The Raft of the Crab - Munro challenge

My name is Ninon Noiret, I’m a French actress, contemporary dancer, circus acrobat and stunt performer from Brittany.
To sum up, I've been diagnosed with Cancer 3 years ago and made a show about it while I was in chemotherapy. This year I wanna make a longer version of the show to raise awareness about cancer. I'm doing this fundraiser to raise money for the creation of the show and for the charity Blood Cancer UK. I'm gonna climb one munro a week for 9 weeks with my puppet who performs with me in the show. to follow it:
insta: @minime_theraftofthecrab 
To read the longer version of my story , read further :)

I’ve done the National drama school of Bordeaux, finished my training in 2013 and have been working profesionnaly since then with many theatre, dance and circus companies such as: Théâtre du Rivage, Groupe Noces, Rêve de Singe, Philippe Decouflé, Théâtre du Phare…

I moved to Glasgow at the end of 2017 as I’ve always been close to the Celtic culture and music (coming from Brittany) and wanted to immerse myself in it.

On the 22nd of June 2018, my birthday, I learned that I had a tumour in my right knee.

Supposedly it was a bone tumour that would need to be amputated.

As a dancer and acrobat, this was probably the worst news I could have received. Even it if was possible, as it is now, to make fake bones and replace the missing one, the doctors told me I’d never be able to perform as much as I was used to doing. After the biopsy, we discovered it was in fact a lymphoma. A blood cancer. In my unlucky time, this was actually fortunate. The tumour had eaten my femur from the inside and apparently it could regenerate itself after 6 months of chemotherapy. Yeahhh.

After the 2nd chemo, I was on stage for a festival in Glasgow with my scratch performance « happy birthday/The Raft of the Crab ». Almost 3 years later, I want to return to it. To create a longer version of it. After my solo, some people said they finally understood what people they had known with cancer had gone through. Because while so many people are suffering from cancer, so many more are wondering what it actually feels like. What are their loved ones going through? What happens to them? This is what I’d like to raise awareness about. I want to show what a « survivor » as they say, actually survives and how sometimes cancer is not a fatality. No, sometimes you can end up stronger than you were before and ready to face all the shit that is coming to you. Sometimes.I am one of the lucky ones.

So that is why I want to return to my show. Only this time I won’t be alone on stage. I’ll be there with 2 fluffy friends.

The first puppet represents myself during the chemotherapy: a small puppet, a bit weak. People who have seen it have called it creepy, but really it represents what people are afraid of. And for me, it wasn’t the disease itself I was afraid of but the treatment: the chemo.

The second puppet is bigger, the size of a human adult. It represents myself before the cancer and is more like a dead weight, as my past self no longer exists.

The show is called The Raft of the Crab, influenced by Gericault’s painting: The Raft of the Medusa.

The crab being the cancer, obviously. The raft is represented by my Chinese pole, which is what I do in circus. Acrobatics on the pole.

Both of the puppets and I will climb the pole and dance together.

They won’t be used traditionally, they won’t be treated as sacred objects on stage. Instead, they can fall from the pole, die instantly and then be brought back to life. Everything is possible with them, everything is possible on stage.

As the bigger puppet isn’t finished yet, I decided to go on an adventure with the other one: Mini Me (also she is smaller so I quite appreciate that). And so I am doing this fundraiser to raise money to create the show. Because a show requires so many things.

First, I need to pay for the creation of the puppets. Gavin Glover made Mini Me and is halfway through making « Biggy Me ». After that, I’ll need money for the creation of the show’s music, as well as hiring someone to direct it as I can’t be the writer, the performer and the director… Next up I’ll need a producer if I wanna tour (and I do wanna tour!) and get some festivals interested in the show. Then there’s the props, the costumes…All of this requires a big amount of money that I don’t have. 30% of the money made will go to the charity UK Blood cancer: https://bloodcancer.org.uk

So I’ve decided to climb Munros with Mini Me. Munros are Scotland’s highest peaks. The ones that are higher than 3000 feet. Munros are named after Sir Hugh Munro (1856–1919), who made this list of hills, known as Munro's Tables.
I will go with her on my back to climb the Munros, to speak to people directly and explain what I am doing. I will share my journey on Instagram, post some videos, pictures and some information about the Munro of the day.