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Joining the Cirque

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This the official 1st blog entry - yeah! It's T minus 7 days until I take off for Sao Paolo, Brazil and join the Cirque du Soleil family. I'm actually along for the ride since my husband, Armen Chakmakian , is in the Saltimbanco band. I've already been on the road with them once (in June for 10 days in Buenos Aires) which was amazing and I'm back in LA now. The next leg of the tour is about 4 months! Do you think I'll survive? If you know me, you know that I need to have a purpose and for the next 4 months that might just be writing this blog. Of course, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. So, I've taken an extended leave from my job and put everyday life on hold to go and live abroad until the end of the year with one of the best Cirque shows and an amazing group of talented people. Armen has already gone ahead to get settled and hopefully not get into too much trouble. The premiere party is supposed to be a blast especially if the Russians want...
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Barbatuques Pizza Party and Workshop

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One of the most interesting things I've done so far in Brazil is hang out with the Barbatuques . This is a famous Brazilian body percussion group. Our Artistic director, Matthew Jessner, set up an exchange with the group which included some "getting to know each other time." On Monday night, we had a pizza party with them at their director Fernando Barbaros' house in an area of Sao Paulo called Vila Madalena. I tried to talk to the people there and worked on my Portuguese a bit while they practiced their English. We had pizza made in a dome shaped brick oven in the back yard. Later we hung out in the house and participated in a jam session. Everyone clapped and sang or grabbed an instrument and played along. The next day we all gathered to learn body percussion. It was really amazing. Here's a video of the group.
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A September 11th story

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I am so far away from the US but I'm often reminded that "there's no place like home." First if all there is a lot of poverty in Brazil and it's right in your face. We can see one favela (slum) from our hotel window in the midst of a nice part of town. (The picture is a favela from Rio so you get the idea). Also, being one of only a handful of Americans here on the tour, it can be difficult to hear the regular jabs against Americans that I hear from non-Americans and some Americans who choose not to see the positive in our country. Americans are often characterized as materialistic, loud, obnoxious and narcissistic towards the rest of the world. It's strange to me how often I've seen the non-Americans on this tour lose their cool over something. But no matter what anyone says, I really believe that there is so much good we do in the world that often goes unrecognized. And when I received this email, I was reminded of that and felt a little closer to home. ...
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