The Circus world is experiencing more and more activities and events that focus on gender and its influence in circus productions. Here are a few examples: articles (such as this one by Susie Williams), open talks (such as the one held in Barcelone last April) or festivals (such as Festival CAU, in Grenade, Spain). Just last week in Montreal, there were two events (Cirque Off& Circus, Culture & Diversity)  sandwiching the Montréal Complètement Cirque festival that covered the issue of gender as encompassed in a larger discussion about diversity in circus. All of these examples recognize the need for more diversity on and off the stage, especially in terms of gender. These occasions offer us an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas about circus from this point of view.  In this text, I would like to examine the changing role masculinity plays in some contemporary circus companies.

Of course, masculinity is also part of gender studies, but since we have culturally learned that “masculine is normal”, we sometimes take for granted that men’s representation have nothing to tell us in terms of gender, hence nothing to investigate. Yet every piece of art is related to cultural codes that we can decipher, and the ones made by men are no exception. Circus is part of the world we live in, although as with every form of art, one of its prerogatives is to reinvent and enrich reality. In classic circus, gender has a dominant role, linked to the family and business structure. It is generally understood that many circus disciplines have traditionally been related to gender: we have a common past in which clown, juggling, strength have been for male artists, while antipodism, aerial solos, and contortionism have been mainly a matter for female artists. Of course, there are always historic examples of transgressions, but they are often presented as that, as the except...