Day 249 Climbing the Bus

August 15, 2015

(If we live with an open and grateful attitude, every day will bring a gift. This is one of 365 gifts during the year I turned 70.)

Mara Neimanis and Mark Harding outside the Creative Alliance

A pleasant August night in Baltimore, visitors from Belarus and Japan, and a clown duet in praise of pizza—this was a good combination at 10 p.m. And to make things even better, our friends Stacy, Rayned and poodle Ace showed up. We waited in the street across from a BUS sculpture for Mara Neimanis and Mark Harding to appear somewhere on the roof of the Creative Alliance. Fake grass mats with lawn chairs awaited a crowd of spectators who kept looking up in anticipation. (The sculpture is actually an art piece created for a real bus stop just outside the Creative Alliance where empty pizza boxes are often left by people waiting for a bus.)

Soon we heard a bold, raucous voice and saw Mara and Mark on the roof near the marquee. That was the beginning of a whimsical performance based on craving for pizza. The performers wound up on the huge BUS sculpture, bantering with the audience and each other while pretending great awkwardness as they climbed on the sculpture letters. Exaggerated body language reached out and tickled the audience.

Slapstick clowning appeals to everyone, regardless of age or verbal understanding. Belarusian Rehina, who sat next to me on a bench, does not speak English but she laughed and clapped enthusiastically at the antics throughout the performance. Words did not matter. Body language ruled tonight and craving for pizza was satisfied with free pizza for everyone.

Everybody laughs the same in every language because laughter is a universal connection.” ~ Yakov Smirnoff

My gift today is pizza laughter.

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You can read more about the BUS sculpture and last night's performance here:


http://www.creativealliance.org/blog/2014/07/bus-sculpture-unveiling
http://www.creativealliance.org/events/2015/unexpected-places-4for-unexpected-aerials-east-eastern-clown-duet-praise-pizza

> Day 250 Maps and Names

You can find links to my other posts on this project here:

http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html