Hey Sun Valley, I have arrived!
It takes 30hrs to get to Sun Valley. I smiled as I drove past the section of road that my trailer broke last year. Yep, this year was going to be different. Perhaps I shouldn't have said that....
First, I dropped the trailer off at Jack and Marilyn's house. As I was folding it up, one bolt broke, and I saw the other one was missing. An easy fix, but come on, not again. I then took the Harley to the rink and realized that I had no lights on the back of the bike! ARGH!! Luckily, another coach at the rink, Dawn, introduced me to her friend Dean who has this amazing 22,000 sq foot garage. Dean has been great. He fixed a loose groundand relocated a hose, and I have brake lights! However, when I was removing a hose I almost removed the entire tip of my pinky! OUCH!
The following day after my bike was on the hoist, I drove the car to Hailey for a grocery run. On the way back I turned the corner and...BAM... blew my radiator! UGH!
I called for a tow which only took 2 minutes since the shop was about a 1/4 of a mile away. $850 bucks later, I rode the bicycle to pick it up...praying the whole way that the chain didn't break and send me flying through the air.
Rehearsals have been amazing this year. I really believe this will be the best Sun Valley show that I have ever been in. It is the 75th anniversary and they are requesting old numbers. So of course they requested Doubtfire. If you have been following my facebook, you may know that my second number is a spoof of all the best skaters in Sun Valley. It is the most prop intensive program I have done to date. And today, I have finally completed all the outfits and props. The idea is the director, Scott Irvine, challenges me to portray these skaters: Craig Heath, Jozef Sabovcik, Darlin Baker, Irina Grigorian, the Acrobats, Frank and Anita, Elena and Andrei, and finally me.
The acrobats and pair teams require a doll that can actually do a handstand. John and James created the amazing mechanism that makes up the doll's insides. I then cut the foam, made the zippered bag, and painted both sides of the doll. I came up with a velcro flap that would be the "back" of each person's head. I'm pretty happy with the results:
The other outfit that I made from scratch was Craig Heath's. However, since I have so many outfits and props, there is no way I'm going to make mine sparkle like his!
I have to say my painting and shading has improved. I traced a Frisbee for the sun and free handed the rest!
Tomorrow I hope to run the program with all the props for the first time. Wish me luck!
Be well,
Dan