Shrine Circus returning to Cedar Park Center

The Austin Shrine Circus is returning to the Cedar Park Event Center next January (Friday January 13th - Monday January 16th, 2012). Those of you that have read my blog before know that I've had really mixed experiences at this show. The performers are always wonderful! My issues are with the Elephant Rides (and the chaos they create) and the inconsistent seating chart through the Cedar Park Event Center. But I love the circus and they allow cameras so I will always go. This year I decided against playing the roulette game of buying floor seats (every time I buy floor seats they never match the seating chart and I always end up in a worse seat than I expected). This year I'm sitting in the regular seats and I hope my seat matches what I think I bought. I'm looking forward to it and I'm hoping to get some nice pictures!

Here's a link to Shrine Circus tickets.

Don't forget that Quidam is coming to the Cedar Park Center in March 2012. I took the "floor seat" gamble again this year. Supposedly I'm in row A although there is no row A on the seating chart. I don't know what this means but it's becoming standard procedure at the Cedar Park Center (sorry Cedar Park Center- I'm glad you are here but I wish your seating charts matched the tickets I bought!!). But Quidam is worth the risk. It's a great show with fantastic acrobatics!

Cirque du Soleil's Quidam is coming to Austin

Cirque Du Soleil's show Quidam is coming to the Cedar Park Center February 29 - March 4, 2012. Presale tickets are already available for Cirque Club members (it's free to join). Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Friday, September 30.

I saw Quidam in 1997 when it was a tent show and the acrobatics were fantastic - especially the Banquine act at the end of the show. I'm really looking forward to seeing this show again.

I just bought my tickets and I hope I got good seats. I'm in row A but the seating chart doesn't show a row A (only rows 1-5). I seem to have this complaint about the Cedar Park Center often (their seating chart does not match what I purchased). Hopefully they will come out with an updated chart soon and my seats will still be good seats.

Photos from Ringling Brothers Barnum 200 Tour

Ringling Brothers 2011, a set on Flickr.

Here's a link to my Ringling Brothers set on Flickr. I really enjoyed taking pictures at the show and I want to thank Ringling Brothers for being camera friendly. I went twice this year and I'll definitely go twice next year (if the photo policy doesn't change).

Had a great time at Ringling Brothers

I really enjoyed the recently Ringling Brothers show in Austin, TX this past weekend (it was the Barnum 200 show). What made this show stand out compared to other Ringling Brothers shows was the number and quality of the acrobatic acts - fantastic! There was a Russian Bar act, contortion, hand balancing, aerial hoops, aerial straps, high wire, flying trapeze, teeterboard and trampoline! It was like all of my favorite acts in one show. I highly recommend this show for anyone who is fond of gymnastics, acrobatics etc.

One of the highlights was the performer who did strap "bar" giants on the high wire. Even with gloves on, this has to be somewhat uncomfortable on the hands.

The only downside was the photography policy was a little confusing this time. I'm not sure if it was Ringling Brothers or the Frank Erwin Center. Usually the policy is "no commercial photography" (which is fine). This time it said something like "no professional cameras, no detachable lenses". I wasn't sure if that meant all SLR's would be turned away? I didn't think that was possible since many parents have SLR's to take pictures of their kids. So I put a small lens on my SLR and hoped for the best. I saw many SLR cameras there so I assume the policy was meant to say "no large detachable lenses". I wish they would make this more clear by saying something like "no lenses greater than 6 inches" instead of just "no detachable lenses".

I took lots of photos and I'm slowly putting them on Flickr. I'll post a link to the whole set once it's complete.

Ringling Brothers Next Weekend

Aerial Silks
Originally uploaded by DigiNik13

Just a quick reminder, Ringling Brothers Circus will be at the Frank Erwin Center August 17-21. I always enjoy Ringling Brothers because they are camera friendly. According to their website, this show (Barnum 200, The Blue Tour) will have a trampoline act (yay!), flying trapeze, Russian Bar, Teeterboard, hand balancing and more. I already have tickets to two shows now I just need to prep the camera and clean off the memory cards :-)

Circus Show at Trapeze Austin - August 6, 2011

Trapeze Austin 2011, a set on Flickr.

We had a great time at the circus show at Trapeze Austin on Saturday. Performances included Spanish Web, Aerial Silks, Aerial Hoop and of course Flying Trapeze. The performers were a combination of students and instructors. It makes me want to do flying trapeze again (oh, maybe someday). I'm still tempted by the bungee trapeze idea (seems easier on the ankles) and maybe now that my surgeries are over I can start thinking about it. I took quite a few photos there but since I was shooting through the net, I struggled with the focus (manual focus is not as easy as it used to be). Fortunately a few shots came out and I've uploaded them to Flickr. I would definitely go to another show there when they have one.

