Moments in the office today:
Gregangelo: "Okay Hiromi I need you to find a remix of "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin and Hossam Ramzy. Karen did you find the passages about the flying spaceships in the Egyptian Literature book? Isn't that amazing? Yeah, flying UFOs, still makes perfect sense today. Okay. Bye."
. . . .
Jeffrey: "So we're doing an Irish-themed event, ancient to contemporary."
Me: "Ohmygod, I know EXACTLY what we should do! Let me get my book of Celtic Tales!" (I'm a nerd, have you noticed?)
Jeffrey: Yeah, so we're going to start with the Narnia theme. We'll have a celtic-knot labyrinth with the usual trolls, nymphs, and satyrs, and then you know, the big battle will break out--"
Me: "GREAT! The Irish Hero Tales and the entire Ulster Cycle is full of passages about combat! Have Lee Morrison play CuChulainn, the Hero of the Tain! There will be a battle between the gods of the Sid and the mortal heros. In the Otherworld, you know? The spirit world!"
Jeffrey:"I love it! Okay, so we'll propose three segments: the battle, and the other three--"
Me: "Already know what to do. Just lemme get my Celtic Literature book. I'll write a synopsis."

. . . . .

Gregangelo: "Can you come to rehearsals tonight, Karen? We need you to play a cloaked person. Kinda dramatic, but make it funny. "
Jeffrey: "Olivia's gonna pull out a knife."
Gregangelo: "Yeah, we don't want people to get too serious. We want them to laugh."
Me: "Okay. Sure. I'll be there."

We had a great rehearsal yesterday with our V-Troupe, the clowns were preparing for their very serious roles for the following show-
Heliopolis is a story of a woman's life lived in joy, love and freedom. It will come to an end unless she assumes and conforms to the cloaks of a community. The story was inspired by a article by Asef Bayat titled "Islamism and the politics of fun" this article deals with the systematic and legislative suppressions of fun and joy. This suppression has plagued communities and cultures throughout history in all regions of the world and in our story of Heliopolis. In this tale of myths our heroine retells the magic of her beloved Heliopolis a place of music, poetry, dance, mystery, love and wonder as she barters for her life.

Above Photo of Gregangelo by Andy Freeberg


AN EXCERPT FROM ISLAMISM AND THE POLITICS OF FUN: "Arts and music have not been spared from piestic wrath. Protestant puritans replaced the Church as the medium of salvation, resorting to piestic practices such as hard work and 'avoiding cards, dancing, theatre-going, and essentially every action which could be seen as a concession to ''the world'' . According to this logic, art, sexuality, and by extension fun had the potential to disrupt the influence of reason on human conduct or divert humans from full attention to the transcendental."

Gregangelo Herrera, a third-generation San Franciscan of Lebanese and Mexican descent, was exposed to a rich array of arts at an early age. He is a graduate of the California College of Arts and Crafts, and he has extensive training in dance, music, and circus arts. Gregangelo is an accomplished multi- media artist his signature act, the Whirling Circus Dervish, has gained international recognition from a spectrum of audiences.

This production is a culmination of his passion for art, world cultures, the extraordinary artists of his company, and his ancestry .
Influenced by his recent trip to Turkey, combined with years of travel throughout Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries, he began to reflect on his grandparents' immigration to San Francisco in the United States in the early 1900's from Batroun, Lebanon. This reflection brought up the current state of the arts in these travels, its sometimes difficult struggle to exist, and his family's ability and dedication to maintaining a rich and multi- generational participation in the arts. His uncle, Stan Beainy recalls: "When I was a child, I experienced all of the traditions of the Old Country here in San Francisco such as the food, music, dancing and storytelling. My mother and father both played the Oud as well as the trimbucka. Families always got together on weekends. The women would cook and men would tell the stories of the old country. After the meals everyone would sing, dance and play musical instruments and each year there would be something called a Marhajan where the Lebanese and Syrian communities in the San Francisco Bay Area would come together for celebration of music, food, dancing, plays and storytelling. During get togethers, everyone used to do a 'line dance' called the "Debka". My father was usually on the end of the line waving his handkerchief during the dance and Julia Farrah would usually sing Arabic songs at these affairs. She had a fabulous voice. " Gregangelo reflected on these traditions and how they still play a major part of his and his family's lives. Gregangelo began his first art class at the de Young Museum at the age 5. At the age of 15 he began performing with The Aswan Dancers a Middle Eastern Dance troupe under the artistic direction on Amina Goodyear , where he developed his Whirling Dervish act. During this time he was also part of a contemporary Middle Eastern percussion ensemble called the Cairo Cats. Following his passion for Circus Arts he began his Velocity Circus company in the 90's and then grew his business, Gregangelo & Velocity Arts & Entertainment , into the multi-media and layered arts organization that it is today.
"Heliopolis" combines all of these traditional elements into a rich production of East meets West. "Only in San Francisco" could this cultural richness develop, grow and become an aesthetic of its own. In turn, this allows Gregangelo to pass on this richness of music, dance, art, joy and fun which he knows to be indigineous to the human spirit.
Please join us on February 11, 2008 as the Marin Theatre Company Presents "Heliopolis". Sincerely, Jeffrey Ferns



