Photo Flotsam 2023 cast, photo by Ben Hovland.

ABOUT FLOTSAM!:
FLOTSAM! is a troupe of musicians, circus performers and puppeteers traveling on a ramshackle raft, giving free performances in waterfront towns along the way. Since 2019 we have performed for tens of thousands of people across thirteen states and have travelled over two thousand river miles. Our tours have taken us from the Willamette River in Oregon to the Mississippi, and in 2024 we completed our biggest tour to date, traveling the entire Ohio River from Pittsburgh to Paducah over the course of seven weeks.

For 2025, we will be helping celebrate the bicentennial of the Erie Canal by traveling from Buffalo To New York City. In future years, we hope to bring our floating circus to the rivers and canals of Europe, and eventually all over the world.


ABOUT OUR TROUPE:

SARI BREZNAU is a music director, stage-craftsperson, and multi-instrumentalist known for her work with Future Fridays, Beats Antique, Cafe Nordo, Moonshine Revival Tent, Cherdonna, and the Singing in the Rain Family Choir. She was a long-time member of Seattle's beloved performance collective, Circus Contraption and trumpeter/percussionist in the Balkan brass ensemble, Orkestar Zirkonium. She is currently music director of the UP UP UP Crane Truck Circus, and composer of the interactive musical "Venus and the Vixens" which debuted in Seattle this year.
Sari Breznau on Instagram

TANYA GAGNE, pioneer, icon and innovator of punk rock circus and cabaret has been making genre-straddling work and performances in New York City and around the world for over 20 years. She is a choreographer, aerialist, teacher, dancer, writer, storyteller, emcee and comedian. Her neo-vaudevillian collaboration with Adrienne Truscott, The Wau Wau Sisters, began in NYC in 1999 and has enjoyed an Off-Broadway run, a sold out season at the Sydney Opera House, and four seasons at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival. Gagné is the founder and director of the Trapeze Loft and Big Sky Works in Brooklyn, NY. She is a long-time veteran of Circus Amok, the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, La Clique, La Soirée, Briefs Factory, and worked for three years on tall ships, sailing half way around the world.
www.tanyagagne.com

AMBALANCER is the performing name of Amber Gibson, a choreographer, gymnast, and balance artist from Taipei, Taiwan. She has studied circus since the age of 12 and is a recent graduate from the National Taiwan College of Performing Arts. Her performance skills have taken her all around the world, with engagements everywhere from Europe to Australia. As an educator, Gibson also organizes circus arts summer camps for young aspiring artists back home in Taipei.
Ambalancer

MIRIAM HACKSAW is a queer mixed Malayali-American fiddler, banjoist and rhythm bones player from the Pacific Northwest. Founder of the old time punk band Foraging and the Rattling Bones, Miriam currently performs solo, often collaborating with other street musicians live. She is known for reinterpreting tunes from Kerala, India, passed down from her Malayali family, and has appeared on Get Up In The Cool, Cameron DeWhitt’s Old Time music podcast. Miriam and her sibling Rye released a demo of pan-american fiddle tunes recorded during the episode. Her debut EP “The Lupine” will be coming out Fall 2024. You can follow Miriam on all social media platforms @miriamhacksaw
Miriam Hacksaw on Bandcamp

MATTHEW "POKI" MCCORKLE creates mesmerizing and surreal spectacle with balance, mime, magic, sleight of hand, comedy, elegance and an eccentric persona. Poki's award winning solo acts have been presented in Vienna, Nürnberg, and Berlin, and they have performed in Dubai with Cirque Éloize, one of Canada's leading contemporary circus companies. Poki also directs, creates, and plays in devised ensemble work for theatre and festivals. Recent projects include the award-winning surrealist physical comedies, Falling Awake, and Hotel Vortruba, and co-founding the UP UP UP Crane Truck Circus Show. Poki is a proud supporter of Clowns Without Borders, an organization which offers laughter to relieve the suffering persons living in areas of crisis.
www.mattpoki.com

SADYE OSTERLOH has been performing, dancing dorkily and being a giant ham since the moment she was born. She has been practicing movement and circus arts for the past twenty years, currently in Bellingham and previously in Asheville, NC as former director of The Toy Boat Circus School. Sadye has studied at the Circus Center in San Francisco and in Ft. Lauderdale with the world-renowned Eugene Baranok, and is a co-founder of the UP UP UP Crane Truck Circus Show. Whether performing with Bellingham Circus Guild or singing three-part harmonies with The Hot House Jazz Band, Sadye has a passion for sparking joy and laughter through partner acrobatics, trapeze and physical comedy. She delights in combining the ridiculous with feats of strength and skill.
www.dorkydancefitness.com

MATTY SEMKOWICH is a fiddler, puppeteer, bike mechanic, activist, carpenter, cook, and general remover of obstacles. After years of freight hopping and punk boat floating, he settled in Asheville, North Carolina, where he helps run the Recyclery Community Bikeshop and teaches cycling workshops for local youth. With Flotsam Matty gets up to mischief with our youngest crew member, Otis, during the performances, and watches over all of the crew the rest of the time.
The Recyclery on Instagram

KALAN SHERRARD is a slime mold who lives in a (w)hole in the ground with dozens of feral pups. As a street physicist, xE has toured post-philosophical puppet shows and Not-Happenings across Europe and the Americas. A student of Comparative Literature and Misunderstandings, xE also periodically lectures on Ontological Nihilist Cosmogony, granting PhDs to passersby. New York Magazine decribes xErr as "NYC's Most Avant-Garde Nihilist Subway Performer". Sherrard is the recipient of multiple grants from the Jim Henson Foundation and just completed a world tour from New Zealand to Portugal.
www.enormousface.com

JASON WEBLEY is a troubadour based in Everett, WA. Beginning as a street performer in the late 90s, Webley has built an international cult following with his songs and stories. Armed with an accordion, a guitar, a porkpie hat and a plastic vodka bottle full of pennies, he has performed in over forty countries and released a bunch of records. He is known for his work with the Welcome to Night Vale podcast and his long-time collaborator, Amanda Palmer. He grew up fantasizing about floating down rivers on rafts, and is a two-time winner of the "Boat Most Likely to Kill Pilot" award at the Camp Tipsy Rotten Boat Building Contest.
www.jasonwebley.com

FORMER (FUTURE?) CREW:

IRA ECHO is a violinist, dancer, street performer and music composer living in New Orleans.
www.iraecho.com

FERDUSOL uses tools of physical theater, pantomime, and contemporary dance to shape his distinctive clowning style. He has performed and given masterclass workshops throughout Mexico and the United States.
Ferdusol on Instagram

NAYANA FIELKOV is a Canadian based performing artist greatly dedicated to the work of play. She brings together the mediums of clowning, dance, mask and physical comedy. www.nayanafielkov.com

DREA LUSION got caught in a storm of mime, magic, dance and puppetry ten years ago and hasn’t escaped yet.  
www.thedreamtop.com

ERIC PARTHUM is skilled in diverse artistic expressions—he is an adept juggler, object manipulator, visual artist, dancer, and circus arts teacher.
www.figmentally.com

JUSTIN THERRIEN is a contemporary circus artist that hypnotizes audiences with a unique blend of object manipulation, mime movement, and traditional sideshow.
www.justintherrien.com



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