World Buskers Festival!!!

So since my arrival in Christchurch I have been attending the World Buskers Festival. Which, for the uninformed, is simply a festival for street performers. After hearing that I was here to attend Circus School, Everyone told me that I had to go to this festival. I definitely was NOT dissappointed. The first day that I actually attended I was accompanied by Godfrey Sim. He's the Program Director at my school. He was wanting to tape some of the acts to use as teaching aids for first year students. I thougt it to be a good idea but one set of performers called Waldo and Woodhead, from the legalist US northeast, were very upset that he would tape them without prior consent. Being from the northeast, this behavior doesn't surprise me, but COME ON!!!! You're a street performer. People have to have prior consent before they can photograph and videotape you? Please. They really weren't even that original.

It kind of turned into a big deal. The director of the festival was called and basically it boiled down to Godfrey having to ask first so no one would get mad even though they had no legal feet to stand on. The excitement was definitely fun for me. Hee Hee.

Anyway some of the highlights included a duo calling themselves Popeyed. This group played to be Russian acrobats. Very entertaining!!!




Another performer Johan Welton, hailing from Sweden, was a juggler. He pulled a lovely volunteer from the audience and had a faux costume for her. He had an announcer that kept referring to this random assistant as his girlfriend. The awkwardness was really funny.




It was so much fun to actually see acts like that in person. However, it did make me realize that I'm not the wrangle your crowd beg for money street performing type. I'm more of a have them pay before and watch me in some big spectacle type. We'll see.