Read CCA "At A Glance" Article on Gregangelo

I'm whistfully gazing around the shimmering, mosaic encrusted walls and ceilings of the kitchen, the whirling painted cosmos above me, and dancers, artists, and deities of ancient cultures painted on the cupboards. I'm sipping my tea, listening to the music that never stops playing all over the house, remembering a happy moment in the "tent room", a room of silk pillows and drapery where food, drink, and laughter is shared along with a hookah full of flavored middle eastern tobacco. Just reminiscing over the joyful times, such as last friday when Gregangelo warned us all about the green chiles that Jeffrey had just roasted: "Watch out! Those things are hot! I ate one at lunch and burned [places I shouldn't have]!" Yes, all is well in the kingdom. Or should i say, queendom...

I'm verging on overload. The pace in the office is jumping back up to its usual fever pitch as we get more and more work. We have many huge events coming up, and I'm in the middle of contacting all of the many artists involved in them, making sure they receive and confirm their contracts, writing contracts, scheduling meetings for technicians, networking with local cultural and community children's centers for CUE, TRYING to keep the calendar up to date with everything, writing programs and artists' bios, and getting ready to apply for more grants and polish my dance performance for our arabesque show in February! Oh, and how could I forget? The Oakland Tribune is doing a story about us AND a childhood friend of Gregangelo's who is now a TV producer has been filming us for a reality TV show that he wants to produce about our company! Fortunately, I work well under pressure (we all do; it's the norm for us), but it's one of those days when I wonder, "How will I be able to do all of this?"

Just a sidenote: we are in the planning stages to offer entertainment at what is going to be the most amazing Bat Mitzvah EVER! I'm so excited for this girl! She's going to have clowns waiting on her and her friends,a garden of illuminated labyrinths filled with otherworldly creatures, live music and dancing, one of the funniest clown performances I've ever seen, a trapeze artist and rigging for her and her guests to try trapeze themselves.... I'm sure there never has been a Bat Mitzvah (or an anything) quite like this.

Yesterday was MADNESS. Everyone was here! The normal office staff--Gregangelo, Jeffrey, Hiromi, Daria, and I, plus Dharkijav. Then a new painting artist arrives to paint upstairs in the "earth room", Gigi shows up to wash wigs, Donald (TV producer) and a cameraman are all over the house filming us and asking us about our work. Then in the middle of lunch, Bettina (sales, business development, actress) arrives to bare all before the camera about the latest upsetting news in her love life! There are no secrets here! Everything just happens at once!

I thought I might be recovering today, but the "slow days" of winter (which were not at all slow for me since I was putting together grant proposals the whole time) have clearly come to an end.

This company is growing exponentially, and fast, and we're all stepping up to new challenges at break-neck speed.

I need a nap!
-karen

It is Saturday morning,Gregangelo and I are just returned a few weeks ago from a long trip to Turkey and the Netherlands and are forging full with full "Velocity" into the new year.

Gregangelo and I are getting ready to leave the house for a V-Troupe rehearsal, I just spoke with Andie Rose, a V-Troupe aerialist, on the phone about a new date and combining 2 aerial apparatus into one. The photo associated with this post is Andie. She is a magical and beautiful young woman who is attending School of the Arts here in San Francisco and has been training in circus arts for approximately 9 years. We are rehearsing a new act that Gregangelo and Naja, our associate artistic director, have created for an event next Thursday with the emphasis on profiling the human body at its peak in performance. The event is for The Health Trust a great organization. Its mission is to make Silicon Valley the healthiest region in America. They are presenting an Gunter von Hagens' Body World 2 at the San Jose Tech Museum. We are part of a special event for the exhibit and Health Trust.

