Feb

A Tale of Love Locks—Can Love Conquer All?

by Meredith Mullins on February 9, 2015

Red heart in maze of Paris love locks showing romance in Paris and answering the question Can Love Conquer All (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

So many ways to say “I love you”
© Meredith Mullins

Romantic Paris: A Valentine’s Day Parable

Once upon a time, there was a city of light known as the most romantic city on Earth. Paris opened its heart to lovers around the world. Romance in Paris was a part of life.

Couples strolled the banks of the Seine arm in arm, kissed in the secret (and not-so-secret) corners of the well-tended gardens, and paused to embrace on the graceful bridges.

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Cultural Symbols/France (Paris)

Feb

Paris Celebrates the Circus Arts of Tomorrow

by Meredith Mullins on February 2, 2015

Travel pleasure provided by Matthew Richardson, a circus performer with the cyr wheel, demonstrating circus arts at the Paris Circus of Tomorrow (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

American Matthew Richardson suspended in his whirling cyr wheel at the Cirque de Demain
© Meredith Mullins

The Cirque de Demain is in Town: The Best of the World’s Young Circus Performers

Jugglers. Contortionists. Acrobats. Who doesn’t love the circus arts—graceful whirlers, sure-footed balancers, and people who fly through the air?

Performers spinning, hanging, tumbling, climbing, somersaulting, diving, stretching, and moving their bodies in mind-bending ways.

The Circus of Tomorrow is in town—the 36th annual Paris Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain. There are no lions or tigers clawing the air, no elephants laboring to lift themselves toward the tent top, no cartoonish clowns emerging from tiny cars.

Travel pleasure provided by the Guangdong Troupe performing acrobatic circus arts, as key circus performers at the Circus of Tomorrow (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

The beauty and grace of The Guangdong Troupe, bronze medalists from China
© Meredith Mullins

The Circus of Tomorrow is about young talent—a celebration of the innovative integration of strength, artistry, grace, and emotion.

The annual event shows dramatically how the personalities and creativity of these future stars influence the evolution of the circus around the world.

Loving Every Moment

This was my first Cirque de Demain, and I loved every moment. The international competition is held in Paris every January, specifically for performers under 26 years of age. These are the fit and the fearless, the circus performers of tomorrow.

Travel pleasure provided by Francois Bouvier, a circus performer presenting tightrope skills as one of the circus arts of the circus of tomorrow (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

Tempting the tightrope: François Bouvier from Canada
© Meredith Mullins

This year, 24 acts were selected as finalists from more than 1000 entries. The performers came from 15 countries (including first-time entries from Uruguay and Ethiopia) to compete in the four-day event.

“The judging will be difficult,” predicted jury president Line Giasson, the international casting director for the Cirque du Soleil. “The process is complex because of the enormity of talent. There is quality everywhere.”

Quality Everywhere

Mme Giasson was right. Every act was unique. Every performer was talented.

How do you judge a juggler of sculpted clay vs. those who bounce and balance on a seesaw-like Korean plank vs. those who perform the poetic main à main (hand-to-hand acrobatics). The jury had a difficult job.

Travel pleasures provided by Ethiopian acrobats, circus performers at the Circus of Tomorrow in Paris with their circus arts (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

Bronze medalists Biniyam and Remedan from Ethiopia, ambassadors of power and joy
© Meredith Mullins

The performers present their act twice and are judged by a 10-member jury, all prestigious directors from schools and circuses around the world. (Hopefully, they are also potential employers.)

Points are given for artistry (up to 20 points), technique (up to 20 points), and rapport with the audience (up to 10 points). The impact on audience is not rated by an applause meter or the number of whoops, whistles, and hollers from the packed house. As one juror, Valérie Fratellini, put it “It’s about how they touch my heart. How they make me feel.”

Travel pleasures provided by Pan Yuexin, a circus performer from China showing the circus arts of balance at the Circus of Tomorrow (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

Can this be possible? Pan Yuexin from China says yes.
© Meredith Mullins

Fit, Focused, and Fearless

As I sat back and watched mesmerizing act after act, I found myself murmuring “Oh, I see” quite often. Even more often, I found myself saying “That can’t be possible. There is no way a body can do that.” My muscles cringed in sympathy.

