The Comedy/Varietè Artists

This is a partial list of the performers scheduled for 2010. More as they are confirmed.

jump to: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

	Aerialistas Visit website The Aerialistas are the original aerial girl gang! These inventive and skilled artists are dedicated to bringing glamour, excitement and flirty fun to aerial performance. Poppy Daze, Lillian Dish, Viola Sugarlump, Lucy Rose, Maxine Meringue, and Opal Divine, will indulge your senses with an act so vibrant it is reminiscent of the 1920 Zeigfeld Follies. Enjoy yourself, as The Aerialistas serve up a heaping slice of sweetness and delight. Powerful Sexy!
	AerLift Visit website AerLift is a spectacular one-of-a-kind yearly show presented by the aerial community to raise funds for organizations working with populations in extreme poverty. All of the performers and staff donate their services in a spirit of love and support. This year show proceeds will benefit The Mountain Fund, an organization working to eliminate poverty, its causes and symptoms, in developing mountain communities throughout the world. Please click on the blue link above this paragraph to see their site and read more about their good work.
	Al Simmons Visit website In the tradition of the great comedy kings, Danny Kaye, Spike Jones and Jimmy Durante comes Al Simmons - a man dedicated to the all but lost art of combining comedy, with song, dance, magic, sight gags and of course bad puns. His costume-and-prop routines have often been the most popular and talked about act in theatres, concert halls, and at folk, children's and other festivals across North America. We’re interested to see just how many props he carries with him to Seattle. He once told me that he had worked out the math as “About seven pounds per laugh.”
	Amanda Crockett Visit website Amanda Crockett started clowning alongside her father at age 9, learning the delicate art of making people laugh. Since then, her pursuit of the perfect blend of circus and physical theatre has taken her around the world. She is a gradutate of the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre and has had the good fortune to train with some amazing circus and physical comedy teachers across the globe . She is a gifted comedian and internationally recognized artist, taking in the stage at venues including La Bauta in Venice, Italy, Shanghai's Oriental Arts Center, the Moscow International Circus, Cirque Voila, the Edinburgh Festival and the Tasmanian National Circus Festival. Amanda is incredibly inspired by the clownʼs brilliance and creating work that combines physical comedy with high-level acrobatic, object manipulation and aerial skills. She brings comedic performance to a new level, making movement into poetry and pulling laughter out of thin air.
	Anesidora Stunning manipulation of physical reality by a mere mortal or are her powers of a higher order? Experts disagree.
	Baby Gramps Visit website According to an article in the special issue City of Music in Seattle Metropolitan Magazine, Baby Gramps is acknowledged as one of the top 50 most influential musicians in the last 100 years along with Ray Charles, Jelly Roll Morton, Ernestine Anderson, John Cage, Bill Frisell, Jimi Hendrix, Quincy Jones, The Wailers, The Ventures, Sound Garden, and Pearl Jam. He is credited with making Seattle audiences aware of old blues and novelty songs that the rest of the world has mostly forgotten. Baby Gramps toured England and Ireland a little while back as part of the Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys CD Concert Tour with Tim Robbins (actor), Martha and Rufus Wainright, Jenny Muldaur (Maria and Geoff's daughter), Lou Reed, The Watersons, Martin Carthy and Eliza, Suzanne Vega, Ralph Steadman, and many other internationally known performers. The Rogues Gallery CD, produced by Johnny Depp and Hal Wilner in connection with The Pirates of the Caribbean film, landed Baby Gramps on the David Letterman Show. Baby Gramps is a high energy humorously entertaining performer with an endless repertoire. He plays an acoustic antique National Steel guitar and sings his own unique arrangements of rags, jazz, & blues songs from the 20's & 30's and many originals with wordplay, humor, and throat singing. And ... he's one of ours, ... always has been.
	Bellini Twins Visit website Their mother was a trapeze artist in The Bohemian National Circus. She was, as they say, a real swinger. Therefore this next act came to see the light of day as one of nature's most unusual experiments. These twins are from the same mother but have different fathers. Please welcome,,,, the Bellini Twins
	Booby Trap Players Performing Variety/comedy sketches both new and old, with humorous twists … the Booby Trap Players, no doubt have fun surprises planned for this year’s festival.
	Brent McCoy Visit website For the people who are familiar with Moisture Festival, I have to say ... Brent comes pretty highly recommended: one publication referred to him this way: "charming, sweet and very talented...Bob the Builder meets Avner the Eccentric." and a familiar name in Seattle got our attention when he said this about Brent: "..one of the best integrations of skill, character, and concept that I've ever seen." Rod Kimball of the Flying Karamazov Brothers. His image is one of a hard working blue collar vaudevillian wielding tools. What could possibly go wrong?