In addition we are preparing today for our Variety Arts Showcase at CUE Space in Oakland. This showcase features Bay Area Artists in all disciplines and provides a platform for artists to showcase developing, new or existing acts in front of a public audience. Disciplines often included are Circus Aerial Acts, Contortion, Dance, Magic & Illusion, Comedy Sketches, Visual Arts, Film, Live music and more.

January is turning out to be a very busy administrative month in regards to future events and opportunities. There are multiple exciting developments in discussions for the new year and I look forward to sharing these in the near future.

Jeffrey

"Reveling in Ancient Verse" Today is one of those days when I am reminded of how charmed my life is. I spent most of the day extracting pieces of poetry from a book of Ancient Egyptian Literature (straight from the walls of the pyramid tombs) and adapting it into script format for our arabesque show next month. The show will tell the story of the Egyptian city, Heliopolis, City of the Sun, from the perspective of a woman (a Heliopolyte, if you will) who has been imprisoned and condemned to death for living a life of freedom, joy, and individuality in a "community" where such behavior is not tolerated. Sound familiar? Of course it does. This was inspired by a wonderful article by a brilliant Muslim man, Asef Bayat, titled "Islam and the Politics of Fun." Bayat is clearly in favor of Muslims having fun, as opposed to...not. The story of Heliopolis is one of a culturally vibrant, celebratory, and magical ancient city, and in our performance we will recreate modern versions of performances that might have taken place there.
I was buzzing with inspiration and my heart nearly burst as I read these beautiful poems, some of them written by Akhenaten! I will put some of them in this post to share. The poems below are from the "Love Songs" segment, and though we didn't include these in the script, I will include them because I think they are sentiments we can all relate to at times. The amazing part is how true they feel after so many thousands of years--they date from the Ramesside Period (ca. 1292-1070 BC)!

-"Why, just now, must you question your heart?"

Why, just, now, must you question your heart?
Is it really the time for discussion?

To her, say I,
take her tight in your arms!
For god's sake, sweet man,
it's me coming at you,

My tunic,
loose at the shoulder!


-"I Love you through the daytimes"

I love you through the daytime,
in the dark,
Through all the long divisions of the night,
those hours
I, spendthrift, waste away alone,
and lie, and turn, awake 'til whitened dawn.

And with the shape of you I people night
and thoughts of hot desire grow live within me.
What magic was it in that voice of yours
to bring such singing vigor to my flesh,
To limbs which now lie listless on my bed without you?

Thus I beseech the darkness:
Where gone, O loving man?
Why gone from her whose love
can pace you, step by step, to your desire?

No loving voice replies,
And I (too well) perceive
how much I am alone.

-From "Songs of the Birdcatcher's Daughter"

My heart remembers how I once loved you
as I sit with my hair half done,
And I'm out running, looking for you,
searching for you with my hair down!

If I ever get back, I'll weave
and intricate hairdo down to my toes.
Love, there's so much time now to finish....

It’s a Tuesday morning. Jeffrey and I are quietly planning the next Artists’ Showcase at CUE. I ask him which artists I should include this time. On the potential lineup we have “Theatre of PI,” an ensemble of seven clowns who are presenting a new show directed by one of our V-Troupe members, Kelsey Custard. We will also be showing a new film by Hiromi Yoshida, our resident filmmaker.
“Oh, by the way,” Jeffrey adds casually, “if you haven’t heard from the sword-swallower, could you see if the bed-of-nails guy is available for our Arabesque show in February.”
“Yeah sure. Bed of nails. Gotcha.” These are the kinds of things you won’t hear in any other work place, and it’s also why most people gaze at me with a confused expression when I try to explain to them what I do for a living.
The rest of the afternoon is spent writing up information for Darkhia Dhamba to help her renew her work visa (she’s a dancer from Mongolia). The woman who is requesting information about her work is asking for an itinerary of all the jobs she will be doing over the next year. We have SF LGBT Pride Parade, SF Carnaval, and the Arizona market is picking up now that we have a Circus School there. Rachel called today regarding several AZ events including one with the GLBT community, which is where we love to support.
Next, Daria (our Book Keeper) waltzes in with a phone call from Honda. They want circus performers for a new commercial they will be shooting. Jeffrey takes the call with the same calm demeanor that he would take any call. “Hi, this is Jeffrey. I’m the Managing Partner for Velocity…Yes…Well we have a core circus company that trains and performs with us regularly. Are you looking for a classical circus look, or contemporary?…We have everything from fire-eaters to stilt-walkers, acrobats, aerial artists….” Get the idea? Not a normal life by any means.

