Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
Categories: cirque du soleil

In keeping with the weekly installments from CIRQUE DU SOLEIL…
here’s a special fundraising performance they did awhile back “One Night For One Drop.” But this time, the episode is interspersed with extra footage, shelter-at-home-rehearsals and special guests!

Click here to watch the full video performance on Facebook!

You even get to see the Kevin & Andrew Atherton, the aerial straps flying twins we all met during VARAKAI… how they are surviving at home with their kids – who will definitely be performing on the stage soon!!! Enjoy!

Okay… little-known fact here… besides me being a huge Cirque du Soleil dork!!! I have actually met Andrew & Kevin during their stint here in Chicago for VAREKAI. I had just watched the reality show based on the making of VAREKAI called “The Fire Within.” So we already had “met them” through the television. So when they arrived here in Chicago with the rest of the case… many of which we had also “already met” on TV. It was a little weird…’cuz you kinda felt like you already KNOW them!

Oh, but wait there’s more…

I actually worked with Cirque du Soleil for two seasons here in Chicago. I ushered the full-run of VAREKAI and DRALION while they were here. Yep, I said I was a dork, right?! So I still had my full-time corporate job, as well as pottery classes and TA’ing at Lillstreet. So why not add on more work?!!! Somehow I squeezed it all in. And LOVED IT!!! I mean… you get to see the shows for free, from all different angles & vantage points – and they PAY YOU!!! Plus, you get to go backstage, meet the performers & band, eat in the cafeteria with them, and hang out with sometimes on Mondays when the show is dark. The perfect “job” for a huge Cirque du Soleil fan like yours truly! Ahhh… the memories…

I still remember the day I called my parents to tell them that I got a new job and I was “running away to join the circus!” They didn’t find it as humorous as I did… but it was true! How many times do you actually get to use that line?!!!

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