#he was just played by the extras. he's just like breakdancing in the background for the second one + i havent rewatched the second one so

[spheciform]

YESSSS FANTASTIC!!! Utena is so so special to me as a piece of media that gets better and better with each rewatch and still floors me every time that I reach the end in just how hopeful it is and how masterfully it crafts characters and their conflicts it's so <3!!! It's genuinely like. My favorite piece of media ever. As for symbolism I think my favorite that I picked out was the coding of red and white and pink roses throughout the series it makes me. So crazy. Seeing red being a color so heavily tied to the rose bride and everything it embodies, a sense of forced passivity, meanwhile white and white roses being tied to the idea of princehood and being Active and such, it's not super super cut and dry but it makes me mental? Like the dress utena is given for the ball episode in the first arc having a red rose as part of it while being tied to this idea of touga trying to "tame" her... Utena wearing a white rose for every duel EXCEPT the one where she is fighting for herself at the end of the first arc (that being the pink rose she has for. I think exclusively that duel?i can't remember if we get a pink rose again at the end of the series or not) and how dueling is so embodying of her playing prince etc etc. as such pink being both tied to utena in just the fact she's the Pink One but also because along the lines of that symbolism pink is the in-between, the boy-girl, the thing that is both prince and bride, etc etc. it makes me want to chew through WALLS!!! I've got to say my favorite is so hard to pick but it might just be wakaba flourishing. It just goes too hard. Like the ending will always hold a special place in my heart and the shiori black rose duel is so good for the elevator sequence alone, but man something about wakaba flourishing just hits different. The emotional impact, the sudden depth wakaba is given just by focusing on her and involving her in the duels to show not even she can escape the reach of this system just. Man. And it is such a gorgeous episode too like visually, the deep oranges they use are so so good!! I'm so so glad you enjoyed the series it's always such a good time :DD

Hi!! Im guessing you finished utena- thoughts?? Feelings?? Favorite bit of symbolism? Favorite episode? Anything?

Hiiii omg!! I sure did!!! My thoughts and feelings are that I am 1) screaming and 2) ABSOLUTELY IN LOVE!!!! It was so gorgeously crafted, the queer themes were beautifully rendered, the darker themes which would normally put me off entirely were SO compellingly done that I'm really glad I persevered with the show!!! I don't know if I'm bold enough to pick a favorite piece of symbolism (especially when I'm sure a solid portion must've flown directly over my head), but I really loved the repeated fairy-tale style openings with utena's past that morphed towards the finale!! And I have no idea if I can pick a favorite episode, but ep34's reveal of what exactly the prince showed utena murdered me DEAD and I loved it beyond words <333 Thank you so much for asking!!! What are your answers to the same questions?

[helentwombly]

Choices Fandom Ultimate Questionnaire

Thankies for the lovelies @adrian-raines and @endless-vall for the Tag! ;3

1. Which of your MCs would win the Hunger Games?

It's not always the matter of strength, skill or even will. It's also about how lucky that MC is.

I'll go for THOBM if she's recovered from the loss of her bro. (Funny huh? but I gave her a somewhat survivor background due to her family).

But if TRR MC was strip of her emotions, she'll display each head of my MCs in front of her castle. I HC her to have the ability to adapt in any environment and grasp ANY skill at a short period of time (maximum of days), which could take a normal person to master for years. And if she lost the ability to feel, she'll see no difference when painting a beautiful picture, playing the piano or killing her friends (whether its an aliens, a vampire or Burger King)

My MC Hunger Games would be:

Badasses dying. (ES, Hero, ILITW, BB, PM etc.)

Empaths semi-surviving (TF/TS/TJ, HSS, RoE etc.)

Dark Horses winning. (THOBM, TRR etc.)

Yeah...I have a thing for that. Sounds boring? Sowee! Hehehehe!

I dont know if my badass MCs are just weak, or the not-so-badass characters just outsmart them or if its a matter of pure luck. I dont know, but I think thats the reason why its fun.

2. Which MC is your favorite?

Endless Summer MC, thats never gonna change...I think.

3. If only ONE LI (from any Choices book ever) could be transported into your real life and be your real life partner, who would it be and why? (I hope you get what mean)

*gets microphone and put it in front of megaphone* BEEEEEEEN PAAAAAAARKK!!! because he's the geeky goodness that I can never have here IRL.

He loves loves comics, loves breakdancing, loves drawing and he's super squishy and funneh!

