Mr Banana, as he is popularly called, Pierick St Pierre, is an international juggler and stage/street artist, who has been performing acts for the past seven years in over 40 countries. Pierick was in the city to conduct a workshop on juggling at an event management academy in the city. A Canadian citizen, Pierick is also known for using physical comedy and circus skills like mime and rope-walking to entertain people across the globe.
Background
Pierick hails from a conventional Canadian family and decided very early in life that he wanted to travel around the world. He left home at the age of 16 in search of something he himself did not know at that point of time. He travelled all the way through America into Mexico and reached South America, all the while supporting himself doing odd jobs. In 2004, he accidentally landed up at a circus camp and was enamoured by the art of juggling and immediately got attracted to it. He perfected the art by practising with potatoes all night, while he was working at a luxury resort in America.
His journey
Gaining enough money and experience from the job, Pierick decided to visit his friends in Australia, breaking his journey in China for two months. It was at the Shanghai Circus that he perfected his art but finally implemented it as a street artist in Australia.
In Australia, he gained the skill to pull the crowd and conduct a street show. From there, he went on to Vietnam and worked in their national circus Le Zuan Xeic for six months, where his skills got technically honed and corrected. From there, he finally landed in Goa in 2008 and fell in love with the place and culture. Now Pierick lives in Goa from December to April every year, as it is the festival season there.
Festivals
He has accidentally performed around the world in many festivals including Charlevilles Puppet Festival, France, Tarrega Performing art festival, Spain, Collision Art Festival, Malaysia, Freemantle Art Festival, Australia, Theatre Spektakle, Zurich, Macau Fringe Festival and our very own Mood Indigo Festival and India Fest, Goa. He believes in sharing his talent and has also performed and taught at countless orphanages and has done many fund-raising events for different causes. Apart from solo performances he collaborates with dancers, musicians, theatre groups, clowns and musicians as he continues to thrill thousands across the globe.
The art of juggling
He says, “I see myself as a multi-talented person on the move and someone who creates an experience on the spot by attracting the attention of people. On stage, it’s all about being a stand-up artist emoting with the audiences, sharing their moment and entertaining them spontaneously. It’s a lot psychological than one thinks and demands focus, control, concentration, balancing, confidence and multi-tasking.” He says that this form of entertainment is much better than television as it is interactive, spontaneous, free-flowing and engages the audience instead of making them a passive viewer and he wants to create as much awareness about the art form as possible.
Indian culture
The culture of circus and street performance has always been in India. He says, “Indians need to say yes to life and go ahead with what their heart says without bounding themselves to conventions and they would be great at stand up performance if they practiced.”
Pierick lives in India for five months every year and would love to settle down in Goa, but is unable to due to the seasonal nature of his art form.
happy in his world
Currently travelling with his musician girlfriend, Pierick St Pierre at the age of 26 has achieved a lot in life and says he is quite comfortable and happy with the way his life has been going on till now. He signs off by saying, “I love what I do so much that Ihave worked for the past eight years and life has been just like a vacation. I have been incredibly lucky to meet the right people at the right time and I am extremely proud of where I have reached now.”