Big-top fun San Francisco circus troupe coming to fest

Small Miracles, Coincidence, Imagination, Inspiration, Friendship ...

On a recent improvised trip to Colombia on which no set itinerary was planned and anything that was planned never came to fruition, I found myself at the mouth of Tayrona Jungle Park on the Caribbean coast…and behind me heard a slightly bewildered voice questioning “ Gregangelo?”
Against all odds is was a friend from Italy who I had met, hosted and befriended in San Francisco a year earlier and who I had not seen since, but whom I think of fondly often. We spent a wondrous day together. I later sent him a message : 'Alvise, it truly was a small miracle to run not you in Tayrona and an absolute joy to be able to share some time together. I could  not have been more surprised and delighted by anyone else.'  Here is his his response:

 Hello Greg!
I arrived yesterday night in Bogotà and really enjoyed spending an hour watching your work on tumblr, http://velocitycircus.tumblr.com/archive thank you very much for that link! And that latest infinite light costume is simply amazing.

Aurora and Delphi ‘Infinity light ‘ costumes 

What you do is truly inspiring to me, the way you materialize your imagination is so powerful. You can't stop, and other things you said and did in front of my eyes have been echoing in my mind in this months. I think about the imagination as a driving and wonderful force now, that create and makes things happen, the most powerful one.

I think imagination is not only capable of the creation of tangible artifacts but also of events, thus the manipulation of time and space, and our meeting confirms to this dynamics.

I'm very fascinated by coincidences, I believe they are a tool that life uses when it wants to speak to us. The reason is that our mind is pretty shocked by them, and therefore tries to explain and see deeper on the reason about why they happen (As if it is saying "Hey there's something important going on here, find it"). I spent those 3 days in that beach with this thoughts in mind, and that's what I got:

Two months ago in London I heard a song somewhere I kinda liked so I saved it on my phone, I looked its youtube video few days later which was all shooted in the beatiful Tayrona park, Colombia, for which I had just booked a flight ticket, I thought It was a sign I had to go to see that park, and that's the reason I came. That's the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-_9Bld7JYc (I also slept in the hostel which is pictured). That very morning I decided to go, someone also offered me a drive, which made me meet you duly at the entrance.

Well, all of this makes very few sense though, since there are an infinite amount of events like this ones that led us there in that moment, that can be traced back God knows when.
In fact, not only "Every step we made in our lifes led us here, now" but also the steps of the people that preceded us and forces around us did that. But that's only the "how" not the "why".

What I found more interesting is what life had to say, which I think for me consisted in two things.

You are one of the most interesting persons I know and you don't know what you will do "when you grow up", but you know that for sure something good will happen.
Well, I realized that this is actually a "plan", and at the same time it's the realization of this plan: if we are able to imagine that something good will happen, and be convinced about that, then the wonderful power of the imagination will make this good happen. As simple as that.

Since I left San Francisco I found myself changing and seeing those days as very far, maybe nostalgic about the person I was. Seeing your face and following you along the jungle reminded me of the day we walked down to the beach, making that whole period very lively again, and myself of course still capable of that same attitude. I realized that we change cause that's how nature and life works, but this change happens through evolution, a process that keeps track of the past, which is therefore living inside us, and can be recalled.
Now, this time life was kind enough to remind me that, but that's not going to happen all the time, here the importance of keeping in touch with people I had a special bond with and that are far now, to help me (And maybe them) be aware that the present and who we are know is also the result of that special moment.


Allright I think that's all, I hope we will keep in touch in the future and for sure you will keep me very inspired!

I have a website as well if you want to take a look, which I use to find my clients www.altwarws.com.

Alvise Rizzo

On Tayrona beach the day of that small miracle
 

VELOCITY CIRCUS HEADQUARTERS AKA “THE GREGANGELO MUSEUM” FROM AN ARTIST’S PERSPECTIVE

Marisa Lenhardt on Trapeze in ‘The Earth Room’

It’s been called a wonderland, a museum, and adventure, an experience, a rabbit hole.
For those of us who create there, we call it work.
But every one of us remembers our first time through the door; a “my god, what have I stepped into?” moment that is completely washed away by the subsequent moments. We all know by now that the living room is comparatively normal.
 
I first fell into the rabbit hole 13 years ago.
In the throes of a bad breakup, Gregangelo called me looking for someone to sing the song from the fifth element for an event for which he was providing the entertainment. At the time, before a bunch of little girls started singing the piece for talent shows and everyone I know started sending the videos to me on Facebook, in fact, before Facebook, I was the only person many people knew of who sang the piece. Gregangelo had heard me at a Burning Man decompression event, and remembered me when he heard a request for the song.


The house has grown, as I have I.

The house has expanded, hideaways, rooms, alcoves, new art, new artists employed, mosaic, hidden passageways, a kaleidoscope bathroom so insane you’ll forget why you went in there.

Instead of just being an opera singer who sings with techno, I’m an operatic fortune teller, a fortune roulette teller, an aerialist who sings opera on trapeze, an aerialist who sings opera on trapeze after riding her motorcycle onstage.

'Through Gregangelo and his work and, more than that, his simple way of being, I have become limitless.

In my day job, I have gone from being a project coordinator to being a Senior Manager. I have, in part because of association with Gregangelo, discovered my own limitlessness.

 I write this from a villa overlooking the Thai sea; one of my favorite places in the world.

Just before I departed for this journey, I took my team at work on a tour through the Gregangelo museum, combining so many of my passions; creativity, my day job, bringing people together to explore new things and challenge themselves. I have learned that it is possible to live entirely, that the areas of my life don’t need to be separated out to achieve success and, in fact, that it’s better to combine them.

 Photo by Hiromi Yoshida

Thinking of the true creative greats - in arts, sciences, and everything in between, passion drove them, and they doggedly pursued a creative vision. We can’t make the mistake of separating our creative lives from our practical lives. Doing this cheapens both. Gregangelo’s museum, his work, and his own person, exist as a perfect example of this; the clients he engages recognize this - that he is the ultimate creative businessman, and that he can bring to their concept something truly unique.
 I look forward to the next 13 years of growing, and wonder what kind of artist…and business person… I will be then.

Thank you, Gregangelo and crew! I couldn’t do it without you.
 
Marisa Lenhardt