Slava Snowshow

Slava is the one in yellow. they are sailing
the beginning of a very long death scene. he never died.
Me. in the vortex of wind, light, and snow.
towards the end. in about 30 seconds, everybody was standing up, passing 20 balls of various sizes around. it lasted for nearly half and hour after the show was over.

Valentines Day was absolutely brilliant. I'm still quite at a loss for words.
Francesca got us 2nd row seats to Slava Snowshow at Teatro Verdi. (the same theatre where we saw the ballet in box seats) Slava is one of Europes most well-known clowns right now, so there was already quite a standard.
James was ill, so it was just Beth and I on a girls night of love. We walked and ate gelato before the show and it was dreamy.

Anyways. the show. The clowns weren't the ridiculous folks you see juggling and poking people in the butt. They weren't obnoxious; they were replete with an expanse of well-searched emotion.
Besides the story, which to me was the mystery in miracle, love, and simple pleasure. finding awe in realizing the vastness of our world, or seeing a friend under a new light, etc.... the impact on the audience was quite perfect.
When one enters a theatre like Teatro Verdi, you take on a composure of formality. You act like "adults" in culture. You do not climb over seats and throw things at each other. You are, in a sense, quite sedate.
Before the shos even started, Beth and I had started a snowball fight with the people around us. (The theatre was covered in paper snow.) And throughout, the clowns were breaking down the "you should be's" in the audience and by the end, people WERE climbing over seats, throwing snow at strangers, teasing, jumping up and down, running about, LAUGHING, screaming.... we were all children. transformed. accepting simple pleasures, forgetting about what we should be, and doing what felt good... (laughing feels very good)