Originally Posted By kennect Got a new post up on the blog....Very long winded...There is so much I want to say and will be able to when this whole thing is over...I just can't do it right now....Kennect <a href="http://kennectonline.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://kennectonline.blogspot.com/</a>
Originally Posted By beamerdog If any of you haven't seen this, it's a 13 wk tv series about how cirque's performers go thru the audition and later formation and practice of the show. <a href="http://tinyurl.com/8pfwkk" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/8pfwkk</a> It's a fascinating study, but I felt so bad for the performers who practiced with the group right up until the end and then didn't make the final show.
Originally Posted By kennect That series ruined that show for me...Had I not seen the series I think I would have liked Varekai much more than I did...The show had a great set, music and acts....But for some reason I left the tent thinking "no big deal"...Plus local fire codes here prohibited from doing the fire guy.... Just got home from another shift at Cirque...It was really boring tonight since there wasn't a large crowd...The more people the more fun...Plus it was horribly cold here and that didn't help...
Originally Posted By beamerdog I saw the tv piece after I saw the show. It was pretty much what I expected, but not cutting people the day before the show. Geez, couldn't the producer figure that out a couple of weeks before as this certainly wasn't a first time production of any show? Hm, let me think of a word... Heartless? Ruthless? I know a young woman who has done aerial acts for some time now. I think she's pretty good, but she's say's not good enough for Cirque. btw, kennect, where do you park when working?
Originally Posted By kennect They struck a deal with the parking garage for Atlantic Station....It is directly across the street from the Cirque site...The deal though wasn't as good as they had promised...We have to pay four dollars as opposed to ten...The original idea was suppose to be to pay only a dollar or two...If you are on standby and get sent home there is no charge for the first two hours there so that works ok...Worst part is the event parking at ten is higher than the regular hourly rate....Hourly rate for the amount of time a show lasts would be only five dollars...The public apparently hasn't figured that one out yet...
Originally Posted By beamerdog They play on an empty lot on Broad Street in Philly. There is a premium lot for the attendees across the street, but I haven't a clue as to where I would park around there that was safe late at night by myself. And taking the train in isn't really an option, since the locals stop running late at night and Amtrak is too expensive. I'd love to work for Cirque.
Originally Posted By kennect Beamer, Not sure what you are talking about....Consider me confused since I have no idea really about their overall schedule at the moment...Are they headed your way anytime soon? If that is the case that is great...I would think they would have some solution for employee's that would not require them to park in an empty area...I would assume they would make some kind of arrangements with the lot you mentioned...I would also think with the number of people they have to hire locally they would have to make some arrangements in regards to parking... There are folks here that are too cheap to pay the four dollars I mentioned...So they are parking in lots for such stores as Target, etc...I personally think they are foolish by running the risk of having their car towed...The area here is extremely upscale and I wouldn't dare trying to park somewhere else other than the public garage...The last thing I want to have happen would be to leave work and find my car either booted or removed...The location here is a new bit for downtown Atlanta...A major developement for intown living and also for retail...Check out AtlanticStation.com to see what I am talking about...The overall community is huge and has done a lot in terms of reshaping the downtown area...The Olympics here gave us a lot but Atlantic Station has done even more.... Whatever the case is with you is this...As soon as you learn that Cirque is headed your way contact Manpower...Apparently, at least for the moment, they have the US contract for local hires with Cirque...When you contact them make sure you fully understand the type of id or id's you have to have for them to sign you up...Do all of this as soon as your city shows up on the list of cities it is going to.... So is Kooza headed your way or are you in line for the new show? I have found the overall experience very rewarding...As a side note, there are a lot of jobs that need to be filled beyond the basic ushering, merchandising, etc... They need people for box office, etc....So make sure to check into it...A couple of the different categories are things such as wardrobe assistant, runners...The list is very long when you actually see it...
