Holmenkollen 2010

On Saturday 13th and 14th March, Stella Polaris took to Holmenkollen for the ski jump competition. We have been in training for many weeks and now it was time to show what we had produced.

We have been working on various different qualities for this performance, using circus, dance, song, shaman and clowning. We were to produce small performances that would happen during different times of the day at the championship.

During this training, I have also had responsibilities with making costumes and props, this is something I grabbed with both hands to experience all angles of putting together a performance. The training sessions had been very much like the Christmas show training, except now we had various characters to work with.

CLOWN: I was very happy to be working with another in a clowning routine. We were to develop a new character that would welcome the public as they arrived at the ski jump arena. The entrance was a very steep mountain and we were to be stationed at various points to bring life to the public. I very much enjoyed this process for my new clown character, we were able to experiment with costume, props, movement and language. GRETA from Italy was produced and she was a feisty character but very much lovable. She had her friend ELLA from France and together they were a humorous duo. With larger than life's assets, they gave out free hugs and smiles to all the public 9Over 20,000 each day) that arrived to Holmenkollen. I was very happy with my character and the performance we produce with her, it was definitely a challenging role to be standing on a mountain in the snow for a few hours entertaining thousands of people that arrived. We even managed to get on TV too, yes Greta and Ella get everywhere!!

Unfortunately we weren't able to perform all our short performances due to location and the way the days ran at the competition. But with great management and direction we all adapted and put ourselves in the public and made close contact through walkabout scenes.

For me this was a very unique experience, to work with this great theatre company in an spectacular setting in a very high publicised event was something I may never do again. I developed a great new character, experienced the Norwegian skiing culture and felt like I worked very hard and produce great results.