Travel pleasures provided by Duo Gold Art, circus performers from Ukraine showing hand to hand circus arts at the circus of tomorrow (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

Duo Gold Art from the Ukraine—mind-bending body power
© Meredith Mullins

Here are five revelations of the OIC kind:

The circus arts are a beautiful medium, interweaving strength, grace, focus, originality, artistry, and risk. These arts cross cultures and need no translation. The language is universal.
The performers are the definition of fitness and athleticism. I have never seen such beautifully chiseled muscles (abs to die for). Of course, you have to be strong to hold your body perpendicular to the floor, perfectly still, while balancing on one palm or to hold the weight of your partner on one extended leg.

Travel pleasures provided by Li Tong, a circus performer from China showing the circus arts at the circus of tomorrow (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

Li Tong, from China, showing grace and strength under pressure
© Meredith Mullins

The show is a tribute to the power of the human body when fit, well-trained, and focused. Although my back ached just watching the physical prowess and bizarre contortions, the show was an inspiration for staying healthy and strong.

Travel Pleasures provided by Duo Unity, circus performers of circus arts with the cyr wheel at the circus of tomorrow (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

Bonze medalists Duo Unity from Canada enjoying the freedom of the cyr wheel
© Meredith Mullins

Yes, this was a competition. The performers were nervous. But, as Russian juggler Dmitry Ikin said, “There’s always stress. That’s normal for a juggler.” One moment of a wandering mind, and the rhythm is shattered. For the aerial acrobat, one slip-up forty feet above the floor, and bad things can happen. It’s good to be nervous.

Even though this was a high-stakes competition, the performers were obviously enjoying themselves. The smiles were genuine. Even in moments that the audience couldn’t see, the connection between partners was very real. Of course, when you depend on your partner to catch you or hold you many feet above the ground, trust is essential.

And the Winners Are . . .

After three days of competition, the winners were announced Sunday at the final ceremony.

Travel pleasures provided by Sons Company, circus performers from Sweden showing circus arts at the circus of tomorrow (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

Swedish gold medalists Sons Company catapult each other fearlessly into space.
© Meredith Mullins

Gold Medal:

Sons Company (Anton Graaf and Elnar Kling Odencrants), Sweden, acrobatics on the Korean Plank

Jimmy Gonzalez, Spain, juggling (clay)

Travel pleasure from Jimmy Gonzalez from Spain, one of the circus performers at the Circus of Tomorrow in Paris, juggling clay in the most innovative of circus arts. (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

Gold Medal Winner Jimmy Gonzalez from Spain juggles clay pieces spontaneously created.
© Meredith Mullins

Silver Medal:

Lift, France, parallel lift

Wise Fools, Finland, triple trapeze

Duo Kiebre, Uruguay & Colombia, aerial straps

Travel pleasure provided by Dmitry Ikin, a circus performer at the circus of tomorrow, presenting juggling as circus arts (Photo © Meredith Mullins

“For a juggler, stress is normal,” says bronze medalist Russian Dmitry Ikin
© Meredith Mullins

Bronze Medal:

Dmitry Ikin, Russia, juggling

Duo Catalexi (Catherine Audy and Alexis Trudel), Canada, aerial straps

Duo Unity (Francis Perreault and Léa Torán Jenner), Canada/Germany/France, cyr wheel

Remedan & Biniyam, Ethiopia, hand to hand acrobatics

Troupe de Guangdong, China, Balance

Travel pleasures provided by Duo Kiebre, circus performers of circus arts at the circus of tomorrow (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

Silver medalists Duo Kiebre from Colombia and Uruguay—strong arms,
strong teeth, and strong hearts
© Meredith Mullins

Here’s to Tomorrow

The Cirque de Demain will be back again next January in Paris. I will be there, hopefully a fitter and more fearless person, thanks to the great role models (although I won’t be holding anyone up by my teeth).

My wish is that, in the meantime, these talented young circus performers all find a place to continue their passion. They deserve it.

Long live the circus arts! Vive le cirque!

Travel pleasures by Duo Catalexi, circus performers from Canada showing aerial circus arts at the circus of tomorrow (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

Bonze medalists Duo Catalexi from Canada. Vive le cirque!
© Meredith Mullins

For more information about Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain.