	Canote Brothers Visit website The Canote Brothers from Seattle, WA, are as renowned for their affable attitudes and humor as they are for their music. Greg on fiddle, and Jere on guitar, and both on banjo ukes, perform zany concerts, play for dances, lead songs and promote a good time! You might know them from their thirteen year stint on NPR radio with Sandy Bradley's Potluck. But here's what a fan and blogger (www.nerdseyeview.com) Pam, said about the mood that the Canote Brothers evoke: ... "Can I tell you how much I adore those wacky Canote Brothers? Can I? In ties that are nearly as wide as their smiles, you head on back in time to an era of high waisted trousers and crank start automobiles and never mind that you're in the basement of a rather swanky and expensive music store, it's all back porch when those boys swing. Golly gee whiz, did they bring the wholesome tunes and the big smiley times."
	Cathy Sutherland Cathy is one of the original Daring Deviante Sisters, a skilled acrobatic duo with an odd sense of humor who brought a new element to the blossoming New Vaudeville scene in the 1980s. Active in several areas of Seattle’s performing arts community, she contributes by singing, dancing, teaching, acting, and performing aerial and land-based acrobatics. Cathy’s acting and comedy skills have enhanced shows she’s performed in with the Flying Karamazov Brothers, Theatre Schmeatre, the UMO ensemble, Printers Devil Theatre and the Royalle Famille DuCaniveaux. She’s also worked with local film makers Greg Lachow and Rob DeVor. Cathy has taught elite – level gymnastics in the Northwest for over 25 years. This Daring Devianté's stunning résumé and curriculum vitaé suggest that she’s an artisté in the fields of Varieté, comedé, dancé, and aerialé as well as a backup singer for one of the sexiest singing ensemblés to ever get their enjoys on a stagé. Add to all of that the fact that Cathy is one of the central organizers of this festival and ... well, if you’ve noticed a spark of bright energy that seems to illuminate and hold together the disparate variety of Varieté shows that make up the Moisture Festival you now know one of the important lighthearted reasons.
	Chantall Visit website Born into a show biz family on the other side of the Berlin wall, Chantall formed her own sense of style as she trained to be a contortionist. When the wall came down she brought her act into the exploding European Varietè scene. Chantall's stage sparkle called for something more and she developed several acts that allowed her to show her several talents. Comedy magic, cabaret singer, show MC, producer ... she's come a long way to get wet with the rest of us at this year's Seattle Moisture Festival. Chantall!
	Charlie Brown Visit website If you catch Charlie Brown off stage and you and he have the time, try to get him to tell you a story of his travels. Some of the experiences themselves would be of interest with anyone’s telling but hearing Charlie tell it would add a comic edge that’ll transform it into a jewel. Recognized among jugglers as one of the finest cigar box jugglers in the world, whether it's blazing torches, balls, top hats, broadswords or machetes on his double high teeter-board, Charlie delivers the goods! He has many skills to wrap his stage presentation around but it’s the man himself who entertains us most.
	Checkerboard Guy Visit website In one of his more recent blogs, The Checkerboard Guy (AKA David Aiken) quoted Yoda, the Jedi Master: “Do or do not. There is no try.” This is an appropriate reference coming from the "Go anywhere, do anything comic daredevil" Checkerboard Guy who is an active and renowned member of the art form that Moisture Festival celebrates. His many websites (he's consolidating as I write this) tell several remarkable stories of life in the changing lanes of 20th and 21st century street performing, cruise ship performing, symphony performance, stage performance and even a frightening event at a nudist camp show. This will be David's first Moisture Festival performance but we're sure it's going to feel like coming home.
	Doc & Stumpy Doc And Stumpy celebrate the golden age of the vaudeville and burlesque routines that are often forgotten these days. They have been surprising audiences in Las Vegas and Hollywood with their performances in recent years and this year they'll be a part of the revival of interest in these arts here in Seattle.
	Dr H P Lovecraft Master Magician, Medicine Man, Prestidigitateur, Conjurer, Witch Doctor, Wizard, Alchemist, Herbalist, Secular Humorist, Parapsychologist, Master of Tai Klown yo-yo, Certified Public Oracle, Rain-Maker, Ghost Breaker, Soothsayer, Time-traveler for fun and Prophet. The San Francisco Examiner said "The funniest one-liners in town: he's a cross between W.C. Fields and the Wizard of Oz." That's heady company for a humbug. Better still, he has this quote in his publicity "I HIGHLY recommend your hilarious act as being ideal for pure family fun. Yours is, far and away the FINEST and FUNNIEST .... anywhere. --Knott's Berry Farm. If you are going to be recommended by a berry farm, Knott's is the one you want to be doing it. We're thrilled to have this legendary character join us this year.
