PWB NICARAGUA 2016: A Bootcamp by the Beach

We’ve arrived in tropical Nicaragua and have been hard at work in paradise putting our show together, fine-tuning our plans for workshops, and just getting to know each other. Most of our team arrived in Managua on January 5th and were quickly whisked away to the beachside town of Las Peñitas to unite with the rest of us who had already arrived a few days prior.

Meet Our Cast of Characters:

Jake

• Country of Origin: England
• Skills: Slack-rope, Juggling, Hat Manipulation, Angelic Trumpeting
• On his third PWB tour

Aileen

• Country of Origin: USA (California)
• Skills: Contact staff, Flow wand, Acrobatics, Able to embody both genders at once
• On her second PWB tour

Juniper

• Country of Origin: USA (California)
• Skills: Acrobatics, Poi and Staff, Juggling, Martial Dreadlocks
• On her first PWB tour

Andy

• Country of Origin: England
• Skills: Juggling, Unicycle, Dance, Face of rubber
• On his third (and a half) PWB tour

Rachel

• Country of Origin: Australia
• Skills: Hoop, Acrobatics, Partner Dance, Wielder of the hoop bumble-butt
• On her first PWB tour

Racheli

• Country of Origin: Israel
• Skills: Clown, Acrobatics, Contact Improv, Musical Laughing
• On her first PWB tour

Cesar

•  Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Skills: Juggling, Hats, Contact Staff, Ser el Monstro
• On his first PWB tour

Alex

• Country of Origin: USA (Texas, kind of…)
• Skills: Acrobatics, Juggling, Clown, Balloon twisting wizard
• On his first PWB tour

The Setting:

Rigo’s Guesthouse in Las Peñitas turned into our bootcamp headquarters and boasted an attractive open air common room for a rehearsal space out of the sun, open air decks, and more hammocks than you could shake a stick at. Our daily schedule consisted of an early morning breakfast, followed by morning warm-ups and team-building games. Around mid morning we would jump into show development and rehearsal before breaking for lunch. After the heat of the day would pass, we each took turns leading a small workshop in as much Spanish as we could manage, which would turn into a mini language lesson. Then we’d spend the remainder of the day revisiting our show in the works, followed by dinner, evening activities, and finally bed. Working during the hot days has been grueling and our show is hardly short of physically exhausting stunts, so we never have any trouble getting to sleep.

The Show:

Nor does our show lack for enough talent. We have clowns, slack-rope walkers, hat tricks, flow wands, jugglers, hoops, poi and staff arts, and a full ensemble acrobatics and dance number for the grand finale. We tried to explore a theme of disconnection vs connection throughout the show expressed in this case through our character’s attachment to their mobile phones and hand held devices. The show opens with a bustling scene of people absorbed in their phones (cleverly pantomimed with juggler’s clubs) who trip, stumble, roll, and bend over each other nearly completely oblivious of the outside world. As the show progresses, our astute trickster character sneaks various circus props to people lost in the phone world giving them a fresh, open view of the world through the joy of circus while making off with their phones. By the end, our characters have come together as energised beings to create a grand dance/ acrobatic piece. Creating the show took communication, creative solutions to obstacles, and, above all, focus. Focus which was routinely broken as soon as the odd bird or flock of pelicans would fly over bringing all discussion to a grinding halt as everyone craned their heads to the sky to oooh and ahhh at the distracting wildlife.

The Day to Day:

But it’s not all mad skills, dedication, and bird-watching with this group. We’ve found the time to connect as a team. Each night we’ve been cooking delicious meals for 8 from food that we bought at the local mercado in Leon. We’ve been dipping into the ocean during lunch breaks and, after the day’s work is over, generally practicing, stretching, and relaxing with one another. With such a mix of talents and knowledge in the group, every one of us has been adding new skills to their repertoire be it juggling, dancing, acrobatics, or language. We’re filling up poster board after poster board with useful Spanish that would help us teach our workshops in the upcoming weeks and Cesar has been learning English. We’ve been learning songs, playing word games, and even took a night to watch “El Rey Leon” in Spanish. Osman and Angel, two young boys who live at the guesthouse, have also been helping our language skills as we’ve been giving them sample circus lessons and speaking Spanish with them. Osman, the elder boy at 12 years old, learned to juggle three balls in one day and was working on clubs, hula hoops, and diabolo by the end of the week.

Already Hard at Work:

We had our first trial run “in the field” as it were, on Thursday Jan 14th, when we were invited to the local children’s day shelter just five minutes down the street from the guesthouse. We told them that the show would more be a sneak peek, work in progress sort of thing which they were fine with. Our first true challenge struck when we woke up that morning with 2 people bedridden with travel sickness. The day was spent reworking the show for 6 and taking care of our incapacitated fellow artists. Nonetheless, those of us who could marched down to the children’s shelter about mid afternoon and were greeted with a small army of curious faces packed into back patio of the shelter. The show, in spite of missing two people was very well received and turned into a mini workshop afterwards as kids attempted to ride the unicycle and spin plates. If our first trial show proved one thing to us, it was that performing in the tropics outdoors gets you exhausted, dirty, dusty, and drenched in sweat. All in a day’s work when you’re bringing smiles to the world.

The Next Step:

As the week drew to a close we began to soak up the beachside as much as possible. We spent one evening making a bonfire on the beach and roasting a freshly caught fish over it, served with a salsa Cesar made which was spicy just to look at. The week had brought it’s obstacles as well aside from Rachel and Racheli’s bought of travel sickness. The water for the house was routinely on and off as construction down the street played havoc with the plumbing. One night, after visiting tourists had made a sandy mess of the indoor shower, we discovered the drain had been completely clogged and half filled with brackish water and a leaky faucet slowly adding more and more water to the mix. We took it upon ourselves to find a temporary solution and took turn bailing out the brackish sandy water while simultaneously plunging the shower drain. This turned somehow ended up with Jake plunging a diabolo to his stomach and Alex nearly elbow-checking Rachel when he was challenged to remove it. Sharing a common kitchen with other guests also created some confusion about what food was ours and the modest gas stove was hard pressed to get a pot of water boiling. Our host, Rigo, was more than gracious though and helped us out with rides in and out of Leon and even arranged a ride for us all the way into Granada where we are currently preparing to perform our show here at the festival Berrinche Ambiental. There will be plenty more on that adventure in the next blog a week from now. Hasta luego!