Inspiration

Inspiration

For an artist inspiration can come in small packages. It can be something that would quickly pass through most people's consciousness to be forgotten. An observed sense of style, a way of moving, an unconscious habit, an overheard snippet of conversation...these can form the basis of a novel, or a poem, or a dance.

Inspiration can also come in large packages. For me, one of those packages is the circus. Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Eloize, Cirque Parasol I've been inspired by their creativity and artistry and the talent and dedication of the performers.

I'm not sure why I'm so drawn to the circus. My uncle was an acrobat, but he died when I was very young and I never knew him. (A pole he was balancing on snapped. He died of head injuries.) And my mother was briefly in the circus when she was 17 and was asked to go on tour throughout Europe, but her mother wouldn't allow her only surviving child to go off on her own with people of "dubious morality" times being what they were. But neither of my sisters has any affinity for the circus despite having an interest in the arts. So I don't know what it is.

I do know there is no other art form that has the same power to move me. And I find myself looking for opportunities to place cirque performers in the stories I write. The lead female character of my action-thriller-espionage screenplay, RED MERCURY, is a cirque acrobat. The inspiration for the character is Isabelle Chasse's 'aerial ballet in silk' performance in Cirque du Soleil's "Quidam." More than that, each time I watch a cirque performance I have a renewed desire to create: an impetus to tell stories that will evoke emotion and illuminate the world.

What are your inspirations, big and small?