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A Rolling Stone: Living-statue performer travels the country amazing folks with stillness and quiet fluidity
Journal Photo by Jennifer Rotenizer
Clarence Sell of Walkertown finds that Statue Viva is indeed a living person after being drawn by the sight of her at the Dixie Classic Fair in Winston-Salem.
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Dixie Classic Fair 2008
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Published: October 9, 2008
To her left, the midway wails. To her right, grease spits off the Italian sausages and the "Fool the Guesser" guy drones his never-ending pitch to estimate your age, weight or month of birth. There are signs screaming Awesome Blooming Onions and McBride's Giant Turkey Legs. At the karaoke booth, a guy sings a half-hearted version of Patsy Cline's "Crazy."
Michelle Harrell is a serene sight at the Dixie Classic Fair, all in white, silent and still.
A breeze ruffles the silky drape slung over Harrell's shoulder. She shifts her arms, moves them smoothly like a ballerina in slow motion, then blinks and lowers her eyelids.
A "living statue," Harrell may be the quietest thing that you will see at the fair this week. She does not hawk. She does not shout or play music. She doesn't even have a sign.
Living statues are a common sight among the street performers of Europe and some tourist-heavy, pedestrian-friendly areas of the United States. Harrell started her career standing still as a living doll in California (complete with a steamer trunk), but today, she usually performs as a pure white statue inspired by classical, marble sculptures.
The transformation starts in her red tent. She sheds her sweatshirt and jeans for a delicate dancer's skirt and tights, and smears face paint over her cheeks and neck. Then she wheels her pedestal past Fried Food Row and the guesser's lavish collection of stuffed animal prizes. She pauses in front of the gazebo and lightly hops up on her stand.
Within minutes, there's a crowd aiming cell-phone cameras at her. They seemed to collectively hold their breath, watching for any twitch or turn.
Harrell reaches down, and lays her hands gently on white-haired seniors' fluffy perms. She flutters her fingers and blows kisses. She turns little girls in a dance. One man walks right by, not noticing her until she runs her hand through the top of his spiky hair.
"It's about time she did something. Well, there she goes," a man grumbled from his wheelchair.
Harrell slides her arms into another pose, and she's still again.
"Isn't she wonderful?" Gail Howell said. "It's just so fluid. Like a dancer."
"Is she real? I really thought she was fake," Harry Leake said. Maybe he should pinch her to check, he wondered aloud.
This has already happened to Harrell, who says she has been doing her living-statue act since 1994.
One time, one guy pinched her in front of his girlfriend, she said. And in Iowa, she fooled a teenager so well that he walked up to her as she was performing and slapped a bumper sticker on her chest.
Standing still by itself is boring, Harrell said.
"But if you stand still long enough to get their attention, to have them enjoy that you're doing something that is hard … then you put some flow in the movement, that makes it more interesting," she said.
"Basically it's about balance. To be balanced on this small space, you have to be solid, and you have to move from your center. You can't be so top- or bottom-heavy that you'll fall. So you're always thinking about your whole body, not just your feet being planted."
During her time off the pedestal, Harrell performs with her four trained poodles in "Michelle's Magical Poodles" dog show (also at the fair).
She is on the road for about six months of the year traveling to fairs and festivals, which pay her a fee to perform.
This is her first time at the Dixie Classic, but coming to Winston-Salem is something of a home-coming for Harrell. She lives in Pensacola, Fla., now, but she said she was born here in 1963. Her family moved when she was about 2.
For someone so good at standing still, Harrell's a wanderer.
After the Dixie Classic closes Sunday, she will be off to Raleigh for the N.C. State Fair, which will run from Wednesday through Oct. 26.
■ Laura Giovanelli can be reached at 727-7302 or at lgiovanelli@wsjournal.com.
If you go
Michelle Harrell, or "Statue Viva," will be at the Dixie Classic Fair through Sunday. She will perform about 11:30 a.m. today, 12:30 p.m. Friday, 2:30 p.m. Saturday and 11:30 a.m. Sunday.
If it is not raining, Harrell will be near the gazebo. If it is, she will be in the Joel Coliseum Annex.
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