Bet You Didn’t Know: Coach Jen!

Hello everyone and happy Monday!

You think you know your coaches! Gee, I thought I knew everything about our coaches, but boy was I so wrong! A few weeks ago I teased that we would have some coach blogs coming out soon and the day is finally here! Our first blog is with Jen, Studio Director and Cyr wheel extraordinaire! Get ready to be impressed!

What is your name, position, and how long have you been working at Akrosphere?

My full name is Jennifer Lee MacQueen. I am the Head Monkey Wrangler also known as owner, Cyr wheel coach, therapist, surrogate mother, psychologist, depends on who you talk to. 

What is your apparatus of choice?

Cyr wheel, or more commonly knows as the cry wheel. I have done some training on silks and rope. 

Why Cyr wheel over silks and rope?

Rope was much happier that silks, but Cyr wheel took over my life. If I have any time to train, I am going to do Cyr. As I got better, my time became more precious and that’s where I wanted to put all my time. 

When did you start training circus? 

(She laughs.) I started… ok… here we go. At age 2, I saw the Nicholas brothers in Stormy Weather and I told my mom that’s what I wanted to do. We found Bill Feney, who taught tap and acrobatics out of his basement (age 3). I had a love of tap and acrobatics until I started getting more serious about gymnastics. I was competing at the Elite level by the early 80s. In 1985, I blew out both knees. I was so upset! It happened just before the Chunichi Cup in Japan. So, I became dancer. I did musical theater and rhythm tap and ended up working with Nicholas brothers! I then decided to move to New York to work with master tap dancers before they died. 

Years later, it was time to have my kid, so I moved to Atlanta to be closer to my mom. Three weeks before giving birth, something felt wrong with my back. I went to the doctor and found I had 30 stress fractures in my back, ankles, and wrists. Then, my back broke! I wasn’t able to walk and I lost the use of my right leg. After five years, I was finally able to get back surgery, but I was told I would never be able to walk again. So I said: challenge accepted! After much rehab, I was able to walk again, but I was told I needed to find something that would help strengthen my core. My leg was still giving out, but my arms worked, so I started taking silks. I was 40 or 41 at the time. In two months I dropped 36 pounds, all due to circus training. 

Three weeks into silks, I met Bobby Cookson. That started my love of Cyr wheel and it’s been a part of my life ever since. 

(Jen takes a break here to say) Tawni is flossing right now. Let the record show. 

Breaking my back started circus. And I’m so happy it did. I never intended to open a studio, or take Cyr wheel. I was going to do musical theater and it just took over my life…. YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD!!!! I had one leg that didn’t work. 

What was your first circus job? 

For my first Cyr performance I was terrified because the floor was terrible. It was an ice rink! Not with ice, but it might as well have been. There was a very shiny and highly polished floor. When I was warming up, the Cyr wheel slipped out and I landed flat on my stomach. I couldn’t do any part of the act I choreographed. I ended up making it up as I went while still trying to hit all the musical cues. It was fun, but scary to not be able to train your apparatus and for Cyr wheel, the floor is half of the apparatus. I had been performing all of my life with gymnasts and dance, so I was used to being in front of people, I just didn’t want to eat it! The performance was Dante’s Inferno. I was the third circle of hell: gluttony and addiction. The people were so kind to get the floor so beautiful for us… it just wasn’t great for me.

Any difficulties in your training/working?

Life gets in the way of living. I’m a single mom running a business and many times I have just two hours for training. When I get those to hours, I then usually have to attend to other things!

The older you get, the less you bounce when you fall. Twenty year olds can get back up. For a 48-year-old, it’ll take a week to get things working the way I want them to sometimes. I just don’t recover from bangs and falls sometimes. 

I am not self coached, like many people would think. Coaching is crucial, and my coaches work in Montreal. They come down here, I go up there, but it’s not like having a coach in the room to see me and make a correction every single time. I also can’t get spotted, so there’s much more falling. It’s a big frustration, but nothing to be done about it. I send videos to my coaches, and if something is going wrong, that can help me not kill myself. I improve at a much slower rate. 

Despite difficulties, why do you love it?

I can’t imagine life without it. Somebody once told me that as an actor, if you can imagine yourself doing anything else, you should go do that thing. The same applies to circus. I do this because… I don’t want to say I have to, but I have to to maintain my inner level of happiness. I NEED my wheel if I’m stressed or if I have a bad day. It’s like a good dance partner, but less talkative. The Cyr wheel is my boyfriend—it does as many chores as a boyfriend, but listens better.

Words of encouragement for our students?

One of my coaches told me this and I laughed and didn’t believe them: the things you’re working on today will be tomorrow’s warm up. I never thought there was a day when coins would be an easy thing and now they’re part of my basic warm up. It’s hard, but it’s worth it. All the skills are just words. Once that word is in your vocabulary you can speak much more eloquently. You can express yourself and make others feel and experience. You work to build skills to tell a story to make others think and feel. AND THAT is worth all the work in the world. 

And there you have it! Did you know how hard Jen had to work to get to where she is today?! I had no idea! I already thought she was amazing, but I am looking at her with brand new eyes. Next up, a coach we all know and love: Tawni!!!

Catch you next week!

Mar