Originally Posted By beamerdog >> runners<< hahahahaha! Can't remember the last time I could run, lol! Kooza has already been here last year. Cirque is a regular occurrence in Philly, coming around every 18 months or so. I regularly get emails from Cirque, and check in every so often (it's a fun site) so I hope I'll know when it's coming around. I don't think we have a Manpower office in upstate DE, but I'll check the Phila metropolitan area. Box office would be good for me. Being an usher might be pretty ugly if I tumble down the steps ;-) I'm sure I could find something. thanks for all the information, kennect.
Originally Posted By kennect Beamer, Trust me I feel sure there is some job you could do with Cirque...Go for it when they roll around your area with the new show....Box office though I think would be extremely boring...You do nothing but sit there in that area...In fact, I have never even seen any of the box office people...I have no clue as to where or how they check in each day...I do know that they only need a handful of people for that job...You probably would fit better into the customer service area of merchandising where I am...There is a lot of variety each day in that job and that is what keeps it interesting...Ushering, from what I understand, at least for me would be a huge bore... When the new show is announced for your area you should contact Cirque directly and ask them who is handling the local hires for your area...But start saving all of your loose change...With the discount pricing they offer us you will want one of everything they have for sale!
Originally Posted By kennect Beamer, I actually heard someone tonight say goodbye to the box office folks...I didn't see them but somehow they must exist in the same area where hang out.... But I was a very bad boy today at Cirque...I did so many things that could have gotten me fired on the spot but I did them anyway....The best one though was getting some photo's that I shouldn't have been doing...I am going to get them up on the blog at some point tomorrow...Nothing great but at least they are original as opposed to what I have been showing...Plus I actually had a little excitement happen for me that I have to talk about....Thank God though that the show is dark two days this week...I need a break....
Originally Posted By beamerdog Probably at this point in the timeline they wouldn't fire you as it's too late to train someone new. I have a picture of Beamer (the puppy I was training at the time), me and two of the comics. But that was outside the tent during intermission. One is pointing a flashlight up and howling at the moon; the other is dusting off Beamer with a little pink duster. Very cute! We were part of the pre-show act - when they saw little Beamer laying at my feet, they put a spotlight on him and went thru a routine. Your blog is great and I was wondering about the pictures.
Originally Posted By kennect Oh Beamer, You have to share those photo's! I am going right now to add to my blog...The photo's are really lousy but I am putting them up anyway....
Originally Posted By beamerdog Just read your blog, kennect. For those interested in a backstage look at what it's like to work at one of their traveling shows, this is a must-read. Your backstage is so much nicer than the one in Philadelphia! There were wires everywhere, trailers one on top of another (they were so close) and staff/people/families everywhere! And the site is very close to Center City, so your view is mostly that of an art college, row houses, city storefronts and the parking lot. Re: your mystery guest. I believe that a lot of their performers come from Russia, or what used to be the USSR. Wow, I'd like to see a performance from his dance school. I don't normally post my picture on the internet, but I'd be glad to send you a copy if you feel comfortable sending me your address. I swear I'm not an axe murderer, lol.
Originally Posted By kennect beamer, my email address is on my profile here.... After I met the dancer I came home and did find on the internet that he is sort of all over the place...Apparently he is rather well known in the Chicago area.. I am not sure our backstage is nicer by any means...There are trailers, you name it, etc. everywhere...We have to walk by the construction trailers they have...Those guys must work twenty four hours a day...Have no clue what they are doing but they are always there with very loud music blaring out the several trailers the occupy.... Was on standby tonight and was sent home...That was fine, I just wasn't feeling very Cirque today...But I am definitely on for the next two days of double shows...I have Saturday off, thankfully, since I am sure I will be on the schedule for Sunday... If you really need any personal time to continue your ordinary life you certainly don't want to take a job such as this....Still, not complaining but it really screws up everything about personal life...But they are really flexible with your hours and really don't seem to be too miffed even if you don't show up for work as scheduled...No wonder they schedule so many standby's each day....It is pretty much a very good organized insanity each day...But somehow they pull it off...
Originally Posted By beamerdog Kennect, re acts being subtracted to a show. I always wondered what they did when Mystere was at TI. What would happen if the hanging drums AND fly guy were missing on one night. I've seen that show several times, so I definitely would know that two big acts were missing and I'd be pissed. Now, if I were seeing Kooza, it would be for the first time and I wouldn't know if anything was missing or not. Does Cirque have replacement acts? I don't see how they could. And do they have a stand-in for the fly guy? Don't know how they could do that, either.