"Last Night's Rehearsal at CUE Space"Gregangelo, Jeffrey, and I walk into CUE in the middle of a belly dance class. Within thirty minutes, the space is buzzing with forty artists here to rehearse for our Embarcadero Ice-Rink Opening and Tree-Lighting Ceremony onNovember 16th. Gregangelo, our artistic director, is shouting orders as usual. My part in the event will be small, so I wait in the background until I hear my name. "...Karen's going to be the Mother Dragonfly, so I want all the background characters to look at her for acting cues, you know, react to the fight. Yes there's going to be a fight."I sit and talk for awhile after the first announcements and warmups start. Taiz, Courtney, and I wonder what we will be doing at this rehearsal. And then the tree costume arrives. Jeffrey tells Taiz that he will be a giant tree . . . on stilts, of course. "Karen, you're going to be like a kind of fairy, walking around with him among the guests.""But I thought I was a Dragonf-!”. He doesn't hear me. How could he? There's too much going on. Two girls on blinking rollerskates with wooden staffs are practicing a routine in front of the dance troupe who is also rehearsing. In the next room a bunch of men are swordfighting. Andie Rose is doing an aerial hoop act, while Gregangelo and some new artists are twirling in the air on ropes, and the Taiko drummers are going nuts in another room. I wait. Group rehearsals start. I look around and find myself in the middle of a warehouse in Oakland, surrounded by four trolls and a prince (all with samurai swords), a young aerialist, and a giant tree-creature. The Taiko Drummers are still pounding away, the dancers are still dancing, the roller skaters still rolling, and now Marisa has started her opera singing. Gregangelo is putting us all in our places. He just came from one rehearsal to this one, and has another one to get to in five minutes, all in the same building, all in the same night. "Okay, trolls, I want youover here. Innocence, you're behind Karen's wings. And Karen, you're like, Mother Nature. So just react to the fight. Protect your children. They'll all be under your wings." Idanna begins the act with an acrobatic, contortionistic dance routine. The battle between good and evil ensues. Idanna retreats to the umbrage of my, um, wings and murmurs, "Gotta improv. I don't know what to do." Embrace the chaos. Welcome to the circus. -10/30/07

"Another Day in the Life..."

Yesterday started with Gregangelo saying, “Get in the back room and strip and I’ll be there in a minute,” and ended with him introducing me as “Chuck, a little queer boy who likes to play with dolls…and other things.” The time in between was spent inventing twenty-some scenarios for puppets, all involving homosexual lust and bludgeoning with noses (the largest part of the puppet’s anatomy).

Okay, I guess I’ll explain.

Part of my job is to play characters at various events that Velocity Circus is hired to do. On Tuesday night I got a call from Gregangelo asking if I was available to do this. I had no idea what the event was or what I would be doing in it, so naturally, I said yes.

Gregg Hood, our GLORIOUSLY AMAZING technical director, picked me up at my house at 8 am. We picked up Darkhijav (that’s “dar-kee-awv”) Dhamba, seamstress/makeup artist/ Mongolian Dancer/ character performer/superwoman extroardinare, and headed to the San Mateo Event Center. The event turned out to be a trade show, where we were assigned a “booth space” to set up our “Sugared Kisses Shack” installation. For this particular occasion, the Shack featured our “American Icon” Statue entry—a living Barbie doll--as well as a human cupcake, and yours truly as a French clown performing puppet theatre from inside a tiny striped stall. For five hours. : ) Gregangelo donned a metallic, holographic purple body suit and roller blades, and fished for folks in monkey suits with candy sweets, demanding that they “compliment someone” before they got fed. Jeffrey adorned himself in his gorgeous new pink silk, ankle-length dressing jacket and spoke with guests. Bettina Devin appeared as “G.G. Bridges” charming everyone with her fog, rails, and styles. We started setting up at 9, costuming and makeup around 11:30 or 12, and the show started at 1.There weren’t many people at the trade show. It was primarily a PR opportunity for us (today’s work has been inputting info from all the connections we made into our system, and sending “nice to meet you” letters to them), and the time available gave us time to play imaginatively, (I sure was. Who else is gonna entertain me?), and to become…batty. Especially Gregangelo, but that’s typical. I’ll try to upload a photo of some of us in the Shack on this profile… 9/19/07