	Dr. Calamari & Acrophelia Visit website The good but creepy doctor and his cool-skinned lover are remarkably nimble for those who teeter on the brink of life and death. Dr. Loligo Calamari and Acrophelia (A.K.A Jason Williams and Evelyn Bittner),.members of Circus Contraption, project a surrealist dream as they perform effortless and stylish acrobalancing and macabre dance movement.
	Duo Madrona Visit website Former lab partners and biology graduates from Haverford College in Pennsylvania, life partners Rachel Nehmer and Ben Wendel came to Seattle to explore their passion for trapeze. Working, training, and teaching within the town’s aerial community honed their skills and they presented their luscious program under the name Curly Burly. They’ve moved to New Zealand and traveled a good bit but made a point of returning to Seattle for the Moisture Festival in years past. This year they took their new name and performance to Paris’ Festival Mondial Du Cirque de Demain (the prestigious Circus of Tomorrow). Not the first thing that many would think to do with their college degrees but … well, here’s what Ben was quoted saying: “Circuses can be escapist on one hand, with bizarre characters enacting fantastical scenarios, while fundamentally human on the other, tapping into basic emotions.”
	Elizabeth Rose Visit website Elizabeth, an Austin native, co-founded a dance theater company when she was still in college. Realm dance project lives on in Texas while Elizabeth went on to work and train in dance and the aerial arts in New York and out West. She is a member of the spectacular Aerialista troupe as well as being a solo artist . Her aerial work is referred to as having "high sensuality ... stunning articulation ... with emphasis on artistry above spectacle ..." She has recently founded ticktock -- a post-modern circus for contemporary audiences. Elizabeth teaches beginning trapeze, mixed aerial, choreography, yoga and other life skills.
	Eric Newton Visit website Eric Newton is an accomplished performer, actor & acrobat, making his second appearance at the Moisture Festival. Based in Los Angeles, Eric performs solo, duo and group aerials, ground acrobatics and character driven comic acts as a free-lance artist and with Eye of Newt Circus, which he founded in 2002. Eric is currently performing in the Cirque du Soleil collaboration with magician Criss Angel, Believe at the Luxor in Las Vegas. He has performed across America and internationally with Cirque du Soleil (Quidam); Cirque Eloize (Cirque Orchestre); Neil Goldberg's Cirque Dreams; and Teatro ZinZanni (most recently as the bumbling Ringmaster and high flying trapeze soloist at Pacific Place). Last year, Eric choreographed and performed as young Canio in the circus interlude in an acclaimed production of Pagliacci at the Seattle Opera, which the Seattle Times declared, “spectacular”! In film, he had a principle role in Ron Howard's The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and he, along with the entire Eye of Newt Circus, did acrobatic stunts for The Polar Express. Recent television credits include the Taurus World Stunt Awards, choreographed by Jacques Hiems (Diavolo, KA) and CBS’ Secret Talents of the Stars. He trained trapeze, rope and hand balancing with Chinese master Lu Yi at the San Francisco Circus Center, Cirque du Soleil and Cirque Eloize (with Jacinthe Trembley and Kristof Sorojenski) in Montreal. In acting, clowning and dance, Eric trained with American Conservatory Theatre, SF Mime Troupe, Ringling Bros. Clown College and SFSU. His innovative shows in Los Angeles and beyond have earned him acclaim (Dramalogue Award) and recent profiles in the LA Weekly, on news shows on KNBC in Los Angeles and KOMO in Seattle.
	Foolz Visit website Two performers: one outwardly calm, the other wound tighter than a spring. If there is a dim-witted innocence about them, it's because their childlike charm permeates their world, placing them in situations where something almost always goes wrong. Veterans of film, television, radio and the stage, Dapper Dane & Woodhead have performed for audiences on six continents. Their new show, "FOOLZ", is a character-driven amalgam of theater, music, comedy and juggling that visually demonstrates the power of cooperation between performers with vastly different dispositions.
