On Working With What You Have... and Knowing When to Invest

9/26/2024 | Heidi Kirchofer

Category: circus, thrive movement studio, performance, lifestyle, movement, health, fitness, wellness

As artists, both Joel and I have always been highly DIY- from our sets, our equipment, our costuming - we tend to do it all. Being a native New Englander, my family taught me to be thrifty and I live by their “use what you have” philosophy, passing the skills down to my children. Both as an artist and human, it feels good to use things fully and creatively and be self-sufficient. For instance, I have put in thousands of hours on a pair of peg stilts that were donated to me years ago. This simple piece of equipment requires a stilt walker to invest stilt skills, building competency as both an artist and equipment mechanic. I’m not very particular about the stilts I use but I am very particular about having my straps in a certain place, I have also honed in on the height I like-I know how tall my stilts can be without sacrificing hi-fives for wee children and which size stilts fit the costumes I already own. With each different performance, with different needs, I have become more resilient and flexible in character and skilled in my craft.

This summer, a friend and I attended a Carpetbag Brigade acrobatic-stilt workshop in NYC. (If you don’t know about Carpetbag Brigade, please check them out on social media!) They use stilts that are 2’ high or less to pull off their complex acrobatic skills and transitions, so I threw a pair of my son’s stilts in the car and off we went. With this new acrobatic technique, I quickly found holes in my current stilt set-up. The rubber at the bottom of my stilts wasn’t enough for this class and the knee brace some stilts (not mine) have on the front would have proved quite useful! During class, I took a digger in a moment of inspired dance… and found myself inspired to look at some professional aluminum stilts, complete with a knee brace. After 22 years of using what I had, I found love in these new stilts! I purchased them from a small California based business called Stilt Factory. The aluminum is a little lighter than my lightest pair of wood stilts, the knee plate is a nice add-on for stability, especially if you plan to do work on the ground and the velcro straps have eliminated my need for duct tape, which is great. So while I could have continued on my wooden pegs I decided to level up my equipment and that in turn will allow me to level up my stilt dance/acro.

So what I’m saying is, be inspired by the kids in the Dominican Republic who play baseball so passionately and well with cardboard gloves; jump into the activity that interests you with whatever kind of equipment you find. No, I’m not saying to make your own lyra and hang it with bedsheets from a tree, safety is still a must! Just a reminder that you don’t need to dump huge sums of money on equipment in order to create, train, practice or find joy within your passion. Use the love and inspiration of your passion-get creative, be resourceful. As you grow with your activity, you’ll make better informed choices on what it is that you really need and areas you want to foster and invest in. <3 check out my IG playground video for some play and training ideas: using what you have!

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