July Festival Roundup - CircusTalk

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July Festival Roundup

Each month Circus Talk will scour the globe to report on the hundreds of circus-based festivals and conferences that occur worldwide and provide a roundup highlighting the month’s best, most interesting and most exciting events. July is the pinnacle month for oudoor circus in Europe and North America so we have a summer’s worth of listings for you to pick from.

 

What: The Golden Trick of Kobzov

Where: Ukraine

When: July 6th-9th

This festival called The Golden Trick of Kobzov was founded by none other than Nicholai Kobzov in 2011 and has grown to feature four days of shows. Filled with time-honored, traditional circus acts, it is proof that worldwide interest in circus is still strong, as this year they will be welcoming 280 circus artists from 15 different countries who will perform over 40 circus acts.


What: Montréal Complètement Cirque Festival

Where: Montréal Canada

When: July 6th-July 16th

Every year since its start in 2010, Montréal Complètement Cirque Festival seems to get grander. This year is full of ground breaking contemporary circus shows as well as large outdoor spectacle and street circus while Montréal celebrates its 375th anniversary with city wide festivities, many of which are boosted by circus happenings like Cirque Eloize’s Grand tournée. Headliners at festival venues include 7 Fingers, Cirque Alfonse and THROW2CATCH with new shows. As with previous years, there is an International Market of Contemporary Circuswhere presenters, promoters and circus artists gather to explore opportunities via workshops, conferences, showcases and even a tête-à-tête. To find out more about what is happening at MCC, read this series of articles we have written about it in conjunction with Cirque Eloize, 7 Fingers, Concordia’s summer seminar for grad students and a the Circus, Culture & Diversity round table.


What: International Jugglers Association Festival (IJA)

Where: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

When: July 10th-July 16th

Billed as a historic week of incredible juggling, workshops, competitions and memories, the IJA never disappoints. This year’s talent includes 4th generation Russian juggler Gena Shvartsman, world renown Jay Gilligan and fire dancing master Kevin Axtell to name a few. There is a welcome show and a Cascade of Stars show that sandwiches the 6 days of workshops, and smaller performances. Then there are the competitions such as the numbers championships, the joggling championships, the busking invitational, the XJuggling, and the Individual Prop Competition. It is an annual event that will inspire and delight any juggler.

 


What:TILT Aerial and Physical Theater Festival

Where: UK

When: July 17th-23rd

There will be 7 days of performances and master classes from aerial artists and physical theatre practitioners around the world. The TILT website provides this alluring teaser “There is a comprehensive masterclass program catering for beginners to professional performers, free outdoor aerial shows, young people’s work, rigging and massage courses and even a midnight feast! You name it….TILT has got it!” The outdoor show is titled Taking Flight and the indoor show is 3am Waitress, a poetic spoken word and circus mash-up by director Kim Charnock. In addition, there is a bold aerial work by RoguePlay Theatre aimed towards a tween and teen audience titled Swing. One of TILT’s main charms lies in the breadth of activities that allows the audience to become the learner, the doer and the performer through workshops and classes.

 


What: European Juggling Convention

Where: Lubin, Poland

When: July 22nd-July 30th

When EJC began in 1978 there were 11 happy jugglers convening. Nowadays, it draws between 3000 to 7000 people. It is at once an exchange of skills, a street show,a fire show, a showcase, a competition, a gala event, a children’s show, a bevy of workshops and even a parade (and it is intriguing to picture the parade of 3000 jugglers through the streets of Lublin– a juggling town that celebrates its 700th anniversary this summer). The headliners of the gala shows are traditionally kept secret, but there is no doubt they will be the top jugglers on the planet. Beyond this, you can rent a tent and camp right on the premises in order to miss nothing except for the comfort of sleeping on a bed that your body would prefer to keep juggling those 9 fun-packed days. Circus Talk is happy to say we’ll have a correspondent on the ground reporting at EJC this year. Check in on Circus Talk’s Instagramon the week of the festival to see behind the scenes festival photos!

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Kim Campbell

Kim Campbell has written about circus for CircusTalk.News, Spectacle magazine, Circus Now, Circus Promoters and was a resident for Circus Stories, Le Cirque Vu Par with En Piste in 2015 at the Montreal Completement Cirque Festival. They are the former editor of CircusTalk.News, American Circus Educators magazine, as well as a staff writer for the web publication Third Coast Review, where they write about circus, theatre, arts and culture. Kim is a member of the American Theater Critics Association.