Mascotting with Pride

Well, in another busy week of rehearsals, we managed to slip in something a little different.

A group of students, under 170cm tall, traveled to Masterton to be the Ruggerbeez, a crew from Small Blacks TV, on the Rugby Trophy Tour of New Zealand, in preparation for the World Cup in September.  The task was fun, but tiring.  In the 4 hours, we were buffeted by wind, rain and insane heat.  To add to the challenge, the costumes were thousands of dollars each, so we had to be careful, and were incredibly hot inside.  When adding the challenge of 10 year old boys who wanted to tackle the mascots, it became a real challenge.

However, the crew kept their cool, remained in character, held babies, posed for photographs, and even managed some fantastic kicking, rivaling Dan Carter himself.

Thanks to Lexie Fleming  and Oliver Healy for helping to mind and dress the mascots, and to the mascots themselves, Nicholas Smith, Zoe Renor, Olivia Wilson, Dylan Johnson, and Hope Sexton.

Meeting and Greeting

The Crew, Mascots, Alternates and Minders

Kicking

Juniors Olivia Wilson, Dylan Johnson and Hope Sexton with Zoe Renor (in Costume)

Zoe with the Bledisloe Cup

NZ Juggling Convention and Championships 2011

Well, it is official.

We are going!

Yes.

Personally, I am excited.

The National Juggling Champs and Convention in 2011 is being held in Levin.  The event goes from February 17-20.  We are going along to be involved in performing, learning, teaching and watching.  This is going to be EPIC!  On the Thursday we will teach small children, on the Saturday we will teach the rank amateurs coming along to the event.  We will be taking part in workshops, showcases and in general helping out around the venue.

We will be camping at the Levin A&P Showgrounds.

So a couple of things people- you will need tents.  And, we are only taking about 20 people.  Seniors are the first choice because they can already juggle, diabolo, spin plates and hoop.  This is a public venue, with other people camping as well, so perfect behaviour is expected.

The whole 4 days should be amazing.  This is a major opportunity for us to showcase our skills, as well as helping out the NZ Juggling Association.  This will be our Kuranui in the Community project.

There will be a cost attached to the camp, so start putting your pennies away.  And there will be a contract.  And there will be heaping helpings of fun. 

Follow the convention on Facebook for more details over the holidays.


NZ Juggling Convention 2011

And if you want your own juggling supplies, head over to Fling Juggling, supporter of us and the convention.  Their gear is really good quality, and they are always happy to lend a hand.

Fling Juggling Website

Wordless Wednesday

Martinborough Library Holiday Programme

Well, we were called up to go and offer our brand of entertainment at the Martinborough Library for their school holiday programme, and we went.

We did 2 sessions this holidays.

The first was a Circus session where we demonstrated how to juggle, spin plates, do diabolo, and Dan even juggled knives!

Sarah shows how to spin a plate

More plate spinning chaos

And then we went back for a Wizard of Oz day, where we performed a couple of scenes from the show, dressed in costume and did some face painting.

Arjun showing his cowardly side

Alena as Dorothy and Chaedyn as Binkie Winkie with Liz from the Library and Avana as a lion

Dan paints a cowboy boot on a face at the Library

Just some pictures to make up for lost time

It has been CRAZY!

Here are some images from the last week, and I will summarise it all in a blog tomorrow.

Entertaining the Little Tykes

Today we had the opportunity to entertain the children involved in the Martinborough Library's School Holiday Programme.  I am so fortunate to have talented students who are willing to give up their time freely on a Saturday to entertain the kids.

We played some theatresports games, all based on fairy stories for the children.  They chose Little Red Riding Hood to see in the game "Sit, stand, kneel, lie", Cinderella in "Survivor", a "Hands Interview" with Shrek, and a very speedy Snow White and the 2 Dwalves in "60, 30, 15, 7".  They also giggled at slo motion cleaning up bedrooms.

Highlights of the round included the giggles with 2 boys dancing together, people being knocked over, and an impromptu round of "Happy Birthday" to Darren when he arrived.

Then we brought out the circus equipment, did a quick demo.... and showed the kiddies Dan Carlisle juggling knives!  It was wonderful to see the girls teaching kids how to spin plates on a stick, and the boys teaching kids how to juggle.  They were totally wonderful and patient with the kids, which was a privilege to see.

We were given a wonderful thanks from the Librarian, and headed off to our traditional hot chocolates at the Village Cafe.... with pizza.  Thanks so much for all your help, it would be impossible to accept such opportunities without students who were so generous with their time and skills.

The crew today were Dan Carlisle, Daniel Cameron, Moana Brathwaite, Camille Healy, Alena-Rose Burt, James Owens and Darren Dingle.

Dan, Daniel, James and Camille doing "Sit, stand, kneel, lie"- the story of Little Red Riding Hood.

Darren elicits giggles from the kids with some random leg flailing.

The girls teaching the kids how to spin plates.

Dan Carlisle's Juggling group

Our performing group (sans Darren who had to go) and some of the kids from the programme.