Photo by John Cornicello	Frank Olivier Visit website When he was a kid growing up in Berkeley, California a performance troupe set up on a lot not far from his home. This group had the whiff of counterculture about them and Frank and his friends rode their bikes to their show every single day and ... well, frankly, he caught something. The group was headed up by Major Chumleigh and included an act called The Flaming Zucchini. The boys were thrilled when they came to the realization that those two characters were, in fact, being portrayed by the same mad man, Michael Mielnik (later known to the world as the legendary Reverend Chumleigh). Chumleigh (to his personal shame) had inspired a young boy to turn to a life of juggling. While the straight world lost whatever contribution that young man might have made (we'll never know, but some are nonetheless relieved) the performance world gained one of the funniest juggling acts to ever play a flaming guitar on top of a tall unicycle. Frank developed his unique offbeat brand of humor in San Francisco's comedy clubs. He was soon sharing the bill with Dana Carvey, Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, and others. New York producers spotted his talents, and quickly signed him. He performed his act for the next three years in the Broadway hit show 'Sugar Babies'. Olivier has a growing number of television appearances including The Tonight Show, Comic Strip Live, and shows for PBS, HBO, BBC, Disney and more. He also headlines Las Vegas, comedy and theater festivals, and performs countless corporate shows.
	God's Favorite Beefcake Visit website Okay ... I'll tell you what, click on that link above that will take you to their MySpace page where you can hear the music for this strange Circus Contraption connected band and then YOU try to write words about them.
	Godfrey Daniels Visit website Last year Godfrey was invited to Paris where he (and his close and equally silent partner Randy Minkler) were invited to present their act on the world's premier Varietè television show, Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Mond with Patrick Sèbastien. A remarkable sign of recognition and respect for a Seattleite whose most spectacular skill seems to be catching the big red balloon that he tosses. Does none of this make sense to you? Have you never seen Godfrey do his thing? OOoouuuu I wish I was you. He delights us over and over but what a joy to be seeing him for the first time.
	Hat Trick Visit website What a pleasure to welcome these guys to town! Between them, they have many years in the business ... the business of juggling. We will see some comedy and clowning around but we're also going to see some of the sweetest juggling around. When asked what I should write in this place, they called what they do "high level b.s." ... breathe deep, that's the smell of juggling success.
	Hokum W Jeebs Visit website Vaudeville was a familiar sight across America until the Great Depression. These traveling troupers have mostly been forgotten and little evidence of their passing can be found. But the tradition lives on in the unlikely and delightful form of Professor Hokum W. Jeebs, a vaudevillian reincarnated. Hokum W. Jeebs is a one-man musical theater. Out of his trunk emerge such eccentric instruments as toy piano, saw, tuba muffler and snorkel. He sings and plays from an amazingly eclectic repertoire that ranges from classical warhorses to obscure popular songs and good old American ragtime. Hokum’s perspective on music is stylish and witty. His wild comic imagination, deadpan delivery and broad knowledge of the vaudeville period, has delighted audiences across the continent and around the world. Wherever he has performed, he has left in his wake a steady stream of giggles, grins and guffaws.
	Horse Crazy Cowgirl Band Visit website As one of their friends mentioned in a letter posted on their website, they do the things that they sing about in their songs. Horse Crazy Cowgirls sing and swing and have good fun on stage and off stage they are likely to be found ridin' and ropin' and ranching along with the tunes they hum. They have a legion of fans among those who live that life and we're pretty darn sure that our Seattle city friends are going to love seeing and hearing them in the context of our vaudeville Varietè shows on a fun night.
	Iman Lizarazu Visit website Iman Lizarazu is a world-class entertainer, juggler and physical commedian. People who have seen Lizarazu on Bay Area and International stages already know the Santa Cruz resident is a unique performer. As a classically trained ballet dancer, mime and circus clown, she is a jester and a fool, in the best old-world sense of the words. Her background includes a wide range of comic disciplines from circus arts to commedia dell'arte. Also a talented, extremely creative, fine artist, Iman's artwork has been displayed at many local galleries and museums.
	Jack and Jeri Kalvan Visit website Jack & Jeri Kalvan say that the key to a happy marriage is being able to throw things at each other. But that might only work well if you’re both as able to catch and return with equal skill. Jack and Jeri teach teamwork skills to companies and organizations illustrating with their amazing and odd skills (like synchronized flowerpot manipulation). The secret of working together is revealed while they are onstage and it can be more fun than you had imagined. This is their first Moisture Festival and it’s already clear that they'll fit right in.
