Equilibrio

(eh-kwe-lee-bri-oh)

I didn’t take enough time to write this week to touch on all the things I have to write about, but don’t worry dear reader, I have plenty of ideas to tell you about in due time! 

I was feeling under the weather earlier in the week, and the last few days I’ve been really tired and opting to study Italian instead of write. Long term, studying is probably a good decision, though I do love the feeling of putting pen to paper. Or fingers to keys… either way. This week it has been difficult to find the balance between school, studying (and attempting to study), writing, and everyday household things like cooking and cleaning, which brings me to today’s word: equilibrio. Cheers for cognates!

This week we started equilibrismo classes at school, meaning the disciplines we’ve been working on  are balance related. We were introduced to apparatuses such as tight wire, slack line, Chinese pole, Roue Cyr, ladder, and straps.

It may be surprising, but my sense of physical balance is not great. And I don’t just mean when I’m upside down. In everyday life, I am quite clumsy. This is improving with practice, but I have a long way to go. As someone with balance that is less than fantastic, I was not expecting to be particularly decent at any of the new disciplines we were working on this week, but I would actually consider working more seriously on Roue Cyr, tight wire, and Chinese pole. I especially love Roue Cyr. There is something very primal about the spinning of the wheel and the way the artist maintains balance within the ring. It gives the impression of chaos and order existing simultaneously. To see what I mean, check out this Roue Cyr performance.

As I’m sure you know, one of the most difficult things about finding and maintaining balance is coping with instability. If you try too hard to fight the wobble and overcompensate, you will fail. If you are too still you will not progress, and therefore fail (unless of course the goal is to be a human statue, in which case – kudos!). But in order to create something that doesn’t become stagnant (Sorry, statues) there must be some room to evolve. In order to improve at anything, you must learn to make adjustments instead of abandoning the challenge at hand. Maintaining equilibrio is all a matter of embracing the wobble, working with it, and making minor adjustments to cope with the instability of the situation. Yet another example of how circus translates to everyday life.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you find your own equilibrio!