Carys Nicholls and Graham Milligan are circus artists based in London. They specialise in partner acrobatics and juggling and are resident artists at the Roundhouse.
They graduated from The National Centre for Circus Arts last summer, and since then have been preparing for their debut show – called Tape That! – and were due to begin performing in May.
Unfortunately, all performances have been cancelled or postponed due to Covid-19, so they are spending lockdown training, planning for an uncertain future, and trying to keep a positive mindset at Carys’ parents’ house in Oxfordshire.
For My Quarantine Routine, they explain how they spent Wednesday 29 April.
9:30 am
We aren’t being super strict on ourselves about what time we get up during quarantine, but today we are starting an Instagram takeover for Roundhouse at 11 for their #RoundYourHouse programme so need to make sure we are ready.
10 am
We grab a strong coffee with Oatly (we tried to make our own oat milk last week but it just wasn’t as good as the real deal), and film our first video introducing ourselves and explaining what we will be up to for the day for the takeover.
11am
We post the video, and then catch up with some quick emails. Unfortunately, we’ve just had confirmation that our whole summer tour will have to be postponed for a year.
This is our debut show that was commissioned by the Roundhouse and Applause Rural Touring network, with support for creation from FiraTarrega and Arts Council England. We were so excited about this tour, and have been planning and creating the show since last October, but now most of our time is spent trying to explore the logistics of what could be possible next year instead.
We were lucky enough to spend a week out in Spain working on our show with FiraTarrega (an arts festival in Spain) just before the UK and Spain went in to lockdown – we managed to catch the last flight home by the skin of our teeth!
11:30 am
We are trying to show everyone how we are staying creative in lockdown – normally we would work with juggling rings and balls, but now we are making do with what we’ve got around the house…
1 pm
We grab a quick and simple lunch. Usually some seeded bagels or homemade wheaten bread.
2 pm
We have a bit of chill time – I’ve been doing lots of knitting, as that’s always been a big hobby of mine, at the moment I’m knitting a cushion. Graham is doing some research for questions for a family quiz that we are hosting at the weekend.
3 pm
We film another video – this time demonstrating our multitasking whilst watching a bit of TV.
3:30 pm
We have a quick FaceTime with some friends. We think it’s important to stay in touch, as many of our friends are also circus artists who have lost all of their work and are also going through really tough times.
While there isn’t much anyone can do at this point, and we have to be grateful that ultimately we are safe and well, it can be comforting to know we are not alone.
5 pm
We do a quick(ish) workout plan. The weather isn’t very nice today so we fit in what we can in the living room. We are doing a circuit, with rounds involving handstands, press-ups and Graham lifting me standing in his hands.
We are trying to keep training as much as we can, but this can be much more difficult without proper space and equipment – before lockdown we were training a lot during the week at the Roundhouse and The National Centre for Circus Arts.
7 pm
We eat dinner. We are isolating at my parents’ house in Oxfordshire and luckily my dad is an incredible cook. We’ve been taking it in turns, but it is his turn tonight so we are having tomato and leek croustade with salad.
I’ve been doing a lot of baking in the past few weeks – so we’ve got leftover raspberry and polenta cake from yesterday for dessert.
9 pm
We’ve been doing different things in the evenings – sometimes we play board games or watch a film. Tonight we are going for a short walk to enjoy a bit of fresh air!
11 pm
We head to bed after inevitably spending too much time on our phones…
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/05/15/quarantine-routine-carys-graham-circus-artists-practising-home-12704712/
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