	Jan Damm Visit website Jan grew up in central Main and began performing at age twelve juggling at children’s parties and events. He studied clowning with Maine residents (and Moisture Festival semi-regulars) Avner the Eccentric and Julie Goell. Jan earned an economics degree from Bard College in New York where he simultaneously directed that school’s “Surrealist Training Circus”. After further training as a street performer Jan made his way to the San Francisco Bay Area where he studies and works in the lucrative fields of Rola Bola, clowning, juggling, trapeze and other endeavors designed to impress his economics professors.
	Jason Webley Visit website The Wikipedia entry on Jason Webley describes his music as a combination of folk, gypsy, and punk. It goes on to say that he quit his day job in the spring of 1998, hopped on a Greyhound bus with the intention of playing in the streets until his money ran out. Good plan ... busking is one of the more successful ways of unburdening one's self of an uncomfortable nest egg. But something went terribly wrong. Jason has now released five full length albums including one that the Seattle Times called "One of the best Seattle CDs of the year". With several collaboration albums as well and a loyal following he may not get to the find out just what happens when all of the money runs out.
	Karen Quest Visit website Karen has lived many incarnations. In previous lives she has juggled clubs and balls, breathed fire and more. In this one she's a skilled western performer spinning tales, cracking whips, spinning ropes and cracking wise in the cutest cowgirl outfits you've ever seen. Moisture Festival is honored to have her return to our stages. A real treat.
	Kazüm Visit website Kazüm's mission is to push the boundaries of perceived limitations, inspire ourselves and others to actualize dreams and to create more joy and beauty in the world through the medium of acrobalance, adagio, stunts and imagination. Kazüm has been Portland's premiere acrobalance dance troupe since 2005. Since their inception they have collaborated with many of the most loved and creative groups in Portland's eclectic and dynamic avant-garde music and performing arts scene. Kazüm has established themselves as an integral part of Portland's art community, and continues to define the role of local circus in Portland's future.
	Kerri Kresinski Visit website Kerri has been performing for her entire life. She started dancing at age 3 and never stopped. Although her dancing has a foundation of classical and contemporary training, her style embodies an ethnic/urban feel with a twist of slinky funk. As an acrobat and aerialist she has trained at schools in California and Canada. Kerri has performed in the New Pickle Circus, Mtv’s “My Super Sweet Sixteen”, The Crucible’s Fire Ballet, and shows all over the world. She is a co-founder and performer in San Francisco’s world class, home grown group, Sweet Can Circus. She makes a living performing her aerial tissu and double straps acts, dancing, playing percussion, stilt-walking, hula-hooping, and teaching at the SF Circus Center. Kerri is known for her ability to physicalize emotion in her movement in the air and on the floor.
	Kevin Joyce Visit website Kevin is Creator and Host of the variety show Big Night Out on the Seattle Channel. With his wife Martha Enson he runs EnJoy Productions, which produces live entertainment for corporate and special events, as well as music, videos and leadership training, He was a Co-Founder of UMO Ensemble and a principal performer and Director of Teatro Zinzanni. An avid singer/songwriter, Kevin’s CD Say It is available on CD Baby. His daughter Ruby regularly pins him in wrestling matches. She is 7.
	Mr. Spin Visit website This will be his first year at Seattle's Moisture Festival. Mr. Spin is noted in the world of juggling performance for ... wait, let me let Reg Bolton say it: "The legendary Mr. Spin from Adelaide, Australia draws us in to his show, where in 20 minutes of high octane silliness, we can lose sight of the pure skill and hard work behind say, the 2 full metal baseball bats, spinning like propeller devil sticks on one hand each." We are all looking forward to this.
	Mud Bay Jugglers Visit website Masters of levity in several senses of the term. Mud Bay has brought their innovative approach to juggling for over 25 years now. They've passed some of their knowledge and experience on while passing clubs. They work to music or in silence but you won't miss the message. See what happens when drama, choreography and juggling create a flashpoint with the complex world of music. Still, as one member put it, "Even after 20 years, our best times are when the clubs just float in the air and we're not thinking about anything but the fun we're having with the people around us."
	Nanda Visit website The Nanda experience is a high-energy, unrelenting blast of action and excited humor. You will be enraptured by this dynamic show, a tidal wave of acrobatics, dance, juggling and crazy Kung Fu acro-fighting, which is tightly woven into an electrifying sonic soundscape. These four artists’ unique blend of skill acts and hilarious antics will reward again and again with their innovative approach to pure entertainment.
