HALIFAX – As 17 performers put their best faces forward for the annual Halifax International Busker Festival, they want Halogonians to know there is more than meets the eye when it comes to busking.
Street performing, or busking, is one of the earliest forms of entertainment.
While it may look like fun and games, it’s harder than you might think.
Seth Bloom and Christine Gelsone have been performing together for seven years as the act ‘Acrobuffos’.
The couple describes busking as an art form that requires extensive training and discipline.
“All buskers take years to get their shows really honed, to get the crowd involved, to get them warmed up, to learn their tricks and to find all those little tiny things to keep everyone engaged in the show and laughing all the way through,” Bloom said.
“You slowly build it up. In the very beginning, nothing works and you slowly catch on and catch on. Suddenly a few years later, you have a show,” said Gelsone.
Buskers perform tricks, sing or do comedy in front of crowds. But they also have to keep them engaged, keep them entertained and, in the end, keep them there so they give money.
“It’s not like the theatre where you pay and there’s an audience there waiting for you,” said Mark Felgate, a busker from London, England. “You have got to keep people’s attention and once they’re there, you have to keep them there.”
Christine Edwards, event director for the busker festival, says buskers are highly trained performers who face more challenges than you might think.
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“It’s more than just having a talent. You really have to build and hold the attention span of an audience of 1,000 for 45 minutes and not have them leave,” she said.
For Gelsone, it all comes down to building an experience for the audience.
Organizers say the buskers will perform 300 shows during the six day event, which runs until Monday.
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