Austin gymnast at 2009 Visa Championships in Dallas

I am thrilled that I was able to attend the 2009 Visa Championships in Dallas, TX this past August. Even more exciting was that I was able to take my camera and photograph the meet (this is the first time I was able to photograph gymnastics). Local Austin gymnast Mackenzie Brannan qualified for the event and did a great job placing 20th out of many competitors. Here is a photo I took over her overshoot on the uneven bars. To view more photos from the competition visit my flickr account: www.flickr.com/photos/flipimages

Cirque Du Soleil may return to Austin!

For the first time since 2005 we may have a Cirque Du Soleil show coming to Austin. According to http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/ the show "Alegria" has Austin listed as one of their stops in early 2010. Alegria is now an arena show which means the show is performed in an arena instead of the famous Cirque Du Soleil tent. The purpose of the arena shows is for Cirque to visit smaller cities or locations where setting up the tents is unfeasible. Alegria is a very acrobatic show including power track (similar to tumble trak), trapeze, Russian Bar and aerial high bar. Aerial high bar is like a combination of men's high bar and trapeze. The performers do release skills similar to gymnastics but they perform them to a catcher or to another bar (like women's uneven bars). It's all performed very high in the air to add excitement. Power track always has great tumbling along with fantastic music and choreography. Alegria has been one of my favorite Cirque du Soleil shows since I first saw it in 1995.

I'll post more information on Alegria as it becomes available.

Why I am starting this blog

This blog is still in its infancy (just started today). What is the purpose of this blog? Well, I did gymnastics most of my life until I moved to Austin and discovered that adult gymnastics classes are next to impossible to find here. That's fine, I can do handstands and conditioning at home but eventually I started to miss just being around the gym. I can't coach (I have another job) so I tried to fill the void with another old hobby - photography.

Then I ended up in Dallas taking photos at the 2009 Visa Championships. I had a fantastic time and now I miss gymnastics even more. I've found myself scouring the newspapers and websites looking for any kind of gymnastics related activity that I could watch and photograph (if photography is allowed). So I decided to start this blog that will list some of the events that I find and hopefully some photos (if the event allows it). I would like to see gymnastics and Circus Arts get more publicity in Austin and the surrounding areas.

Cirque Mechanics Birdhouse Factory

Thank you to The Long Center and Cirque Mechanics for bringing Birdhouse Factory to Austin! It was a fabulous perfomance with plenty of acrobatics, entertainment and good music. The story is based in a factory with acrobats as workers. The workers perform a variety of amazing acts including contortion, German wheel, hand balancing (with a female base), aerial hoop and trampoline .Most of the artists have performed at Cirque du Soleil at some point during their career and all of them are very talented and engaging. The clown brings a great sense of humor to show and really connected with the audience.

The show was inspired by the industry murals of Mexican-born artist Diego Rivera as well as images of Rube Goldberg (cartoonist) and the humor style of Charlie Chaplin. Originally the show was performed in San Francisco in 2004 but it's now touring around the United States and internationally.

For more information on Birdhouse Factory visit their website: http://www.birdhousefactoryshow.com/