	Poppy Daze Visit website Poppy Daze (Lara Lee Rasberry) performs locally, nationally and internationally on a variety of aerial apparatus, including her signature anchor. She is the founder and director of the Aerialistas. Considered a pioneer in the rapidly-growing Seattle circus arts community, Lara has been teaching classes in trapeze, rope, fabric, hoop and invented apparatus for ten years. She and her fellow aerialists put on "aerLift" a yearly fundraiser for organizations working to help populations in extreme poverty. Lara is honored to be joining the renowned "Sweatie-Pies" this year at Moisture Festival. She is also working on a solo project, "Nonpareil."
	Quynbi Visit website On her MySpace page Quynbi lists her interests this way: .. aerial dance, SKYDIVING!!!, gogo dancing, collage, performance, costume making, glitter, feathers and shiny things, leather, chocolate, horses, vocabulary words, human anatomy, rock n roll, pinball, tattooing, high heels, makeup, painting, singing, weird poetry, cooking, drawing, dissonant classical music, rock climbing, doll making, modern dance, serial killers, figure skating, guitar playing, sewing, nintendo, things that can fly. What more can you say?
	Raspyni Brothers Visit website As one of the most sought after acts on the corporate entertainment scene, they appear annually at over 100 events across America and internationally. Since 1982 their intelligent mayhem has earned them two International Juggling Championships, multiple appearances on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson and Jay Leno, and a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
	Rebecca Leonard Visit website Rebecca, an aerialist and actor, is sought after for her strength and grace in the air. Her 15 years of experience in theatre and aerial arts has fueled her production of innovative aerial theatre shows. She has recently returned from the Shanghai Fringe where she performed in the media acclaimed show “Cognac & Sausages”, an aerial comedy. Her aerial performance can be seen in feature films: award winning Chicago and The Tuxedo with Jackie Chan. She choreographs and performs locally and internationally for many of the high level circus companies in Canada including Hangtime, Circus Orange, HighStrung and Anti-Gravity to name a few. At home on the ground and in the air, she brings creativity, professionalism and experience to any project she participates in.
	Red Wine Sisters Visit website From Santa Cruz, California, the Red Wine Sisters were spotted by Moisture Festival organizers while performing at an events entitled: Keep Santa Cruz Weird. They seemed to be helping greatly with that goal. Paula Bliss and Pipa Piñon have played music and shared wine together for over 20 years. You're invited here to share the pleasure of longtime friendship. Enjoy.
	Reid Belstock Visit website Reid Belstock began juggling at the age of 15, as a way of overcoming gross and fine motor skill impairment. Following high school, Reid went off to study with Ringling Brothers, and Barnum and Bailey Circus Clown College, where he learned the fine art of Slapstick and Physical Comedy. From that time, Reid has performed across the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, China and Japan . He has performed in almost every venue that exists, from Theaters, Theme Parks, Cruise Ships, Casinos, Colleges, Conventions, Street Performing Festivals, Comedy Clubs, and Hotel Review Shows.
	Rhys Thomas JuggleMania Visit website Whether walking up a stairway of blades, gliding along a slack rope, juggling pins, spinning crockery on sticks (for no known reason) or offering other circus-style feats Rhys Thomas’ climb-up, lay-down, stand-up comedy reassures us that he’s too smart to fall, drop, cut, or otherwise turn this charming performance into the catastrophe that he is continually skirting.
	Rob Torres Visit website Whether he's changing his clothes, setting the table, or just sitting down, Rob Torres has a unique way of finding absurdity in everyday tasks. His award winning international comedy has made Rob one of the foremost visual comedians in the world today. From New York City to Tokyo, Australia to England’s Blackpool, Singapore to Puebla, Mexico Rob seems determined to live up to his the description that has attached itself to him … Rob Torres: International Man of Mirth!
	Ron W. Bailey There are many people whose hard work and creativity makes the Moisture Festival happen but there is one without whom it wouldn't have been an option. Ron W. Bailey is an entertainer, band leader, singer, songwriter, and a Maker. He makes things happen. His visit to one of Berlin's two Comedy/Varietè festivals in the 1990s inspired this unique contribution to Seattle's musical and theatrical landscape. Ron's romance with Seattle began ... but wait ... let me allow Seattle songsmith Jim Page to tell it: "Anyway, in '74 along comes Rose and The Dirt Boys - they're out of Oklahoma and they just moved right in and made themselves at home. You could do that here in those days, it was that generous. Well, one of the brains of the dirt boys was Ron Bailey, or RB as they called him. A compact little Scotts Okie with a great voice and an unstoppable mind for invention. He began collecting talented friends. He became kind of a magnet around which a lot of interesting people revolved. When The Dirt Boys broke up RB went on to the Dynamic Logs - a band that was larger or smaller depending on the circumstances. And that's when things began to get real theatrical. Anyway, making long stories shorter ... The Royal Famille Du Caniveaux was born somewhere in there, involving strange shadowy figures in Spain and Paris and New York, and they all started going to the Oregon Country Fair. So did a lot of jugglers and magicians and dancers and singers and all the rest. The Flying Karamazov Brothers, Tom Noddy, Faith Petric. So It was a natural progression if you look at it that way. It just had to happen. And where else [but Seattle] could it have been?" Ron ... Seattle and the Varietè performers you've brought to this pretty city thank you.