4. To which character do you relate the most?

Drake (due to being somewhat poor with filthy rich nice bestfriends)

Maxwell (uuuhhh....personality? and love for doggies)

Estela (during my most darkest days, dont ask please hehehe!)

5. What was the first book you’ve ever played?

Of course, its the legendary but not so legendary anymore, The Freshie!

6. Which book have you replayed the most times?

Hero and Endless Summer, two of mah fave bookies.

7. Would you rather have Hero 2 or Most Wanted 2?

I want both of them to come back but I'm leaning more on HERO 2 cause ya know....favorite! and EVA!!!

But if The Cause of Death characters will be in Most Wanted 2 then I want them both so badly.

8. Did you like LoveHacks?

Yup! My dream guy is there yo! *whispers Ben Park*

9. Did you like RoE?

I like party-twin and the first book is okay but it kinda dwindled as it goes on.

10. Which MC (in your opinion) is the most beautiful? (you can post a pic of them so we can all admire them)

*admires from mah screen* sorreh if mah taste doesn’t amaze ya hehehe!

11. Which female character (from any book) is the prettiest in your opinion?

Oh gosh...the most beautiful is Eleanor Waverly! Like everytime she appears on my screen or whatever, Hallelujah Chorus by Handel Messiah is playing! She's so perfect in personality and looks, it's like God made her directly from Heaven----!!!

Sorry I got carried away...the most beautiful is Eleanor but I think the prettiest is Hana, Madison or Asian F!Hayden.

12. Which male character (from any book) is the most handsome in your opinion?

It's Kingky King Liam ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) or maybe there's still someone I forgot but

...LIAM   ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

13. Which character is the most intriguing?

Estela. Because you know, she's Estela. Thats all I can say.

14. If you could befriend one character from any book, who would it be and why?

RAAAAAAJJ!!! Omg I soo love him!! He's so dorky yet got that hidden smarts and loves to cook uber delicious food plus he's so huggable and has an awesome shirt collection!

15. Which MC has the best outfits?

I'll go for TRR and RoE. I'll wanna steal their wardrobe.

16. Into which book would you rather be transported and live the life of that book’s MC?

Any, as long as I dont die a brutal death.

17. List 5 characters that you dislike the most

Manny and Prince Marco and...I really dont keep track of people that I dislike/hate. But if they really made a mark on me, like pissing me off to the core, I’ll remember them, just like these two.

DOOOONEE!! FINALLY!!

I’m gonna tag @your-poetrysucker @lanaartblog @kaitloyalist @angstymarshmallow @nerdpossible @raventear @mechaspirit @mrswalkerwrites and anyone who wants to answer this super fun tag! If you’ve done it then please ignore and enjoy your extra time, yay!

[ryttu3k]

Running order is out! First, my semi-final scores; second, my semi-final comments in the new running order.

My semi-final scores:

10/12: Israel, Australia 8/12: Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Finland, Cyprus, Serbia, Netherlands, Hungary, Ukraine 7/12: Austria, Norway, Denmark, Moldova, Slovenia 6/12: Albania, Estonia, Ireland 5/12: Sweden 4/12: Lithuania

Ukraine: Gotta say, I quite like the creativity with the staging this year. Like, no LEDs? Okay, no problem. PIANO COFFIN. You know what, new vampire movie with this guy and Cesar. He is now PLAYING the piano coffin. That was a fun finish! 8/12

Spain: Oh god it's also slow and it doesn't even have cute hair.

Slovenia: Okay this has more energy! Even if it is weirdly monotone? Oh, there’s a range! Okay nah sorry it’s basically at one note. Like if the whole song was the chorus I'd be more into it but the verse parts kinda bring it down. WHOOPS THE MUSIC BROKE. 7/12

Lithuania: Singer please we're not at this li'l indie acoustic gig we're at Eurovision please act like it. Like it's a nice song, it’s just not screaming Eurovision, you know? And now there's a dude for some heterosexuality. 4/12

Austria: That is some cool staging/lighting. Not sure what to make of the song itself, it's a bit 90s ballad. He also seems to be wearing vinyl. Oh my god the big-ass projected image XD And he's off the stage! Always good to go for a wander. 7/12

Estonia: Wow that is an interesting dress. Alas, it is not necessarily accompanied by an interesting song. 6/12

Norway: Oh god he's back. Full disclosure last time I hated Fairytale so much my comment was somewhat along the likes of 'I want to beat him with his own violin' so. This might be interesting. Ah. Karaoke. Okay it's kind of cheesy as hell and yet. I am leg-jiggling. Why am I leg-jiggling. Could it be I am actually enjoying this? An interesting proposition. 7/12

Portugal: Oh god it's a slow ballad. At least her hair is cute.

UK: Okay marginally better. And I never thought I'd say that about the UK XD

Serbia: Okay, this is more Eurovision! We have drums, an old man on a traditional instrument, and strobe lights, plus European languages! Uh, is that the Seal of Rassilon? You know, I can dig this! 8/12

Germany: Nah, too sincere-sounding.

Albania: Are those pop rivets on the edge of the lapels? Interesting fashion sense. Super weird disconnect here, like they have a rock band aesthetic going on but accidentally picked up a 90s ballad. Props for own language, though! Oh, and some high notes! 6/12

France: Yeah, it's okay. Could be okay on the night. I like the sneakers.

Czech Republic: Oh there we go, something nice and weird! Did I just spot a legit neon 90s parka there for a sec? Update: parka is now breakdancing. He's like the world's edgiest private school boy. You go edgy schoolboy here are eight points for you for not being a ballad. 8/12

Denmark: Very intense Vikings. Songwise-though I got nothin'. 7/12

Australia: OKAY HERE WE GO. GO JESSICA GO. Okay that lighting is rad, she looks cute as hell, and the song is energetic and fun! And now FIRE. Hell yeah good shit good shit! 10/12

Finland: SHE SPIN. This is a look. And some pyrotechnics and a stage dive! I can dig this! 8/12

Bulgaria: I love how there's all these super-elaborate costumes and then one guy is just wearing a sweater. It does build up nicely! Slow start then goes harder, nice. 8/12

Moldova: Some weird, nice. Bit too hetero, didn't you get the message, Moldova? The staging gimmick is really fun, though, and it has a bit of energy! 7/12

Sweden: The lighting is great but you do actually need a song as well as lighting effects... 5/12

Hungary: Bless you Hungary for properly waking me up at this hour of 6 AM! CROWDSURFING. Fuck it I am going for the loud barefoot screaming dude. 8/12

Israel: Oh this is... fun as shit! Chicken house music. I like her hair. The cat statues in the background.  It's weird as shit and super Eurovision and also disconcertingly catchy, now that is Eurovision! 10/12

Netherlands: Why - why does Netherlands always do something countryish. That's a really weird consistent theme. Oh my god what is that jacket. Okay it's country but it's also fun as shit. 8/12

Ireland: Okay with the way the light reflected on the mic for a moment I thought he was legit wearing a priest collar thing. Oh look at all the lights! Alas, it is peak ballad. Oh, an extra point for some gay. 6/12

Cyprus: Oh she is very sparkly. Some good energy and fun and LITERAL FIRE to finish the night off! 8/12

Italy: Karaoke apparently!

[thewidowstanton]

Shena Tschofen, Cyr wheel and acrobatic/dance lasso artist, Cirque Eloize: Saloon

American circus artist Shena Tschofen, who is from Minneapolis, started circus at six years old and tried many disciplines. She also trained in dance at the University of Minnesota, before attending the National Circus School in Montreal, where she specialised in Cyr wheel and, uniquely, acrobatic/dance lasso. In addition, Shena studied classical violin and traditional fiddle music for more than fifteen years, and her photographs of acrobats in motion have been published internationally.

After graduating in 2016, Shena joined Cirque Eloize and is roughly halfway through a two-year contract with its show Saloon. She chats to Liz Arratoon before the show opens at the Peacock Theatre in London, where it runs from 4-21 October 2017.

The Widow Stanton: Are you partly Austrian? I’ve seen pictures of you in the mountains… Shena Tschofen: My dad’s from Austria. I had the opportunity to go there a lot with my family when I was young. I went almost every summer and as I started getting more involved with other extra-curricular activities I went less and less but I’m still lucky enough to go sometimes. I was there this summer.

What made you start circus so young? I was a very active child and I was always moving and kind of always bouncing around. I think my parents just decided they were going to give me something to do with all of that kinetic energy. I started in gymnastics when I was three or four but my parents realised really quickly that that was maybe not the best avenue for me. Where I’m from in Minneapolis there happen to be, actually now, three circus schools where you can go recreationally. I trained at all of them; mostly at Xelias Aerial Arts, then Circus Juventos and Twin Cities Trapeze, which is mostly for flying trapeze, but they’re starting to do other stuff, so that’s really nice. I started when I was six and it just kind of went on from there.

