Stilt-walking puppet handlers impress even the tiniest audience members
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As the flamingo puppets and their stilt-walking humans — members of the Dragon Knights performance group — enter the grounds of the Orange County Fair from their backstage area, adults pull out their cellphones or stand in awe of the colorful articulated puppets.
Some of the children in the crowd reach out as if hoping to touch the puppets, while others keep a tight grip on their parents as they cautiously look up at the nearly 10-foot tall walking giants.
Performer Brandon Wagner, 31 from Los Angeles, is 6 foot, 3 inches tall and adds 3 feet to his height when using the stilts, or “pegs,” as he called them.
Wagner said that when auditions opened for the troop he thought it was a great opportunity to elevate his stilt-walking skills.
“This is all experimental and this is what excited me about Dragon Knights. I trained with them in San Diego for a couple of weeks,” Warner said.
Costa Mesa resident Cathleen Sweeney said she found the stilt-walkers delightful.
“They just have an enchanting little performance. They’re engaging the audience, which is fun. And at the same time, they’re making it interesting,” she said.
Performer Matt Zimmerman, 33, of Los Angeles has honed his skills on stilts since he first tried them in 2006 in Texas.
After moving to California he worked at Universal Studios as a performer and stilt walker, in addition to his gig with the Dragon Knights. His 6-foot 6-inch frame increases to 9 feet, 6 inches when he’s on stilts controlling the flamingo puppets.
The founder and creator of Dragon Knights, Lili Noden, notes with pride that fair visitors run to the performers when they spot them entering the grounds.
“They love it,” she said.
Noden, from a small town in France, founded Dragon Knights because she wanted to create a unique performance style in America. She’s been designing pieces for stilt walking for more than 30 years, she said.
“Each piece I create is unique,” she said. Her group has from five to a dozen or more performers, depending on the complexity of the show.
Erena Yoshida, 24 of Irvine, said it was her background in gymnastics that led to becoming a stilt walker. A petite woman, she found she enjoys temporarily being 7-feet 10-inches tall.
“I came [to Dragon Knights] as a replacement for an acrobat but then they asked me if I wanted to try stilts. When I tried it, I really liked it,” Yoshida said, “so they put me in as one of the main for the pneumatic stilts. It’s a different view and I feel amazing.”
The sold-out 2021 edition of the O.C. Fair comes to a close Sunday.
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