NOELEPHANTSHOW
clown's journey to oneself
Some circuses have elephants, and some have ringmasters. Some have acrobats, and some have lions. But more often than not, the real circus isn't the ring in front of us, but the whirling whimsy inside ourselves. It is the Artist's job to crack themselves open and release the circus inside. So welcome to the Studio! The No Elephant Show is a playful meditation on the artist. The artist's struggle for selfhood, for approval, and for comprehension by the public. The need for transformation as the medium for self-discovery, and the passionate obsession that sits at the heart of inspiration. Through paint, play, seduction, and metamorphosis, our hero painter BLINI lets us into the whirling circus of his emotions. An anarchic and beautiful piece, exquisitely rendered by Yury Ruzhyev in a bold clown performance.
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“What is a clown? It's a feeling inside.”
Yura
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All the elephants are gone,
the tigers, trapeze and the tent
The ringmaster signals no applause,
The dancing bears are wholly spent.
The tears that tore the curtain down,
The sweat and sawdust blown away.
The calliope that summoned crowds
It's final blast has left the fray.
Along the lonely roads are heard
But echoes of the carnival
In symphonies of distant horns
And fireworks from the arsenal.
The clown alone retains her grin,
The paint and pathos still her tools
And walks abroad beneath the sun
Though now the followers are the fools.
The pantomime has lost its house
And entered tents in pockets kept
An ocean full of foolishness
Where once our pennies slept
The tailoring of our fantasies,
Is found within those seams,
And like the clowns of old
Adept at manifesting dreams
The whips and lions left the ring
Of sand beneath the big top beams
We search the edge of the net's reach
To find expėrience limite
From one wide whimsical cannonade
We "Alice through the looking glassed”
To a ring tone circus all around
That sings at every camera flash
The world is wider than ever 'twas,
Infinite as we can conceive
But somewhere in the mirrors gaze,
Does every clown not grieve?
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by Harry Thomas
NoElephantShow
Blini is an artist. Blini is a Bohemian. Blini hopes to find himself. Blini wants love. Blini is an anarchist. Blini is emotional. Blini is sassy. Blini yearns to be understood. A playful meditation on the life of an artist, No Elephant Show is an uproarious whirlwind of ingenuous emotions, play, paint, seduction, and whimsy. Watch Blini laugh, cry, obsess, crack himself open, and release the circus inside. Watch the play with the audience steer the action in unexpected new directions. Watch the undisguised transformation under the mask of a clown.
Creative Team
Press Release / Flyer / Technical Rider / Poster
"When I was 5 or 6 years old, my parents took me to the circus that had animal acts. All I remember was the elephant - he was begging for cookies and when he didn't get any, he would close the doors of his trailer with his trunk. I had a bag of cookies, so I kept feeding him, the doors stayed open, and we had an amazing time. The the fucker took my very last cookie, the one I'd been saving for myself, and closed the freaking doors! The love was over. I bawled my eyes out. Since then, elephants are not allowed in my circus. I love them, but it's a no elephant show" Yura