“Getting your head totally covered in a plaster cast – with only two holes for your nostrils. Ugh!” Location: Montreal, Canada at Cirque Du Soleil headquarters.
Racheal Cogan is one of my bandmates in the Cirque Du Soleil show at the Sands Venetian in Macau, China. She was nice enough to let me post pictures of her head casting today.
Cirque keeps a head cast of every stage performer’s head (that’s why they call it a head cast, see how smart I am…). That way if they ever need to make a hat or headwear in the costume shop they can just refer to the head cast and work on it at the headquarters in Montreal, Canada.
I had heard about this and was really looking forward to having my head cast. I just thought it was cool to know my head was sitting at Cirque headquarters. But since music directors and assistants don’t get to go on stage, I don’t get a head cast (Boo hoo!). Several of our band members have gotten head casts in case they have to go out on stage and wear something exotic.
I’ve heard it can actually be a frightening experience. You are entirely covered with only two little nostril breathing holes. Every once in a while someone has to have them take it all off and start over because it’s an overwhelming feeling. I thought I had read that one out of 6 have to start over, but in our crew of 75 artists there was only one that kind of freaked out (and I know them personally so I won’t mention any names).
And now I present to you:
THE CIRQUE DU SOLEIL HEAD CAST
(Photos and notes by Racheal Cogan. Thank you!)
This is how it begins, getting your head covered with plastic, and the edges stuck with sticky tape. My hair is wrapped in glad wrap.
Now my head is getting measured. Craniology/Phrenology eat your heart out.
Now the pink goo goes all over the back of my head. This bit feels kind of nice.
Cotton wool on top of the pink goo. We’ve both got pink stuff on our hands to take home a small memento. It is pretty amazing material. That is the nice person who took these photos for me.
Now the plaster on top of the goo and cotton wool. This first half is fine. Although I feel a bit unbalanced as the back of my head feels really heavy and like it is all going to slip off. It’s also getting quite hot under it all.
Vaseline on the hairy bits of the face like eyebrows and eyelashes to protect them from being ripped off.
The pink goo is now all over my face. They are making sure that I have two holes for my nostrils to breathe air! At this stage I can’t see anything (of course), or hear very much. I can breathe, but the feel of anything near my nostrils is making me antsy.
Pink goo covered in cotton fluff. I thought the cotton fluff was the plaster, so I thought it was all just about over. Then I am told that after two minutes we will begin the plaster.
I had to hold one of their hands because I started feeling a bit claustrophobic. Amazing, you wouldn’t think it could feel so scary.
Now the plaster is going on. It took a while, but I was feeling a little more relaxed. Amazing how much better I felt after holding someone’s hand for a minute or two.
Finally it is about to be cut off. It was really getting stuffy and hot. All you can really hear is your heart beating and your own breath.
All done in one hour. There is my head in the pink. And I am so glad to be free! Those two women doing it were so sweet and nice to me.
All this because I wear a hat as part of my costume!
**Thanks again Racheal for letting me post the pics. Very cool!