Can You Describe Circus in 5 Words?
It is difficult to sum up a whole art form in 500 words, let alone 5, but by streamlining our…
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Opinion
Statement from Circostrada in Response to the Open Letters of Jasmine Straga and Sosina Wogayehu
Once a year, as part of its programme of activities, Circostrada tends to organise a professional field trip outside Europe,…
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Why Performers Should Be on Your Hiring Radar for Off-Stage Career Opportunities
In the wake of job losses and setbacks for the circus sector due to the coronavirus pandemic, Projet Lumière has…
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Two Open Letters about the State of Ethiopian Circus
Two women connected through their life’s work with circus, Sosina Wogayehu and Jasmine Straga, have recently responded to Circostrada‘s report…
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Forget Buildings – Circus Tents are Ideal for Covid-Safe Shows
Big tops are being built up across the UK. With sidewalls raised and seats spaced out, tented circuses are resuming…
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Letting Things Be at the Zero Point– Quarantined Circus
As a circus artist based in the Netherlands, these are some of the observations I’ve made during this self-quarantine. They’re…
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On Racism and Representation
Like many others, Covid19 forced me to retreat into unemployed isolation at home. This period allowed me to reflect on…
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Don’t Let Our Cultural Heart Die of Covid Neglect
No one doubts that health, the economy and education are valuable. Culture, however, is having a harder time mattering to…
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Circus Risk Versus Coronavirus Risk—How Circus Prepared You For Hard Times
Risk is something circus people talk about constantly, but there is something private about it too. The risk is an…
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An Open Letter from Erwan Tarlet on Circus as a Political Art Form
Just over three years ago, Erwan Tarlet left his work to embark on an artistic career. He is 26 years…
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Art, Empathy and Crossing Borders: a Provocation by Yaron Lifschitz
The following speech is an edited version of a provocation delivered by Yaron Lifschitz at the 2020 ISPA Congress in…
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Stressful, Humiliating and Exhilarating – What It’s Like to Be a Circus Performer
Tensions are running high in the venue as the circus theatre students prepare for their upcoming show. Circomedia, based in…
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What Are Circus Audiences Ready For?
If I were to ask, “What is the purpose of art?”… What would we answer? Beauty? Catharsis? Social questioning? Expressing…
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How Circus Arts Helped Me Deal with Body Shame
After reaching my late-40s, becoming more visibly trans, having a child, and losing most of my employment prospects, I finally…
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How the Big Apple Circus Clawed Its Way Back From Bankruptcy
As the lights flashed and the music pulsated, I took a swig of Irish whiskey from my plastic balloon-animal dog…
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“Go Beyond the Stereotype”: A Thoughtful Discussion Regarding Gender, Binaries, and Contemporary Circus
“As a female base, I realized that by literally lifting people up, I could quickly change audience perception. I had…
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Les Femmes Sont-Elles des Clowns Comme les Autres ?
In her article titled Are Female Clowns Like the Others? circus artist, and author of the book The New Clowns: A…
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Making a Pitch: Why Circus Deserves to Be Recognised as an Art Form
Pitch’d Circus Arts Festival director Cormac Mohally of Lords of Strut tells Ellie O’Byrne why circus deserves to be recognised…
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Why I’m Sick of Politics Being Described as a Circus
Jon Sopel has a new book out this month – A Year at the Circus. But the BBC’s North America…
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Perfectionism in Contemporary Circus Arts
Similar to dancers and professional athletes (Hill, 2016), contemporary circus artists may score relatively high on the personality characteristic perfectionism. People…
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Considering Circus – Photo Documentation of Montreal’s annual Circus Festival
In the staunchly conservative, predominantly catholic German village of my childhood, we children eagerly anticipated three occasions each year: Carnival…
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Roll Up, Roll Up and Join Us at a Great British Circus Revival
I love the circus. I love it for the fun, the laughter, the sense of transgression. For me the never-never…
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TV Talent Shows: Raising the Profile of Circus or Killing Audience Development?
Shows like America’s Got Talent, The World’s Best and Showtime at the Apollo have become permanent fixtures of network television…
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To Clap or Not to Clap
The age-old relationship between audience and performer “The action of clapping is actually a quite primitive one, initially being used…
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The Show Must Go On
Circus was created to fill a gap left by ‘serious’ theatre. Now a new generation of performers is rejecting bureaucratisation…
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How Circus Training Helps Me Deal With My Anxiety Disorder
I hovered 30 feet off the ground, trying not to look down, a long loop of fabric my only support….
