Ariel

Long long ago in a land far away, after winning a competition for the Australian Chamber Orchestra to workshop this mad ensemble piece I wrote whilst studying under the fab Australian composer, Matthew Hindson, a few further musical adventures followed and I started studying composition at Sydney Uni. For about two weeks. Strangely, I wanted something a little different from the last eleven years of school (and my melodic dictation was depressingly crap) so I wholeheartedly threw myself into continuing learning Irish Gaelic, which I'd smartly decided to take up when I was supposed to be studying for my final school exams. I was a bit too studious though, and ditched uni entirely when I found out I'd learnt more Irish in six months than I'd ever learn sticking to the course. The rest really is history. I finally ended up in Ireland for good in 2000 and basically have had the maddest trip ever since, encompassing everything from working as an Oompa Loompa, Rainbow Fairy and Fire Monster (though conveniently not all at the same time..or even gig..), various nightclub adventures with drag kings and queens and angle grinders, a TV documentary (I think they were connected), enough stiltwalking to almost get me back to Oz, art and circus skills workshops for schools, one art exhibition (more stilts..), way waaaay too many kids' birthday parties and balloon poodles, a seriously scary and stressful stint as a public representative (and I thought working with fire was dangerous!), an even briefer stint as a TV presenter, and well loads of other adventures in between. (In between loads of translation to be precise..)Current artistic projects include the development of my troupe of Celtic Warrior Stiltwalking Djembe Drummers, Na Fomhóraigh, into a fully-fledged street theatre production, with the kind assistance of Údarás na Gaeltachta. Our walkabout show now includes a scripted piece in Irish with choreographed swordfighting action drama (!) and is due to launch in Connemara and Daingean/Dingle this May. A slideshow of the production can be viewed at www.flickr.com/photos/nafomhoraigh.The troupe of fire artists I brought together late last year, Prometheus, is also coming along really well and we're working on a great routine for this summer too. You can check out some of the other stiltwalking/fire etc gig pix and my artwork in the pic link as well.So there you go. I was going to be all cool and minimalist and only say a little bit, but this was more fun..and in lieu of something better to end with, Choose Happiness.