Comment on this post, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Meredith Mullins 10 Comments

France (Paris)/On the World Stage

Nov

The Art of Traveling Without Preconceptions

by Meredith Mullins on November 19, 2014

Goussainville Vieux Pays: the surprising ghost town just outside of Paris
© Meredith Mullins

The Ghost Town of Goussainville

I expected broken windows, graffiti, boarded up doors, wall-engulfing vines, dilapidation, decay, and, yes, even the occasional tumbleweed.

After all, Goussainville Vieux Pays had been described by many writers as a ghost town. A flurry of recent articles told the dramatic story of the exodus that had happened forty years earlier.

The images and words painted a bleak picture. A once-thriving farming village had died—an innocent victim of the invasive noise of a new airport.

Doorway of the chateau in Goussainville, a ghost town that inspires the art of traveling (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

No longer a paradise (the 19th century manor house)
© Meredith Mullins

In the Flight Path

The quiet rural town just north of Paris landed in the flight path of Charles de Gaulle airport in 1974. Jets came and went every few minutes, shaking the walls of the village houses, breaking the silence. The residents began leaving the town.

Even the year before the airport opened, the fate of the town seemed sealed when a Russian Concorde prototype crashed into the village during the Paris Air Show, hitting several buildings, including an empty school, and killing all six people on board and eight people on the ground.

By the end of 1974, almost all of the residents had moved to a quieter (safer) location in neighboring towns and Paris itself.

vine-covered house in Goussainville, a ghost town that inspires the art of traveling (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

Ghost Town: A Phantom Adventure

The “abandoned village” is where most of the writers and bloggers left the story, with photographs of the buildings artfully decomposing, a few structures appearing consistently in all the articles.

Armed with these backstories and visions of tumbleweed dancing in my head, I set out for Goussainville Vieux Pays a few weeks ago. I was ready to capture the essence of fantôme and decay, the sad story of human displacement at the expense of “progress.”

abandoned chateau in goussainville france, a destination for the art of traveling without preconceptions (Photo © Meredith Mullins

Media Spin

I was surprised to find something different from what the writers had led me to believe, a real-life example of the selective presentation by the media to dramatize a story.

The Goussainville park, in a ghost town that inspires the art of traveling (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

There were parked cars, curtains and flower boxes in some of the windows, a bit of building construction, a working school, a bookstore stuffed to the brim, an occasional pedestrian, a beautifully maintained park . . . and no tumbleweeds (or at least they had been cleaned up in the daily trash pickup).

Goussainville Vieux Pays was not a ghost town.

Daily trash pickup in Goussainville, a ghost town that inspires the art of traveling (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

Granted, the town was less populated than most. There are no restaurants or markets (yet). And, it was true that many of the buildings that had been purchased by the airport authorities to compensate the townspeople had not been maintained.

Many were in disrepair, and the main manor house in town, owned by descendants of the early 1800s mayor, has evolved into a collapsing outer shell and rubble.

doorway to Goussainville manor house with crossbeam, a ghost town that inspires the art of traveling (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

Life in Goussainville

The people who have come to live here are a special breed. They must live with the relentless sound of jets—every two minutes or so. And jet engines are loud, very loud.

Monsieur Essel in front of his house in Goussainville, a ghost town that inspires the art of traveling (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

“The planes don’t bother me,” said Monsieur Essel, a town maintenance worker who has lived in Goussainville for 26 years. “I don’t hear them much anymore.”

Nicolas Mahieu, the owner of the Goussainlivres, an antique Librarie (bookstore), doesn’t hear them either. The sound of heavy metal music amidst the stacks drowns out the jet engines.

Nicolas Mahieu in front of his bookstore, Goussainlivres, in Goussainville, a ghost town that inspires the art of traveling (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

And since people come to him from many miles away to bring him antique books or to buy from his special collection (in person or virtually), he doesn’t mind that there isn’t much foot traffic in Goussainville.

The Art of Traveling

I admit I was disappointed when I entered Goussainville and saw immediate evidence that it was not a ghost town.

I was upset with all those writers who had misled their readers “by omission” and painted a picture (with well-selected photos) that made their story more dramatic.

But, the art of traveling is based on being open to whatever you find. Or better still, traveling with no preconceptions.

The Goussainville church, in a ghost town that inspires that art of traveling (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

Oh, I See

What I found was an interesting town—one that had its share of dramatic decay and photo ops, but one that was coming alive again.

The property prices are low (fixer-upper anyone?), the town is friendly, and, with the rate of air-travel-related strikes in France, there might be more moments of quiet than one might expect.