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 Flying High June 29, 2002 By Stephen Pedersen / Arts Reporter - The Halifax Herald Whether it's bungee jumps or school launches, trapeze artist Anais Guimond is never afraid to take risks Just because you are afraid of heights doesn't mean you're afraid to risk it. Which may explain why bungee-trapeze performer Anais Guimond will find herself 30 feet (nine metres) in the air at the Nova Scotia International Tattoo, dancing at the end of a rubber band. "Most circus performers doing aerial work have a comfort zone around 25-30, maybe even 40, feet," Guimond said, comfortably, last week on her lunch break from the set of Made In Canada at Electropolis Studios. "But I hate a ladder. It's so unstable." Guimond doesn't need either her trapeze framework or her circus costume at Electropolis. She describes her work on the satirical TV series as "regular continuity background." "They need to show regular staff in the office. It's always the same six or seven - we have no lines." Working in the background is not the norm for Guimond. With a background in gymnastics and theatre, she started training to be a circus performer as soon as she finished high school. A few months later she debuted as a professional acrobat in the Elastic Gymnastics show in Orlando, Fla. Alternating performances with training periods, including two weeks in Montreal with aerial specialist Andre Simard at the Cirque du Soleil studios, Guimond linked up with Cirque acrobat Jean-Francois Martel, adding hand-balancing tricks to her techniques and honing her bungee-trapeze skills. Between 1998 and 2000, Guimond was performing on her own, 40 feet (12 metres) above the street, in more than 700 shows for the Cabaret de Quebec's Les Folies de Paris and Le Theatre des Nouveautes in Montreal. But for a risk-taker, there are always new challenges. One morning at 9, following a cabaret show that lasted till 11 the previous night, a friend persuaded Guimond to audition in Montreal for TSN's Caribbean Workout, an aerobics show. "I'd never done any aerobics, but my friend said, just follow (the crowd), smile and have fun. Fifty girls were auditioning for one spot." Three callbacks later, Guimond got the job, packed her bags and headed for Barbados. Working from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. in 40 C heat, showering and changing costumes and makeup between shows, she shot 50 shows in 10 days. Indirectly, that job, which she wound up co-hosting for two years, led to her current "desk job" in Made In Canada. "I met a guy, Patrick Doyle, in Barbados, on the last day, who works as a cameraman on the show." Doyle invited her to visit him in Halifax. She liked the city so much she decided to move here a few months later. "Patrick offered to help me get a job on the show, but I said no, just give me the information, I'll get the job myself." "It was a risk, but if there is no risk, nothing happens." Something else is about to happen in Guimond's career. In Quebec, before she was hired by the Cabaret de Quebec, she co-founded a circus school in the city called Cirque de l'Odyssee. This September, in Halifax, she plans to open her own circus school, to be called Atlantic Cirque. "I was going to call it Circus (Atlantic) but in Halifax circus means animals and fire and clowns. Cirque doesn't, and it has that echo of Cirque de Soleil," she said. "We've had the Buskers Festival here for 14 years, but there's still no circus school in Canada east of Rimouski. That's why I decided to call it 'Atlantic'. Kids need something new and different from sports and hockey." Guimond's plan, once she completes current negotiations for a location, is to train students and coaches, with classes in English and French, and to develop assistant coaches from the best circus students. In the weeks leading up to her Tattoo performances, Guimond has been training at the Titans Gymnastic Club in Dartmouth. Like any performance profession, it isn't all fun and games. She can't train longer than a half-hour at a time because the safety harness (for the bungee cords) bruises her hips. When Guimond performs she says she feels light as she flies through the air. "But you have to be careful. You can get hit on the head by the trapeze," she adds. Guimond's two-and-a-half minute spot at the Tattoo is not the only circus act in the Tattoo at the Halifax Metro Centre today through July 7. Tattoo director Col. Ian Fraser (ret'd) says that Gym Wheel champion Wolfgang Bienzle, who has performed with Cirque du Soleil, and was recently seen on the David Letterman show, will do a solo routine as well as perform with the Tanusstein Gym Wheel Team. Club Piruett from Estonia, 24 gymnasts ages 13 to 25, perform esthetic gymnastics with ribbons, balls and hoops, combining dance and ballet with gymnastics. The Berlin Motorcycle Team, the Soldier's Race and the Naval Gun Run (a display rather than a competition this year) will also lend a three-ring kind of excitement to the show. In addition, the Tattoo Gymnasts are scheduled to liven things up with their fast-moving routines. Circus acts are a large component of this year's Tattoo, augmenting the six pipe bands and eight military bands, including The Dutch Show and Marching Band, Norway's His Majesty the King's Guards' Band and Drill Team, and from July 3-7, the Japanese Training Squadron Band and Traditional Drummers. Many Tattoo performers, tapping into portions of their repertoire not seen in the evening shows, will also take part in the Tattoo Festival. Performances between noon and 1 p.m. are scheduled to take place in several Halifax and area locations.
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