If you’ve ever been to a weekend show at Plaza Mariachi, you’ve probably seen Grace Good spinning hula hoops and playing with fire. But like many Nashville artists, the local circus performer is temporarily out of work due to social distancing rules.
As part of WPLN’s new series “Dispatches from Quarantine,” Grace Good tells us about how she’s now entertaining from home.
I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with this strange time, and I love performing. I love entertaining a crowd. It’s my passion.
On my birthday, which was on April 5, I — a couple days before, I posted on my neighborhood app, if anyone wants to watch a circus show, I’m going to set up in the neighborhood and put on a show at 2:30 in the afternoon on a Sunday. So, I went, I put a big circle around and I did hula hoops, I did fire, I juggled, I put on this awesome show. We had about probably 30 neighbors come out, families, kids, everybody was far, social distanced away. Nobody came close. I mean, everybody was so excited. They were roaring with, you know, clapping, laughter. It was amazing. It felt really, really good to have — to entertain again.
On top of that, I’ve been doing live shows — on my Instagram @gracegoodcirque and on my website, gracegoodcirque.com — live feed shows on Friday nights at 6:30, live from my backyard. And I’ve been doing acrobatic stunts, fire dancing, hula hooping, anything that I can do. It’s about a 15- to 20-minute show, and I’ve had a lot of people tune in. It’s been really fun, and it’s keeping my spirits high. And I want to keep the spirits high of everybody else. I truly believe people still need to be entertained.
This story is from our series, Dispatches From Quarantine. We want to hear from you about your unique experiences during the coronavirus pandemic. Record a voice memo and email it to [email protected] or go on our app and leave a voice memo there.
Samantha Max is a Report for America corps member.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM