Bandaloop!

Events, Places No Responses »
May 312011

Climbing at French Regional ParkAs part of the Flint Hills International Children’s Festival in downtown St. Paul, the performers of Project Bandaloop will be (quite literally) hanging out (on? from?) the Lawson building this week. If you’re downtown for the festival, or one of the other downtown St. Paul attractions like the Science Museum, Children’s Museum, or Central Library, make your way to Rice Park at noon tomorrow (Wednesday) and Thursday and look up to see some amazing acrobatics.

And if you’ve got a kid who’s inspired by this sort of high-flying derring-do, you should take a look at the classes offered by Circus Juventas, the St. Paul circus arts and performance center. If they’re not quite up to the circus yet, but are inspired by Bandaloop to do some fancy climbing and dangling, it might be a good time for a trip to Clifton E. French Regional Park in Plymouth, which has the most amazing rope and net climbing structure I’ve ever seen. (It’s one of the 52 places featured in the book, of course.)

Though I prefer to keep my feet solidly planted at street level, and get a little dizzy when I have to ride the elevator above the 10th floor, I plan to be outside tomorrow for the acrobats’ performance. Hope to see you there!

Posted by Michael at 4:36 pm Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,

MayDay Workshops in full swing!

Activities, Events No Responses »
Apr 042011

MayDay WorkshopsThe In the Heart of the Beast MayDay Parade workshops are in full swing, with the sections forming up and magic starting to emerge out of scraps of cardboard, cloth, and paint. The first sessions were this past Saturday, and continue on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings and afternoons until the parade on Sunday, May 1. If you’d like to participate, it’s not too late!

The parade story this year is complicated. It has something to do with eggs, crows, and rats, and also includes coyotes, dodo birds, and baboons. When we arrived a little after 1:00 PM, the lobby where the parade storyboard was being explained was over full, so we just headed into the workshop area (they pull out the seats and transform the theater and stage into a big work space, overflowing onto the sidewalks) to find a section. We’re going to be in the “Forward!” (or, if you will, “!drawroF”) section: the boys are working on coyote masks, and Kelly and I are making dodo bird costumes. I hope to take inspiration from either the Porky in Wackyland dodo bird, with a feather duster on the top of the mask, or Polly Moran’s dodo from the 1933 “Alice in Wonderland” (a movie that gave me nightmares the first time I saw it: it’s like the “Andalusian Dog” version of Lewis Carroll, not for the faint of heart!).

The great thing about the Heart of the Beast parade, and the artists who run it, is that it’s a loose enough structure that there’s plenty of room for creativity, but there’s also lots of guidance available for making something that will fit into the overall theme. It’s also as much fun to make the costumes and props as it is to put on the parade: the process of fitting your small piece into the overall show is just as important as the show itself.

Even if you’re not able to participate in the parade, you should still make a point of attending: it’s a great outing for kids and adults of all ages, with plenty to see and do.

Posted by Michael at 8:51 pm Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,

Heart of the Beast MayDay Workshops are starting up!

Events No Responses »
Mar 312011

My favorite Spring event (and the one that kicks off the 52 adventures chronicled in the Dad’s Eye View book) is the In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre MayDay Parade. On the first Sunday of May for the past 37 years, the artists and performers of the Heart of the Beast Theater, together with members of the South Minneapolis community, have been putting on a wild, whimsical, sometimes puzzling parade down Bloomington Avenue to Powderhorn Park on the first Sunday of May. It’s the surest sign that Spring has finally arrived, and a great way to break out of the winter doldrums.

The MayDay parade is very much an audience-participation event. Indeed, the line between audience and participants gets very fuzzy as the dancers, drummers, marchers, and floats make their way along the route. And if you want to be in the middle of it all, this Saturday is the time to start: public workshops for people interested in building costumes and helping construct the floats, puppets, and other things that will be part of the parade start at 9:00 AM and 1:00 PM.

Last year was the first time we were in the parade: the boys built a two-person tiger costume–the parade theme last year was “Roar!”–and Kelly held up one end of our section’s banner while I jogged along beside the parade with various cameras dangling. In the weeks leading up to the parade, we met with the artists at the theater and learned how to use cardboard, paint, and papier maché to construct our costume. The HOBT artists are wizards with cardboard and newspaper: just watching them turn ordinary objects into something magical is a wondrous thing.

Lots more HOBT pictures here!

This is a great activity for kids who like to build and create. Last year, about half of my Cub Scout den was in the parade, and lots of kids we know from school and the neighborhood. It requires a little investment in time–sessions are held Saturdays as well as Tuesday and Thursday evenings leading up to he parade, and it will take you three or four sessions to complete your project–but the payoff is pretty great. Our tiger head is still hanging on the boys’ wall, a reminder of how much fun you can have with a bunch of friends and a few simple materials.

Posted by Michael at 6:52 pm Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,
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