A Night at the Circus - March 27, 2014

As soon as The Lord Mayor's Student Welcome had finished, we needed to start planning for the next big event, A Night at the Circus. Like some of our recent events, A Night at The Circus was organised in close partnership with AFIS and the City of Melbourne. Coming just five days after the Lord Mayor's Student Welcome, and involving many of the same volunteers and performers, it felt almost like a reunion.

Planning the event a few days earlier at The Couch

Key volunteers from AFIS and the City of Melbourne arrived early, at 3pm, to start preparing for the event. Jelly, Phil and Robin also arrived at 3pm to help set up and help assist volunteers unfamiliar with The Couch. Also present early was one of our newest volunteers, Shilpa, whom we first met only a few days earlier at the Lord Mayor's Student Welcome.

The need for a stage, and the numbers of guests involved, required the use of the Temple upstairs from The Couch. Chairs were set up by all the volunteers, so the Temple had an exciting feel, just like going to a stage show. After everyone had found their seats, the first performance started: The Journey, by the Jin Cheng Dance Group. The dancers emerged from amongst the aisles next to the audience, giving a very immersive feeling. Just as before, they did an incredible job expressing a story through dance.

After the dance performance ended our two MCs for the night, Joseph and Usman from AFIS, got on stage and welcomed everybody. They quickly left the stage to let a Circus inspired performance from other AFIS students take place: Going Back in Time. Antoinette, our charming and engaging MC from Carnifest, commanded the stage as she invited guests to volunteer for the chance to win movie tickets. It was a wonderful show involving gymnastics, tricks, comedy and audience participation.

After the AFIS students left the stage, the musical performances began. We were lucky enough to have three great singers perform for us. First on stage was Rina Benedictos. Her strong voice rocked through the Temple. Towards the end of her set, she noticed CJ, dressed up as George Thinkbefore, on the side of the Temple. She decided to bring him to the front, not knowing at the time that CJ was only just coping with the heat build-up inside the suit.

Nothing can go wrong...

Almost as soon as he was up there in front of the whole audience, under the stage lights, CJ could bear it no more, and did his big reveal. Luckily, it wasn't Mickey Mouse at Disneyland, or we'd be responsible for shattering the illusion for hundreds of kids!

Except this.

Gary appeared to be channeling his inner Joker...

As CJ was led offstage to cool down, Zimbabwe-born solo artist Quashani Bahd went on. She performed her own genre of music which she calls 'Reguglues'.

The final singer for the night was Czarina Lapus. We'd seen her both sing and model at the Lord Mayor's Student Welcome, and were reliably informed she was also regularly acting as well as being a full time Mum; it's enough to make anyone feel inadequate!

After a short intermission to let everyone stock up on food and drink, the next part of the night began with the quirky fashion display from Melbourne-based designers Black Sunshine Clothing, Von Chibi and Cherry Pie Millinery.

Von Chibi and Black Sunshine Clothing

Cherry Pie Millinery

Meanwhile, Eve, having arrived straight from work, heard we needed a replacement George due to CJ's heat exhaustion. Anyone who knows Eve will not be surprised that she immediately offered to take over and did a great job!

She didn't even lose her head until the end of the night

Or was it stolen?

It was a great night at The Couch, but it couldn't have happened without all the support of the volunteers. Not just from The Couch, but also from AFIS, and regular City of Melbourne volunteers, Pim and Mike! We even had support from new friends at The Couch in the form of the Monash University Chinese Club. To all these wonderful people, we say thank you, and hope to see you back at The Couch soon.

And of course, a huge thanks must go to Gary from City of Melbourne, Peter from The Couch and Joseph from AFIS for helping organise all this to happen. Finally, let's not forget the performers! Their great shows kept us all entertained!

The amazing and talented people who brought you A Night at the Circus

More photos in the photo album.