New Faces in the Spotlight: Art and Ideals with Aerialist Clara Laurent

Circus News

New Faces in the Spotlight: Art and Ideals with Aerialist Clara Laurent

The CircusTalk talent database includes amazing artists and performers from around the world—from veterans of the ring and stage to up-and-comers with big visions. One artist of this second kind is Montreal-based aerialist Clara Laurent, winner of our CircusTalk Spotlight Award at this year’s Young Stage Festival, who reflects on the artist’s role and her hopes for the journey ahead of her.

Every artist has a mission: to create something that affects their audience, that makes them feel or think a little differently. The real question is how to do it. Up-and-coming circus artists may have further to travel before they reach that point, but they are no less driven or less dogged in the pursuit than are their older, more experienced counterparts. No artist proves this fact better than aerialist Clara Laurent, who knows exactly where she stands as a creator—or where she swings from, as it happens.

Thus far on her circus journey, this Southern California native’s trajectory has taken her from the San Diego Circus Center to the Canadian circus scene, graduating from Montreal’s École nationale de cirque in 2021. A year later, she took her aerial straps act from Montreal to Switzerland for the 13th edition of the Young Stage Festival, where she made her debut on the European stage… and caught the eye of our CEO, Stacy Clark, on the jury panel. The thoughtful vision behind Clara’s act netted her our Spotlight Award, given to an emerging artist whose work demonstrates courageous expression and whose performance is lauded for its social relevance, artistic and technical acumen, and audience engagement.

Taking a prize home at her first festival outing hasn’t gone to Clara’s head, however. She knows there’s always more to learn… and yet, she still has a clear sense of her artistic purpose and the road ahead of her.

We reached out to Clara after the festival to ask her about her act, her art, and what she wants to do with it in the future. Here’s what she had to say:

Young Stage was your first time performing at a circus festival… and in Europe, too.What were your thoughts and feelings going into the event, and how did you prepareyourself for it?

Going into Young Stage, I was mostly excited. I had heard many good things about the festival from friends and past participants, and I believed in the act that I was going to present. 

The preparation was pretty simple. I had created most of the act during my last year of school, so almost all of the creative decisions had already been made. I just needed to make some minor adjustments and run through the act a bunch of times to remember all the little movement cues that make it feel complete. Luckily, Ron Oppenheimer, another Young Stage participant, also lives in Montreal, and he very generously agreed to pull my number throughout the month of April so I could practice. Some of my coaches from school also watched some of my practice runs and gave me feedback, which was incredibly helpful!

Due to the pandemic, my class didn’t get to perform our graduating acts in front of an audience and producers. This meant that not only did we perform for a nearly empty room, but we didn’t get the networking opportunities usually afforded to the graduating class. I kind of saw Young Stage as my do-overÉpreuve Synthèse,with the bonus of getting to meet other artists from outside my Montreal bubble. I felt (and still feel) extremely lucky to have been given this chance when so many other talented artists who graduated with me didn’t.

I would say that mentally, I was mostly stressed about traveling and trying to make a good impression on so many new people. Luckily, we got to Switzerland… to say we got there smoothly might be an exaggeration, but the people were super welcoming and friendly, so I felt comfortable really fast!

Tell us a bit more about your festival act. What was the guiding vision behind it?

Clara Laurent on aerial straps during her Young Stage Festival act
Clara Laurent

For most of my life, I thought that I was going to be a doctor. When I left university and went to circus school, I realized that the biggest reason I’d wanted to become a doctor was that it seemed like a way to have a positive impact on people’s lives. So, when it came time to start thinking about how I was going to build my final number at school, I felt like I should use the platform to try to say something that I felt was important. 

I had explored the themes of misinformation and echo chambers in the development of an act during my second year. In the fall of my graduating year, we were a few months into the pandemic, and the 2020 election was coming up in the US. At that time, I was really reluctant to commit to the process of exploring a single issue. Somehow, I felt that would be too narrow and exclusive. Luckily, Max Ritcher put out an album calledVoices right around that time. He composed some beautiful pieces of music that included readings of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The words really spoke to me, and captured what I wanted to say.

One of the pieces I used begins with a recording of Eleanor Roosevelt— who had a big influence on the drafting of the UDHR—introducing the document, which almost acts as a timestamp on the words, labeling it as a historical text. I thought that using words from history would invite more people to reflect on the state of today’s world, our beliefs, our actions. A contemporary text might alienate us from our shared human values, and be more politically divisive. The UDHR lays out hope for a better world without being too specific, allowing the public to reflect on their values and priorities, while not telling them exactly what to think. I felt that I could support the words, their rhythm and their meaning, with my movements on straps, and vice versa.

There’s a lot more to say about the post-WWII world in which the UDHR was written and its relationship to today’s geopolitical climate. I really encourage everyone to learn more about it— it’s super fascinating!

