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The show goes on

Stephanie Macdonald
Northern News Services
Monday, July 2, 2007

IQALUIT - The show must always go on, and despite adversities faced by Iglulik's circus troupe, it did.

Sixteen year old Sheba Kublu sat on the sidelines as her peers from ArtCirq juggled, climbed, and contorted their bodies.

NNSL Photo/Graphic

Sheba Kublu, 16, sits with her crutches at the Aqsarniit Middle School gym as her peers practice for the ArtCirq show held June 26 in Iqaluit. Despite a broken foot, Kublu still performed in the show. - Stephanie McDonald/NNSL photo

In the group's final training session before leaving Iglulik for Iqaluit to perform in Alianait, Kublu had tumbled from the top of a three-person formation, breaking her foot.

"I fell and then, doom, boom, hard on the floor," Kublu said. She was immediately taken to the nurses station where she found out she had broken bones in her heel.

Under normal circumstances Kublu would have been medevaced to Iqaluit, but as the circus group had tickets booked on a plane to Iqaluit the following morning, the decision was made to wait until then.

"It was quite a long journey," Guillaume Saladin, founder of ArtCirq said. The usual two and a half-hour trip turned into a 12-hour journey, after the plane was rerouted to Kugaaruk. The plane had traveled from Iglulik to Hall Beach and had almost landed in Iqaluit before being forced to turn around due to bad weather.

Kublu said that the pain in her foot wasn't as bad as one would expect on such a long journey.

"The doctor said to me you don't have to join the circus, but if I'm careful I can," Kublu explained. Asked what role she would now play, Kublu mimicked blowing kisses to the audience.

Saladin said that the show would be adjusted so that Kublu would still play a part.

"What we try to show is what we are, the youth," Saladin said. "She still is that."

The doctor had said that it would take four weeks for the foot to heal, but only days after the incident Kublu was able to move it, which Saladin attributes to her acrobatic training.

There were 10 ArtCirq performers from Iglulik, one from Montreal, and Saladin in Iqaluit last week, ranging in age from 16 to 34. The troupe is well travelled, having already performed in Nunavik, Montreal, Hall Beach, and Dublin, Ireland.

Saladin said that they will be going to Mexico and Timbuktu, Mali within the year. "It's another desert, there's lots of similarities," Saladin said of Timbuktu and Iglulik.