Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Update The Cirkus Wishes you a Spectacular 2007. May Every Day Be A Cirkus Day! This winter you can find the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus all over New York! This spring and summer we are offering some exciting new programs, including the first-ever Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Summer Camp at Snug Harbor--save the date! Check out www.bindlestiff.org<http://www.bindlestiff.com>for other upcoming programs and events. This Update Contains: * Bindlestiff Family Cirkus comes to Snug Harbor, Staten Island 2/10/07 * Bindlestiff Family Cirkus at BAM, Brooklyn, NY 2/23/07 * Buckaroo Bindlestiff Comes to Rhinebeck, NY 2/24/07 * Seeking Youth Acts and Stage Crew for Cavalcade of Youth * Bring the Cirkus to Your Town This Summer * Juggling workshop with BFC co-founder Keith Nelson * Save the Date for Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Summer Camp * Bindlestiff Family Cirkus on DVD * Letter from Hovey Burgess, Chairman of the Board * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Bindlestiff Cirkus Cabaret comes to Snug Harbor, Staten Island Saturday, Feb. 10, 2007 at 10 pm Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Cabaret at Staten Island Underground Theatre Festival VMH Playhouse, Snug Harbor Cultural Center 1000 Richmond Terrace Staten Island, NY Tickets: $15 The Underground Theatre Festival boasts an interactive murder mystery, Kill Me Again, Sam; an indie rock band, Dead Rabbit; the edgy and seductively suggestive Bindlestiff Cirkus Cabaret; plus the musical cult-classic, Reefer Madness! Festival admission includes an open bar sponsored by Martini Red. The festival runs all weekend, but the Cirkus is one night and one night only. Visit www.snug-harbor.org for more information. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Bindlestiff Family Cirkus at BAM, Brooklyn, NY Friday, Feb. 23, 2007 Bindlestiff Family Cirkus at BAM Cafe The Peter Jay Sharp Building 30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, NY The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus will be hosting and performing in association with Galapagos Art Space at BAM Cafe. Visit www.bam.org for more information. More details coming soon. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Buckaroo Bindlestiff Comes to Rhinebeck, NY Saturday, Feb. 24, 2007 at 11 am. Buckaroo Bindlestiff's Wild West Jamboree Rhinebeck Center for the Performing Arts, Rhinebeck, NY Tickets are $5 for kids, $8 for adults. All seats go on sale at the door one hour prior to show, and are general admission seating. Show is approximately 50 minutes long. Buckaroo Bindlestiff's Wild West Jamboree gallops into the Rhinebeck Center for the Performing Arts at Rhinebeck Saturday Morning Family Series! Join Mr. Pennygaff and Miss Philly for a boot-stompin' romp thru the Wild West. Learn how many cultures mingled on the plains to shape America as we know it. Marvel at precision target whipcracking, dandy rope spinning, knife throwing, fancy gun spinning, and even a mini-rodeo! For directions and general information, see: http://www.centerforperformingarts.org/direct.htm * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Register Now for Cirkus Skill Workshops in Hudson, NY April 9 to 13, 2007 Spring Vacation Cirkus Skills Workshop For Youth Only! Time and Space Limited 434 Columbia Street Hudson, NY Bindlestiff Family Cirkus co-founders are offering a week of circus skill workshops for youth in Hudson, NY. Visit www.timeandspace.org for registration and more information. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Seeking Youth Acts and Stage Crew for Cavalcade of Youth Bindlestiff's Cavalcade of Youth is currently seeking young performers and stage crew (up to age 18) to participate in the Spring 2007 Cavalcade of Youth. This is our fifth year of this fantastic variety show for and by youth—register now to participate! If you would like to be a part of the Cavalcade of Youth, contact Viveca Gardiner at viveca@playfulproductions.com. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Bring the Cirkus to Your Town This Summer We are currently booking the 2007 Bindlestiff Family Cirkus and Magic Hat Summer Variety Tour. We will be touring mainly the eastern United States in June, July, and August. If you know of a great venue or festival in need of a visit from the Bindlestiffs, e-mail Stephanie at stephanie@bindlestiff.org. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Juggling workshop with BFC co-founder Keith Nelson January 16th, 23rd, and 30th (Tuesdays) at 6 pm Empire Dance 127 W. 25th St. 11th floor $20 per class Want to learn to juggle? Having problems going from three balls to four? Ready to run away with the Cirkus? Keith Nelson will be offering three juggling workshops at Empire Dance this month. For more information, www.empiredance.com * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Save the Date for Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Summer Camp This summer the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus will be offering a two-week day camp program at Staten Island's Snug Harbor Cultural Center, where children can learn circus skills like juggling, balancing, acrobatics, clowning, physical comedy, and stilt walking. Save the date! July 30–August 10, ages 7 to 14. Details coming soon! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Bindlestiff Family Cirkus on DVD. For over ten years the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus has been presenting its unique blend of Circus, Sideshow, Vaudeville, and Burlesque. You can now take the Cirkus home with you. Produced by Alan Plotkin this documentary highlights the travels, trials and evolution of the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus. DVD IS NOW AVAILABLE. Bindlestiff DVD can be ordered by sending a $23 payment to Bindlestiff Family Variety Arts, Inc. PO Box 1917, New York, NY 10009. DVD is also available online: www.bindlestiff.org/merch_media.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Letter from Hovey Burgess, Chairman of the Board Dear Friend, Everyone loves the circus. And like anyone who's seen the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, you know it's something special. Not a big-top spectacle or an otherworldly fantasy, Bindlestiff is different kind of circus—its offbeat sideshow sensibility and genuine, homespun charm make it utterly unique. Imagine a small tent, intimate and personal, where anything can happen, from the shocking to the sublime: This is the essence of Bindlestiff. As Bindlestiff's Board Chairman, I have had the privilege of witnessing the Cirkus's remarkable transformation. In the years I have known Bindlestiff's founders, Stephanie Monseu and Keith Nelson (Philomena and Pennygaff to their fans), I have seen them grow from a young couple eating fire in downtown clubs into a formidable pair of performers fostering the growth of an entire community of variety artists. The Bindlestiff Family includes circus stars of all stripes—clowns, jugglers, acrobats, aerialists—plus saucy burlesque dancers and sideshow freaks, cowboys and contortionists, Blue Bunnies and Red Bastards, magicians, musicians, puppets, pirates, and more. . . . What these performers all share is a passion for creating moments that transport people beyond the everyday. It is Bindlestiff that brings them together to make such extraordinary moments happen, and it is fans and friends like you who make this possible through your continued support. As Bindlestiff continues to bring its signature shows to audiences in New York and beyond—highlights of 2006 included performing in a 19th-century Spiegeltent in lower Manhattan and touring to 24 cities in the U.S.—we are now expanding our focus to mentor the next generation of variety artists. Over the last year Bindlestiff has forged new partnerships, teaching circus skills to local kids at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and clowning and physical comedy to students at Wagner College, Staten Island. And Bindlestiff's Cavalcade of Youth has found a long-term home at the Henry Street Settlement in Lower Manhattan. Expanding our programs into teaching and outreach is a tremendous development for the Cirkus, but we can't do it alone! It is only with help from our friends and fans that we are able to carry out the exciting work we have ahead of us. I hope that you will continue to show your support of the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, first of all by coming to shows, and also by making a tax-deductible contribution today. By helping pay for props, publicity, space rental, insurance, gas, legal fees, and other rising expenses, your support will enable us to carry out our mission of keeping the American variety arts tradition alive. Thanks in advance for your help—I'll see you at the Cirkus. Sincerely, Hovey Burgess Board Chairman Bindlestiff Family Cirkus * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Tax-deductible donations can be made at www.bindlestiff.org/donate.html or by sending a check or money order to Bindlestiff Family Variety Arts, Inc., PO Box 1917, New York, NY 10009. Bindlestiff Family Variety Arts, Inc. is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization devoted to the preservation and evolution of the variety arts. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Bindlestiff Family Cirkus PO Box 1917 New York, NY 10009 1-877-BINDLES www.bindlestiff.org