…To give them something new –that’s a personal artistic feeling, big time. Living in San Francisco, we’re so isolated – isolated in a pool of freedom. It doesn’t feel like there’s any restriction so our biggest consideration is – where do we go next?

And so begins my interview with Mike Gaines, who, along with his wife Shannon, are the creators of the Vau de Vire Society. Mike opened the door to his house in a white Vau de Vire ‘wife beater’, and we made our way up the stairs to his kitchen. After giving a bit of love to Joker, their dog, I sat down at the kitchen table and made certain that the fancy recording device I borrowed was working while Mike started making coffee.

I’ve known Mike for about four years now, and if I remember correctly I was introduced to Vau de Vire Society by a friend named Whitney who thought they should be a part of The Dresden Dolls DVD shoot which was supposed to take place in San Francisco, but due to outside complications, didn’t. C’est la vie.

Mike was my first “in person” interview, & I learned more about him and Vau de Vire in that hour than I had in four years – and my appreciation for him and what he does, as well as the immense effort that he puts in to making Vau de Vire Society so incredible has grown exponentially.

I’ve had the pleasure of performing with Vau de Vire Society on a number of occasions over the years, and it is an honor to share this interview with you, bringing you a bit closer to the magick behind Vau de Vire Society. There's a lot missing due to my crappy transcribing skills, the death of my computer and deadlines, but still - I hope that you enjoy it…

~ kSea flux

Okay, first things first. Tell me about how Vau De Vire Society started.

Vau de Vire started in Colorado, in a 100 year old, 13,000 square foot church that we bought in Ft Collins. We saw this beautiful building, got it, and started doing fund raisers. Vau de Vire was created by wanting to create thematic shows, where we set a specific premise for the night, launched the evening with a show that supported the theme that people had to work from for the rest of the night. It did a lot to break down walls, give people a dialogue to work with, and everyone came in costume. The show supported the fantasy world for the night.
From the first one, Shannon choreographed a dance scene, & we even hung people from the rafters of the church and swung them around before we knew anything about legitimate aerial circus performance! We had about 30 performers, all just our friends – Vau de Vire was born out of that group that would put together the shows that supported that evenings theme, and then it continued – monthly shows, bi-monthly shows – that was in ’98, ’99 and lasted over a period of about two years, but unfortunately we ended up being limited by a bunch of things that had to do with the church and holding sizable events there, such as permit processes, that one person whose grandmother was baptized in the church who now was the head of zoning and planning, and said – and this exactly what happened – that we need to give them $50,000 to put into a fund in case they ever need to upgrade the street due to the increased traffic… the scrutiny from the conservative bureaucracy was just too much, especially in a church, so we opted to leave Colorado.

They’re not “Performers for hire”. They all work together, it looks fluid because it is. It’s well choreographed to a certain

regard, but most of the time it’s really just about the interactions between the performers themselves on stage. The thing that turns me on and I think reflects to the audience is how they’re reacting to each other, how they’re engaging each other on stage. They believe in it too, which makes it easier to convey the truth via dance and performance – it’s not making things up, they’re doing what they believe in.

Personally, when creating shows with Shannon I think “Wait, we’ve done that before – but we’ve only done it once before”. I think if you ask audience members, nostalgia is a big thing. Bands play the same song over and over, and the audience really digs it - it’s tough sometimes to consider that instead of think “oh shit, we’re doing something that these people have seen before”. That’s a personal artistic feeling big time, probably more than anything – any kind of redundancy that’s one of the biggest things.

It’s difficult – every time we get on stage to create a new environment, to give them something new.

Q: Creating a new performance every time – yeah, I understand that. There’s something said with keeping it fresh. Bands can change songs a little bit for shows and still the audience recognizes them, but what you do is much more visual. As of yet, they can’t buy a Vau de Vire CD and go home to play it all the time and sing along with it. Where do you get your inspiration to keep creating new pieces?

The inspiration to keep perpetuating the Revolution is provided by my friends and community, it’s all around me...i’m engulfed in it on a daily basis. A lot of the time Shannon and I are inspired by music, like in the Dresden Dolls collaborations, presenting stage interpretations of their music/lyrics, sometimes conveying them literally, or sometimes more metaphorically or out of context…fully depends on how the music moves us and what we’re trying to say through movement and characterization with our performers – what do they do, what are they capable of doing, how do we work that into a contrived show – sometimes on the non-romantic side the inspiration for the show is what their talents are, what are they capable of doing and how do we work that into a show.

As far as content is concerned, historical past, making reference to from the past – I’ve never felt a kinship to that. I don’t know why I feel like I’m plagiarizing if I’m making reference to anything. It’s kind of strange and I don’t know why – I haven’t analyzed that yet.

As far as inspiration is concerned, it’s first and foremost within the community. I like seeing things that I haven’t seen before – it could be using the typical circus apparatus, but doing something completely new with it, using it in a way that is completely new.

Sometimes content comes from political references, like our Naughty Militia show. Taking some serious content, but showcasing it in a digestible way. Personally it seems like that is the easiest way to affect people, making it acceptable right off the bat, entertaining them, but leaving them feeling something deeper, perhaps something that they don’t even consciously notice.

So essentially the atmosphere that you’re able to create is a result of making it more of a playtime for them, letting them thoroughly enjoy it. You offer an outline, a story line of what you want to create, work with choreography, but to a large degree let the performers you work with go out there and have fun, instead of something rigid. You let them go out there and be themselves, and that fun reflects on what the audience feels.

Definitely. They’re given a character, and given a theme for the show, and it’s always specifically blocked, so there is certainly a structure – but the magic you see is them believing in the character, loving each other, and not hesitating at all, because they know that if they’re conveying their

character, then it’s going to come off so real, so loose. I think you touched on a point as well that it’s giving the artists some leeway to play around and to develop their own styles, and also I think that it gives them an opportunity to showcase themselves through their character. The audience sees a comfort in it.

Q: In your productions, you have a certain magic where you are able to make what people see look so simple, so organic. I know better, but what’s the trick?

They’re not “Performers for hire”. They all work together, it looks fluid because it is. It’s well choreographed to a certain regard, but most of the time it’s really just about the interactions between the performers themselves on stage. The thing that turns me on and I think reflects to the audience is how they’re reacting to each other, how they’re engaging each other on stage.

They believe in it too, which makes it easier to convey the truth via dance and performance – it’s not making things up, they’re doing what they believe in. Personally, when creating shows with Shannon I think “Wait, we’ve done that before – but we’ve only done it once before”. I think if you ask audience members, nostalgia is a big thing. Bands play the same song over and over, and the audience really digs it - it’s tough sometimes to consider that instead of think “oh shit, we’re doing something that these people have seen before”. That’s a personal artistic feeling big time, probably more than anything – any kind of redundancy that’s one of the biggest things. It’s difficult – every time we get on stage to create a new environment, to give them something new.

In the shows, I think the dance choreography that Shannon does really ties everything together as well, makes it more into a story. Not just going from circus trick to circus trick, but more of a show, more fluidity.
Sometimes we don’t have the opportunity to create the whole backdrop, and dance really helps create the environment, helps create the show itself. Shannon’s choreography and its whimsy really is a huge part of Vau de Vire Society.

Okay Mike – you’ve been at this a while, and you are undeniably on top of it. What are some of the most valuable things you have learned?

Wow, most valuable things… loyalty, loyalty to family, and family right now being a pretty big group, sixty person plus immediate family… there’s also the business side of things, how to stand up for what you believe in, definitely the rights of the artists – I produce events and I’m also an artist, so I think I have a well rounded view on production in that regard.. there’s a lot of things…

 
The importance of being able to regroup, of being able to step back and take a look at the whole thing and where you’re going with it – are you still satisfying yourself and everyone else around you? Are you providing that stage to satisfy everybody’s artistic wants – it’s a difficult process tying it all together, but it’s well worth it.

I’ve had the honor to work with you a bunch of times, and as a result have probably seen more of your shows than many. What I admire is that your shows, because of the fun the artists are obviously having, always bring the audience into them, making it feel like they’re more a part of the show instead of just simply watching it. It makes the fantasy you create a lot more tangible, more real for them. 

That’s nice. That would be all that we could hope for, actually touching people, and that’s great – that helps build a community, I think. The most satisfying thing to me is getting more people involved in the family, the community, and part of the foundation of it – fun-loving respect.