Check out Trapeze Austin if you'd like to try some circus classes.

Trapeze Austin Show

I got an email this morning that Trapeze Austin is doing a circus show on August 6, 2011 at 2:00. The show is free but they are asking people to RSVP through their website www.trapezeaustin.com (the instructions say to RSVP by clicking "Book Online". Sounds like fun. Also they are offering Bungee Trapeze classes! This sounds like something my bad ankles might be able to handle. Now I just have to get past gum surgery #2 and then maybe I can try Bungee trapeze.

International Handstand Day!

International Handstand Day
Originally uploaded by DigiNik13

I'm a day late. I took this picture today but better late than never. Happy Belated International Handstand Day!

Sky Candy "The Red Shoes" Reprise

I missed the first showing of "The Red Shoes" because of my gum surgery so I was very happy to hear that it's coming back - until I saw the dates. It's the same weekend as Ringling Brothers Circus (and I already have tickets to a couple of different dates for Ringling). Darn! For those of you that can make it.... It will be Friday August 19th through Sunday August 21st. Sky Candy's website is: www.skycandyaustin.com

I missed Sky Candy's Production....

and I'm quite disappointed about it. I missed seeing The Red Shoes (Sky Candy Austin's first full length production) and I missed the After Party on Friday night. I had gum surgery on Wednesday and some complications kept me home all weekend. I heard the show sold out - congratulations Sky Candy! I hope I can see the next one.

Some up coming events...

I've been behind in my blogging but I want to write about a few events coming up:

1. Austin's Sky Candy is doing their first full length production. It's an adaption of Han Christian Andersen's The Red Shoes. It's this weekend only May 6th - May8th. I believe tickets are already sold out for Friday night (May 6th) but are still available for the weekend shows. You can purchase tickets here.

2. Blue Lapis is doing a performance in June (15th - 19th) called "Devotion". It will be at the Power Plant Intake Building on Lady Bird Lake. Check their website for more details. They are also doing a Spring Soiree on May 15th from 5:00-7:00 for $20 with more details available on the website.

3. Ringling Brothers is coming back to Austin in August - Yay! Pre-sale tickets are already available. The shows will be August 17-21 at the Frank Erwin Center.

Why I'm disappointed about the new USA Gymnastics photography policy

In light of USA Gymnastics' new photography policy (only point and shoot cameras allowed for people without credentials), I'd like to explain why I take pictures and why I don't want to go to meets where I can't take pictures.

I've done gymnastics since I was very young. When I lived in Southern California, I continued doing gymnastics as an adult because there were several gyms that offered adult classes in gymnastics/tumbling/trampoline. When I first moved to Austin, I excitedly started looking for somewhere to workout - hoping to stay involved with the sport I love only to find out that most gyms here don't offer adult classes. Sometimes an adult class will appear in South Austin but that's 40 miles from my house and not an easy drive during rush hour. I found myself with no way to stay involved with gymnastics and totally unmotivated to watch any gym meets (I find it too depressing to just sit and watch a meet when I wish I could still be involved).

Then I upgraded my DSLR camera and began taking gymnastics pictures (I've done photography since high school). All of a sudden, I was excited about gymnastics again. I found a way to stay involved and I was motivated to drive to Dallas to go to the competitions. Those of you that have met me know that I have chronic injuries and I cannot spend long hours on my feet. Thus, I never intended to be a professional photographer who has to stand all day at the meets - you guys have my utmost respect for standing there all day long! I've always obeyed the "no commercial photography" rules and I've never once sold any of my photos.

USA Gymnastics used to have a photography policy that stated "no lenses greater than 6 inches". I thought this was a very reasonable and fair rule (no monopods or tripods either - which is also reasonable). This rule allowed people in the stands to take decent photos while the pros on floor could get the best angle and sharper photos since they were close enough to use a 1.8 lens (allowing for faster shutter speed). For awhile I found a very exciting way to stay involved in the sport and I was eager to travel to Dallas to attend the meets.

Now USA Gymnastics has changed their rule to allow only point and shoot cameras from the stands and no lenses greater than 35mm. I think this is very unfair. If I can't take pictures, then why should I spend hundreds of dollars to drive to Dallas (or travel further for the other meets) just to watch? I can WATCH gymnastics on TV! I'm trying to stay involved not just WATCH. It seems that USA Gymnastics doesn't want to encourage fans to take pictures? But why not? If it encourages fans to attend and it publicizes the sport then it's a positive thing.

I'm not sure why this new policy was put into place. I doubt it has anything to do with flash photography (which is dangerous and distracting) because, from my experience, it's the point and shoot cameras that are more likely to have the flash go off accidentally. Is this new policy a way to force the parents to buy photos from the pros instead of taking their own photos? I don't have kids but I think it's wrong to tell the parents of the gymnasts that they can't take photos of their own kids competing. Do other sports tell the parents that they can't take pictures of their kids with a real camera? I doubt it.

