Do you remember when you first started coming to circus classes? How you’d get all excited and tingly with anticipation, and everything was NEW and SHINY and FUN! Then, you got your first inversion! And your first pull-up! And OMG I’m going to love this forever and it will NEVER get boring or feel like work!

….. 3 years later….. 5 years later……15 years later……

OMG I’M SO BOOOOOOOOOOOORED. I CAN’T EVEN LOOK AT A SILK. I CANNOT. BECAUSE I’M SO BOOOOOOOOOOOORED.

My love, I. Hear. That. I hear that. After 25+ years of swinging from the curtains, I know where you are. Hell, I’m there more often than not. Where is the fun? Where is the sparkle? Where has the romance gone???!!!!

It’s a Circus Affair

Our relationship to our circus work is like any other romance. It starts with music, fireworks, and nights of passion that leave us in a sweaty heap on the floor. Even though there are way more fabric burns than O’s in circus, we love it. We absolutely cannot get enough of it. We stalk it for hours on instagram. Our friends are sick of hearing about it. It’s the honeymoon period.

Over time, as with any romance, some of the shine wears off. You start noticing that your hoop has the terrible habit of whacking you in the bits every time you try that swoop-y transition. There’s rosin in your armpits. Permanently. And if you have to do one more pull-up, you swear your eyes are going to roll so far up into your head that they’ll get stuck there. And then you’ll be the person who actually did roll their eyes so hard they stayed that way.

Eventually, open workout – which used to look like you up on your apparatus doing ALL THE THINGS – now looks like you standing at the desk talking to Louise about how you really should be training right now, or you lying under your fabric, staring up at the ceiling, waiting to want to actually get up there and do something.

But…..

What if I told you that you could light that fire again? Burn, baby, burn.

How to Keep it Spicy and Turn up the Heat!

Yes, I AM going to beat that metaphor to death. TO DEATH.

How do you bring the passion back and find those tinglies again?

• Play games. While role playing might be a bridge too far, there are tons of games and prompts for writers, dancers, and actors that can be adapted for circus. Examples:
  • String 3 moves together and do them in your style. Be the absolute most you that you can be.
  • The transition game! Pick 2-3 moves and try to find a way to connect them that doesn’t involve coming back to neutral. Be sure to video this – you’ll never remember how you did it, and you might find something amazing.
  • Pick an adjective like sleepy, hot, or excited. Take 3 moves and do them with that word in mind. What did you find?
  • Google is your friend! Find at least 25 games and write them down. Pull them out when you just *cannot* with your apparatus.
• Learn new things from new people. Sign up for a workshop, a class with a new teacher, or try studying something that parallels nicely with circus like photography and see how you can mix the two.
• Sign yourself up for a show. This is my favorite! Nothing is more motivating than having to strut your stuff in front of other humans.
• Make a glorified self promotion video. I’m not even kidding. Video yourself looking absolutely freaking spectacular on your apparatus and post it all OVER social media so your friends can shower you with praise for your badass accomplishments.
• Make some art! Do you have a passion project percolating in your brain? Do you want to make a piece about something close to your heart? Do you have something you need to say through your work? Get it out into the world!!!
• Try a creative challenge. Whether you do a structured program like “The Artist’s Way”, google creativity challenge, or make something up yourself, a 30 day (or whatever) challenge can get you out of a rut and excited to create again.
• Add a completely different class. Do you do aerial skills? Cross train handstands, flexibility, German wheel, or whatever else your little heart desires.
• Take a break. It’s good for our bodies to periodically take breaks, and absence makes the heart grow fonder. Need some time off? Take it!!!

Please believe me when I say that if you stick with circus long enough, you will reach this point with your apparatus. It’s totally normal. Like any love affair, it takes commitment, heart, and work to keep going, and the rewards are so very worth it. Love and pull-ups, Laura