	Run For Your Life! Visit website Run For Your Life!'s mission is to make people laugh. Their abstract comedy has no malice or agenda, and their satirical dances point up universal human (or non-human) foibles.
photo: Timothy Aguero	SANCA Visit website The School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts (SANCA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the mental and physical health of children of all ages, and is dedicated to serving students from all economic backgrounds by offering tuition scholarships. Seattle's premier circus school was founded by Executive Director Jo Montgomery and Program Director Chuck Johnson. By day Jo is a pediatric nurse practitioner, but at night moonlights as a circus arts instructor. Like many pediatric care providers, Jo noticed an alarming increase in the rates of childhood obesity and started the school as a creative and practical way to address the problem. Chuck's interest in circus began at age 10 when his grandparents took him to a circus show in Portland. Soon after that he taught himself to juggle and began gymnastics training. As an adult Chuck helped found the Cascade Youth Circus and has been involved professionally in circus, gymnastics coaching, stunt work and rigging. SANCA opened its doors in January 2004 with 5 students and a trampoline, but is now home to two trampolines, trapeze rigs, vertical ropes, a tumbl-trak, tight wires, unicycles, German Wheels, a million juggling balls, and lots of circus fun! The school offers classes in acrobatics, circus arts, aerial training, hoop, juggling and trampoline and even has a circus band for those more musically inclined. With over 500 students of ALL ages, and a satellite program on Vashon Island, SANCA proves that it's never too late to join the circus!
	Sara Sparrow
	Shayna Swanson Visit website Shayna Swanson has created and performed "truly heart-felt and creative" (Chicago Reader) aerial works for over 13 years. After attending Circus Maniacs (Bristol, England), intensively studing aerial hoop, trapeze and rope, Shayna returned to the States, to perform and teach with The Midnight Circus, Circus Smirkus, Cirque de la Mer, Zyngara, New Vision Cirque, Circesteem, The Lyric Opera, The Big Aerial Show, Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Voila and many corporate clients. In 2005 she received the Glenn P Davis Scholarship to the Aerial Dance Festival, rewarded every year for excellence in aerial choreography. That same year Shayna formed her own company "Aloft Aerial Dance" and, with a grant from the City of Chicago, produced the critically acclaimed full-length show "Rolling Blackouts". In 2006 her choreography was selected into the repertory of Thodos Dance Chicago and featured in the Best of Dance Chicago Showcase. That same year she was named a "Mover and Shaker" of the Chicago dance scene. Her work was also presented at the International Circus Performer's Gathering in Brattleboro, Vermont, and at many Chicago dance festivals. Shayna formed the Aloft Loft in April 2006 to provide a supportive and vibrant community training space for physical artists of all sorts. In the first year of its existence Shayna produced four full-length shows and interactive performance parties at the Aloft Loft. In the last year she was the aerial director for Willow Creek Church's massive "Imagine Christmas" production, performed in aerial hoop in Hong Kong and stilts in Shanghai, and thrilled thousands at events all over America!
	Simon Chaban Visit website Trained in Russian acrobatics since the age of six, Simon is a master performer in the circus ring or a cabaret stage. Born and raised in San Francisco, he chose staff manipulation as his primary art form, working in high level circus skills to develop an act entirely his own. Grounded in impeccable technique, inspired by music and movement, Simon has commanded the rapt attention of audiences across the United States and Europe. He performed with the America’s Got Talent, Paris Variety “Le Plus Grand Cabaret”, Switzerland’s Circus Monti, The Crucible’s Fire Ballet, and Pickle Family Circus. When not performing, Simon passes on his knowledge of acrobatics, teaching them that with dedication, nothing is impossible.
	Simon Neale Visit website Simon cuts an elegant figure as he hosts Moisture Festival shows in his Utilikilt and East End, London accent (modified to allow Americans to understand). Simon's sense of comedy harkens back to Music Hall and to the British traditions of "Panto". Relax, you're someplace else now.