Where do you draw inspiration from as an artist?

I try to draw inspiration from a variety of forms of expression. I try to read, watch movies or series, see shows, go to museums, and listen to podcasts. Really, just expose myself to other artists’ work. I think that most of creating is just seeing connections between seemingly unrelated things, so the more things I have in my bank of “unrelated things,” the more possibility there is to see something new! 

Circus artists Clara Laurent and a male performer have fun in the wing of the 13th Young Stage Festival
Clara has a light moment with fellow performers

At the moment, I am really interested in seeing how different artists work political messages into art that is not necessarily read as being primarily political, and especially work that is seen as mainstream or made for a general public. All art is political in the sense that the society in which it is created influences the work, but its stated purpose is not always to take a stance on that society.

It also helps me to talk about lots of different topics with people that I trust. Just to bounce ideas and viewpoints around. And honestly, sometimes talking to people that I really disagree with will give me an idea. Really, any shift in perspective can be valuable.

Something I often forget about, but which is also really important for me, is to have time where I can just think. Taking long walks or bike rides is good for this! Just having a moment to let my brain run without new input.

What are your biggest values—as a creator, and as a person?

As a person, I like to think that my biggest values are equal access to opportunity and the value of people over systems. As a creator, I value originality and the ability to make work bigger than oneself.

How do you view your role as an artist? Or, to maybe state it a bit differently, what do you want your art to tell your audience?

Shadow of aerial straps artist Clara Laurent on floor of the Young Stage, in the beam of a spotlight
Clara in the spotlight

This is something that I am currently hammering out for myself! I don’t think that I ever want my art to “tell” the audience anything. I think my role as an artist is to guide the audience to reflect on a topic, and potentially help them be open to different perspectives. The topic doesn’t necessarily need to be political; this act just happened to have a political theme. It is just as valid to give the audience a space to feel joy or reflect on beauty, for example. I think of my timeon stage as a chance to show the audience things they maybe hadn’t considered, be it viewpoints on a topic, a type of body in motion, or movements of strength, grace, or risk.

Outside of circus, what do you do for fun?

I love spending time outside, especially hiking! It’s a little hard to do living in a city without access to a car, but I try to find the hidden green spaces—luckily, Montreal has lots of them— and at least take long walks. I also enjoy cooking, baking, reading, watching movies, and having picnics in the park!

Where do you see yourself ten years from now in your career?

Aerialist Clara Laurent looks up at the rigging with her aerial straps
Clara looks back

At this point in my career, I don’t know where I would be happiest, so I want to try different things. Last summer, I was part of a small collective where we were in charge of everything, and my biggest takeaway was that I want to work for someone else before working for myself again! I would like to work for a variety of different companies with different ways of working and different missions to see what I like. I feel that I have—and am always adding to—work that can be adapted to many different contexts, and I want the challenge of making it fit in different scenarios.

I also want to work outside of straps. Being a solo aerialist is hard; you have to find training space, there are only so many jobs, and it can be lonely training/performing alone! Luckily, I have had the chance to develop a variety of other skills throughout my training, first as a gymnast, then as a circus artist. I would like the opportunity to further these skills and perform other disciplines—specifically in a group and/or on the ground. I really enjoy creating and working with other artists.

While I like being based in Canada, I would also love the chance to travel. Bonus if it means I’ll get to be somewhere warm in the winter!

Any advice for recent circus school grads and festival first-timers?

Clara Laurent backstage at the 13th Young Stage Festival
Clara backstage

I feel like I’m not super qualified to be giving out advice at the moment! I guess I would say to remember that most things are out of your control. Yes, it is frustrating to feel like you are being the best artist you can be and that you aren’t being rewarded for your hard work, but it is often nothing against you personally. 

The circus world is not what it was when recent graduates started school, so maybe your career will not be what you expected at first. But that is okay! Try to enjoy and appreciate what comes your way while you’re a part of it.

All images credited to Young Stage's official festival photographer, Pablo WĂĽnsch Blanco. Thank you as well to Patrick Stalder for sharing the gallery.
Carolyn Klein
Content Writer -United States
Carolyn Klein is a writer, poet, and circus fan from the Washington, D.C, area. Writing stories about the circus has been a dream of hers since getting introduced to circus fiction around 2014. She recently completed her B.A. in English and Creative Writing, magna cum laude, at George Mason University. As a new member of the Circus Talk journalism team, Carolyn looks forward to learning as much as she can about the industry and people behind circus.
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Carolyn Klein

Carolyn Klein is a writer, poet, and circus fan from the Washington, D.C, area. Writing stories about the circus has been a dream of hers since getting introduced to circus fiction around 2014. She recently completed her B.A. in English and Creative Writing, magna cum laude, at George Mason University. As a new member of the Circus Talk journalism team, Carolyn looks forward to learning as much as she can about the industry and people behind circus.