Can you remember the first circus you ever saw? … I don’t think I can. I’m sure I saw a traditional circus at some point in Europe with my family when I was really young. Other than that I think it was Corteo. It came to Minneapolis. I don’t remember how old I was but it must have been the first official, professional non-traditional circus show that I ever saw.

What sort of disciplines were you doing when you started? I started mostly as an aerialist; Xelias trains mostly aerial arts because that’s all they have space for, but they train it really well. Later on I got a chance to try a lot of different disciplines: flying trapeze, swinging trapeze, German wheel, Cyr wheel, floor acrobatics… I was really lucky in that I was able to really explore all of these different disciplines before I chose one. It’s nice because now when I go into a company or start working with people, I’m fairly well-rounded. I will not be an expert in 90 per cent of the disciplines that they ask me to do but, for example, whichever aerial apparatus they give me, I can do something with it. That’s a pretty valuable skill to kind of just be drawn into whatever people feel like drawing me into and be able to make something, if not the best thing ever, at least to have…

… something as an extra to your speciality… What I really like about having had that experience is having my main discipline, Cyr wheel – that’s what I’ve mostly trained so that’s the only discipline that 100 per cent I know that whatever I do is going to be what I want it to be – and all of the other disciplines I’ve tried I’m kind of just able to dabble here and there and see what comes out of it.

And you’re also trained in dance… I went to an arts high school for two years and chose dance as my major there. Then I went to the University of Minnesota as a dance major, before moving to the circus school in Montreal.

I’ve chatted to many graduates of the Montreal school. You seem to work so hard there… The school in Montreal has a very specific, very rigorous kind of training but it’s always cool to see the different kinds of training that there are all around the world. I see people coming out of other schools with very different propositions. What’s really cool about the world of circus is that you don’t all just have one style all the time. The Montreal school, yes, it’s very good for technique but if you want something more artistic you might decide to choose another school if technique is not going to be your focus. So I don’t know if it’s necessarily a matter of people working more than others, it’s just kind of more of a focus.

What made you choose Cyr wheel? When I came to school I didn’t really know what I wanted to do and like I said, I’d had the chance to try a lot of stuff and I had all these opportunities available to me. In the end what made me choose Cyr wheel is because it’s a relatively new discipline, so not everything has been done yet. For example, in a discipline like handstands or hand-to-hand, they’ve been around for so long, and yes, you can always make new things but the vocabulary is already established. Cyr wheel is starting to be more common and to have more of a standardised vocabulary that everyone goes through but I saw when I started that there was not anything that I was going to have to do.

There are certain steps that you for sure have to pass through to get the basic techniques so that you’re able to do what you want, but I was able to create my own vocabulary on the wheel and that was really intriguing to me. When I first saw the discipline I was like, ‘Oh man, I could try all these different things’. It also goes really well with having a dance background. I mean you can come into Cyr wheel with a background as breakdancers… I know people who were gymnasts… there are so many different things that you can bring to this discipline and I saw that I could easily bring my dance background into it and kind of mix it up and create my own thing to play with.

Was there any particular move you found difficult? I think the hardest thing is always sequencing movements. So yes, there are certain tricks that I worked for several years on and I’m just now getting, but what’s always the trickiest is to link them up so that they’re one continuous flow of movement, or… less continuous flow of movement than the way you want it to be. So a lot of what happens in wheel for me is taking these movements and deciding, ‘OK, what’s the transition from this movement to this movement?’, so it doesn’t just become ‘Here’s a trick, here’s a trick and here’s another trick’. It’s about making it one way of movement.

And I’m excited that you’re a lassoist. What made you do that? The reason I started it – I actually never said I wanted to do it – but I was in a western-themed circus show when I was about 15. It was a youth circus production and they brought in someone who was a professional cowboy. His name is Angelo Iodice – his stage name is AJ Silver – and he came in and taught everyone how to do lasso. I was one of the few people that picked it up and kept playing with it after he left. I did that for a year and a half, and I saw him for a grand total of four or five days or something but most of the time I just messed with it myself. Then I stopped for a while because it was not really useful to anything I was doing.

