The Trapeze Perfromance!!!!!

I am so excited to report that my trapeze performance was everything that I had hoped it could possibly be. From the moment I arrived at the City Museum, I started getting that jittery, excited feeling. I got dressed in my costume and put the finishing touches on my make-up. Then, I spent about 12-20 minutes stretching out with one of my fellow performers. The time backstage before the show just flew. Soon, our instructor had us take hands in a circle and was giving us a pep talk. She had us take 3 big deep breaths in and emphasized that we should enjoy the moment and have fun out there.

She went into the circus ring (as she was the announcer), and the show had begun. I was up first. I heard her call my name. The guy backstage pressed play on my music. I couldn't really hear my music at first. The crowd was cheering in the ring, and I was still backstage. So, I just went right on out. As I was doing my first style (a bow to the audience), I started to hear my music, so that was good. But, when I first stepped out from behind the curtains, I could hear the cheering, and I could see the audience. It was such a rush! There's nothing like it. It was so much different from practice.

I made my way to the bar and jumped and grabbed it. There's always a small part of me that is nervous that I'll miss the bar when jumping up at first, but my hands found it with no problem. When I did my front pull over onto the bar, I heard these "oooooohhhhs" from the audience, which energized me even more. Then, I went into my front balance, and people started clapping! Then, when I dropped into my catcher's hang, the audience went crazy. I suppose it is a dramatic trick, so the constant bruises from it each week were worth it. That was definitely a crowd pleaser.

I continued my routine, with the audience clapping at a lot of my tricks. Then, I got to the shoulder stand trick, and I realized that I was way ahead of my music. For just a second, I wondered if I had forgotten a trick! But, no, I must have just been going through my routine fast. It didn't feel like it, since I was pausing whenever the audience was clapping and such. But, I must have been going fast. So, I slowed it down from there on and made sure to hold my tricks longer.

Then, I came towards the end of the performance. It was time for my new Crow's Nest trick, the Arabesque, Forward Roll, and Ladybug - all my heavy hitter strength tricks. I got into the Crow's Nest with no problem. My feet found the correct position right away. I remebered my instructor had said to look around at the audience while in that trick, so I held it while I looked forward and then all the way to the opposite end of the audience. It was perfect. Then, I came down back to a stand and styled, giving my hands a brief respite. I went into my arabesque, making sure to have good extension, and then I came out of it and into the forward roll. Then, I did my lady bug, and dismounted the bar.

I wound up ending at a good place in my music - almost at the very end. So, I had succeeded in getting back to a normal pace once I realized that I was going too fast. All in all, I did as well as I could have possibly hoped for. I hit all my tricks. I smiled a lot. Granted, my music wasn't necessarily smiley music, but I think it worked well.

Once I was back stage, you couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I still felt a bundle of nerves - as if thinking, did this really happen? Did I actually do it? The time had passed in a blink of an eye.

It was a packed house. The stands were almost completely full. Plus, people were watching from outside the ring behind the glass, too. There were easily over 100 people in attendance. There were people of all ages - young kids to the elderly.

The rest of the show went by in the blink of an eye. The show was about a 1/2 hour long total, but it seemed even shorter than that. We were all talking about our experiences backstage, and we got to watch some of the performances through the side glass.

It was a night to remember. It's probably the most exciting thing that I've ever been a part of.