I feel like gymnastics is becoming a very exclusive sport. I hear that attendance at the meets is low and I'm not surprised. It's hard to stay excited about a sport that won't let you participate after the age of 18 and won't let you come to the meets and take pictures. What is left for an ex-gymnast to do? I would really like to see gymnastics become a sport that everyone can participate in and where the fans are made to feel welcome and encouraged to publicize the sport. It seems that gymnastics is just pushing me out the door.....

Please USA Gymnastics.... let's return to the "no lenses greater than 6 inches rule" and I'll start coming to the meets again.

Dralion at the Cedar Park Center

I first saw Dralion as a tent show in 1999 and, although I enjoyed it, I felt the other Cirque Du Soleil shows I had seen were much better. I just saw Dralion again at the Cedar Park Center (the new arena version of the show) and I have to say that this show has really matured and improved with time. Dralion is a blend of western culture with traditional Chinese circus acts but in 1999 I felt that the traditional Chinese circus acts did not have the same energy or stage presence as most Cirque acts. That is no longer the case. This version of Dralion has a very energetic Chinese acrobatic troupe. The Hoop Diving act was more energetic than I remembered and the Skipping Rope act was fantastic. Part of the improvement is that the current performers connect with the audience better than the performers I saw 12 years ago and that makes them more enjoyable to watch.

Also fantastic was the Russian juggler, Vladik Miagkostoupov, who has big shoes to fill after Victor Kee (Victor Kee was the highlight of the 1999 version of Dralion, in my opinion). Vladik uses a similar style - combining juggling, acrobatics and dance and is equally as entertaining. I also enjoyed the Aerial Pas de Deux - which is a very romantic aerial silk performance with a great emotional display between the two performers. The aerial hoop act is equally amazing and also had great chemistry between the hoop performer and the character representing fire.

Of course, my favorite change to Dralion is the inclusion of the trampoline wall act. Trampoline wall is always fun to watch and really wows the crowd (I was especially amazed at the performer who did the crash dive from one trampoline to the other when the trampolines were quite far apart - scary!).

Overall, I have to say that all the acts in Dralion were entertaining and the show has improved dramatically with time. Dralion will be at the Cedar Park Center until March 20th so there's still time to get tickets.

P.S. It appears that the seating chart for the floor seats on Ticketmaster once again, does not match what the Cedar Park Center had set up. We were in the front row of floor section 4, seats 1 and 2. On the Ticketmaster chart that would have us on the left side of the section (if facing the stage) but we were on the very right side of the section. In this case, it made no difference to us - our seats were great. But this is a pet peeve of mine when it comes to buying tickets for the Shrine Circus (our floor seats have never been what we thought we bought) - see previous posts for details.

Flying Trapeze in North Austin

Yay! Trapeze Austin has opened a North Austin location. The rig will be located outdoors near the 35 freeway. Here's a link to their website with the map. The class schedule is also on the website. I'm so happy to see circus arts starting to show up in North Austin!

Speaking of the Circus, don't forget that Dralion will be at the Cedar Park Event Center March 10-20th.

***Update as of June 23, 2011. I never heard any more details about this outdoor rig in North Austin and I notice it's not listed on their website anymore. I assume this means it doesn't exist anymore? If so, that's too bad because I never got a chance to check it out.

Cirque Du Soleil is coming back to town!

Cirque du Soleil will be back at the Cedar Park Center March 10-20th, 2011. This year the show is Dralion which is a blend of traditional Chinese circus arts with typical Cirque du Soleil flair. I saw the tent show in 1999 and it incorporated many entertaining acts: juggling, teeterboard and hoop diving with fantastic Cirque du Soleil music. I have not yet seen the arena version but I've heard that the show has been updated and now includes a trampoline wall act - Yay!

For more information on the show visit Cirque Du Soleil's website here.

The Cedar Park Center sent me this link for discounted seats - use the promotional code STARS (all caps).

I'm always happy to see Cirque du Soleil come to town, even if they don't allow photography during the show :-)

WOGA Classic

Mackenzie Brannan
Originally uploaded by DigiNik13

We headed up to Frisco TX for the WOGA Classic on Saturday, February 19. We got there just in time to watch the second session of the Elite Qualifier. We went back later for the International Elite Session in the evening.

Austin gymnast, Mackenzie Brannan, did a great job - placing 4th in the junior session.

The WOGA Classic is an awesome meet to watch and they allow cameras so I'm always grateful to be able to take photos. This year though they wouldn't allow the audience to sit at the end of the arena - only on the sides. Thus I couldn't get a decent angle of beam without a distracting background. I'm not sure why they had this rule (we sat at the end of the arena for the afternoon session) but many people (us included) were very annoyed by it. I hope they change this for next year.