Originally Posted By kennect Beamer, Typically they have what I think is called a "swing" act that can substitute or alternate with another act....Well, for the moment, Kooza doesn't...I heard the other day they are working on one but I have no clue if it will show up before they leave Atlanta.... I was off yesterday but worked today...Fortunately, I found two things out going in today...That, I guess I can mention names here I can't on the blog, number one Elena was there...She is my groups team leader and it was her boyfriend that was injured in the accident I mentioned...Elena is Russian and she is the sweetest person I have met in years...I felt so bad for her about this whole thing but since I didn't work Saturday I had no clue what to expect going in today...Well, Elena was at work which was great since I would quit immediately if she left...From what she told me, the BF is fine but he will be out of the show for at least two months...That made worry that they might ship them out of Atlanta but she told me that they would stay here in town...That was great to hear because as I said above I would quit if she left...She really knows how to run the are I am in and no one else does...I can't say enough good things about her...I am also so happy to learn that the BF's injury wasn't so bad afterall...It really could have been so much worse but then again she was rather tight lipped about the whole and didn't want to say too much about it...But me, with my big mouth, I pressed her into telling me more than apparently she told anyone else...I mean I really care about this gal that I simply met out of nowhere a month ago...That is what has been so neat about this job...I mean there are a handful of people I will never see again but I will always remember them and think of them very fondly as a friend...She seemed to be in very good spirits all things concerned...But she also spent a great deal of time today on her cell phone which I assumed were calls to her BF... As far as missing acts you might not be aware of...If you bought a program you would know you were defenitely missing acts...Secondly there is a performance guide provided by AMEX since they are a sponsor of the tour...If you got one of those, it is a free handout, you would know what to expect also...You would have to be pretty clueless to not notice you are missing out on something...To me personally this show is so slight to begin with it simply can't afford to drop any act without some kind of replacement...Today everything was up and running...I feel sure though they had to put in some extra rehearsal time to compensate the missing guy, Elana's BF, from the show...He isn't a featured performer but a major player in the over ensemble...
Originally Posted By kennect And Beamer if you can read through any of that above with all of the typo's and bad use of English than more power to you.... All in all, today I just wasn't into it going in....But once there I got into it and everything turned out to be a great day...The weather was great for a change...The audience for both shows were rather strange...They were a rather quiet group but boy did they spend money...They were buying anything in sight in the store...And they were buying big time, not nickel and dime stuff...We may be in hard times but apprently not all of us are poor by any means... One other note to make, They have me working everyday this week...I do need the hours but I really don't know if I can keep up with it...I say that knowing they will also have me working next Sunday and that is my ongoing complaint...It is really tough for me to get home at midnight and have to be back there at eleven thirty the next morning...But since we are half way through this whole thing I have decided I need as many hours as I can get for the moment...And hey, if it doesn't work out fine...These guys are so great if you tell them you need to leave, then you leave and they don't hold it against you....As I have said before, I have never been involved with any job where the people have been as nice as they have been here....More on that later on the blog considering some weird little something that happened today!
Originally Posted By kennect Well, Beamer I did survive that crazy schedule I was complaining about...We have a had a major change in the weather here which meant instead of working in below freezing temps we are now working in temps that are above sixty with plenty of sunshine to go with it...That is great news and it is going to be that way for the next week at least... But today proved to be a wild experience I can't even begin to talk about here...I had been waiting for this to happen and it did today...If you are mildly curious drop me an email...This one I don't dare discuss here or on the blog until long after Cirque has left Atlanta...While this whole thing has been a great experience you know there always has to be one bad apple in the group to ruin it for everyone...That apple surfaced today and not in a good way...Sad part is the fact this problem should have never happened considering we are supposedly a group of adults working a very temporary job....Let's just say it hit the fan in a big way and it was not at all pretty....Like I said, if curious drop me a note....