	Smerdyakov Karamazov The brilliant vaudevillian, Ed Wynn, once said "A comedian is not a man who says funny things. A comedian is one who says things funny." As, variously, a solo performer (Samwise, Juggler Intraordinaire,) a founding-partner in the hilarious Laughing Moon Theater, and then one of the quartets and quintet called The Flying Karamazov Brothers, Smerdyakov (a.k.a. Sam Williams) had nightly views of laughing faces as he gamboled across stages offering his oddly twisted but clearly friendly point of view on events around him. Sam still lives in his hometown of Seattle and, when persuaded now and again to act as presenter or performer, he reminds us anew of that core attribute of a comedian of which Ed Wynn spoke. It's not an act, he thinks that way.
	Smirk! Visit website Physical comedian and maniacal goofball Reid Belstock and innovative juggling ace and straight man Warren Hammond have teamed up to bring you their hilarious and incredible new show, Smirk! Described as "A nicely matched pair of performers with a deep bag of tricks," by Juggle Magazine, their juggling and slapstick antics explode off the stage to fill the largest auditorium. Their work has earned them the 2009 IJA Silver Medal for ensemble work, as well as the Boulder Circus Arts Award in 2008.
	Terry Crane Visit website Circus artist and cordelisse specialist Terry Crane is a graduate of the national circus school of Montreal. Terry has been performing on vertical rope for 6 years. Recent experiences include a highly experimental contemporary circus show in Montreal, and a tour with Circus Starlight in Switzerland. In addition to his formation in circus arts, he is also a long time practitioner of contact improvisation, capoeira, and modern dance. He brings the variety of these perspectives to his performance and teaching. He is a leader in dynamic vertical rope acrobatics, and all of his work is infused with his fiercely individual, theatrical style.
	Tom Noddy Visit website Tom has done something unique in show business ... he created a new kind of act. When Tom Noddy first took his performance of Bubble Magic onto the Tonight Show in the early 80s (the first of 3 such performances on that show) Johnny Carson was able to say "He's doing something unlike anything we've ever seen." He used the attention gained by those appearances to initiate a series of "Bubble Festivals" at science centers across America and now in several European cities (he says that he knows a good bit about the physics of soap films but admits and he's funnier than he is smart). This has resulted in work for him and now for several other entertainers who've followed in his footsteps. Tom has recently returned from events built around his act in Scandinavian countries and great success on German stages and television shows. He's delighted to be gathering in Seattle with the collection of odd people who make up the peer group of a guy who blows bubbles for a living.
	Trixie Little & the Evil Hate Monkey Visit website Baltimore's Trixie Little and The Evil Hate Monkey are an award-winning, acrobatic burlesque superduo who have been making fun sexy and sexy fun since 2002. Described as "smart, funny and dumb in all the best ways", this talented twosome has flipped-n-stripped on "The Gong Show with Dave Attel," have opened for John Waters, are the winners of the 2006 Exotic World Best Burlesque Duo trophy and are regular late night fixtures in New York City, Baltimore and beyond.
	Velones Visit website The Velones: Martha Enson (founding member of UMO Ensemble and former performer and director with Teatro Zinzanni) and Cathy Sutherland (of the Du Caniveaux and the Aerialistas) have performed together in Mexico, Spain, and throughout the US. Now, direct from the streets of Barcelona comes this new vertical power act. Venga!
	Wang Hong Wang Hong’s name translates into English as “rainbow” and the spectrum of talents that she employs in her performance are as beautiful and delicate as that ephemeral play of light. She was raised in the cold, far northeast province of Jain on China’s border with the Soviet Union. At 10 years of age she started training as a gymnast but began her performance career as a dancer. She worked in North America with the famed Tandy Beal Dance Theater company and the New Pickle Circus under Tandy's direction and with the Cirque du Soleil company. Wang Hong has toured as an acrobat, a juggler and an antipodist (foot balancer): her presentation of an act employing those skills in the delicate manipulation of parasols has won for her the Gold Medal at the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain, the most prestigious award in the world of circus. Grace and strength combined in a performance unlike any you've ever seen.
photo by John Cornicello	zoom ----- Moisture Festival Volunteer Staff Visit website This is a cropped photo of a small fraction of the many volunteers that worked together to staff the Moisture Festival a few years back. Some of these friends will be back this year, some can't and will be missed. Other new friends will join us and work for the pleasure of being a part of this joyous event and a contributor to the laughter that is the real engine that makes this thing move. It's not clear to us how many in the audience recognize the fact, and there may even be some backstage who don't know it, but the organizers and the experienced performers know that the applause is shared with these partners. Thank you.