I have a lot of photos to edit now. I'll be working on them slowly over the next couple of weeks.

Don't forget Cirque Du Soleil's Dralion is coming to the Cedar Park Center in March......

UT Gymnastics Home Meet

UT Gymnastics is having their first meet of the seasons this Saturday, February 12th, at Crenshaw's Gymnastics. Warm-ups start at 6:00pm and the competition begins at 6:30pm. Last year it was very dark in the gym for photos, this year I'll bring a 1.8 lens and see if I have better luck.

Check out the photos I got last year. If you'd like more information visit the UT Gymnastics website.

**** Update... I never made it to the UT Meet that day. Austin allergies had me out of commission by afternoon :-(

Shrine Circus Pictures

Despite my annoyance with the mislabeled seats and getting trampled for the elephant rides, I'm happy with the pictures I got at the Shrine Circus. Here's a link to the set on Flickr.

2011 Austin Shrine Circus

Handbalancing on canes act
Originally uploaded by DigiNik13

The Austin Shrine Circus, at the Cedar Park Event Center, was once again a mix of good and bad experiences. First I'll start with the good:

The performers all did a great job. There were aerialists (silks, hoops, trapeze and swinging rings) and handbalancers, jugglers, clowns and other standard circus acts. There was a performer shot from a cannon all the way across the arena to a landing area. This was especially scary in the low ceiling of our small arena - he had to go over the lighting rigging but not hit the ceiling. The BMX bike performer was energetic and talented as was the motorcycle performer. All the aerialists and circus performers did a great job. I got some photos that I'm slowly editing for my flickr stream.

But this is the second time I've been to the Shrine Circus at the Cedar Park Center and the second time I leave feeling a little annoyed a few things:

1. The seating! This is the Cedar Park Center's mistake. We had a huge annoyance last year when the Box Office sold us seats that were no where near where the employee pointed to on the seating chart. This year, I decided to buy my tickets online through Ticketmaster so I could read the seating chart myself and pick out my seats. Well, this year the seating chart did not match how the Cedar Park Center set up their floor seats. So our "front row center" seats were actually off to the right side (but still front row). How hard can it be to set up the floor seats so that they match the seating chart?

2. The lighting. I love that the Shrine Circus encourages photography - I thank them for this! Now, could we just light the performers consistently? There were some performers performing in the dark with the spotlight next to them - like the spotlight had missed it's mark. Other performers had no light at all. I think everyone (performers and audience) would appreciate more even and consistent lighting so we can see these artists better.

3. The elephant rides. I was annoyed by this last year (see last year's post) and it was equally annoying again. The way they do these rides, they create a massive mob during the pre-show, intermission and after show. This mob is literally trampling the people in the floor seats and making it impossible to get up from your seat. Also, it's very frustrating for families to wait in a long line only to get turned away because the intermission is over. But the most appalling aspect to me was the assembly of plank they used to get people on and off the elephant. Picture a platform about 5 feet high and a few feet wide. Before the show started they tore the legs off the platform and placed it in a pile in front of us - that was okay. But since the elephant rides start again for the intermission, the technicians came out two acts before the intermission and assembled this huge platform a couple of feet in front of us. Yes, our view was blocked by the poles of a five foot high platform (and the plank and the technicians assembling it) during the end of the BMX bike and the trapeze act before the intermission. Can't they be a little more friendly to their audience members and wait until the intermission to assemble it? Of course they can't because they have kids and parents already standing in the aisles waiting to trample everyone to be first in line for the elephant rides during the short intermission (some of these people got turned away from the elephant rides before the show started so I can understand their impatience also). The elephant/pony rides are just a frustrating, crowded experience for anyone unfortunate enough to be close to them. It's a shame that something like this (and the seating problem) leaves a bad taste in my mouth and overshadows the fantastic performances by the artists but since they encourage photography, I'll give it another chance next year.

Shrine Circus Starts Tomorrow

Austin Shrine Circus starts tomorrow at the Cedar Park Center. There will be an Elephant Brunch at noon on Friday and the circus shows start Friday evening and go through Monday. I'm looking forward to taking lots of photos when I see the show on Saturday.

Some Events Coming Up

Here's a list of a few events that are coming up soon:
1. The Shrine Circus will be at the Cedar Park Center again this year Friday January 14 - Monday January 17.

2. Austin Sky Candy Aerial Arts Collective is raising money to expand their classes and purchase new equipment. If you are interested in donating to their cause here is a link to more information.

3. Cirque du Soleil's Dralion will be at the Cedar Park Center in March and, during that time, Cirque will be holding auditions for singers and musicians. More information is available here for singers and here for musicians.