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Breaking the Walls at CIRCa and Beyond
The CIRCa festival is the mecca of contemporary circus. As it’s director, Marc Fouilland likes to call it “le rendez-vous…
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2018–A Year of Progress: Circus Anniversaries, Festivals & Hot Topics
In many ways, 2018 has been a great year for circus. This is really saying something when you consider that…
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In Defence of Circus Animals-The Campaign to Ban Performing Animals is Misguided
In a British circus, you will no longer find big cats, dancing bears or sea lions balancing on balls. Anne,…
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Alex Mizzen’s Invisible Things
Alex Mizzen is a creative who uses circus and dance-theatre to make evocative, challenging works. She is a world-class hand-balancer,…
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Everywhere and Nowhere: the New Wave of Site-Specific Circus
Typically, talking about site-specific circus means talking about a large outdoor space that’s converted (with, say, scaffolding or cranes or…
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Circus Saved My Life– Until It Ruined It
I grew up as a very artistic, athletic, and insecure child, and I always tell people that circus saved my…
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Birds- Bees and Aerial Pregnancies
I FOUND OUT I WAS PREGNANT ON A FRIDAY EVENING… My husband and I had just embarked on the “make…
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Some Thoughts on Circus Spaces and Community
I was almost thirty years old when I joined the circus school in my new city, Ghent, around the turn…
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The Role Queer Circus Plays
“Hey!” I hear from behind me. I turn around. A queer person is running down the stairs from the spoken-word…
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Open Letters to the Circus #3: Who Gets to Build the Future?
Dear circus artists, We need to talk. Not about your circus practice, though – not here, not this way. It’s…
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Providing a Safe Environment–Response from a Circus Educator at ENC
Sarah Poole, a circus educator at ENC, asked us to publish this response letter about the climate of support at…
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Leap Into Experimentation Pays Off at Toronto’s Annual Circus Sessions
Say the words “Canadian circus” and most people will think of the esthetically dazzling, astonishingly successful productions by Montreal-based Cirque…
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From Degas Muse to Modern Aerialist: Exhibition Charts Black Women in Circus
Miss La La was the star of the show when Edgar Degas painted her in 1879 hanging by her teeth…
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Barefoot Monkeys Strive for Poi-fection Through Inclusivity
This past Sunday, Apr. 15, the Barefoot Monkeys’ Spring Show performance dazzled with fire, props (the professional term is toys),…
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Why UK Circus Artists Are Lining Up to Train at Belgium’s Ecole Superieure des Arts du Cirque
n April 19, circus artists from around the world will reunite at their old school in Belgium to mark the…
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Du Cirque 100 % Femmes à la Grainerie
La Grainerie in France is currently programming a series of shows called Creatrices created by women. This article discusses the…
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Montreal’s Improv Scene Finds Success on the Spot
A young man nervously explains to his girlfriend that there’s somebody else in his life. His twin sister suddenly pops…
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5 Tips for Self-Marketing as an Artist
I was sitting in the chapel-turned-classroom at Ecole de cirque de Quebec, listening to Julie Lavergne talk about the overview…
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A New Era for Women in Circus
Women in circus. What images come to mind? Historically, circus was a place of huge emancipation for women. It offered the…
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One Last Response to “Circus of Tomorrow?” Article
Dear Stav, and all other Interested Individuals, Thank you for your article and your comments. I have been working at…
Read moreResponse to “Circus of Tomorrow?” Article
This post is in defense of the female artists (including myself) who performed in Cirque de Demain this year, not…
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Rape Culture and the Duet
We’ve all seen it. The dance duet. One woman and one man (sometimes there are two men, but for now…
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Circus of Tomorrow?
Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain in Paris is one of the world’s most famous circus festivals, about to celebrate…
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After Claims of Animal Cruelty, Can the Circus Survive?
At the International Circus Festival in Monte Carlo, an unlikely figure is leading the charge to transform the circus for…
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Oh, Grandma, What Big Eyes You Have!
–TRIGGER ALERT– Full disclosure: the victim of this story is the same age today as I am. Full disclosure: I…
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Does the Bechdel Test Have a Place in Circus?
There is nothing more satisfying than walking out of theatre having been inspired by an amazing circus show. However, a…
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Pat Kane: What Does the Circus Say About Humans and Animals?