Monday at Velocity. . .Things are picking up. We are getting a lot of press coverage. Our "American Icon" installation in the International Living Statues Competition in Nederlands was mentioned in the Leah Garchik column in the Chronicle today. News footage of the event is on YouTube .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7V0vsJqX9kToday, Jeffrey, Gregangelo, Hiromi Yoshida (our filmmaker), Kelsy Hiyakumoto (choreographer), Audrey Rosales (aerial artist), Bogey Batbayar (Mongolian Contortionist), Darkijav Dhamba, and Kristen Chaddock (dancer) are meeting at CUE for a fashion show and photo shoot.This might sound odd for a circus, but believe me when I tell you that there is no limit to what this company can and will do.Me? Just answering the phones and adding info to our database! Easy day for me.That's all for now.
9/17/2007 11:54 AM PDT

Hi! My name is Karen! A couple of weeks ago I started working as Velocity Circus' administrative assistant.I'm starting to post on this blog each day to record my experiences with Velocity.

Today I spent most of my time organizing information for a grant proposal for C.U.E. space, the nonprofit extension of Velocity Circus. The award money (if we get it) will help us buy equipment for our rehearsal space.

The phone has been ringing all day, as usual! Steven Katz from "Because We Care", an organization producing a film about heroes of the great civil liberties and social justice movements over the last century, has been working with us to design a circus event for his company. Anne Fox wants Jeffrey Ferns (my supervisor) to act as a spokesperson for Velocity's Fashion Department on a television special.We had a brilliant and insightful young guest named Ian today. Gregangelo gave Ian a tour of the household, which is a work of art unto itself. This house is available for tours and is a hotspot for clients and artists of all kinds, and mosaic artists. It represents all of Gregangelo's (he is the artistic director) and Velocity's influences and the full scope of his vast artistic vision, which extends into all aspects of his life and the life of Velocity. These influences include Egyptian mythology and art, Circus Arts, a multitude of global cultural traditions, science, astrophysics, and the wondrous mysteries of our solar system.

What has really inspired me about CUE and Velocity is the compassion and humility of everyone who works here. The entire mission of CUE and its involvement with other social circus groups, the amazingly talented children who have been given a new shot at their lives through these organizations, amaze me. more later...
9/11/2007 5:20 PM PDT

CUE: Children United by Experience in West Oakland, and Within the Global Network of the Social Circus Movement CUE (Children United by Experience) is part of a greater network of social circus groups around the world, whose emphasis and cultures vary infinitesmally.

And what is social circus? According to Wikipedia, “ Social Circus refers to the growing movement toward the use of circus arts as mediums for social justice and social good.” Social Circus encompasses groups of children worldwide, who are exponentially enriching their own education, social skills and self-confidence, while healing their communities through circus arts.

A great example of social circus as a vehicle for self-empowerment in challenging environments, is the TunaHAKI Foundation’s youth circus from Tanzania, which provides orphaned children with shelter, food, clothing, and professional training in the arts. In this way, the children are provided for, and are simultaneously investing in their future and self-sustainability with careers in the arts.

TunaHAKI has been a featured guest with CUE. Velocity Circus is a San Francisco-based Arts and Entertainment Company, which has returned to the community that has supported it, through CUE. CUE is a place for children to enhance their understanding of the world around them, improve social interaction and relationships within their communities, and strengthen their learning abilities through training and mentorship in the arts. The arts that children benefit from at CUE include acrobatics, trapeze, aerial performance, clowning, juggling, character performance, music and dance. Training in the arts is known to improve learning capacity in areas such as math, science, and language for children, and working creatively with peers and experienced mentors improves their self esteem by providing a sense of belonging and community in a positive environment.-
9/10/2007 10:37 AM PDT