Circus X YouTube: Creators Wanted – A Panel Discussion Hosted by Veronica Blair
YouTube isn’t only for pranksters, beauty gurus and musicians! Artists from other performing arts genres have started to see the benefit of this 2-billion-monthly-visitor platform. Yes, circus artists too!
As part of our PRO Talk series, Veronica Blair, circus artist, storyteller, and content creator, brought us a conversation about the importance of intentionally growing the digital body of circus work and discourse while creating a hardier, more recognizable sector as a result.
Established and up-and-coming YouTube creators from the international circus community Lea Toran Jenner (FRANCE – Unity Adventures and Duo Unity), Noeli Acoba, (USA/ CANADA), and Ross Travis (USA – Antic in a Drain ) joined in to share their experiences, tips and tricks for growing their audience on a digital platform. Discover how they got started, what inspires their content creation and what their most successful videos are.
Moderator
Veronica Blair is a professional aerialist with over 15 years of performing and teaching experience. She is currently aerial director for Celebrity Cruises Entertainment.
Expanding her portfolio beyond performing, Veronica launched the development of “The Uncle Junior Project” in 2010. The ongoing documentary shines a light on the careers of African-American circus performers, including Emanual “Uncle Junior” Ruffin who remained largely uncredited for his contributions to American Circus until after his death. In 2017, she was invited to speak at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival about her experience as producer and director of “The Uncle Junior Project”, and served as organizer and moderator on a panel highlighting the African-American circus experience. She’s also worked with the African-American Art and Culture Complex to stage “Entrapment to Entertainment: A Celebration of Blacks in American Circus”, a three-month exhibition that ran from October, 2013 – January 2014 with over 1,000 attendees. You can follow Veronica’s Youtube channel here.
Panelists
Noeli Acoba is a circus performer, Youtuber, and a founding member of the American Circus Alliance.
She was the Apprentice Mentorship Program Student (2017) at Kinetic Theory Circus School in Los Angeles. She performed internationally in festivals and at premier venues such as la TOHU. Noeli has collaborated in researching new, inventive apparatuses with companies like Cirque du Soleil and Acrobatic Conundrum. Her YouTube channel is all about circus! Her favorite and most meaningful series she created so far is the UPRISE Docuseries. This series highlights BIPOC circus artists who share their experiences and opinions about circus (in regards to racism) and what they hope to change within the circus industry. You can follow Noeli’s Youtube channel here.
Lea is a professional modern circus artist performing internationally in circus shows, TV & online events, theaters, cabarets and special events. In addition to performing, she is also an ambassador for modern circus, and a representative for circus and technology. Lea’s constant online presence over the past 9 years has been focused on showing her art (acts, performances, short films and improvisation), interviewing circus personalities, v-logging, gathering people to form a stronger online social network and about informing the professional circus community on the international news and events in circus. Since 2021 she hosts her own Late Night Circus Show every week live on Twitch. You can follow Lea’s Youtube channels here and her Duo Unity channel here.
ROSS TRAVIS is an award winning actor/creator, Bouffon, physical comedian and circus performer (specializing in Chinese pole), who has studied with world renowned master pedagogues, including Dodi DiSanto, Giovanni Fusetti, Ronlin Foreman, Stephen Buescher, Dominik Wyss and Master Lu Yi. Ross’ lineage of training and experience allows him to create provocative performances that combine circus and bouffon to develop extreme characters and tell stories from the fringes, igniting dialogue and change around ignored or taboo social issues. As a circus performer, Ross specializes as a Chinese pole artist, acrobat, ringmaster and aharacter artist. You can follow Ross’ Youtube channel here.
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Show notes:
Other circus-related YouTube Channels Mentioned during the discussion:
This PRO Talk took place on May 29th, 2021.
Access recording here:
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Expanding her portfolio beyond performing, Veronica launched the development of “The Uncle Junior Project” in 2010. The ongoing documentary shines a light on the careers of African-American circus performers, including Emanual “Uncle Junior” Ruffin who remained largely uncredited for his contributions to American Circus until after his death. In 2017, she was invited to speak at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival about her experience as producer and director of “The Uncle Junior Project”, and served as organizer and moderator on a panel highlighting the African-American circus experience. She’s also worked with the African-American Art and Culture Complex to stage "Entrapment to Entertainment: A Celebration of Blacks in American Circus", a three-month exhibition that ran from October, 2013 – January 2014 with over 1,000 attendees.
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