I FELL out of love with the circus early, and I remember the moment almost exactly. In the 1970s, our…
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What Makes Performing Arts Possible? Part Two
In part one to this story, I presented an outline of how performing arts education and production is supported differently…
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How to Make a Circus City
Brisbane’s circus sector is internationally recognised. What conditions led to such creativity and how can its future be secured? From…
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What Makes Performing Arts Possible? Part One
Performing arts have been a powerful human ritual for millennia. The Washington Post recently published a beautiful, interactive online piece…
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Circuba Festival 2017: En Buen Compania, Todo es Posible (In Good Company, All Things Are Possible)
It was the fifth night of the Circuba Festival 2017, and day six of spending upwards of eight hours in…
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Québécois Circus and the Global Stage: National Narrative or NOT?
Québec, as a stateless nation, expresses its nationalism through culture and language. What is the national narrative of Québécois circus…
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Can You Defy Death With A Little More Artistry, Please?
You are watching a circus performance. The artists, for whatever reason, have a noticeable number of technical errors. The overall…
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Circus An Underrated Art Form That Has Evolved For The Times
Interest in the circus has never been higher. Where there were three circus schools in North America 15 years ago,…
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The Waning Appeal of The Big Top in India
While some circus owners hope that with innovation they’ll be able to survive, others are not so optimistic. Dancing bears;…
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Men In the Ring — the Rise of the Boy Bands of Circus
The Circus world is experiencing more and more activities and events that focus on gender and its influence in circus…
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Ringling Tiger Re-Export Permit: Is There Legal Ground For F&W To Deny It?
So there’s this thing where the animal rights movement is attempting to prevent one of Ringling’s tiger trainers, Alexander Lacey,…
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Crossing Boundaries–An Open Letter from Tilde Björfors
In her heartfelt introduction letter in the playbill to Cirkus Cirkör‘s show Limits, founder Tilde Björfors explains why the time…
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Circus Must Bridge Divide Between Traditional And New
Dea Birkett, ringmaster of Circus250 (the UK and Ireland-wide organization coordinating 250 years of circus in 2018) writes about the need…
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Yaron Lifschitz Says Dark Times Demand Artists’ ‘Fiercely Urgent Work’
Late last year Yaron Lifschitz (above), the CEO of Brisbane’s circus company Circa, made an incendiary speech slamming the major arts companies…
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Five Myths About the Circus
Janet M. Davis, a professor of history and American studies at the University of Texas at Austin and the author…
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New Circus Doors in the US
With the launch of Circus Talk News came the unfortunate announcement of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey closing up…
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Circus in France Is an Ever-Changing Art Form
With the announced closure of the famed Ringling Brothers Circus, it may appear that a beloved form of entertainment…
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Will Circus’ Story End, or Just Turn the Page?
The Circus Isn’t Coming to Town Recently, Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey Circus announced they will be shutting down their…
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Did Disney Kill the Circus?
So, as you have probably heard, Feld Entertainment has decided to end the 146 year run of the Ringling Bros…
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Performer Bello Nock Hopeful About Future of Circus
It’s been a difficult few months for the circus world. In November The Big Apple Circus filed for bankruptcy. Then…
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As Greatest Show On Earth Closes, Contemporary Circus Could Thrive
“People shouldn’t see the closing of Ringling as the closing of circus, but as the changing of circus.” – Shana Kennedy,…
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The End of Ringling Bros. Is Not the End of Circuses
The hallowed brand may soon be no more, but variations on the circus form continue to thrive, and new models…
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The End of Ringling Bros.: What The Greatest Show On Earth Meant To A Man Raised In The Circus
When Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced on Saturday that it would be folding after 146 years, I…
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Circa’s Yaron Lifschitz Challenges the Government Funding Paradigm
Yaron Lifschitz, CEO of the Brisbane based circus company, Circa, challenges the traditional funding paradigm by demanding to open up…
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7 Values We Can Learn from the Circus
There’s always been a fog of mystery settled around my perception of the circus. I’ve seen the performers come on…
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What Can We Learn From the Circus?
Rooted in gypsy community, there is more than just a thing or two that circus can teach us about the…
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Running Away to Join Circus Theatre
How circus arts companies are training artists to become both actors and acrobats. Once upon a time, so the axiom went,…
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Roll Up, Roll Up! Bring Back the Traditional Circus
A new initiative to transform circus in Britain threatens to strip the Big Top of its intoxicating magic. I gasped,…
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