doesn’t change! (No digital modification required)

ARRIVALS NAME DEPT. POSITION

Beaton, Alison Artistic Physioterapist Brady, Luke Technical Swing Techinician Fortin, Valérie Public Services Merch. Supervisor Gomis Lopez, Pablo Artistic Clown Guillemette, Michel Tour Services IT Analyst Kim, Brian Technical Lighting Technician Kuzma, Corinne Artistic Accordeonnist Moreira, Raiam Public Services Head Usher

Petrinovic, Robert T. Services T & L Coordinator

DEPARTURE NAME DEPT. POSITION

Freestone, Douglas Technical Lighting tech. Jonas, Paul Artistic Athletic Therapist Lanteigne, François Technical Sound Tech. Wells, Bryony T.Services Prod. Office Coordinator

In’s and out’s of London

In

Royal Albert Hall Walking distance to work Food at the RAH Apartments English speaking city

Out

2 1/4 hour between shows UK Pounds Shower heads Fire alarm ringing in the morning Warm up area

Cool Optical Illusion (By the way the dead line for the euro wings Barcelona is 15th of April)

SODOKU ~ medium SODOKU ~ Very Very Hard

Strange forms

9 8 2 3 9 4 7 5 9 1 2

7 2 3 5 1 9 6 8 7 6 4

4 8 9 2 7 3

8 7 6 9 1

3 5 2 1 6 1 5 7 9

5 2 7 6 2 3 4 6 1 9 2 8

Last Page

Our Contact:[email protected]

Dead line for Barcelona 15th April 2007

euro wings vol. 7

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