October Round Up
Each month, Circus Talk will scour the globe to report on the hundreds of circus-based festivals and conferences that occur annually worldwide. This roundup highlights October’s most interesting and exciting events, three solid professional festival gatherings.
What: Mullum Circus Festival
Where: Mullumbimby, Australia
When: September 25-October 1
Technically making it in to October by just one day, Mullum is a festival and training program with a camping component for the adventurous–and its all in Mullumbimby, Australia. The festival features physical theatre and circus. Full shows include Driftwood by Casus, HairSparay and RED by FLy Factory, Bridges by A Good Catch, One and the Otherby Baton and Broadway, Inertia by Vulcana Women’s Group and Australia’s favorite juggling duo, Jugglife. Stay tuned to Circus Talk for a behind-the scenes look at this festival going-on from a NICA student, Ciara Thornburn.
What: Circus City– Bristol’s Biennial Circus Festival
Where: Bristol, UK
When: October 12-29
Circus City is a biennial festival of circus in Bristol that runs for 3-4 weeks in October. Circus City Festival is part of a larger project called Bristol Circus City steered by is the Bristol Circus Forum; a collection of organizations in Bristol who work with circus arts and champion its’ development in the city and beyond. Circus City Festival is Bristol Circus Forum’s flagship project. They host free outdoor shows, as well as family shows to accompany the programmed companies. This year the headliners include Fauna (Sweden), Tipping Point (UK), Around (Finland), Yablochock Candle (Finland), As a Tiger in the Jungle (Vietnam & Norway), He Ain’t Heavy (UK), The Success Project (UK), Cliff Jumping for Beginners (UK) to name just a few. In addition to the headliners, there are Call Out sessions, such as Kate Kavanagh’s #CIRCUSVOICES and Bristol Cabaraet Comission and director Q&A’s.
What: 30th CIRCaContemporary Circus Festival
Where: Auch, France
When: October 20-29
Spectators and programmers come from all over Europe to take part in the CIRCa festival every year. FEDEC facilitates multiple events for emerging artists, and student artists, including CIRCLE, an international showcase of up and coming circus artists. Students of selected schools perform a 20 to 30 minutes piece of their own creation, devised during research and creation workshops. On the programmer side, workshops and talks are organized with organizations like Jeunes Talents Cirque Europe / Circus Next and Circostrada taking part in the over all events. But the reason everyone is there is to see the shows, which feature many of France’s and Europe’s cutting edge players in the lineup, such as Ockham’s Razor, Galapiat Cirque, Collectif AOC, Cheptel Aleikoum and Cie Samuel Mathieu.
What: Wuqiao International Circus Festival (CWICF)
Where: Shijiazhuang and Cangzhou of Hebei Province, China
When: September 29 – October 11
China’s Wuqiao International Circus Festival (CWICF) is held in Shijiazhuang, the capital city of Hebei province, every odd year since 1987. This year is it’s 16th edition. CWICF is one of the industry’s prominent events presenting the latest Chinese acts, as well as acts from all around the world.
Bonus Guide: Each month, circus critic and frequent Circus Talk contributor Katharine Kavanagh covers circus in the UK with her vlog post, Circus Scoop. She often conveys background history and interesting details about the venues, festivals, shows and artists, so don’t miss this report and others from Circus Diaries on Patreon if you’d like to stay abreast of circus happening in the UK.
In 2019 as editor for CircusTalk News, Kim was on the jury at el Festival Iberoamericano de Circo (FIRCO) and presented the first CircusTalk Critic's Choice Award.
