What: Victoria International Buskers Festival
Where: Seven downtown stages -
• Two at the Inner Harbour, one near Humboldt Street, one near Courtney and Wharf Streets
• Fairmont Empress lawn
• Government Street between Yates and View
• Langley Street between Yates and View
• Bastion Square
• Bay Centre, centre court on lower level
When: Friday, July 19 to Sunday, July 28
Performances start between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Friday.
Between noon and 9 p.m. July 20 to 27
Between noon and 5 p.m. July 28
Admission: By donation
For performer information and program, go to victoriabuskers.com
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The life of the busker? Not always easy.
Just ask Alex Elixir, a comic juggler performing at the Victoria International Buskers Festival. Asked if he’s ever been injured, the Victoria busker — whose real name is Alex Urquhart — silently held out a hand.
“You can see I have sort of a funny knuckle here and a bump on this side,” said the 54-year-old, who’s busked on the streets of Victoria and Vancouver for three decades.
The injury was a result of a “very dangerous, death-defying” trick in which Urquhart was hoisted high into the air on ropes at Granville Island in Vancouver. He’d attempted a fancier flourish because fellow performers were watching. Urquhart toppled head downwards and whacked his hand and foot on concrete.
He couldn’t work for four months. He no longer does that trick.
Originally from Nova Scotia, Urquhart — a familiar sight on Victoria’s lower causeway — was an itinerant fruit picker before landing his first busking gig in 1982. He and a juggler pal were hired for a stag party in Vancouver’s West End.
They were elated. But the duo was less thrilled when partiers insisted on screening a pornographic movie during their act.
“We were like, ‘OK, what about the porno?’ So they said, ‘We’ll turn off the sound.’ They killed the sound. So we did this show in front of three [actors] like, having sex.”
It was an inauspicious beginning, but Urquhart and his buddy ran out jubilantly with $150 cash. Soon, they were busking on Granville Street for Christmas shoppers. Urquhart liked the life and never looked back.
He says for buskers, the hat-pitch is all-important.
A rookie busker asks for donations at the end of his show. The professional busker makes his hat pitch before the grand finale — giving the crowd time to absorb the idea that a donation is appreciated. That way, you get more cash.
“You want to set up that finale,” Urquhart said.
And Urquhart has a flashy finale. A man from the audience is asked to ride a tricycle between Urquhart’s legs. The man wears a helmet with a lit wick, which sets Urquhart’s “bum on fire.” Then, a female audience member is asked to put out the flames by spanking his posterior.
“It works really well,” said Urquhart, who will reprise the stunt for the Victoria International Buskers Festival.
The festival features about 75 participants, from mime artists to fire jugglers, dancers, puppeteers, plate spinners, musicians, human statues, hula queens and contortionists. We caught up with a few of them:
The U.S.A. Breakdancers: Founder Julio (Klown) Santiago was raised in the Bronx, where he started to breakdance as a 12-year-old. In 1984, Santiago was featured in the film That’s Dancing! with Gene Kelly and Sammy Davis Jr. He has also performed with Cirque du Soleil.
The U.S.A Breakdancers have performed on the busking circuit for more than a decade. He and his dance-mates, also from the Bronx, offer a “high level of b-boy skills,” says Santiago.
He is a large man (“I’m the fat guy”) who still finds performing gratifying. However, it doesn’t get easier as time passes. “It’s difficult,” says the 45-year-old. “I’m not only heavier, but I’m older, too.”
Dawn Monette the Golden Statue: Victorians have seen Montreal-born Monette busking downtown. Sporting gold clothes and golden makeup, she pretends to be a statue. However, a tip will spur the Golden Statue into action. She does “contact juggling,” in which a crystal ball is rolled across her body, giving the illusion that the ball is floating. The 32-year-old’s most impressive feat is rolling the sphere behind her neck onto her back. That difficult trick took three years to perfect.
Monette finds satisfaction in providing passersby with a break from their busy routines. “I can really appreciate just giving them this moment outside of themselves,” she said.
The Mat Velvet and Charlie Show: Martin Varallo and his wife, Dominque Major, perform acrobatics on a giant metal ring.
Varallo says a highlight of their show is “seeing what can be done with a 100-pound metal wheel.”
A high point of their career was meeting Sting while performing a show called Pomp, Duck and Circumstance with Cirque du Soleil in Berlin. Impressed, the rock star asked the couple to perform at his home in Florence, Italy. This was during creation of his live album and concert film … All This Time in 2001.
“We spoke to him a lot. … Lots of stories. Great person. Lots of respect,” said Varallo.
Mesmerizing Mermaid: Victoria’s Hilarie Ann Higgins dressed as a mermaid and played accordion at the Inner Harbour for eight seasons. We asked her the trick to holding a street audience with no visible legs and one single fin.
“[It’s] the splash of the wow in the now. Let’s participate, this is unique, the energy flowing brightly. It’s whimsical, a visual dance of colour, form and movement, an auditory connection of sound that connects at the heart level,” said the Mesmerizing Mermaid.
Mike Dada the Balloon Dog: B.C. native Dada, who has performed in 35 countries, twists balloons into the shapes of pop-culture figures. And he tells “high-quality family fart jokes.” Expect latex replications of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Elvis Presley, Homer Simpson and Amy Winehouse.
His most elaborate balloon creation?
“I once made a 25-metre airplane for a shopping mall in Dubai. It consisted of more than 10,000 balloons and took five people three days to complete. It was the largest airplane balloon ever built,” Dada said.
“The beautiful thing about my job is that everyone can relate to the experience. Regardless of age, language or cultural differences, people enjoy the seemingly impossible act of taking something as delicate as balloons and manipulating them into art.”