When I was in school, you have your main discipline and then a minor discipline and I had originally chosen dance trapeze as my minor, but with ten hours of wheel a week and then two hours of dance trapeze my hands hurt so much that I couldn’t hold on to either of my apparatuses. So I let go of dance trapeze and I was like, ‘What can I do that’s not super hard on my body?’. I picked up my lasso again and I was like, ‘Well, I could do something kind of different with this’, because it’s a very cowboy skill, like, I haven’t seen much modern lasso. So I thought, ‘This is kind of like wheel, I can kind of create my own pathway in this’.

So I took that as my minor for a year and a half and when I got out of school I was hired right away for this show because I had these three skills that fit into this world; Cyr wheel, lasso and playing the violin. Then I was able to develop more skills with this and it’s great actually being in this show because I taught everyone the basics of lasso and a couple of us started messing around a bit more. It encouraged me to try more things and experiment more with it. So I’ve learnt most of what I know on this show just messing around with other people.

Have you done any other western tricks? I learned whip for Saloon. I came in already with lasso, but they were like: “Hey, do you wanna learn whip?” And I was like, ‘Sure’, so I do some whip.

So at school, was there no one who actually taught you lasso? I had a jugging teacher who helped me but he didn’t know the technique of lasso and neither did I so it was really frustrating [laughs]. But we managed, and it’s funny because there’s a whole other vocabulary that you’re bringing to this skill that already exists but if you don’t really know what you’re doing then you have to make stuff up. So that led me to discover some new things I hadn’t seen before. So yes, I didn’t have a teacher that knew the technique.

What would be your advice be to anyone wanting to take up either skill? Be very patient. [Laughs] Both disciplines take a while to understand how they work. I’d say lasso is worse in that case than Cyr wheel because it’s essentially a juggling discipline; it’s manipulation. So any manipulation discipline you’re gonna drop all the time, you’re gonna mess it up; it’s the nature of the thing, but Cyr wheel at least, for me, yes, I still mess up but at least I have fun while doing it; the motion of the wheel is really exhilarating to me. It feels like flying a little bit, but lasso is just there and you’re doing this thing with the rope and, ‘Uhh, this isn’t working’.

You make lasso really balletic… it’s beautiful… Sometimes it works; those pictures are what I did when it worked [laughs].

Tell us about Saloon? This show is really a mix between acrobatics, dance, music and theatre. It’s kind of like a giant mass of all of these different skills and all of these different talents. Everyone onstage has multiple things that they do, which is really cool to see because oftentimes I feel circus people get so specialised in one thing. The company has chosen people who have multiple skills and so we’re all onstage and we all have to sing at one point. We have three professional musicians onstage with us creating live music but also interacting with us as well. They’re not in the background in the band just playing there, they actually come with us onstage and they have their own characters, which is really cool. In terms of my role I’m a cowgirl, [laughs] big surprise. I have my act with Cyr wheel, I also go up on a chandelier and I play fiddle with the musicians.

How have you found being on tour? We’ve been touring with this show for a year. We started in the US, we went to Turkey, Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium… we went to Chile in March… it’s really nice. It’s a great way to see all these different places and different cultures and a great opportunity to just explore the world. But sometimes we load in the show in the morning, we do the show at night, we take down the show and we go to the next city. We can do that either every day or we stay two or three nights and those are the most exhausting tours.

Do you cope well with jet lag? Not particularly. [Laughs] One of the downsides of touring is all of time you spend in planes trains and automobiles, and all of the time you spend jet lagged. We’ve been pretty lucky in that they don’t usually make us go back and forth in like, 20 seconds. For example we’re going to London but then we’re going to stay in Europe until the end of January, so I only have to do one round of jet lag. I know that once I start doing other contracts it’s most likely gonna be back and forth all the time and I’ll just never not be jet lagged. At that point I’ll just probably get used to it. [Laughs]

What has been the best bit of the tour so far? All of it has been awesome! Touring always has its ups and downs, but I really love tours where we can go someplace and stay there for a while, which we’ll do in London. That will be great because we’ll have a chance to explore the city. I haven’t been there before. I’m really excited; it’s going to be nice.

Shena is appearing in Cirque Eloize’s show Saloon at the Peacock Theatre in London from 4-21 October 2017.

For Saloon tickets, click here

Picture credit: Shena on Cyr inside, Roland Lorente; Saloon group, Jim Mneymneh

Shena’s website

Twitter: @cirque_eloize @Sadlers_Wells @peacocktheatre

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