Posted by Carmenchu on Monday, April 30, 2001 at 10:51PM :
In Reply to: Thoughts about the Circus posted by Cate on Monday, April 30, 2001 at 10:50PM :
Hi Cate and Paul... Thank you for your astute observations... All who are involved
with the circus share your heartbreak and disappointment, the potential of all
combined would have been so glorious... I myself is guilty of making a bad
management choice in believing certain people's false and inaccurate
information that assured us we were in safe space. In hindsight, yes, it was the
dumbest move ever, completely over optomistic and wishful... For future events,
someone of more experience should be handling this arena...
It is debilitatingly painful to know that so many people were disappointed... Yet
now, it is even now more crucial that the circus take this time to re-examine and
refine itself, to learn and grow from the massive force of energy it generated, to
re-create the beautiful potential and land on more secure and fertile land... We
hope to make it up to all who were disappointed, utilize our heartbreak to purify
and re-create together very soon... hope to see you soon.. Much love and
regrets, Carmenchu
: Dear friends,
: I was deeply saddened by the events that transpired Saturday night around the
: Mystic Family Circus. Then Cinnamon Twist emailed, touting the event as the
: pinnacle of artistic revolution. This event could have, should have been the
: mystical, beautiful event that it was intended to be, and that Cinnamon Twist so
: eloquently describes in the email/web posting. It was to be groundbreaking,
: setting a new standard for performance art, meaningful gathering, and dance. It
: would have opened minds and hearts to levels of creativity and expression that
: are humanity - creation, beauty, poetry, theater. Art.
: Instead, because of problems with permits and poor organization, the event
: was shut down shortly after tai-chi, by local, militant LA police.
: This organizational blunder hurt a multitude of people. Performers put months
: of time and resources into costumes, sets, travel to LA, and rehearsal. Although
: I was not one of the performers, my lover and I made a huge monetary
: investment in coming down to support friends and family in the Circus, planning
: it as the climax of and sole inspiration for an extended trip to central-southern
: California. We arrived in LA on Thursday, and at the party Saturday night just as
: the police had cleared the building. We found a baffled crowd (perhaps 100, that
: was rapidly dwindling) on one side of the street, and equally baffled performers
: segregated forcibly by motorcycle police to the other side of the street. A
: helcopter circled ominously. An hour later, the handful (not several dozen) police
: allowed the crowds to mingle, and I was delighted to see the energy levels
: rising! Wherever it happened - in the warehouse, or in the street, it seemed that
: art was going to prevail!
: I looked at the crowd - they were not united in resistance, they were confused by
: the collapse of the event, and frightened by police intimidation tactics. Even
: performers wandered around, wondering what was going on. It was not long,
: that a militant LAPD officer raged his car past the edge of the dancers, almost
: colliding with a dancing woman and her poodle before screeching to a halt a
: short distance away, leaping from the car, and rushing toward the crowd,
: billy-club held high. At this point, motorcycle sirens turned on, the police
: seemed to move into full terrorism mode, and we opted to leave, fearing
: violence (from the police.) At our hotel, we commiserated with some of the
: Circus participants, who had spent the day setting up sound, only to find that
: they would have to tear it down before anyone could re-enter the building. One
: last note - the cops were not enlightened by the events. They insulted the
: performers, they insulted the organizers, and they thought the whole thing was a
: joke that it was their job to dismantle.
: For three days, as we worked our way back up the coastline, we could not get
: the Circus off our minds. We couldn't believe that the efforts of so many people
: could be left up to chance regarding permits. Heartbreak and disappointment
: only *begin* to describe what we felt, leaving the party Saturday night, and
: through the beginning of the week. The circus promised to be an event like no
: other, a pinnacle of free thought and creative energy. The DJ lineup was to be
: spectacular, everything was vibrating, ready to coalesce into an event that would
: rise above, pulse, and explode with light. What a dream!
: But to pretend that this perfect vibration, this transcendence of all things, really
: happened, is to omit such a huge part of the story, as to not reflect truth. The
: party was shut down by a gestapo police force because of a deficiency in
: permits. Hundreds, or perhaps thousands of dreamers, dancers, participants,
: were heart-crushed. This part of the story is not the comic triumph of art, but the
: tragic loss of what could have been. Lost because of beaurocracy, lost because
: of mismanagement.
: The web site mentions expectancy of 2000 people at the event - accounts say
: that the warehouse was full at 10:15; I don't know what the official count was.
: Whether it was 400 or 2000 people, those are individuals (beyond the scope of
: the performers) who invested time, love, effort to participate in the celebration.
: Most of these people were terrorized by the police, and left the party. When my
: lover and I left the event shortly after 11:30, about twenty guests remained, a
: portion of the original circus participants, and cops were beginning to attack,
: brandishing weapons. The sound was being torn down, and even some of the
: DJs left the scene.
: As I mentioned before, we were baffled and shocked. How could this have
: happened? It was a dream of perfection, crumbling, and reduced to, as
: Cinnamon Twist describes, the performers and about 100 people, from a
: *different* party, dancing to DJ monitors.
: Yesterday, the receipt of the email below was infuriating, and perhaps a
: reality-check is called for. Some people surely needed to have some sort of
: performance or party prevail, to feel that all was not lost. But many people are
: extremely hurt and angry about the events that transpired this weekend. For all
: of these people to put months of hard work and preparation into making a reality
: of a dream, and then to leave everything to chance because proper permits
: were not procured, is maddening.
: The email celebrates the party as a huge triumph for the elite few performers
: who stayed, condescending to the guest-participants as "normals", excluding
: even many original participants, and toting the event as a breakthrough of
: culture. To post it on the web site as an official description of the party: as
: resisance, as triumph, as what dance and performance events **should** be is
: infuriating. The email was a deep *wound* to us who also invested, who also
: dared to dream, who also wanted this event to reach new heights. Furthermore,
: it omits the dramatic terrorism of LAPD against a peaceful gathering of
: performers - artists, dancers, musicians.
: The circus had limitless possibilities that should be shared with many people,
: not just a hundred folks trying to have a good time. This event *should* have
: been all the things described below, it should have been epic, transformative.
: Melissa, Carmenchu, Paradox, Tirza, etc worked their asses off to realize this
: event, and we feel awful that it crashed so hard. That it was shut down at 10:30
: by police is something that merits serious consideration, and that hundreds,
: perhaps even thousands of individuals experienced it as a lost dream deserves
: deep reflection. It is not the "process," the promise of what can be that always
: matters, sometimes the "product," what *is* also weighs heavy. Pretending that
: the event was a breakthrough success only adds insult to injury, because for
: the majority, it wasn't.
: Respectfully,
: Your sister and brother
: Cate and Paul
-- Carmenchu
-- signature IaAb/.
Follow Ups: