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ArtvsCraft inCircus

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Chaos:Creatingitand ReturningtoOrder/Kaaos,sentuottaminen jajrjestyksenpalauttaminen.sirkus.

Circus:Notalwaysforthe audience,butveryoft enwiththeaudience

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Presentation
Circus arts are an art form like theatre or dance, but have not yet a profound level of intellectual, cultural and institutional recognition it deserves, in Europe as well as at national and local level. Thereby political and financial support to this sector is quite low and there are structural weaknesses. There are strong imbalances in comparison to other creative areas, even when comparing the realities between regions or countries. Despite the growing success of circus by the audience and programmers, circus arts are not covered by abundant literature, academic research, in-depth articles, reviews,... and artists themselves often experience difficulties in producing theoretical writing that communicates their practice, their creative processes and their productions. They rarely have the chance to exchange with critics and experts from the performing arts on theoretical or conceptual terms. Also, many art writers are clueless about contemporary circus. Cultural journalists dont know the disciplines and techniques and overall they lack the contextual understanding to tackle apieces dramaturgical choices, to reference other productions, or to interview artists creating non text-based works. Thats why Circuscentrum and 9 important circus festivals all over Europe conceived Unpack the Arts. Unpack the Arts is a European project granted by Europe Culture that provides residencies for cultural journalists in the context of twelve major festivals programming contemporary circus. The goal of the project is tofacilitate the circulation of knowledge and experience, to develop the critical discourses ofits participants, and to further the role of themedia within the circus arts and contemporary society.

12 Residencies 120 Articles

Unpack the Arts consists of 12 residencies in 8 countries, spread over 2 years (August 2012 February 2014). Each residency is set within the framework of a festival and follows the same format: over the course of 4 days, the participants contribute to a series of moderated thematic discussions, attend lectures by key circus experts, see 3-5 shows, and meet with and interview programmed artists along with a representative of the host festival. After the residencies, each participating journalist delivers one article. These texts are collected, translated and turned into an online, multilingual publication. This sixth publication collects the texts of 10European journalists who attended the residency at Circusstad Festival in Rotterdam, TheNetherlands, 1 to 5 May 2013. We wish to thank all participants and all collaborators who made this residency a success.

KOEN ALLARY

Director, Circuscentrum (project leader)

YOHANN FLOCH

Adviser

Art vs Craft in Circus

BRYAN BIRTLES

The circus of our collective imagination is theone performed by Barnum and Baileys company: elephants stand on their hind legs and trumpet, lions are tamed with overturned chairs, and the trapeze swings back and forth over a net while tumblers, clowns and jugglers make merry on the floor. In the centre of three rings, under a tent, the ringmaster bellows for the crowd to show its appreciation, and they do: they call out for the acts to go higher, tomove faster, to increase the danger and therefore the spectacle. That circus still exists, somewhere, but over thepast half-century a new circus has emerged, one that does away with the animals and the trickery for trickerys sake. One that reaches fordeeper meaning, a larger goal than juggling ten or twenty clubs at once, that tempers its elements in service of a story or a feeling. Acircus filled with artistry. It keeps, however, elements of the traditional circus: all the feats are there in one form or another, nomadism reigns as a lifestyle, and thestructure of acts forming a larger whole remains, however abstract the interpretation. New circus, or its even more abstracted progeny the contemporary circus, moves circus from a craft a series of technical skills put to use as entertainment toward an artform. Buthow much art is there in circus? Where does the craft of the past end and the art of new circus begin?

define it for them: art is whatever a selfidentified artist says it is. But such a definition is problematic, and we as a public or as journalists define art all the time: no one would indulge the idea that pictures sold as decoration at IKEA qualify as art in any real sense, nor would we allow that your uncle juggling beer cans at a barbecue qualifies as circus. Circus performers have a certain humility about their work: many of its practitioners shy away from an artist label. They prefer to think of themselves simply as clowns or tumblers orjugglers, technicians with a serious and well-developed skill. Many are loathe to define themselves with the hoity-toity vernacular ofartists. Some performers however whether willing to claim ownership of the label or not are indeed artists: their work goes well beyond that of a person simply juggling and enters a realm of larger thought that defines art. They move past the poster-of-the-New-York-skyline world of IKEA decoration or the drunk-uncle-at-abarbeque version of circus and into the realm of art. How, therefore, do we pinpoint the moment when that happens? Art critic and philosopher Arthur Danto put forth a definition of art in 1964 that might shed some light. His definition boils down to this: acontext and a discourse about art is required to define art. He used, as an example, Andy Warhols Brillo Boxes: whereas Brillo cartons in a supermarket fulfil a practical function (to transport Brillo
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What is art?
Before exploring how much art exists in the circus of today, its important to figure out exactly what is meant by art. Many arts journalists have grave reservations when it comes to defining what it is they write about. Instead, they rely on artists themselves to

pads and draw attention to them through bright, eye-catching colour) Warhols were specifically engineered with an art-aware publicin mind, were divorced from their oncepragmatic function, and invited the discussion of the larger artworld. Such an exercise makes the boxes more than what they are and imbues them with meaning that goes beyond selling acleaning product. Does the circus fulfil this definition? Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesnt. Traditional circus certainly doesnt: with its composite structure filled with acts of varying intensities and difficulties, a traditional circus invites theaudiences attention and appreciation, butdoesnt move beyond. It doesnt invite adiscourse, its effects dont progress beyond amazement at its trickery. New circus and contemporary circus brought these tricks into the abstract, separated them from their origins, and gave them a new larger function while maintaining links to the historical idea of what acircus entailed.

Elements of circus history make impressions on the circus of today: the contemporary circusmay have shed the big top in favour ofthetheatre, and may create work that is sometimes unrecognisable as circus certainly unrecognisable to Barnum or Bailey but there are elements it cannot leave behind. Its in the prouesse, the feats of circus, that a throughline can be discerned from the travelling circuses of the traditional period to todays contemporary circus. Circus is defined by its feats. Acrobatics, tumbling, trapeze, tightrope, clowning, balancing, juggling, all are skills that set circus apart from aesthetically related artforms such as dance or theatre. Its these individual acts that a circus performer concentrates on within the context of a circus school, and they define themselves by them. These feats are often fraught with real danger ina way that other artforms are not. Circus, as a wide definition, can be many things, but these feats are at the heart of it. They are the heart of a Barnum and Baileys-style traditional circus, the heart of new circus, and the heart of contemporary circus, the last two in varying degrees and in various states of deconstruction, as we shall see.

What is circus?
New and contemporary circus is difficult to define. Many circus artists shun the circus label in favour of one that more closely defines their particular skill set instead of circus artists they are jugglers, tumblers, clowns or else associate with physical theatre, using this relative definition not only as a marketing tool circus is a little-understood artform that can be tough to sell but as a way to expand funding opportunities at national and international levels. Because self-identification is suspect, we must look elsewhere to define what circus is. Circus consists of a collection of acts bound together into a show. The show can be of a single discipline a clowning show, a tumbling show, a juggling show or a number of disciplines together. Typically there is a narrative, no matter how abstract or minimal, whether it is strung together loosely by a bellowing ringmaster or intrinsic to the performance.

Is circus art?
Art is a world of ideas and circus a world of skills, but where do the two meet? They meet at the same place Brillo boxes designed to sell Brillo pads and Andy Warhols empty, oversized Brillo Boxes meet. Gandini Juggling provides a good example of craft and art meeting in circus. When namesake and co-founder Sean Gandini talks about juggling, he does so with a reverence for the past and an understanding of the work that has come before him. He has a desire to inject those ideas into his own work, while innovating at the same time. The work of modern dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch was particularly influential in the Gandini piece
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Gandini Juggling Smashed Joke Schot

Smashed, perhaps even more so than he anticipated when the show was coming together. As he explains, devoted fans of Bausch not only pick out the references he intended to make, they are able to go much deeper. We call them Pina-philes, he says of these fans. They are the people that are obsessed with Pina Bausch and they see everything. Myknowledge of Pina Bausch isnt as deep asit should be, so I have six or seven references in the show to Pinas work and they see fifty. Smashed isnt simply open to interpretation byPina Bausch fanatics however; its open to interpretation by the larger public. Chock full ofjuggling there is almost never a moment where objects arent being thrown in the air andcaught one would be hard pressed to make a case that Smashed is anything but a circus show, yet it goes far beyond virtuosity. Indeed, the juggling itself is relatively simple anarrative about the First World War is whattakes centre stage, even if the narrative isabstract.

The opening song is about bombing Berlin and dancing in the rubble and I think the final scene, in my head, is Berlin, but then some people read it as English yobbism, Gandini says of possible interpretations. I think what I quite like about the piece is that its open and people create meaning. Someone sent me a PhD recently; they wrote their PhD on the piece. It was great because I didnt know all this stuff. Its in these mixtures of interpretations that adiscourse surrounding Smashed, and by extension the circus as an artform, grows, andits here that we can see where the craft ofjuggling meets the art of Smashed. But not all of Gandinis efforts are in the service of circus as an artform; by his own account, hespent much of the early 2000s juggling for commercial reasons. For a while our commercial work took over, hesays of this time period. There was a period in the 2000s where it was hundreds of car launches we flew around the world juggling for a minute before the new Toyota came out.
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Clearly a car launch is not a place where the craft of circus meets the art of it. It is straight technique, on a par with a big-top traditional circus, designed to wow audiences with virtuosity without moving any further than that. There is none of the larger themes, none of the exploration, none of the grander context of Smashed. Juggling at a car launch is akin to Brillo boxes filled with Brillo pads. It might be beneficial to look at another, even less conventional juggling show to further explore how circus can turn from craft to art in a performers hands. Sackripas Vu is a show where a man who never smiles makes a cup oftea. It is forty-five minutes long. There is no actual juggling. How can a show about making a cup of tea goon for forty-five minutes? How can a show where a man makes a cup of tea possibly be ajuggling show? Vu almost completely abandons the traditional craft of juggling in favour of a deconstructed idea of what juggling is. Instead of throwing increasing numbers of objects into the air, performer tienne Manceau manipulates the objects around him a cup, toenail clippers, marshmallows, sugar, a tea bag in such a way that the idea of juggling is implied, but never realised. This is not to say that there are no feats, certainly there are, but they dont manifest in the way one might expect of a juggling performance.

So what makes it a juggling performance? InManceaus own words, it is the shows precision. For me it is, he says when asked if Vu is a juggling show, because its very precise and jugglers are precise people. And while some might question whether or not Vu is a juggling show, none could question the fact that it is art. It is much more than making acup of tea and something quite different than juggling. If audiences were expected to sit through forty-five minutes of tea making they would justifiably walk out. Vu uses circus craft to explore themes of happiness, obsession and humanity. Context and discourse are the necessary elements to turn craft into art. We can see in Warhols Brillo Boxes how taking the objects out of the supermarket and into the art gallery, of making them more than just their pragmatic function, takes a practical, craft object and turns it into art. Similarly, circus works such as Smashed or Vu take circus out of the big top where it functions in a social role and move it into the realm of art, where its meaning and function are much greater. Smashed and Vu divorce circus craft from its virtuosity and imbue it with higher meaning, without negating the elements that make each one a circus performance in the first place. We can see in these performances, and others like them, the moment that the craft of circus turns into art.

B ryan B ir t les

Scratching the Surface: Contemporary Circus and the Outside Eye

F L O R E N TI N A B R A T F A N O F

Scratching the surface: Circul contemporan i ochiul exterior

F L O R E N TI N A B R A T F A N O F

Over the past two years contemporary circus has drawn gradually closer to my interests and needs as a spectator. After seeing a few Cirque du Soleil shows in various corners of Europe, the desire grew in me to experiment with other artistic forms ones different from the kind of branded entertainment offered by the Canadian company. In fact, it was the Cirque du Soleil shows themselves that created a need in me: aneed to discover other manifestations of contemporary circus, ones that werent so industrialised, nor so focused on attracting and entertaining the masses. Though this kind of entertainment is in itself a valid approach to circus, I sought out instead performances born from the ideas, risks and needs of smaller circus companies (whether those just established, or those with histories stretching back to circus traditions), performances that were the result of long research and which manifested the companys own vision of a world in constant motion one that often changes faster than our capacity to perceive it. So, during this period of time, I have trained myself as an outside witness of this world, eager to see as much as possible, but without having any connection with circus other than as a participant in various contemporary circus festivals and meetings. In this way I am trying to discover everything that the field can mean. This path has been full of amazing, bombshell experiences for a theatre spectator from Romania (where many performances focus too much on the transposition of a text onto the

n ultimii doi ani circul contemporan a devenit o form artistic mult mai apropiat de interesul i nevoile mele de spectator. Dup cteva spectacole marca Cirque du Soleil vzute n diverse coluri europene, s-a nscut dorina de experimentare i a altor forme artistice, diferite de acest tip de entertaiment oferit de compania canadian. De fapt, spectacolele marca Cirque du Soleil au creat o nevoie: apropierea de alte manifestri ale circului contemporan, nu att industrializate, focusate pe atragerea i distracia maselor, i acestea fiind n sine valabile, ct nscute din ideile, riscurile i nevoile unor companii de circ mici (de la cele n formare pn la cele cu tradiie), ale cror spectacole sunt rezultatul unor cercetri ndelungate i aduc viziunea lor asupra unei lumi n continu micare, care se schimb cteodat mult prea rapid fa de capacitatea noastr de a o percepe. Aadar, n toat aceast perioad de timp, m-am format ca un martor din afara acestei lumi, avid s vad ct mai multe, fr a avea de fapt nici o legtur cu ea, dect cea de participant la diverse festivaluri i ntlniri n jurul circului contemporan, ncercnd s prind tot ce poate nsemna acest domeniu. Acest drum plin de experiene uimitoare tip bombardamente - pentru un spectactor de teatru din Romnia (unde multe spectacole se axeaz mult prea mult pe transpunerea unui text pe scen i mai puin pe o nevoie interioar regizoral, o viziune sau mcar o idee), a culminat cu rezidena la Circusstad Festival din
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Cie Sackripa Vu Joke Schot

stage and less on the directors inner vision or ideas), and lately culminated in the Unpack theArts residency at the Circusstad Festival inRotterdam. Here the bombing continued this time in anintensive, structured manner though theresidency managed to put all my previous, instinctive experiences within an objective context. In short, the residency was three days, six extremely different shows, six meetings with the artists of those shows, and a host of experiences which cannot be easily forgotten. Although the request of Yohann Floch, the mentor of this residency, was to write as quickly as possible after the three days ended, while everything was still fresh in our minds, this has been impossible for me. The rhythm of everyday life and its priorities have prevented me from doing this, but they have also caused me to search for an answer to a pressing question: how long does a contemporary circus performance last in ones memory after it was experienced live?

Rotterdam, n cadrul programului european Unpack The Arts. Aici bombardamentele au continuat, de data aceasta n mod constant i structurat, rezidena reuind s pun toate experienele anterioare, trite n mod instinctual, ntr-un context obiectiv. Deci, pe scurt, rezidena a nsemnat trei zile, ase spectacole extrem de diferite, ase ntlniri cu artitii i nite experiene pe care nu ai cum s nu le uii prea uor. Cu toate c rugmintea lui Yohann Floch, mentorul acestei rezidene, a fost de a scrie ct mai aproape dup terminarea celor trei zile cnd totul este nc proaspt n minte, pentru mine acest lucru nu a fost posibil. Ritmul vieii de zi cu zi i prioritile m-au mpiedicat s fac asta, dar au impus i cutarea unui rspuns la ntrebarea: ct rezist n memorie un spectacol de circ contemporan, dup ce l-ai experimentat live? n general, ntrebarea merit aplicat oricui. Defapt, tipurile diferite de spectacol de circ contemporan la care am fost expui, fie c sunt
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In general, it is a question worth asking of everyone. The different contemporary circus performances to which we were exposed in Rotterdam, whether solos or group works, brought influences from theatre or contemporary dance, and gave the spectator sensations that transcended the specific moment of the show, sensations that must persist in memory. So, even after a few days or weeks of the infernal daily rhythm, the audience can still look back and enjoy Leandres simplicity of performance and his way of encouraging the audiences involvement; the skill, yet also the critical analysis of the artists condition, presented by Gandini Juggling; and the jewellike minimalism of Etienne Manceau (Compagnie Sackripa)s Vu, itself inspired by the quotidian rhythms of daily life. Alongside these arise memories of the energy and the collective creation of La Meute, whose members are recent graduates from the circus school DOCH; the defiance of gravity and the moments of absolute risk created by Cirque Inextremiste; and the theatre performance, marionettes and new magic of Blick Thtres still in-progress Weird night of illusion. Although we may talk about these different shows in terms of their dimensions, the varying artistic experience and vision, and the different circus skills used, all the productions above have a common point. Namely, an artist/ creator who shapes the ideas into the material of the piece, but who also has the capacity to lead the company and to ensure a balance between periods when the company is on tour and periods when the company works on a new show. But, in terms of the creative process, a new concept in the field of contemporary circus is the outside eye. While the overall creator of a contemporary circus performance is very often its performer, or one of the performers, the outside eye refers to a person who is close to the artist/company and who sees a work-inprogress of a new show and acts more as a film editor than as a director: he explains his

show-uri solo sau presupun lucrul n echip, fie c aduc influene din teatru sau din dans contemporan, imprim privitorului senzaii care transced momentul specific de experimentare a spectacolului i nu are cum s nu struie n memorie. Aadar, chiar i dup supravieuirea n faa unui ritm zilnic infernal, privitorul nc se mai poate bucura direct de simplitatea jocului care incit spectactorul la implicare al lui Leandre, de performana jonglerilor, dar i analiza critic a condiiei artitilor ale companiei Gandini Juggling, de spectacolul minimalist, tip bijuterie, inspirat de rutina zilnica realizat de Etienne Manceau (Compania Sacekripa). Peste care vin energia i munca de creaie colectiv a proaspeilor absolveni de coli de circ din Compania La Meute, sfidarea forei gravitaionale i creearea momentelor de risc maxim gndite de cei de la Cirque Inextremiste, dar i spectacolul de teatru, marionete i magie nou - nc n lucru - al celor de la Blick Theatre. Cu toate c vorbim despre spectacole diferite la nivel de registru, experien artistic, viziune i abiliti de circ, exist un punct comun al acestor producii. i anume un artist/creator care transform ideile n aciune, dar are i capacitatea de a conduce compania i de a asigura un echilibru ntre perioadele de turneu cu un spectacol al companiei i perioada n care compania lucreaz la un nou spectacol. Dar, din punctul de vedere a procesului de creaie, un concept nou n domeniul circului contemporan este ochiul exterior. Dac creatorul unui spectacol de circ contemporan este de multe ori chiar performer-ul sau unul dintre performeri, ochiul exterior se refer la o persoan apropiat artistului/companiei care vede un work in progress al unui spectacol nou i acioneaz nu ca un regizor, ci mai degrab ca un editor de film: explic care este percepia sa fa de numerele individuale, dar i despre ntreg, arat anumite lungimi n construcie pe care artistul/creator nu le poate vedea din interior i ajut cu sfaturi legate de armonizarea diferitelor pri ale ntregului.
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perception of the individual acts, but also of the theatrical whole; he reveals certain obstacles to the construction of the piece which the artist/ creator cannot see from inside; and he gives advice on the harmonisation of the different parts of the whole. The outside eye is very often an artist as well; he may even be a choreographer or director with whom the artist-creator has an existing relationship with and can trust. He interferes only when he is asked to do so; he does not imprint his own vision on the work, but rather gives feedback in relation to the existing creation in order to refine it. Sometimes the outside eye advises on some detail that could be modified, but, still, does not make any fundamental changes. However, the first show seen at Circusstad, Leandres No s, is an exception, as, in this case, the artist and performer has made the show only viewing everything from the inside. And it couldnt be any other way, as with No s Leandre has created a modern clown who builds an almost hour-long show only from interaction with the audience. Leandre never knows how the show will unfold, from one performance to another, nor how it will actually end: everything depends on the level and character of the interaction with the people in the audience. He has a few minimal dramaturgical rules which he applies: dressed in red, he enters the circular stage, carrying only a transparent red suitcase (where objects manufactured in the same red colour can be seen) and a detachable red umbrella. With his entrance, the show has already started, a show which relies entirely on the audiences involvement in different comic moments, their contributions then doubled by the clown as he reacts to the spectators decision to act or not. At Circusstad, Leandres show ended abruptly when a group of children, unchecked by their parents, entered the show, lost their initial shyness, stole all the objects both from the suitcase and lying outside it, and began to run around the arena with them. Knowing the traditional role of the director as a person who

Ochiul exterior este de multe ori un artist la rnd su, poate fi chiar coregraf sau regizor, cu care artistul creator are o relaie bazat pe ncredere. Acesta intervine numai atunci cnd este chemat s o fac, nu imprim o viziune proprie i nou, i ofer mai degrab un feedback venit din exterior, dar care are legtur cu construcia, finisnd-o. Uneori ochiul exterior sftuiete la nivel de modificare a unor detalii, dar nu poate face schimbri fundamentale. Dar primul spectacol vzut n cadrul festivalului Circusstad Rotterdam este o excepie a celor enunate mai sus (No Se de Leandre), pentru c, n acest caz, ochiul exterior este chiar artistul din interior, fiind cel care i performeaz. i nici nu are cum s fie altfel pentru c Leandre creeaz n No Se un clovn modern care i construiete un spectacol de aproape o or numai din interaciunea cu publicul. Leandre nu tie niciodat cum se va desfura spectacolul de la o reprezentaie la alta i cum se va termina de fapt, totul depinde de nivelul de interaciune cu oamenii din public. Are nite reguli dramaturgice minimale pe care le aplic: mbrcat n rou el intr n scena circular, narmat numai cu o valiz roie transparent (n care se vd obiecte fabricate, la fel de roii), i cu o umbrel roie demontabil. Spectacolul a nceput deja, un spectacol care se bazeaz total pe interaciunea cu spectatorii, antrenarea lor n diverse momente comice, toate dublate de reaciile clovnului la hotrrile de a aciona sau nu ale spectatorilor. Reprezentaia lui Leandre s-a terminat abrupt, cnd o ceat de copii necontrolai de prini au intrat n joc, i-au pierdut sfioenia de la nceput i au furat toate obiectele din valiz i din afar valizei i au nceput s fug cu ele. Cunoscnd rolul regizorului de teatru, cel care prevede totul, chiar i momentele de interaciune cu publicul i controleaz aciunile din scen, acest final abrupt, total necontrolat de un ochi exterior, m-a fcut s m ntreb dac acest haos de la final i d artististului o senzaie de eec al reprezentaiei. Dar dup ntlnirea cu Leandre, mi-am dat seama c finalul abrupt nu i d nicio stare de disconfort artistului, i
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foresees everything, even the moments of interaction with the audience, and who controls the actions on the stage, this abrupt end, totally uncontrolled by an outside eye, made me ask myself if the final chaos gave the artist the feeling that his show had failed. But after meeting Leandre, I realised that the abrupt end did not make the artist uncomfortable at all, as there was never any intention to end the show in a controlled or rounded manner. In fact, the artist even relies on this: working within a limited timeframe, he creates a series of fleeting interactions with unknown people total strangers and in doing so frees the show from the audiences expectations and from any potential sense of unfulfillment. The show Smashed by Gandini Juggling on the other hand clearly exhibits the vision and dramaturgical coherence brought by its extremely prolific creator, Sean Gandini, a juggler primarily, with 25 years of research and creation in the field, but one with strong contemporary dance influences (Pina Bausch, Merce Cunningam and Trisha Brown, to name a few). In a show based on structuring and mixing different techniques used to juggle apples (lots of apples: about 80 are used for each performance), the performers constantly create new rhythms only to destroy them in the end, in a release of energies which brings the largescale destruction of apples and antique china. Dressed in suits which make you think of the characters from Mad Men, these contemporary circus artists perform a compact show touching on themes of routine, performance, defiance of rules, and sometimes the difficulty of the creative process, also bringing to the surface some more abstract recurrent elements frequently found in contemporary circus: the need to perform, risk, failure/falling, retrying/restarting, achievement/success, dialogue with / trust in the partner, chaos, creation, and negative energy channelled through destruction (here of the apples, the objects with which they juggle) in order to be transformed. The third show, Vu by Compagnie Sackripa, is a solo which speaks of the small obsessions of

neavnd nici o intenie ca spectacolul s se termine controlat sau rotund. De fapt artistul mizeaz chiar pe asta: ntr-un timp limitat, el creeaz o serie de interaciuni fugitive cu oameni necunoscui i pe care nu va ajunge s i cunoasc vreodat mai bine, fr a-i ataa spectacolului o necesitate de realizare a vreunui raport ntre ateptrile spectatorului i eventualele nempliniri. Spectacolul Smashed al celor de la Gandini Juggling arat clar viziunea i coerena de data aceasta regizoral a creatorului extrem de prolific Sean Gandini, un artist jongleur, dar cu puternice influene din dans contemporan (Pina Bausch, Merce Cunningam i Trisha Brown), cu25 de ani de cercetare i creaie n domeniu. ntr-un spectacol bazat pe structurarea i mixarea diverselor tehnici de a jongla cu mere (foarte multe, la fiecare reprezentaie se folosesc cam 80 de mere) Sean Gandini creeaz constant ritmuri numai pentru a le distruge la final, ntr-o eliberare de energii carepresupune distrugerea merelor, dar i distrugerea unor porelanuri. mbrcai n costume ce te duc cu gndul la eticheta personajelor din serialul de televiziune Mad Men, cei nou performeri de circ vorbesc ntr-un spectacol compact despre rutin, joc, sfidare a regulilor, uneori dificilul proces de creaie, aducnd la suprafa nite elemente recurente n circul contemporan: nevoia de performan, risc, eec/cdere, reluare/rencepere, reuit/ succes, dialog/ncredere n partener, crearea de haos, energia negativ consumat prin distrugere (chiar a merelor, obiectele cu care jongleaz) pentru a fi transformat. Cel de-al treilea spectacol, Vu al companiei Sacekripa, este un solo care vorbete despre micile obsesii ale vieii de zi cu zi. ntr-un spectacol atent controlat, Etienne Manceau pune sub lup rutina noastr zilnic: scoaterea unui fierbtor n priz, pregtirea cnii pentru ceai, a zahrului, i introduce n fiecare activitate o manipulare ingenioas a obiectelor. Efectul acestui spectacol minimalist, construit ca o bijuterie slefuit pn la cele mai mici detalii, este c omul din afar i d seama ct de maniacal se comport n fiecare zi a vieii
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everyday life. In a carefully controlled show, Etienne Manceau puts our daily routines under the magnifying glass unplugging a kettle, preparing the teacup, spooning the sugar and inserts an ingenious style of object manipulation into each activity. The effect of this minimalist show, a jewel polished to the highest detail, is for the audience to realise how maniacally they act each day of their life. The outside eye in this case was the artist Sylvain Cousin, himself specialised in juggling and object manipulation. If everything I had seen to this point was performed by a single artist, Cirque Inextremiste bucked the trend with their collective creation Extrmits. In a warehouselike setting, three performer-acrobats build acts which combine, in an extremely fragile balance, gas cylinders and wooden planks. Everything is made more complicated and risky as one of the artists is in a wheelchair, but his disability is part of what brings balance to the whole. Everything becomes a defiance of the laws of gravity, and the show carefully assembled by one of the performers, the self-taught artist Yann Ecauvre becomes increasingly striking at the visual level. In the show La Meute, made by the acrobatartists of the company with the same name, we have a group of strong, individualistic personalities who work together without a leader. Dressed only in white towels, over the course of their show the six acrobats present a sequence of acrobatic acts, each of them complex and ingenious, and proving the excellent skills of the company, but as a whole without dramaturgical construction or a unity of vision among the different acts. The show is an impressive demonstration of skills and of the companys collective work. The outside eye in this case was the French actor Dominique Bettenfeld, who participated in the rehearsals for one week and influenced the show through the addition of some new elements, such as the moments of live music onstage. In the case of the final Circusstad show, Weird Night of Illusion, presented as a work

sale. Ochiul exterior n acest caz a fost tot un artist Sylvain Cousin la rndul lui specializat n jonglerie i manipulare de obiecte. Iar dac tot ce vzusem pn acum era o defurare de fore pe vertical, iar spectacolele erau conduse de un singur artist, cei de la Cirque Inextrmiste schimb registrul realiznd o creaie colectiv: Extrmits. ntr-un decor tip magazie, trei performeri-acrobai construiesc nite numere care presupun mbinarea, ntr-un echilibru extrem de fragil, a unor butelii cu plci din lemn. Totul este cu att mai complicat i mai riscant cu ct unul dintre ei este ntr-un scaun cu rotile, dar acesta reuete s-i foloseasc invaliditatea n pstrarea echilibrului ntregului. Totul devine o sfidare a legilor gravitaiei, iar spectacolul este un bombardament la nivel vizual, atent construit de unul din performeri - Yann Ecauvre, un artist autodidact. De personalitile tari, individualiste, dar care lucreaz mpreun ca grup fr s existe un lider, avem parte n spectacolul artitilor acrobai: La Meute, compania La Meute. mbrcai numai n nite prosoape albe, cei ase acrobai prezint o niruire de numere acrobatice care mai de care mai complicate i mai ingenioase, dovedind excelente abiliti, fr ns a ncerca s aib i o construie dramaturgic sau o viziune de unitate a numerelor diferite. Spectacolul este mai degrab o demonstraie impresionant de abiliti i munc n colectiv. Privirea exterioar n acest caz a fost a actorului francez Dominique Bettenfeld care timp de o sptmn a participat la repetiii i a intervenit n inserarea unor elemente de spectacol ca de exemplu momentele de muzic live pe scen. n cazul ultimului spectacol Weird Night of Illusion, pentru c era un work in progress (Compania Blick Theatre), toi spectatorii au avut rolul de ochi exterior pentru c au vzut pe scen o niruire de numere de manipulare de obiecte combinate cu construcie de ppui, de magie nou i iluzionism, spectacolul fiind de fapt n plin proces de a lega aceste pri
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inprogress by Blick Thtre, the entire audience took on the role of outside eye. What they saw on stage was a sequence of acts object manipulation, puppetry, new magic and illusion as the show was still in the process of connecting those different parts. This show was perhaps the most interesting experiment at Circusstad as it was the first time the creators had shown their new work to the public, and, as a spectator, you could affect the future creation of the piece: the company would be able to discover, from the audiences reaction, whether an act was too long, or on the contrary if it ended too quickly. These various shows and experiments, reflecting the different facets of contemporary circus, leave you with the impression that you are looking upon an iceberg, seeing only the small piece breaking the surface, yet intuitively feeling that below it is the huge work of the artists continuous research, daily training and creativity.

diferite. Acest spectacol a fost n sine cel mai interesant de experimentat, pentru c era pentru prima dat cnd creatorii au artat public prile legate ale unei noi creaii, iar ca i spectator aveai un cuvnt de spus (prin reacie, oricare ar fi fost aceasta) despre percepia ta asupra a ceea ce vedeai, simind lungimile unui numr sau, din contr, cnd un numr se termin prea repede. Aceste experimentri ale unor faete att de diferite ale circului contemporan te las cu impresia c ai de a face cu un aisberg, din care tu vezi numai o suprafaa-platform, ajungnd s intuieti ns c aceasta este susinut din interior de un imens bagaj de cercetare continu, training zilnic i creativitate.

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13

The Weird Nights of Contemporary Circus

G E R G A N A ST O Y T C H E V A

The Weird Nights of Contemporary Circus

G E R G A N A ST O Y T C H E V A

This year the third edition of Circusstad Festival (which translates, literally, from Dutch as Circus Town Festival) was held in Rotterdam. Running from 29 April to 5 May, the festival presented a versatile programme selected by the artistic director Maaike van Langen and managing director Dirk Evers in this protean city. Speaking to our audience of European cultural journalists, the pair briefly described the concept behind the festival, and the artistic vision in organising and staging such an event. They also spoke about the place of Circusstad among similar forums for contemporary circus in Europe and worldwide. In fact, this was the purpose of the Unpack the Arts programme to give journalists and critics from different European countries the chance to see the world of contemporary circus up close, and to broaden the presentation of this artform in European media. What exactly is contemporary circus, and can it find roots in our own countries? As a journalist from Bulgaria, a country with wonderful traditions in classical circus yet almost no signs of life in circus, contemporary or not, over the past years, for me this was an experience which cannot be described adequately with mere words such as interesting or important. What is contemporary circus? I had the opportunity to form my own opinion on the performances which I saw at Circusstad, and which I will tell you about in brief below, as well as the benefit of talking with the professionals who work for the artform behind the scenes: Yohann Floch, coordinator of the Unpack the Arts programme; Donald Lehn, vice president of

Circusstad ( ) . 29 5 , Maaike van Langen Dirk Evers. , , , , Circusstad . , - . , ? , , , , . ? ,

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FEDEC the European Federation of Professional Circus Schools; and Annette Embrechts, a Dutch journalist and critic working in the fields of theatre, dance and circus. My overall impression from them was of a certain indefiniteness at the heart of circus a quality not unusual in those forms that exist on the border between different arts or that mix different disciplines at a fundamental level. I will not, however, question whether this is an artform, or argue that it is simply a performance in which the utmost achievements in the fields of movement and circus technique are expressed: I come from a country where people have been talking about circus art for a long time. However, at the same time, when asked to what extent the shows they perform are circus or some other form of art, the artists themselves respond ambiguously. Still, there are common characteristics that exist between them. Contemporary circus is searching for and insists on finding its place at the table alongside dinosaurs like theatre and dance, careful not to make claims on their territory, yet occupying their spaces by increasingly appearing on the theatres stage rather than under the big top. Contemporary circus does not necessarily share characteristics with the large and spectacular productions of outfits like Cirque du Soleil, even though it does not deny a kinship with them. Contemporary circus has not discarded its original intent to entertain and amaze the audience, but along with that it often sends its own message, telling a story or framing the performance within a certain social or cultural issue. The artists, as well, have graduated from special academies or schools of circus art where, along with technique and practical skills, they develop the creative skills which are a requisite for creating an original show. These days there are almost no animals on stage, but the structure of a series of circus acts, including such skills as acrobatics, clowning, juggling, trapeze, aerial acrobatics, etcetera remains (more or less) extant. Such acts, however, are subordinate to the theme of the show, and thus the work can resemble contemporary dance and theatre.

, , , Yohann Floch, Unpack the Arts, Donald Lehn, FEDEC - , Annette Embrechts , . , , , . - , , . , , , , , . , , , . Cirque du Soleil, . , , . , - , .
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The festival in Rotterdam has its own individual features, distinguishing it from other events of its kind. The social environment of the big city, which hosts dozens of nationalities, plays a significant part. According to its producers, the festivals shows are like the city itself raw and edgy. The festival motto Stronger, better, faster, higher reflects a drive to push and stretch circus boundaries, broadening the entire field. There was variety not only in the themes and means of expression adopted by the shows, but also in the actual texture of the festival along with the performances under the big top, in the street and on the theatre stage, workshops were held for enthusiasts as well as those unfamiliar with circus art, and there were shows performed for young audiences. There was a variety also of artists: alongside the big, worldrenowned names there were artists and performers who were stepping under the spotlight for the first time to express their individuality and ambitions. Such was the case for the company La Meute. The six members of this company have been working together for a long time they met at the School of Rosny-sous-Bois and then studied at the University of Dance and Circus in Stockholm. They have been developing their performance since 2011, and the main theme is the human body and its potential when placed in the context of communal life so the potential of the individual within the group. This acrobatic team (in their own words) examines the relationships within their group, the trust between members, the surrendering of ego, and, at the same time, the pleasure derived from communication, from interaction, and from working with ones body. Their show, La Meute, does not tell a specific story; even though the company present enough material that you could find many different stories and threads. The white towels worn by the artists are perhaps intended to evoke in the spectator thoughts of Ancient Greece, of babies in diapers, of men in bathhouses, while the original idea for the show

, ( -) , , , , , ... . , . , . . , -, -, - . , , , . , . La Meute La Meute. Rosny-sous-Bois, . 2011 , . ( ) , , ,

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came from a desire to heighten the difficulty and increase the risk the company deal with on stage (the towel makes the acrobatics harder to perform and, of course, could loosen and fall off at any moment). Leaps, somersaults, pyramids, equilibristics The difficult discipline of Russian Swing brought back memories of my own childhood spent on not entirely safe playgrounds equipped with similar swings, and of the dangerous tricks the children all loved to try on them. These six guys couldnt resist it either, performing a series of complex and challenging acts which astonished the audience and left it holding its breath for most of the show. A completely different atmosphere was at work during the first performance we saw at the festival, No s (I do not know) by Leandre. The contemporary circus clown has a complicated image it is more theatrical than its classical circus counterpart, and is very strongly influenced by street theatre (or maybe street theatre is in fact influenced by clowns?). Aspects of psychodrama are also involved. It is actually hard to call No s a performance. What does Leandre Ribera really represent? Ido not know. He also says he does not know. Asmall, tough little man dressed in bright red clothes steps into the outline of a stage which can be set up in an arena, on a pavement, in a street or big top in general any space where 10, 15, 100, 1000 or more people can gather. He holds a suitcase in one hand, transparent and full of strange and not so strange things, and in the other holds a faux umbrella consisting of only a handle and frame. The performance is different every time, because it does not happen only on the stage. Leandre improvises, starting from some basic points or paths which the story can adopt, and the story itself is always different. Someone from the audience drinks water or wears glasses this is the beginning of a skit or a wind-up. And the children? Useful sources of material, who, however, can go out of control. And no matter how casual and unscripted the happenings seem to be, when the control is gone, so is the

, . La Meute , , . , , -. , , , , , , - (- , , ). , , , , ... , , , , . , . , No Se ( ) Leandre. , , ( ?), . No Se . Leandre Ribera? . , . , , , , , , ,

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clown he disappears. An unexpected and disturbing ending perhaps, or maybe an open door taking us towards our own interpretation? Or just the beginning of a break before the next performance? Bright, vivid and involving, Leandre speaks without words, laughs without laughter, and brings carelessness and a little sadness, quite in the spirit of the great clowns who always remain absolutely honest yet are never quite knowable. No two performances were alike through the whole festival. This is why I can say that Smashed by Gandini Juggling brought my attempt to understand the phenomenon of contemporary circus to the next level, confirming my conviction that this artform is multifaceted and changing, like the river which changes its colours in the tale of the Golden Girl. The virtuoso jugglers of this circus company presented a series of acts clearly differentiated through the use of different musical fragments in the spirit of German chanson (if there is such a thing at all!). The order of the separate episodes is not accidental: they are placed in a carefully considered structure and have logical consistency and a multi-symbolic framework. Nine jugglers, nine chairs, a considerable amount of apples (which most of the time are in the air), not a few china dishes which lie at the side during almost the whole performance but at the end join the action, a perfect synchronisation of skill, fine artistry, strong suggestiveness, and, as the name Smashed would suggest, a lot of breaking, smashing and crushing. Dance is also present in the performance, without being intrusive, and the overall concept undoubtedly draws on Pina Bauschs choreographies. The dramatic line is clear, the humour mostly black humour is too, and the tension is almost tangible until it is naturally resolved in an even tenser and more dramatic end. At the same time, the delightful ease with which the space is filled with flying apples, the skilful fusion of performer and actor in one, and the extraordinary scope of the direction brings

10, 15, 100, 1000 ... , , , , . , . Leandre , , , . . , . , , . , . . , , Leandre, , , , , . , . , Smashed Gandini Juggling , , , , . , ( ). , , . , , ,
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contrast to the piece from beginning till end. Contrasts between the tense relations and relaxed atmosphere of afternoon tea; between the nostalgic atmosphere of the sepia images of the inter-war years and the brutal modernity of the relationships; between the quiet melancholy and the smile and pain of a love lost; between friendship and jealousy... To this we add the charming music choices from Bach and Vivaldi through Ive Always Wanted to Waltz in Berlin by Little Jack Little and In the Shade of the Old Apple (Mills Brothers, Louis Armstrong) to I Like Bananas (Because They Have No Bones) by Hossier Hot Shots and The End of the World by Bill Frisell. After the exuberant expansiveness of Smashed, Vu by Cie Sackripa looked like anything but a circus, and the juggling had to be searched for with a magnifying glass, existing somewhere in the tiny space of a strange loner who entertains himself by twisting the pathways of daily routine. It is no accident that the brochure for the performance mentions Mr. Bean the parallel is explainable, but that should not mislead you. In Vu (Seen) there is in fact a lot of circus from the precise somersault of the sugar cube into the teacup, to the grotesque little funnels of magazine pages threaded onto fingers. Lifes necessities contained in a drawer, one person folded into what is almost a childs chair, and an audience hypnotised by what happens on the ridiculously small table... It is a circus in a matchbox which speaks of much bigger things our little (or not so little) manias and oddities, weapons in the fight against loneliness, the fragile supports and walls of our world, and the dimensions in which we allow ourselves to live. Another performance with a social focus was Extrmits by Cirque Inextremiste, featuring exquisite balancing acts performed on structures built from wooden planks and gas cylinders. Rough, raw, funny and virtuoso, while simple at first glance the performance actually has great depth. Three friends on the stage explore what happens when their safety literally depends on anothers actions. The fragile balance of the people standing precariously on

- , , - , , , , - , Smashed. , , . , , .. , , , , - . , , , , . ; ; ; ... Ive Always Wanted To Waltz In Berlin Little Jack Little In the Shade of the Old Apple (Mills Brothers, Louis Armstrong) I Like Bananas Because They Have No Bones Hossier Hot Shots The End of the World Bill Frisell. Smashed, Vu Sackripa , , , .
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 , , . Vu () , . , , , , , . , - ( ) , , , . Extrmits Cirque Inextrmiste, . , , . , . - , . , , . , - Weird night of illusion Blick Theatre , , . , , - - , .

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Blick Thtre Weird Night of Illusion nn

the wooden boards is no different to the dependency of human relationships, where every step forward could bring stability or failure. A bright metaphor served with delightful professional skills, a decent sense of humour, and a little artistic madness for glamour anirresistible combination. At the end of the festival, an extraordinary, yet much too short, performance blossomed. Weird night of illusion by Blick Thtre presented the audience with ideas which require more development before they will form a complete show. This peculiar try-out was an elegant combination of black-light theatre, illusion, puppetry and juggling, and it felt like it was the furthest from circus and closest to theatre out of everything I had seen until that moment. Here the theme was control the puppeteer suddenly becomes the puppet. The idea probably is not new, but for the most part its rendering was amazing. As a result, an almost full illusion was achieved of the puppets carrying, dragging, tying the people trapped in their astonished helplessness. Alongside all this, the melody of a live piano performance drew a

thread through the show. And the juggling? No, it was rather a dance with a piece of Styrofoam which appeared to come to life. At the end an ethereal ballet of a medusa (a ghost?) emerged from veils, creating an illusion of underwater movement. This performance marked a very symbolic end to the festival, and to my experience of contemporary circus. After the roaming between different definitions, searching for hidden signs and thoughts, I found it here brought together: the spontaneous and genuine pleasure of the performance, the astonishment and admiration, the fear of the risk, the pleasure of the adrenaline, the charm of the illusions and tricks. This strange and beautiful journey finished with a promise to meet again, and to delve deeper into the world of this young bold art.

. , - . , , , , , . , . , , - , . (?) , . , , , , , , , - .

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21

Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat

What Makes Circus Contemporary?
JEAN LEE

The circus we see today has moved a long way from our traditional conception of the art: the stereotypes of the red-nosed clown or the sequined aerialist have been replaced by contemporary circus artists who appear much as they would in ordinary, day-to-day life. Yann Ecauvre, an artistic director of Cirque Inextremiste, the company behind the piece Extrmits, wears jeans, a t-shirt and casual sneakers, while Etienne Manceau, a juggler with Cie Sackripa who performs the solo object-manipulation piece Vu, wears the semiformal combo of shirts, pants and shoes. Both of them just look like ordinary people. But although most contemporary circus artists wear the same clothes we do in our regular lives, they also execute breath-taking performances and achieve the sublime by taking the same risks you find in classical circus. The tigers and fire may have gone from the circus, but theres still sweat and toil. The artists gratify our desire, which cannot be achieved by our own ordinary bodies, to leap higher and run faster, to spin into the air, or to hold a handstand without tumbling over to the side. In this way, they present us with kinaesthetic stimuli. These artists may dress like us, and we may exist in the same present moment, but there is, still, a sense of something foreign a sense of awe and vision. Companies like Cirque Inextremiste and Cie Sackripa do not represent all of what contemporary circus has to offer being only one aspect of a multifaceted artform yet they reveal the chasm between past and present. Maaike van Langen, artistic director of Circusstad Festival in Rotterdam, speaks candidly of the difficulties she faced in building

a bridge between traditional circus and its newer form in order to introduce the public to the contemporary style. To pull people away from the dominant perception of circus as an artform for children or one with animals, and to bring them to the contemporary circus we see today, she ironically first had to make sure that in the festival programme the circus looked like circus. Why is this necessary? According to Yohann Floch, the coordinator of the Unpack the Arts programme, this is somehow part of the labour pains contemporary circus must naturally go through as it becomes accepted as a new form. It reminds me of contemporary dances evolution decades before: throughout the last century, dance followed a similar course as it parted from classical forms such as ballet, passed through a modernisation period (via so-called modern dance), and eventually established contemporary dance as a recognised form/ sector. If circus is following in dances tracks, is it important to distinguish contemporary circus from classical circus, or from other contemporary performing arts? The answer seems to be a persuasive yes: establishing its own identity is part of the process by which contemporary circus will become acknowledged as a new artform and establish itself in the long term. By attempting to unpack the many characteristics of todays circus through asking the tricky question what makes circus contemporary? I risk viewing todays developments in the light of a deliberately restricted historical meaning. The following istherefore presented more as a personal interpretation towards the phenomena seen
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than as an objective essay on circus development.

Deformation, reformation andappropriation

Was everything stolen? Many circus pieces at Circusstad had already been performed in theatre and dance festivals: Le Petit Travers had presented their works at Fest mit Pina in 2008, and likewise Lux Aeternas Eponym, which provided the opening of the festival this year, could also be considered dance. Choreographers such as Alain Patel and Wim Vandekeybus and theatre directors like Guy Alloucherie are working with circus artists or using elements of the circus in their work. When pieces are not labelled as circus, it might not be easy to differentiate circus from theatre from dance. In contemporary arts, interdisciplinary work is no longer new. A decade ago the German theatre scholar HansThies Lehmann looked at the trend for text-less, plot-less works that integrated new media, and that brought together different disciplines and forms, and called it postdramtic theatre. Ever since then the contemporary performing arts have been infiltrating and intersecting one another, blurring the boundaries that nominally separate them. This artistic intermingling could be a substantial part of what makes an artwork contemporary. As long as two artistic fields communicate with one another, interchange between them is a matter of course. Thus it stands to reason that we no longer see a pure genre when we appreciate something contemporary. This opens up another question: what is the difference between artforms, and how do we differentiate one from another if all the contemporary arts are integrative? Is it only institutionalisation that establishes borders? If this is the case then it might be the reason for Circusstads programming criteria the need for circus to look like circus. At this point, what excites my interest is not interdisciplinary integration but instead a quality of formlessness and artistic appropriation. Let me compare two different types of juggling: Cie Sackripas Vu, performed by Etienne Manceau, and Gandini Jugglings Smashed. In

Smashed, made as a tribute to Pina Bausch, juggling is kept in its clear, recognisable form from start to finish. It seemed somehow intensely dry. The exceptional part of the performance is its ending, which fulfils the promise of the pieces title: the performers break all the rules and free themselves from the tension and stress caused by the assumption that jugglers should not drop the objects they juggle. While the show works with the basic forms of juggling, it also brings freshness to the discipline by providing the final exception to its rules. The variation of the juggling, as it moves from scene to scene, generates a dramatic progression which can be interpreted in various ways a strategy that contemporary dance theatre has pursued and that distinguishes it from the classical dance forms it refers to. For this reason, some spectators say Smashed is just a dance performance. By contrast, Etienne Manceaus juggling takes a rather abstract form where tossing and catching, the basics of juggling, have disappeared. While juggling is normally fast-paced, his performance has a relevantly slow rhythm. Although he uses simple humour and makes the audience laugh, the main tone of the piece is not comedy but tragedy. For these reasons, Vu would be considered a theatre piece except that Manceau identifies himself as a juggler and the piece as juggling. The core principals of juggling the exact measurement of the distance between objects, the presence of risk, and the cycling positions of the objects were preserved. His abstract conception of juggling can bring circus, normally restricted by height, into new performance spaces: the piece could be shown anywhere with light and sound equipment and enough space to accommodate the small set he uses. Through deformation, reformation and appropriation, the circus transforms itself into another form. In work of this kind we can see interdisciplinary integration, whether its intentional or not, and can therefore see this circus as contemporary.

Reflecting now and us

I began this article with an example of how contemporary circus costuming reflects on our daily lives. Conjuring neither myth nor illusion,
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Cirque Inextremiste Extrmits Joke Schot

these costumes narrow the mental distance between performers and audience. But what the artists wear is merely one aspect of their performance, and we cannot imagine the creation of Lux Aeternas Eponym or Funk da Cirques The Funk is Back! without the influences of hip-hop music and urban life. Taking on the language of subculture and popculture brings circus a decided advantage in attracting more attention: street dance is familiar from the public sphere where it can be seen on the street, in a park, or on an empty lot. Pop music is written about in newspapers and magazines, appears on radio and television shows, and is shared within social networks public spaces where people daily share their opinions. As a natural consequence, the public sphere (ffentlichkeit) borrowing Jrgen Habermas notion and expanding its boundaries is a place where urban culture and circus can comfortably encounter one another, as circus historically tended to be a working-class public space, bordering as it did the public sphere between the working-class open-air spaces and the bourgeois theatres. The birth of the Colombian circus company Circolombia, a

collective of graduates from the circus school Circo Para Todos in Cali, mirrors the toughness of street life. The school was set up to train street children in circus to give them an alternative to joining street gangs. Using the physical public sphere (the ffentlichkeit) as a performance venue also has the advantage of developing new audiences by exposing the art to more people. Today, even though contemporary circus has advanced into theatre spaces, often performing in big-name venues or opera houses or other places of high culture, it retains enough of its original appeal that it can be accessible to a broad public. It might not be a coincidence that the audience-oriented (Publikumbezogen) style of performance, which is now catching on in dance and theatre, has long existed in circus. Yet the audience engagement in contemporary circus is fragmentary and remains the engagement of aspectator rather than a participant. There might be further possibilities to expand this advantage by defining circus partly through its accessibility and its inherently social character. As contemporary circus seeks recognition as an artform its focus might be better placed here
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than in art institutions such as theatres. Meanwhile, the intersection of public space and private life is another interesting axis for circus to explore. When Etienne Manceau walks on stage, smartly dressed and carrying his car keys, he appears like someone returning from work, and when Leandre Ribera (Cia Leandre) brings a suitcase onto the open-air stage like someone just back from trip in No s, the audience can perhaps easily empathise with this character. Here in fact might lie a significant difference between the classical circus, which focuses more on demonstrating perfected skills, and contemporary circus, which reflects the world as it is now through props, set design, music, costuming, and thematic material. Because of this, while traditional circus shows are fragmentary collections of short acts, contemporary circus performances have longer running times, more concrete storylines, and more complex set-ups. It is certainly true that contemporary circus lasts longer in audiences minds. As long as a piece reflects both on now and on us, we will find ourselves reminded of the performance by everyday life.

Smashed). The Derridian concept of interpretation as a decentralised process isapplicable and valuable here. Nevertheless, the circus artists who are creating full-length shows might have their own inward agony like the members of La Meute, who still feel the lack of story and dramaturgy in their piece, even though they work with an outside eye. Is it necessary for a circus performance to have the same cohesion and causality as dramatic theatre? Some kind of answer can be found in Cirque Inextremistes Extrmits. The hour-long show is not led by astory but by the performers following their bodies own dramaturgy as they deal with themovement forced by a set built from gas cylinders and wooden planks. Implied or embedded stories can also be generated, asisthe case in Blick Thtres Weird night ofillusion. Two of the leading members of Blick Thtre, Loc Apard and Matthieu Siefridt, haveinteresting life experiences: while they arecircus artists and practitioners, Apard works as an educator for disabled people, andSiefridt teaches children, adults and artists, aswell as disabled people, people with learning difficulties, and socially disadvantaged groups. Siefridt stresses that the disabled people they work with have their own physical intelligence and styles of movement, and that the companys teaching experiences inform their performances and generate abstract, allusive stories. If you see something beyond a diffuse Jungian subconsciousness when Apard erases his face by rubbing it on the black mirror, or ifyou reflect on our interdependent lives whentwo marionettes hold Siefridts arms, then this might be because their lifes studies have become embodied within them and are therefore represented in their performances. Unlike theatre, which has to throw away the text, and dance, which has to deconstruct a century of conventional movement language, circus only goals are to realise its intentions, tohave aesthetic choice, and to consider thepossibility of open interpretation.

Open to interpretation
Is that so? I think that it is from you. We did notmean that. I however do enjoy how other people interpret our piece. It is interesting and helps us to set a key for the next step, says theyoung and ebullient circus artist Mathieu Lagaillarde (Cie La Meute) in response to a question interpreting part of his shows set design. In La Meute, six young lads play with themeaning generated by the repetition and variation of acrobatic movements. As their performance is not driven by a predefined language, these movements open the way for avariety of different interpretations. For this reason, their full-length performance never becomes tedious. It might also be significantly different from the traditional circus: where classical circus gambles all of its drama on thesuccess of its technical execution, contemporary circus can bear different reflections on the same material (as mentioned above in the case of Gandini Jugglings

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Circus Art is Not into Beautiful, Passive Bodies

K A T A R I N A H R G O VI

Cirkusku umjetnost ne zanimaju lijepa, pasivna tijela

K A T A R I N A H R G O VI

In the modern Western world, where a toxic, superficial, cheap perception of the human body expects that it conform to the ideal prescribed by the mass media, thinking about the body always requires that a (healthy) distance be established from this culturally predetermined understanding of physical beauty. In contemporary circus art, and indeed in performance art in general, the body is more than a mere decorative element celebrated on the covers of womens magazines or in the soft porn images used by the advertising business. In circus art, the body is a tool used to achieve catharsis, to express emotions, and to construct intimate worlds within a show. What matters is the expressive force: what can be said and done by the body. To this, aesthetics will always play second fiddle. Circus art is not into beautiful, passive bodies. On the contrary, sometimes the performers ugly bodies will help them achieve their mission to convey a message or simply to show the audience a new, unique narrative or emotional world as evidenced by the Extravagant Bodies festival held in Zagreb, the 2007 edition of which was devoted to disabled artists. One of the most impressive shows there was a performance by two artists, Mat Fraser and Julie Atlas Muz, called Beauty and the Beast. As you might guess by the title, Beauty is a healthy, attractive girl of gentle birth; the Beast is an alienated loner with a deformed body (his hands). Despite their different physical appearance and status, they are bound together by a passionate, devoted and deep love.

U modernom zapadnom svijetu zatrovanom povrnim i jeftinim doivljajem ljudskog tijela, od kojega se zahtijeva da bude oblikovano prema zadanom, abloniziranom idealu propisanom od masovnih medija, razmiljati o tijelu uvijek znai uspostavljati (zdravu) distancu prema toj, propisanoj, unaprijed zadanoj vrsti fizike ljepote. U novoj cirkuskoj umjetnosti, kao i u performativnoj umjetnosti openito, tijelo je mnogo vie od puke dekoracije kakvu slave naslovnice enskih magazina ili soft porn oglaivake industrije. U cirkuskoj umjetnosti, tijelo je orue kojim se postie katarza, kojim se izraavaju emocije, kojim se konstruiraju intimni svjetovi u predstavi. Bitna je izraajnost - ono to se tijelom moe rei i uiniti - dok je estetika uvijek sekundarna. Cirkusku umjetnost ne zanimaju lijepa, pasivna tijela. Naprotiv, ponekad e upravo runa tijela izvoaa pomoi ostvariti misiju, prenijeti poruku, ili naprosto prikazati gledatelju jedan novi, jedinstveni narativni ili emotivni svijet, kao to uinkovito pokazuje festival Ekstravagantna tijela koji se odrava u Zagrebu. Jedno izdanje tog festivala bilo je, godine 2007., posveeno invaliditetu. Medu najdojmljivijim dijelovima programa bio je performans umjetnikog dua Mata Frasera i Julie Atlas Muz Ljepotica i zvijer. Kako naslov sugerira, Ljepotica je zdrava privlana djevojka iz vlastelinske obitelji, a Zvijer je otueni, samotni mukarac s deformiranim tijelom (rukama), no usprkos njihovoj fizikoj i statusnoj raznolikosti, povezuje ih strastvena, predana i duboka ljubav.
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(Super)humans
Circus acts that are based on displays of physical endurance and impressive feats engender awe and admiration, but, above all, they test the limits of the human body. The performers test, again and again, the most extreme limits and strive to go beyond them, to project to their audience an impression of freedom and of the irresistibly attractive sense of risk that sets our adrenaline flowing. The spectators see the circus performers as physically superb specimens, more flexible and with greater stamina than the average person. And yet that is not really the case. People have a slightly exaggerated perception of us as physically superior humans. The real truth is that we are no different, special, more flexible or tougher than the average person; its just that we have chosen to devote ourselves to this endeavour and we spend several hours a day stretching, rehearsing and honing our bodies to be able to perform physically demanding acts. Its not about any special talent, but exercise and determination, say members of La Meute, a troupe that consists of graduates from probably the best circus school, DOCH in Stockholm. They staged their eponymous show on their maiden trip to the Netherlands for Circusstad Festival, which was held 29 April 5 May 2013 in Rotterdam. The amount of in-your-face, anatomical nudity in the performance is quite stunning: the troupe members are stark naked, their private parts covered by carefully wrapped towels which stay in place even as the performers undertake the most demanding acrobatics. The wrapped towels made them look like adult children swaddled in nappies an impression reinforced by the fact that on the stage, which featured a swing, among other props, they played just as children would in a playground furnished with trampolines. At the same time, it is just as stunning to realise how nice and natural this nudity is, and how essential it is for the story: from their constant bickering and one-upmanship, to the fact that the audience can see from close up the flexing

(Nad)ljudi
Cirkuske toke koje se temelje na demonstraciji fizike izdrljivosti i dostignua su uzbudljive, divlje, izazivaju strahopotovanje i divljenje, ali prije svega propituju granice ljudskog tijela. Izvoai opetovano testiraju vanjske granice i tee tome da ih nadmae, na svoju publiku projiciraju dojam slobode i neodoljivo privlani osjeaj rizika koji podie adrenalin. U oima promatraa stvara se neizvjesna percepcija da su cirkuski umjetnici fiziki izuzetni pojedinci, fleksibilniji i izdrljiviji od prosjene osobe. No, to ba i nije tako. Stvar je u tome da ljudi imaju malo preuvelianu percepciju nas kao fiziki nadmonih ljudi. Prava je istina da mi nismo nita drugaiji, posebniji, fleksibilniji ili izdrljiviji od prosjene osobe, stvar je samo u tome da smo odabrali posvetiti se ovome i sukladno tome svakodnevno izdvajamo po nekoliko sati za rastezanje, vjebanje i uvjebavanje tijela za razne fiziki zahtjevne toke. Dakle, ne radi se o nikakvom posebnom talentu, ve iskljuivo o vjebanju i predanosti, objasnili su lanovi skupine La Meute, diplomirani polaznici ponajbolje cirkuske kole DOCH u Stockholmu, koji su se istoimenom predstavom po prvi put predstavili nizozemskoj publici u sklopu ovogodinjeg Circusstad festivala koji se odrao od 29. travnja do 5. svibnja u Rotterdamu. Zapanjujue je koliko je napadne, anatomske golotinje u ovom performansu lanovi skupine posve su goli dok intimni dio njihovog tijela prekriva pomno zamotani runik koji je ostao na mjestu i prilikom najzahtjevnijih akrobacija. S tako omotanim runicima oko sebe lanovi skupine izgledali su kao odrasla djeca umotana u pelene, a taj je dojam pojaala injenica da su se na sceni, na kojoj je izmeu ostalog bila postavljena ljuljaka, igrali ba kao to bi se djeca igrala u nekom parku s trampolinima. Istodobno, zapanjujue je koliko je ta golotinja simpatina, prirodna i potrebna prii od njihovog neprestanog meusobnog podbadanja i iskazivanja nadmoi, do injenice da je publici na ovaj nain dozvoljeno da izbliza promatra napinjanje miia i izbijanje znoja na
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of their muscles and the perspiration popping up on their skin, making the spectators aware of the physicality of the bodies being catapulted up to eight metres in the air by the trampolines. This engendered a feeling of intimacy and closeness which culminated, at the end of the show, when the audiences tumultuous applause brought the performers back to the stage several times to take their bows.

povrinu koe, da su svjesni opipljivosti tih tijela koja se trampolinima odbace i do osam metara u zrak. Upravo zbog toga stvorio se osjeaj intimnosti i bliskosti koja je na kraju predstave kulminirala time to ih je publika uz zaista gromoglasan pljesak izvlaila natrag na pozornicu nekoliko puta nakon kraja.

Rizik, ozljede i posljedice

Upravo spomenuta predstava savren je primjer toke spajanja rada, predanosti, neukrotive energije, elje za propitivanjem granica (tijela) i onog neizostavnog elementa rizika na koji ovi umjetnici svakodnevno svjesno pristaju, riskirajui svakojake ozljede. I zaista, u jednom trenutku predstava biva naprasno prekinuta i nastupa element oka kada se publiku prikuje za sjedalice neizvjesnom mogunou da je jedan od izvoaa prilikom svojih suludih preskakivanja i vratolomija zadobio takve ozljede da se predstava vie ne moe nastaviti. Ve za nekoliko trenutaka postaje jasno kako je i to samo dio ove predstave, ali taj kratki prekid publiku tjera da te vratolomije odsada pa nadalje gleda istovremeno imajui na umu da u bilo kojem trenutku neto moe poi po krivu, da se se moe dogoditi teka ozljeda, kao da im usauje svijest o opipljivosti i stvarnosti rizika koji je dominantan element cijele prie. I sami lanovi ove esterolane muke skupine dobili su usaenu svijest o tome da bi im se, u nedostatku opreza, moglo dogoditi neto to bi ih moglo sprijeiti da se na odreeno vrijeme ili, nedaj boe, ak trajno prestanu baviti cirkuskim aktivnostima. Naime, u svom sastavu imali su i cirkusanticu koja je bila polaznica iste cirkuske kole u vedskoj. S njom su neko vrijeme vjebali i planirali realizaciju projekta, ali je ona prilikom izvoenja neke od akrobacija pala i zadobila teku povredu kraljenice, zbog ega je potpuno morala odustati ne samo od predstave na kojoj su radili, ve i od cirkusa openito. Njezini snovi potpuno su se sruili te je morala odustati od cirkuske kole i vratiti se u rodnu Englesku. Svaki dan smo svjesni injenice da nas moe zadesiti ista sudbina. To je rizik na koji
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Risk, injury and consequences

La Meutes show is a perfect example of the convergence of hard work, commitment, boundless energy, a desire to probe (physical) limits, and the inevitable element of risk that the artists tacitly accept day after day as they risk injury. And indeed, at one point, the show is suddenly halted, and there is an element of shock when the audience is left gasping in their seats by the uncertain possibility that a performer may have been injured so badly as he leapt about crazily that the show cannot go on. A few moments later, it transpires that this was just part of the show, but the short break has made the audience watch the acrobatics with an awareness that something may go wrong at any moment, that a performer may be seriously injured, as if the audience itself experienced the palpable and real nature of the risk which is the dominant element of the story. The six members of the all-male troupe are all too aware of the fact that a small moment of carelessness may result in an accident which could prevent them from pursuing their circus career for a time, or even permanently, God forbid. There was another member of their troupe, a woman who had graduated from the same circus school in Sweden. They rehearsed together and planned their project, but as she performed an acrobatic act one day she fell and badly injured her back. She had to give up not just the show they were working on, but a career in circus. Her dreams shattered, she had to leave the circus school and go back to her home in England. Every day, we know that we can meet the same fate. This is the risk we accept on a daily basis; by exercising and taking care of our

bodies we try to minimise the risk. As you perform the acrobatics, sometimes you may feel that you can do so much more, but it is extremely important to keep a cool head and to know your limits, because a single wrong decision, a single misstep, may destroy everything you have been working on, and thats the end of the story, members of La Meute explain.

svakodnevno pristajemo, a vjebanjem i brigom o tijelu nastojimo umanjiti te anse. U izvoenju svih tih akrobacija ponekad vam se moe uiniti da moete napraviti mnogo, mnogo vie, ali od iznimne je vanosti zadrati hladnu glavu i znati svoje granice jer samo jedna kriva odluka, samo jedan krivi potez moe ponititi sve na emu ste radili - i tu je prii kraj, objanjavaju lanovi skupine La Meute.

How much of a masochist do you have to be to make it in circus?

Every performance art, including circus, that centres on the body and uses the body as a tool and a medium for its message and to communicate with the audience, is in effect a walk on the edge of physical endurance. Just like traditional circus, where the ultimate point in an adrenaline-fuelled show was the spectacular trapeze act, contemporary circus wants to break free and defy borders. What the audience will not see is the hours of rehearsals, hard work, tears and sweat required to achieve the safe perfection. As in every other form of physical effort, some exercises, depending on their difficulty, will result in pain: sprains, bruises, burns, tears and other warning signs of damage to your body. Pain is your bodys way of setting limits, your safe word, the border beyond which there is a mine field not to be trifled with. Pain must be avoided at all times, because you will not get a medal for self-harm. Since pain is the physical border, and circus aims to transcend the borders, students in circus schools are taught techniques to bypass pain in their effort to achieve their goal. I can be twice as small and thin as the person I carry around in my arms or on my shoulders. Its all a matter of technique, says Julien Auger, a member of the La Meute troupe. Most of their show centres on the support and safety stemming from mutual trust. Another major element of the show are the pieces of apparatus that can launch the performers up to eight metres in the air, creating a feeling of freedom and flight.

Koliki mazohist morate biti da biste uspjeli u cirkusu?

Svaka izvedbena, pa tako i cirkuska djelatnost, u kojoj je tijelo centar, alat i medij projiciranja poruke te komunikacije s publikom, zapravo je etnja po marginama fizike izdrljivosti. Ba kao i u tradicionalnom cirkusu kada su vrhunac adrenalinom nabijene predstave bile spektakularne toke na trapezu, tako i novi cirkus tei slobodama i prkoenju granica. Ono to gledatelji nemaju priliku vidjeti su sati i sati vjebanja, truda, suza i znoja koji se moraju potroiti kako bi se postigla sigurna savrenost. Kao i kod svakog znaajnijeg fizikog napora kod izvoenja odreenih vjebi, ovisno o njihovoj teini, javlja se bol u obliku uganua, modrica, opeklina, suza i ostalih pokazatelja koji signaliziraju da se dogaaju znaajne tete vaem tijelu. Bol je nain na koje tijelo postavlja granice, to je kao sigurna rije, kao granica iza koje je minsko polje s kojim se ne treba zezati. Podrazumijeva se da bol u svakom trenutku treba izbjei, jer nitko vam nee dati zlatnu medalju za samoozljedu. Kako bol predstavlja fiziku granicu, a cirkuski je cilj da se takve granice prevaziu, u cirkuskim se kolama ue tehnike koje doputaju ispunjenje cilja uz zaobilaenje elementa boli. Ja mogu biti duplo manji i duplo mraviji od osobe koju drim na svojim rukama ili ramenima. Sve je stvar tehnike, kazao je Julien Auger, jedan od lanova skupine La Meute iji se veliki dio predstave bazira upravo na tom opipljivom osloncu i sigurnosti koje proizlazi iz povjerenja. Takoer, veliki element predstave su i rekviziti uz pomou kojih mogu skoiti i do osam metara u zrak, ime se ostvaruje osjeaj slobode i letenja.
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Cie La Meute La Meute Queralt Vinyoli

Exercise, tenacity and hard work

The human body is capable of doing more than we realise. Individuals can amaze the world: people like Antonija Kuzmani and Jakov Labrovi, Croatian contortionists. Theirs is no God-given talent: they have honed their skill through hard work and grit. In order to perform contortion, you have to know your body well, feelevery part of it. Twice a day, they exercise for two and a half hours, keeping their bodies limber, and every muscle, ligament and joint supple. The poses assumed by the contortionists require them to be in perfect shape, because their internal organs get compressed. For instance, as they bend backwards, they compress their hearts so much that they cannot pump blood properly anymore because there simply isnt enough space. Because their hearts cannot pump properly, they cannot remain in such positions forlong. Lack of oxygen is terribly exhausting.

Vjebanje, upornost, rad

Ljudsko tijelo sposobno je initi stvari koje ni ne znamo da moemo. Pojedinci fasciniraju svijet, ba poput Antonije Kuzmani i Jakova Labrovia koji se bave cirkuskom vjetinom koja se zove kontracionizam. I ne, njihov dar nije Bogom dan ve su ga stvorili upornim radom. Za ovu sposobnost morate jako dobro poznavati vlastito tijelo, osjeati svaki djeli. Dva i pol sata dva puta na dan razgibavaju tijelo, svaki mii, ligament i zglob. Savijanja koja izvode kontracionisti zahtijevaju veliku kondiciju jer stiu unutarnje organe. Primjerice, prilikom savijanja unazad toliko stisnu srce da ne moe pravilno pumpati jer jednostavno vie nema mjesta u tom poloaju. Ba zbog toga to srce ne moe pravilno raditi, ne mogu dugo biti u takvim poloajima, a to zbog nedostatka kisika strahovito umara ovjeka.
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It is crucial to keep breathing because every time you bend or move, your body experiences it as an assault and goes into spasm. You must breathe deep, to prevent your body from responding, because it cannot spasm when you take deep breaths, Jakov explains. He is an expert in dislocation, or bending his joints. It is important to really be aware of your body, to know where each muscle and each bone is, how far you can move every part, and how far your body part is from where it normally is. You must be fully aware of it all, Jakov says. Antonia and Jakov have been hailed as the greatest circus hope in Europe. They entered their performance, C8H11NO2, in a prestigious competition of young circus talent: they found themselves among 154 entrants from rich circus traditions. Antonia and Jakovs project was one of the ten selected as winners, and was awarded the highest number of points in the history of the competition.

Najvanije je disanje jer tijelo svako to uvijanje ili taj neki pokret koji radi doivljava kao napad i ono se gri. Potrebno je duboko disati ime tijelu ne dozvoljavate tu reakciju, jer se ono ne moe istovremeno griti dok duboko diete, objanjava Jakov, strunjak na podruju dislokacije, odnosno pomicanja zglobova. Tu je vano dosta osvijestiti tijelo, znati gdje ti stoji koji mii i gdje ti stoji koja kost, koliko moe neto pomaknuti i koliko ti je neki dio tijela izaao iz svog normalnog leita. To treba u potpunosti osvijestiti, kae Jakov. Antonia i Jakov proglaeni su najperspektivnijom cirkuskom kompanijom u Europi. Na prestini natjeaj mladih cirkuskih talenata prijavili su svoju predstavu C8H11NO2 i nali se meu 154 zemlje s bogatom cirkuskom tradicijom. Deset je kandidata odabrano je za laureate natjeaja, anjihova predstava osvojila je najvie bodova upovijesti natjeaja.

Trust binds us together

In circus troupes, the members are all always forced to rely on each other. This is what we have to bear in mind as we witness the success of circus schools where artists live together, hang out with each other, think up projects, rehearse, and finally perform their shows together. In the years it takes them to graduate, they become like a family: they get to know each others habits, learn how they work, judge how far they can trust each other in the performance of demanding acts, and they throw themselves head first into the shared idea of their training. Where are the limits of mutual trust? The idea of freedom in physical movement and the desire for progressive training brings circus artists together. Circus troupes teach us that physical obstacles can be overcome through group effort; they become symbols of coexistence. Bodies overcome physical limits through learning, training and performance with other people. In a group or a collective, the success of a circus act will not depend only on the physical prowess and level of training of an

Povjerenje povezuje
U cirkuskim skupinama pojedinac je prisiljen neprestano se oslanjati na druge lanove skupine. S tim na umu svjedoimo sve uestalijim uspjesima cirkuskih kola u kojima umjetnici ive zajedno, drue se, smiljaju projekte, vjebaju i naposljetku izvode uvjebane predstave. Tijekom tih nekoliko godina studiranja postaju kao obitelj: pojedinci upoznaju navike ostalih lanova skupine, upoznaju njihov nain rada, procjenjuju koliko im mogu vjerovati u izvoenju zahtjevnih toaka i potpuno se predaju zajednikoj ideji napretka. Koje su granice u vjerovanju drugima? Upravo ona spomenuta ideja o slobodi pokreta i udnja za napretkom spaja cirkuske umjetnike. Cirkuske nas skupine ue kako kako fizike prepreke mogu biti savladane kroz grupni rad, ovo postaje simbolom ivota s drugima. Tijela savladavaju fizike granice kroz uenje, treniranje i izvoenje s drugim ljudima. U skupini ili kolektivu, uspjeh cirkuske toke neke grupe ne ovisi samo o fizikoj spremnosti i uvjebanosti pojedinca, ve i o njegovom odnosu s ostalim lanovima skupine. Meu
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individual, but their relationship with the other troupe members. They must be bonded by incredible mutual ties and trust. We help each other, we depend on each other, we push each other to the extreme limit. This is an advantage of team work: other members of the troupe will push you onward even when you cannot go on yourself. We live together, we tolerate each other, we know each others habits, we do everything in a pack, hence the name of our troupe, La Meute, say the lads.

njima se mora stvoriti nevjerojatna povezanost i povjerenje. Meusobno se potpomaemo, ovisimo jedan o drugome, guramo se do krajnjih granica. To je prednost rada u ekipi, to e te ostali lanovi podignuti onda kad ti sam to vie ne moe. ivimo zajedno, trpimo jedan drugoga, jedan zna navike ovog drugog i obratno, sve radimo kao u oporu - od tuda i naziv ove skupine - La Meute, objanjavaju deki.

The body is the only tool we really own

Contemporary circus invites the audience to see the body for what it is, and this is what divides circus from other performance arts. Even in the Australian circus, which strives to highlight those things that remain unsaid in their society, the spectators remain fascinated by the melancholy act of a high-wire or trapeze artist, the acts where circus, which usually likes to create the illusion of the loss of control, embodies all the skill and discipline of the artist. At the end of the day, it is up to the circus artists to discover the safe point between pushing the boundaries which make it possible for them to grow and develop, and keeping the body that is their only tool safe. The artist must know their body, and circus is a great place to learn how.

Tijelo je jedini alat kojeg zaista posjedujemo

Novi cirkus poziva gledatelje da vide tijelo onakvim kakvo ono jest, i upravo je to toka razdvajanja cirkusa i izvedbenih umjetnosti. ak i unutar australskog drutvenog cirkusa, koji kroz svoje toke pokuava naglasiti ono to u drutvu ostaje neizreeno, gledatelji su i dalje opinjeni melankolinom tokom umjetnika na uetu ili trapezu, toka u kojoj cirkus koji inae voli davati privid gubitka kontrole utjelovljuje svu svoju vjetinu i disciplinu u umjetniku. Na kraju dana, na cirkuskom je umjetniku da sam otkrije onu sigurnu toku izmeu guranja granica koje mu omoguava da raste i da se razvija, ali i brige za tijelo koje je jedini njegov alat. Umjetnik mora poznavati svoje tijelo, a cirkus je sjajno mjesto gdje se to moe nauiti.

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2 Approaches to Contemporary Circus 1 Man Show

K A T E I N A V L K O V

2 pstupy knovocirkusov 1 man show

K A T E I N A V L K O V

During the Rotterdam Unpack the Arts residency we attended Circusstad, a festival where we could see, among many others pieces, two silent one-man shows which employed the poetics of contemporary circus Leandre Riberas No s and Etienne Manceaus Vu. The well-known Spanish clown Leandre Ribera has been presenting his work allover the world for several decades. He never studied at any circus school and has instead developed and honed his clowning on his own through constant practice. In contrast to Leandre Ribera, the Frenchman Etienne Manceau is not such an experienced solo player. Nonetheless, he received his education at the circus school Lido in Toulouse. Since 2001, he has collaborated as a juggler with thecompany Cie Sackripa. Vu, his first solo project, premiered in May 2012, and together with Leander Riberas No s soon attracted considerable attention. I would like to take alook at the different artistic approaches of these two artists. Leandre Ribera enters the stage dressed all in red from his hat to his shoes. He carries a red suitcase in one hand, and a red umbrella in the other. Both props are metaphorical, i.e. theyare not real functioning objects, both being made from wire covered in red fabric. Hence, the umbrella is not an umbrella in a real sense but only a skeleton: it is flexible and can be easily disentangled and reshaped into a different object. Consequently, it neither protects from rain nor sun; it is a mere clowns accessory. The wire suitcase is see-through, anda spectator can explore its contents even before it is open. However, the audience is surprised when the performer starts pulling many objects out of the luggage. Another

Bhem programu na rotterdamsk rezidence jsme mli monost vidt na Circusstad festivalu, krom mnoha jinch pedstaven, tak dv nm novocirkusov one man show No S Leandra Ribery a Vu Etienna Manceaua. Leandre Ribera pochz ze panlska a vystupuje jako klaun po celm svt u nkolik destek let. Nem vystudovanou dnou cirkusovou kolu, sv klaunstv si vybrousil prax. Francouz Etienne Manceau nen na rozdl od Leandra Ribery ostlenm slistou na jeviti. Studoval na cirkusov kole Lido vToulouse a od roku 2001 psob v souboru Cie Sackripa jako onglr. Inscenace Vu je jeho prvnm slovm projektem. Vu mlo premiru vkvtnu 2012 a stejn jako No S Leandra Ribery je o n velk zjem. Pojme se te spolen podvat na rozdly vumleckch pstupech tchto umlc. Leandre Ribera pichz vNo S na scnu cel verven od klobouku a po boty, vjedn ruce dr erven kufr a ve druh erven detnk. Ob tyto rekvizity jsou metaforick, do tvaru kufru a detnku jsou spleten zjakhosi drtu potaenho ervenou ltkou. Detnk nen detnkem vpravm slova smyslu, ale je pouze jeho kostrou, je ohebn a je mon ho podle libosti rozplst a vytvoit znj jin pedmt. Nen tedy ochranou ani ped detm ani ped sluncem, psob jako klaunv komick doplnk. Do drtnho kufru divk vid a me zkoumat jeho obsah jet ped jeho otevenm. I pesto je pro publikum pekvapen, jak pedmt si umlec ze zavazadla vythne, protoe jich je vkufru mnoho. Dal zajmavost je, e performer vdnm ppad nevyuije bhem pedstaven vechny pedmty, kter se vzavazadle nachzej. To jet zesiluje divkovo napjet, co klaun vythne zkufru tentokrt.
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interesting thing to note is that the performer does not use all the suitcase objects during the performance (they remain mere real objects), which causes the spectator to anticipate what will be pulled out of the luggage next.

Are these pieces or not?

It would not be appropriate to discuss the dramaturgy of No s in terms of individual episodes or discrete sections. It is more accurate to say that Ribera takes objects out of the luggage and puts them into play. He plays with them either by himself or together with participating spectators with whom he cocreates various playful situations. Based on improvisation, the situations are not strictly framed or fixed. Ribera selects props according to (1) the reactions of spectators, (2) the particular spatial layout of the performance area, and (3) current circumstances. Taking into account that his performance can be enacted for thousands of spectators, as well as for a small audience, his selection is certainly influenced as well by the number of viewers. Attending Riberas show, you feel invited andembraced by the performers spontaneity and openness to ideas. Whenever a spectator is brought in to participate in Riberas solo piece, the performer has no problem in altering any of his original intentions to give way to new inspiration. This isnt to say that Riberas shows dont work within a certain score or structure of intentions or that he doesnt have rabbits in the hat, ready to be pulled out. The point is that he prefers to be guided by his audience. In this respect, his jokes and tricks can remotely resemble the comic scenes of commedia dellarte called lazzi. Obviously not the verbal lazzi No s is a nonverbal production but physical lazzi. Like Ribera, performers of commedia dellarte employed lazzi throughout their show, respecting the flow of the performance. But unlike commedia dellarte, Riberas productions lack any plot line and are predominantly based on improvisation. The title of the show No s indicates that Ribera himself doesnt know what comes next.

Jsou to sla nebo ne? Nebylo by zejm pln pesn mluvit vsouvislosti sdramaturgi pedstaven No s o jednotlivch slech. Je mon pesnj ci, e si Ribera bere pedmty zkufru do hry. Rozehrv snimi, vtinou s ast publika, jindy sm, rzn hky a scnky, kter stoj na improvizaci. Ty nejsou nijak asov vymezen ani pevn dramaturgicky vystavn. K vbru rekvizit i akc ho vedou reakce publika, konkrtn hrac prostor a okolnosti. Vzhledem ktomu, e se svm pedstavenm vystupuje nkdy ped nkolikatiscovm publikem a jindy zase ped nkolika destkami lid, jsou jeho volby jist ovlivnn i potem divk. ZRibery je ctit naprost spontnnost a otevenost npadm. Pokud se mu do rozehran slov scnky zapoj divk, nedl mu problm zpvodnho plnu ustoupit a nahradit ho novou inspirac. M jist zchytn body, pipraven krlky vklobouku, ale nechv se vst publikem. Vtomto ohledu tyto vtipy mohou vzdlen pipomnat komick scnky commedie dellarte zvan lazzi. Ne slovn lazzi samozejm, protoe No S je nm inscenace, ale lazzi akc. Herci commedie dellarte vkldali lazzi podle libosti do pedstaven tam, kam se hodily, podobn jako to dl Ribera. Na rozdl od herc commedie dellarte ale umlec stav cel sv pedstaven na improvizaci a nem pipravenou dnou djovou linku, kter by se drel. I nzev No S vmluvn napovd, e Ribera Nev, jak bude pt reprza.

Podivn
Etienne Manceau je v pedstaven Vu oproti Riberovu klaunovi obyejn mu obleen vbn koili a kalhotech. Na prvn pohled na nm nen nic zvltnho ani komickho. Pichz volnou chz bez jakchkoli komickch grimas a gest na scnu, na n se nachz pouze stl sponkud krtkma nohama. Nese si rychlovarnou konvici, kterou by rd zapojil a hudba hraje. Zatr za scnou a najde elektrickou ru, vn je cosi zapojenho. Kdy neznm spotebi odpoj, pestane hudba hrt. Spokojen zapoj konvici a postav ji na stl. Zuplku vythne velice malou rozkldac
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Leandre No s Joke Schot

Weirdo
Unlike Riberas clown, in his production Vu Etienne Manceau plays a common man, dressed in a regular shirt and pants. At first sight, there is nothing unusual or comic about him. He casually enters the stage without any humorous grimaces or gestures. There is only a table with short legs on the stage. Manceau carries a kettle, which he would like to plug in. The action is accompanied by music. Manceau scrabbles behind the scenes and finds the cord to which something is plugged in. As soon as he unplugs the unknown appliance, the music stops. He contentedly plugs in the kettle and places it on the table. Subsequently he opens a drawer, from which he pulls out a small folding chair. He unfolds it and sits on it. His cramped body sitting on the small chair behind the lowlevel table produces a comic effect, which is accentuated by the performers unchanging facial expression: he stares at the audience, annoyed, sombre and dumb, with the face of a weirdo. This man presents everyday routines in a very strange manner, routines that most people complete in a few seconds but which for him take much longer minutes or tens of

idliku, rozlo ji a sedne si na ni. Jeho zkroucen tlo sedc na mal idli za pli nzkm stolkem psob komicky. I dky jeho vrazu, kter se po vtinu pedstaven nezmn. Do publika se bo otrven, zachmuel a trochu tup pohled podivna, jen dl bn kony, kter vtina lid provd bhem pr vtein, dlouh minuty a destky minut velmi zvltnmi zpsoby. Napklad na vypna rychlovarn konvice si polo kostku cukru a dlan peliv vym vzdlenost mezi konvic a hrnkem. Kdy se voda dova, spna, vracejc se do pvodn polohy, vymrt kostku cukru obloukem do vzduchu a ta vzpt zacink vhrnku hned vedle pytlku sajem. Se stejnou invenc mu vytahuje i ajov sek zlku (dlouhou zkou trubic zlku pytlk vysaje), zapaluje svku (zpalku pilep kdlouh trubici a krtne jimi o krabiku se sirkami), doslazuje si aj (kostku cukru pl sekkem na maso a do hrnku cukr odpl kletikami na nehty), kou kou ze splench toust vtoustovai (odsv kou dlouhou trubic) a dl spoustu dalch roztodivnch vc.
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minutes. For instance, he places a sugar cube on the kettles power button and carefully measures the distance between the kettle and a cup with his palm. At the moment when the water is boiled, the power button goes off and tosses the sugar cube, which ends up in the prepared cup with a tea bag. With the same ingenuity Manceau takes out the tea bag from the cup (he sucks it out of the cup with a long thin straw), lights the candle (he glues the match to the long straw and strikes them against the match box), puts more sugar in the tea cup (he portions the sugar cube with a meat cleaver and shoots it in the cup with the nail clippers), smokes the smoke from the toaster in which he burns his toasts (he inhales the smoke with the long straw), and presents many other bizarre actions. For the afternoon ritual of the weird man, Manceau uses all the objects of daily routine which are present on the stage. The originality of the show stems from the grotesque situations in which these objects are used, and the way he uses them for purposes outside the everyday. The weirdo/Manceau has meticulously calculated and carefully prepared everything to a mathematically precise level of detail. His unchanging facial expression contrasts with the comic actions and enhances them. On the other hand, it also reveals the deep sorrow of someone who is unable to laugh and enjoy life. His compulsive engagement in long, slow actions which could be completed in the blink of an eye indicates the maniac tendencies of the man, as well as his extreme isolation.

Vechny objekty denn poteby, kter divk na scn vid, Manceau k odpolednmu ritulu podivnho mue pouije. Vtip pedstaven vyplv zgrotesknch situac, vnich jsou pedmty pouvan ke zcela jinm elm, ne je bn. Podivn m ve matematicky pesn spotan a peliv pipraven. Jeho nemnn vraz kontrastuje skomickmi kony a podtrhuje je, krom toho nm ale tak prozrazuje hlubok smutek nkoho, kdo se nedovede smt a radovat ze ivota. Vyvn se vdlouhch pomalch konech, kter by se daly zvldnout bhem chvle, poukazuje krom maniackch sklon postavy tak na hlubokou osamlost.

Krut maniak
Vpedstaven je krom mnoha zvltn provdnch kon a komickch situac, kter ztchto extrmn pomalch akc plynou, i slo nahnjc publiku strach. V nm si mu nasad na vechny prsty lev ruky dlouh paprov kornoutky vytvoen znovin, piat koneky kornoutk peliv zastihne kletikami na nehty, pak svou dla pipomnajc ruku stihorukho Edwarda polo na prknko a zane kornoutky v rychlm tempu nemilosrdn usekvat sekkem na maso. Po dosekn si ruku prohldne a pesvd se, jestli se nezranil. Kdy zjist, e ne, pokrauje vusekvn kornoutk jet ble ke konekm prst. Sekek se zarv hluboko do prknka a paprov prsty odltvaj od stolu. onglr tak riskuje stm nejcennjm co m, zrunmi prsty, a tm zesiluje dramatinost celho sla. Inscenace je velmi precizn vystavn, Manceau m naprosto pesn naasovan pointy jednotlivch minisel. Divk nem anci ztrcet pozornost. Umlec ho udruje v neustlm napjet, co pijde v zpt, a i kdy divk vytu, co se chyst, pointa na sebe nenech dlouho ekat. Na znamen konce pedstaven vythne podivn rychlovarnou konvici ze zsuvky a zapoj do n zpt hudbu. Ta se rozezn a divkovi je tmto pomyslnm nvratem do prvn scny jasn, e se pedstaven nachlilo ke konci. Oproti tomu m Riberovo No S volnou strukturu, umlec nejde zpedem stanovenho bodu A do bodu
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Cruel maniac
Within the many strange routines and comic situations that emerge from Manceaus extremely slow actions, there is a section which scares the audience: the man puts long paper cones made of newspaper on the fingers of his left hand, carefully cuts the tops of the cones with the nail clippers, then places his hand, resembling that of Edward Scissorhands, on achopping board and begins mercilessly and quickly cutting the cones with a meat cleaver. When the chopping job is over he checks his

hand to see if he hurt himself. When he finds out that his hand is all right, he carries on chopping even closer to the fingertips: the meat cleaver cuts into the chopping board and the paper fingers fly all over the place. The juggler puts at stake the most valuable item hehas his skilful fingers which obviously strengthens the power of the whole piece. Theproduction is precisely developed. Manceaus mini-pieces have an exact timing and rhythm. The audience have no chance to lose attention. The performer continuously intensifies spectators alertness to what will follow. And even though they might anticipate it, the sudden climax comes in no time. At the end of the show Manceau unplugs the kettle and plugs the cord back in behind the scenes and turns the music back on. By this symbolic return to the beginning of the show the performer indicates that the performance has come to an end. In terms of structure, Manceaus production Vu is the complete opposite of Riberas No s, which lacks any fixed arrangement. Ribera doesnt follow any prepared path from point A to point B. He leaves an open space for his imagination and spectators participation and reactions. In Rotterdam, for instance, his performance virtually evaporated, ending with kids playing on the stage and the artist disappearing.

B, nechv oteven prostor sv fantazii i reakcm publika. Rotterdamsk uveden napklad skonilo tm, e si na scn hrly sklaunovmi rekvizitami dti a umlec se tie vytratil.

Publikum jako partner

Bhem pedstaven Vu si mu vybere jednoho divka a pasuje ho na roli svho spoluhre. Svm upnutm pohledem a naznaovnm hlavou a oima dotynho opakovan vylk ze sedadla na scnu, aby mu pomohl s pinenm rekvizit ze zkulis, posouvnm objekt apod. Pokud se jeho volba povede, jako vppad reprzy na Circusstad festivalu, dotyn je ochotn se na scnu vracet a performerovi pomhat. Vytvo se mezi nimi jaksi parck vztah. Obrcenou stranou mince ale je, e divk me vnet do akc, o kter jej Manceau d, sv vlastn npady. To me bt zapinno nejen divkovou touhou po vlastn akci ped publikem, ale tak jeho dezinterpretac Manceauovch pn. To se napklad stalo i vybran divace na rotterdamsk reprze a bylo jasn, e umlec ztoho nem zrovna radost. Pesn naplnovan akce se tm odklonila od pvodnho smru a performer ji musel vracet do pedem vymezench kolej. Krom parka, vybranho na tyto spolen vstupy, Manceau tak reaguje na projevy publika a zapojuje i dal divky. Takovm zapojenm bylo napklad i nalkn holiky zprvn ady na bonbn. Kdy se ale holika opatrn piblila a kumlcovu stolu, odthl j bonbn zdosahu. Holika byla samozejm zmaten, protoe se jednalo o dv naprosto protichdn informace dotyn j nejdv bonbon chce dt a kdy se knmu pibl, tak j ho dt nechce. Umlcv nepstupn vraz bez smvu jet umocuje toto zmaten. Holika se po nkolika dalch nespnch pokusech o zskn bonbonu vrtila zpt do hledit. Aby svj vroubek za to, co j oklivho provedl, odinil, tak se na ni pi zvrenm potlesku usmval od ucha kuchu a bonbon j pinesl a k sedadlu. Dv pozor, aby vdotynm dtti nezanechal zmaten a negativn pocity z pedstaven.
Kate i na Vlkov

Audience as partner
During the performance of Vu Manceau picks a member of the audience and transforms them into his co-performer. His strategy is simple: he persistently stares at a spectator and repeatedly indicates (with his nodding head and rolling eyes) that he needs him or her on the stage. As long as he wins the spectator over and the spectator enters the stage, the performer immediately incorporates them into the show: together they start bringing props from the backstage onto the stage, move objects around, etcetera. As long as Manceaus pick is successful, as it was in the case of the shows performance at Circusstad Festival, the spectator virtually becomes his stagehand for the whole of the performance. They co-create a certain partnership. The other side of the coin is

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that the spectator brings along his or her own ideas and, at times, infringes on Manceaus plans. This can be caused either by the spectators desire to present his or her own performance, or through misinterpretation of Manceaus requirements. This happened to the female spectator who was picked in Rotterdam, and it was noticeable that the performer was quite unhappy with the miscommunication. Precisely planned actions took a different route, and Manceau had to move things back to the predefined framework. Apart from the partner he picks out, Manceau reacts to audience responses and incorporates other spectators into the stage action. For instance, in Rotterdam he lured a little girl on the stage while offering her candy. As soon as she came closer to his table, he pulled the candy away from her. The girl was obviously puzzled due to the contradictory messages she received the performer offered her the candy in the first place; when she moves closer to him, he withdraws it. The performers unreadable facial expression, without any hint of a smile, increases the confusion. After several unsuccessful attempts at getting the candy, the girl goes back to her seat. However, at the end of the show Manceau makes up for this nasty trick: during the curtain call he addresses the girl with his (finally) smiling face and eventually comes down to her and presents her with the candy. He is very careful while doing this in order to eliminate the girls confusion and any traces of negative emotions which the performance could potentially leave in her mind. In Leandre Riberas No s the audience are approached as partners within an open dialogue. Ribera certainly has an idea of what a given spectator will do when he addresses him/ her, but, contrary to Manceau, he is open to any changes and to indulging the spectators own fantasies. At Circusstad Festival, he entranced a boy who then kept re-entering the stage when Ribera asked him to do so. However, the boy got so overexcited that he crawled all over the audience, ran across the stage, and unsuitably interfered with the performers actions. Ribera

Leandre Ribera naproti tomu kpubliku vNo s pistupuje jako kpartnerovi a je oteven dialogu. M tak uritou pedstavu, co dotyn divk udl, kdy ho o to pod, ale je oteven jakmkoli zmnm a divkov fantazii. Na Circussstad festivalu napklad tak nadchl jednoho dtskho divka, e se mu na scnu vracel i po tom, co ho ktomu vyzval. Kluina se rozdovdl a prolzal hleditm, pobhal po scn a lezl umlci do scn, ve kterch se to ji nehodilo. Ribera ale jeho konn nijak krav nehodnotil (ani nesouhlasnm pohledem jako Manceau, kdy divaka udlala nco jinho, ne o co ji pohledem dal), protoe podle nj pece klaun neme dt krat. To by pece nebyl klaun! Tm se dostvme kdalmu rozdlnmu bodu obou pstup. Zatmco Ribera rozvj svho ervenho klauna bez propracovanho charakteru, protoe se domnv, e klaun nen herec, aby hrl charakter, Etiennv podivn m detailn propracovanou psychologii. Ribera krom aktivovn divka tm, e ho zapoj do hry na jeviti (do svho vstupu), nebo v hlediti (nap. tm, e mu d do ruky plku a hraje snm tenis) navc divky atakuje. Jako ivel bhem pedstaven vlet do publika, polb znieho nic mladou dvku, star enu nebo mue a zase odbhne pry. Pekvapenmu divkovi trv pr minut, ne se vzpamatuje ztohoto nletu a vrt se zpt do pozice divka. Tmto atakem je vtaen do akce, zpasivnho sledujcho se stal najednou bez vlastnho piinn nkm, po kom se vichni ostatn dvaj. Klaun prohazuje divkm brle, pjuje si od nich pit, vyzv divku ktanci, bere si od jednoho divka jdlo, aby ho dal divkovi sedcmu opodl. Ten pvodnmu drci dkuje. Tmito vemi akcemi Ribera znejiuje divkovu pozici, naruuje hranici mezi jevitm a hleditm, vyzv divky ke komunikaci mezi sebou, nechv je hrt si sjeho rekvizitami na jeviti. Usad se vhlediti a sleduje je jako divk, ne se po chvli vrt zpt na scnu.

Protiklady?
Ob one man show jsou vmnoha bodech protikladn. Krom pesnho naasovn a
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accepted the childs behaviour with no sign of resentment (not even with the slightest remark of disagreement, which we could notice in Manceaus performance when his participant misinterpreted his intention) because a clown cannot reproach a child. He wouldnt be a clown then! Here we are touching upon another difference in approach. Ribera brings forward an undeveloped character of the red clown because he believes that a clown is not an actor who portrays a character. Manceaus weirdo is, on the contrary, a well-structured character with a carefully developed psychology. Riberas activation of spectator participation occurs on three levels: (1) active participation on the stage (within the stage action); (2) active participation in the audience (e.g. when he plays tennis with one of the spectators to whom he passes a tennis racket); (3) sudden attacks on the audience where he wildly runs into the audience and kisses a girl, old lady or man then runs back onto the stage. A surprised spectators composure is shattered and it takes time for him/her to recover from the shock. Such an attack draws the spectator into the performance: he or she turns from a passive viewer into an active element of the show, being picked without his or her permission. Riberas clown also swaps spectators glasses, borrows drinks from them, dances with spectators, asks one spectator for food and then gives it to another one. The second spectator thanks the first one. With all these actions Ribera undermines the usual position of the audience, disrupts the border separating stage and spectators, stimulates the audience to communicate among one another, and lets them play with his props on the stage. Moreover, he sits in the audience as a spectator, then returns back to the stage.

Leandre No s Joke Schot

rozvolnn formy, vraznho klaunskho kostmu a bnho obleen, prce srekvizitou, vztahu spublikem a dramaturgickho pojet zvru pedstaven, je tu jet nco. erven klaun pichz jako cestovatel skufrem v ruce za divky, kdeto podivna publikum navtv u nj doma, aby vtomto vsostn osobnm prostoru nahldlo do jeho maniackho svta. Podivn je hrav, ale je to jin hra ne ta, kterou erven klaun iveln rozehrv najeviti i vhlediti. Podivnovo hran se nehne zmsta, po celou dobu pedstaven sed na idli za stolem. Manceau sdivky komunikuje jen pohyby o a drobnou mimikou, kdeto Ribera promlouv kdivkm celm svm tlem, gesty i mimikou, sv tlo ohb a formuje jako dal rekvizitu, je mu slou na scn, obliej krabat do roztodivnch grimas od tch nejsympatitjch a po ty, kter dti vpubliku stra jet vnonch mrch. Jeden je klaunem na prvn pohled, je to jeho pirozenost. U druhho musme proniknout knmu dom, abychom poznali jeho klaunstv pramenc zjeho smutku. Zatmco jeden se do role klauna pasuje vdom, kostmem, grimasami, rekvizitami,
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Contradictions?
Both these one-man shows are on many levels contradictory. Besides their contrasting structure (precise timing vs. loose form), formal aspects (clown costume vs. casual costume), way of manipulating props, relationship with the audience, and ending, there is one more difference. The red clown enters the stage as

atraveller, carrying his red suitcase, whereas the weirdo invites the audience into his home, i.e. his intimate space his maniac world. The weirdo is playful but it is a different playfulness from that of the spontaneous clown, who scatters his piece all over the stage and audience. The weirdos action sticks to one spot: during the show Manceau sits on his chair behind the table. His communication with spectators relies on eye contact and slight gestures. Ribera, on the other hand, overwhelms his spectators with the totality of his physicality, using gestures and mime. He contorts and manipulates his body as another prop; his face is deformed into a wide spectrum of grimaces, from funny ones to the scary ones which haunt childrens dreams as nightmares. Leandre is a clown at first sight; it is his nature. To learn about the clownery of the other one we need to enter his home. His clowning emerges from his sorrow and isolation. While the former is a clown intentionally his costume, grimaces, props refer to clowning the latter is a clown by accident. The laughter he stimulates is paradoxically produced by his own inability to laugh. He is a lonesome clown. Leandre Riberas work cultivates the tradition of circus and the legacy of famous clowns, merging this with his bountiful imagination andspontaneity. Etienne Manceaus Vu is the unique solo experiment of a juggler. His oneman show, however, shares a lot with juggling: precision, concentration and repetition. His manipulation of objects develops a firm plot; hischaracter is very carefully developed. Bothapproaches are relevant and stimulating. One is lucky to meet both artists at one festival.

druh je klaunem tak trochu nhodou. Smch vlidech probouz paradoxn tm, e se sm smt neum. Je to osaml klaun. Tvorba Leandra Ribery vychz z tradic cirkusu a slavnch klaun a ms se sjeho bohatou fantazi a spontaneitou. tienne Manceau si od onglovn odskoil kslu, kter m songlovnm spolenou pesnost, soustedn a opakovn. Manipulaci sobjekty rozvj na pevn djov lince a svou postavu herecky rozpracovv. Oba tyto pstupy jsou zajmav a podntn. Je tst oba umlce potkat na jednom festivalu.

Kate i na Vlkov

40

Taking Risks and Taking the Audience with You

L I L I A N A C O UTI N H O

Correr riscos e levar o pblico consigo

a partir de trs peas apresentadas no festival Cirscusttad 2013
L I L I A N A C O UTI N H O

In my childhood I used to go to the Christmas circus with my mother and with all her colleagues from the factory where she worked. Alongside the wonderful transgression of eating ice cream in the middle of winter, what created an even greater sense of expectation was the gifts and the acrobats that awaited me. The gifts were childrens books with texts of revolutionary content, with stories of kings that abdicated because they were tired of the loneliness of having to rule; of ordinary children who found themselves in unusual trips in which they met very different families from their own; of horses that transformed into cocoons that transformed into butterflies that transformed into a poem written on a piece of a torn leaf fallen on the floor. To me, they were magical books. They were also political books: we were in Portugal, in a moment of transformation for the society. The transition from dictatorship to democracy had happened in 1974 and during the following years, the post-revolutionary years, moments that provided conviviality and distraction to manufacturing and agricultural workers were also moments in which they sought to carry out the work of social pedagogy. After the gifts, acrobats men and women appeared who flew high in the tent and, through rings, swings and unique yarns, did wonderful things and displayed extraordinary gestures. In short, they did, with extreme elegance, what no vulgar human being could do and with their feet firmly on the ground. I remember admiring

Na minha infncia costumava ir ao circo de Natal com a minha me e com todos os seus colegas da fbrica onde trabalhava. Sem contar com a maravilhosa transgresso que significava naquela altura comer gelados em pleno inverno, o que me criava maior expectativa eram as prendas que me esperavam e os acrobatas. As prendas eram livros infantis com textos de teor revolucionrio, com histrias de reis que abdicavam porque estavam fartos da solido de ter de mandar, de crianas vulgares que se viam em viagens invulgares nas quais conheciam famlias muito diferentes das suas, de cavalos que se transformavam em casulos que se transformavam em borboletas que se transformavam em poema escrito num pedao de folha rasgada cada no cho. Eram, para mim, livros mgicos. Eram tambm livros polticos: estavamos em Portugal, num momento de transformao do viver em sociedade. A transio da ditadura para a democracia tinha acontecido em 1974 e durante os anos seguintes, os anos ps-revolucionrios, os momentos de convvio e distraco dos trabalhadores fabris e agrcolas eram tambm momentos nos quais se procurava exercer um trabalho de pedagogia social. Juntamente com essa, por vezes difcil, gesto da vida quotidiana ordinria que se procurava ento fazer, apareciam os acrobatas, homens e mulheres que voavam alto na tenda e que, por entre argolas, baloios e fios de funambulistas, faziam coisas maravilhosas e exibiam gestos extraordinrios. Em suma, faziam, com extrema
L ili ana C o u t inho 41

Gandini Juggling Smashed Joke Schot

above all the confidence that the acrobats cultivated among themselves which allowed them to perform all those feats: a human body briefly transformed into a bird, threw itself into the air and flew because its owner knew that on the other side his partner would do everything to catch him at the end of the flight. The spirit of transformation and collaboration was both in the books given as gifts and in the circus that was given for us to see. The competence of circus artists is a collective competence: no bold gesture, no risky jump, is possible without the collaborative relationships that are established within the group of acrobats. Of course, something could always go wrong: circumstance, a miscalculation, an elastic fibre that stretches too little or too much, fingers that slipped, and the fall would be fatal if it werent for the thin elastic net, extended a few metres below, which all acrobats hoped wasnt necessary. Sometimes, there were acrobats who worked without a net. The tension created in the viewers, or at least in me, was so strong that I

elegncia, aquilo que nenhum ser humano vulgar e com os ps bem assentes no cho poderia realizar. Lembro-me que admirava acima de tudo a confiana que os membros do grupo de acrobatas cultivavam entre eles e que lhes permitia realizar todas aquelas proezas: um corpo humano transformava-se por momentos em pssaro, atirava-se ao ar e voava porque sabia que do outro lado o outro faria tudo para o segurar no fim do vo. O esprito de transformao e de colaborao estava tanto nos livros dados de presente como no circo que nos era dado a ver. A competncia dos artstas de circo uma competncia de equipa: nenhum gesto arrojado, nenhum salto arriscado, possvel sem as relaes de colaborao que estabelecem no seio do grupo de acrobatas. Claro, alguma coisa poderia sempre vir a correr mal: as circunstncias, um erro de clculo, um elstico que esticou de menos ou demais, uns dedos que escorregaram, e a queda seria fatal se no fosse uma fina rede elstica estendida uns metros abaixo e da qual todos os acrobatas esperavam no necessitar.

L ili ana C o u t inho

42

was nervous even before the acrobats began to swing in the air. Seeing someone putting themselves at risk, even if voluntarily, bothered me and fascinated me at the same time. I never thought that the risk that those acrobats took was for free, nor their courage pointless. If on the one hand the flights and the pirouettes in the air were clearly an exercise of exhibition and seduction, they were also a gift to viewers that, emotionally, empathetically, flew with them as well. A gift because they exposed themselves to the fragility of failure. I saw acrobats, not as heroes, but as anonymous people who were dedicated to showing something that can be done with determined and dedicated work, reaching such a great skill that it allows them, in public, to go to the extent of their competence, to the area where they can publicly fail. In the traditional circus, failure was always lurking, always in power, playing with the expectations of the spectators; when it happened it became an error to move away from the eyes of the public, unless the performers were the clowns in the arena. In that case, yes, as a clown, hidden under a red nose or thick layers of white makeup, you could and should play with the carelessness, the error, the failure, the misunderstanding. The same is no longer the case in much of contemporary circus. In some of the shows I saw at the third edition of the Circusstad festival in Rotterdam the fault was no longer an error, but continued to be a risk. Integrated into the dramaturgy of the show, happening by chance or by theatrical design, risk continued to raise expectations and beating hearts, motivate sighs and other unexpected outpourings, leaving the audience suspended by a cord or on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Although the tone of the festival continued to be, according to the press release, harder, better, faster and louder, some of the acrobats, jugglers and aerialists were more down to earth and played, no longer with the extraordinary, but with our everyday gestures, making deeper insights, and, unlike the traditional circus, success in overcoming a risk was not always followed by clapping. I will not relate everything that happened at Circusstad, nor will I only write about acrobats. I

Por vezes, apareciam alguns acrobatas que trabalhavam sem rede. A tenso criada nos espectadores, ou pelo menos em mim, era ento to forte que eu ficava nervosa antes mesmo de os acrobatas comearem a balanar nos ares. Ver algum a pr-se em risco, mesmo se voluntriamente, preocupava-me e fascinava-me ao mesmo tempo. Nunca achei que o risco que aqueles acrobatas corriam fosse gratuto, nem a sua coragem despropositada. Se por um lado os vos e as piruetas no ar eram claramente um exerccio de exibio e de seduo, eram tambm uma ddiva para os espectadores que, emocionalmente, empticamente, voavam com eles tambm. Uma ddiva porque se expunham fragilidade da falha. Via os acrobatas, no como heris, mas como pessoas annimas que se dedicam a mostrar algo que se pode fazer com trabalho afincado e dedicao, atingindo uma mestria to grande que lhes permite, em pblico, no se escudar no que sabem mas ir at ao limite da sua competncia, at zona onde, publicamente, podem falhar. No circo tradicional, a falha, sempre espreita, sempre em potncia, jogando com as expectativas dos espectadores, quando acontecia tornava-se um erro a afastar dos olhos do pblico, a no ser que fossem os palhaos que estivessem na arena. A sim, como palhao, escondido debaixo de um nariz vermelho ou de grossas camadas de maquilhagem branca, podiase e devia-se jogar com o descudo, o erro, a falha, o mal entendido. O mesmo j no acontece em muito do circo contemporneo. Em algumas peas que vi na terceira edio do festival Circusttad (Roterdo, 29 de Abril a 5 de Maio de 2013) a falha j no era um erro, mas continuava a ser um risco. Integrada na dramaturgia do espectculo, acontecendo por acaso, ou de forma teatralizada, continuava a suscitar expectativas e a fazer bater coraes, a motivar suspiros e outros desabafos inesperados, a deixar a plateia suspensa por um fio ou beira de um ataque de nervos. Embora o mote do festival continuasse a ser, segundo o press release, mais forte, melhor, mais rpido e mais alto, alguns dos acrobatas, malabaristas e equilibristas eram mais terra terra e jogam, j no com o extraordinrio, mas com os nossos gestos e percepes mais
L ili ana C o u t inho 43

shall concentrate on three shows, very different from each other in the ways they deal with risk and in the forms of collaboration between artists and between artists and audience they require: No s, from the Catalan artist Leandre; Vu by Cie Sackripa; and Extrmits by the company Cirque Inextrmiste. In the middle of the arena set up outdoors in the square Schouwburg, a man arrived all dressed in red red suit, red hat, red shoes. He carried in his hand the skeleton of an umbrella, shaped from bundles of red wires, that quickly became another thing, and a large suitcase, also outlined in wire, filled with small objects tennis rackets, balls, sprays of water, and another entanglement of wires that soon, in the hands of Leandre, transformed into a door and then into a mirror. From the suitcase that he carried in his hand, several objects metamorphosed into each other. Leandre came with some acts up his sleeve, but he could not do them alone. The public was sometimes called to cooperate and not only to help. The public is creative, especially the children. Whether it is because they do not understand the intentions of Leandre, or because they begin to invent new intentions, the intended acts transform into another thing and recreate themselves before our eyes. Leandre also challenges the audience in a pungent, provocative way: sometimes embracing it, preventing it from leaving the show, scarring the children with frightening expressions, kissing one or two women, doing what perhaps he shouldnt do... but... why not!? We were in the arena and the circus allows more than the street. Therefore the title of this piece, seen on 1 May at the end of the afternoon, is No s, which in Catalan means I dont know. Leandre does not know what will happen when he enters the arena. What the public will experience is improvised by the circumstances, by the visual universe evoked by the red costume, by some basic ideas and the suitcase of tools that he brings with him. There are no acts that have to be made, there is no story to tell, or feelings to transmit other than the ones happening there, during the approximately 45 minute show, with the interaction of the

mais quotidianas e, ao contrrio do circo tradicional, o sucesso na ultrapassagem do risco nem sempre era seguido de palmas. No irei referir tudo o que neste mbito aconteceu no Circusttad nem escreverei s sobre acrobatas. Concentrar-me-ei em trs espectculos, muito diferentes uns dos outros no que diz respeito modos de lidar com o risco e com as formas de colaborao, entre artistas e entre artistas e pblico, que este exige : No se, do artista catalo Leandre, e de Frana, Vu, de Sackripa e Extrmits, do Cirque Inextrmiste. Ao meio da arena montada ao ar livre na praa Schouwburg, chegou um homem todo vestido de vermelho - fato, chapu, sapatos. Trazia na mo, desenhados por feixes de arames tambm eles vermelhos, o esqueleto de um guarda chuva que rpidamente se transformou noutra coisa e uma grande mala, tambm ela esboada a arame, cheia de pequenos objectos raquetes de tnis,bolas, esguichos de gua, e mais um amaranhado de arames que logo, nas mos de Leandre, o artista catalo que assim se apresentava, se transformou numa porta e logo de seguida num espelho. Da mala que trzia na mo, sairam ento vrios objectos que se metamorfosearam noutros. Leandre trazia alguns numeros na manga, mas no os podia fazer sozinho. O pblico era por vezes chamado a colaborar e no como simples ajudante. O pblico criativo, principalmente as crianas. Seja porque no entendem as intenes de Leandre, seja porque comeam a inventar novas intenes, os nmeros pensados transformamse noutra coisa e recriam-se perante os nossos olhos. Leandre tambm interpela o pblico de uma forma pungente, provocativa: por vezes abraava-o, impedia-o de abandonar o espectculo, atemorizava as crianas com esgares assustadores, beijava uma ou outra mulher fazendo o que talvez no devesse fazer... mas... e porque no?! Estavamos na arena e o circo permite mais do que a rua. Por isso o ttulo desta pea, vista no dia 1 de Maio ao fim da tarde, No se, o que em catalo equivale a dizer No sei. Leandre no sabe o que vai acontecer quando entra na arena. O que o pblico vai experimentar improvisado a partir das circunstncias, de um universo visual evocado
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audience. Leandre reflects the classic clown tradition. Not only the tradition of clown in circus tents, but that which has been created by the cinema, in particular by the silent films of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. What interests him is how those characters and clowns in general have the ability, from inside the maelstrom of events, to touch our hearts and interact with us in a subtle and empathetic way. In my opinion, he managed this. I laughed, marveled sometimes to see a small gesture transform my entire perception of a scene. I remembered childs play, in that growth period during which everything could be what it was and something else at the same time; everything is in power, in movement, open. It is this openness that is the greatest risk of this piece: as it is a street theatre performance with an audience that has paid for a ticket and will be seated for the entire duration of the show something that doesnt normally happen in the most banal street theatre, which a person finds on a chance stroll Leandre needs to manage well the tension between what is happening on stage, the public with whom he collaborates and interacts, and the public who simply watches. On the day that I saw No s a group of enthusiastic children invaded the arena, took charge of the situation, and the performance ended without even having come to an end. Not that it required a specific purpose, a clear conclusion to close those 45 minutes of action, but it was as if the energy of transformation and metamorphosis that had come to mark the performance from the beginning, and the tacit agreement of collaboration between the public and Leandre, had simply faded. Jump ropes were only jump ropes, the simple wires were simple wires without the possibility of transforming into another thing. The red hat became a part of the character that Leandre couldnt retrieve from a childs hands. The eight, nine or ten children who invaded the area plunged into a playground for themselves and the game faded in a boundless enthusiasm. It is the risk of a dramaturgy that is open in this way, so extreme in its collaboration with the uniqueness of each audience. If sometimes it can go wrong, it is the

pelo figurino vermelho, de algumas ideias bsicas e da mala de ferramentas que trs consigo. No h nmeros que tenham imperativamente de ser feitos, no h histria para contar, nem sentimentos a transmitir a no ser os que acontecem ali, durante os cerca de 45 minutos de espectculo, na interaco com o pblico presente. Leandre reclama-se da tradio do palhao tradicional. No s da tradio do palhao das tendas de circo, mas da que nos foi trazida pelo cinema, em particular pelo cinema mudo de Buster Keaton e de Charlie Chaplin. O que lhe interessa o modo como aquelas personagens, e os palhaos em geral, tm a capacidade para, na voragem dos acontecimentos, nos tocar o corao e entrar em relao connosco de forma sbtil e emptica. Por mim, conseguiu. Ri-me, maravilhei-me por vezes ao ver um pequeno gesto transformar toda a percepo que eu estava a ter da cena. Lembrei-me de brincadeiras de criana, naquele perodo do crescimento durante o qual tudo pode ser o que e outra coisa ao mesmo tempo, tudo est em potncia, em movimento, em aberto. nesta abertura que se situa o maior risco desta pea: sendo um teatro de rua com um pblico que paga um bilhete para estar sentado durante toda a durao do espectculo algo que no acontece no teatro de rua mais banal, aquele que o caminhante encontra por acaso no seu passeio - Leandre precisa de gerir bem a tenso entre o que est a acontecer em palco, o pblico com quem colabora e interage, e o pblico que, simplesmente, v. No dia em que assisti a No se, um grupo de crianas muito entusiasmadas invadiu a arena, tomou conta da situao e a performance terminou sem mesmo ter chegado ao fim. No que seja necessrio um fim especfico, uma concluso clara que fechasse aqueles 45 minutos de actuao, mas foi como se a energia de transformao, o jogo e metamorfose que tinha vindo a marcar a performance desde o incio e o acordo tcito de colaborao entre Leandre e o pblico, tivesse simplesmente desvanecido. As cordas de saltar voltaram a ser somente cordas de saltar, os arames simples arames sem possibilidade de se transformar noutra coisa. O chapu vermelho tornou-se uma parte da personagem que Leandre
L ili ana C o u t inho 45

presence of risk that gives such a great vitality to No s. On the other hand, Cie Sackripa knew and controlled everything. Vu is almost a lonely show, made from small homemade obsessions and manias. On the stage there was a small table on which a radio had been placed and turned on. I could hear music. A man dressed formally entered the stage, turned off the music and, from the desk drawer, took a small chair on which he sat behind the desk, facing the audience. What follows could occur in five minutes, but it takes almost an hour: the preparation of tea, toast, leafing through a magazine, looking at ones nails (which are no longer nails but sharp paper cones that extend your fingers, like a paper Edward Scissorhands) and trimming them. Everything takes time because all these banal, automatic gestures are the result of an elaborate choreography and machinery of causes and effects: the hand that flips through the magazine does it with long and pointed fingers, the finger wet by the tongue is not the one used to turn the page, the milk makes a journey by lift systems and makeshift bridges to finally reach the tea, the lighting of a match is the product of an elaborate choreography of pipes, etcetera. Caricatured, the machinist nature of our usual gestures and our distractions are taken to the extreme. The only risk that seems to exist is the loss of control that can make the cube of sugar fall out of the cup when it is thrown to the other corner of the table. Nothing has failed in the precise machinery that governs the daily life. The control is also expressed in the way the performer relates to the public. The woman who was part of the public and who, several times, played the role of the character in a scene, was glanced at sideways, as someone who had to be there to help but who, in reality, was not desired. At the end of each act, like a circus animal that has obeyed its tamer, the woman received a marshmallow. The collaboration between the artist and audience was so sarcastic, evoking more or less subtly some relations of power and control inherited from the traditional circus, but also often present in everyday life.

no conseguia recuperar das mos de uma criana. As oito, nove ou dez crianas que invadiram o espao mergulharam num parque de diverses para elas prprias e o jogo desvaneceuse num entusiasmo sem limites e sem futuro. o risco de uma dramaturgia que se abre desta forma to extrema colaborao com outro e singularidade de cada pblico. Se por vezes pode correr mal, a presena des risco que d uma to grande vitalidade a No se. Por outro lado, Sackripa sabia e controlava tudo. Vu um espectculo quase solitrio, feito de pequenas obsesses e manias caseiras. No palco do Dhrome havia uma pequena mesa sobre a qual estava colocado um rdio ligado. Ouvia-se uma msica. Um homem vestido de forma aprumada entrava no palco, desligava a msica e, da gaveta da mesa, tirava uma pequena cadeira na qual se sentava, atrs da mesa, virado para o pblico. O que se segue poderia-se passar em cinco minutos, mas demora quase uma hora: a preparao do ch, das torradas, o folhear da revista, o olhar para as unhas, que j no so unhas mas afiados cones de papel que prolongam os dedos em jeito de um Eduardomos-de-tesoura mas de papel - e apar-las. Tudo demora pois todos estes gestos banais, automticos, so aqui o resultado de uma elaborada coreografia e maquinaria de causas e efeitos: a mo que folheia a revista f-lo com longos e bicudos dedos de papel, o dedo que se molha com a lngua o da mo oposta que se usa para melhor virar a pgina, o leite faz toda uma viagem por entre sistemas elevatrios e pontes improvisadas at finalmente chegar ao ch, o acender de um fsforo o produto de uma elaborada coreografia de tubos e sopros, etc. Caricaturizados, o carcter maqunico dos nossos gestos habituais e das nossas distraces levado ao extremo. O nico risco que parece existir o da perca do controle que pode fazer o cubo de aucar cair fora da chvena quando atirado do outro canto da mesa. Nada falhou na maquinaria precisa que rege aquele quotidiano. O controle exprimia-se tambm no modo como o actor se relaciona com o pblico. A mulher que fazia parte do pblico e que, vrias vezes, fez o papel de assistente da personagem em cena, era olhada de lado, como algum que tinha de estar
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Cirque Inextremistes Extrmits, presented at the chapiteau mounted on Schouwburg square, went further in making a game of the power relationships between the artists and between the artists and the public, involving its audience immediately by bringing them into the tension of a dangerous environment. At the very beginning a voice announced that this show was not for people with heart problems. Then, a balancing performer doll glided by a thread until it reached the middle of the stage. Once arrived, a shot made it fall to the floor. The tone of the rest of the performance was set. With the name inspired by the world created by global terrorist attacks, Cirque Inextremiste care little for empathy or for the collaboration of the public. Angry, annoyed to the point of aggression or of a little humiliation, the public is forced to collaborate and play their part unless, at a given moment, it does not tolerate what happens inside the tent: the public is hit intentionally by a shoe in the face, by a gas cylinder that only after many and noisy gasps is known to be a foam fake, by a ping-pong ball thrown with strength, or with a liquid that perhaps is urine. Perhaps due to having felt fear several times, the risk seemed to be much more on the public than on the side of the balancing performers. The risk in Extrmits was so inherent to the work of the balancing act on stage as to test the limits of the publics tolerance. Formally, this is a show with three circus performers that balance on thick wooden boards atop gas cylinders. The aesthetic is raw and the gas cylinders, constantly at risk of falling, create a state of continuous tension throughout the show. One of the equilibrists is an equilibrist with reduced mobility, requiring a wheelchair to move, even when he is in a precarious balance a few feet off the ground. The dramaturgy of the play is based on a perverse game of power that the other two equilibrists establish with this character, for whom they always try to make life difficult, annoying, and humiliating. The achievements of the equilibrists do not exist alone, but are part of the vocabulary of a dramaturgy that doesnt hide its ethical

ali para ajudar mas que, na realidade, no era desejada. No final de cada aco, qual animal de circo que obdece a um domador, a mulher recebia um marshmallow. A colaborao entre artista e pblico dava-se deste modo sarcstico, evocando de forma mais ou menos subtil algumas relaes de poder e de controle herdadas do circo tradicional, mas tambm presentes frequentemente num quotidiano caseiro. A performance do Cirque Inextrmiste, Extrmits, apresentada no Chapiteau montado na praa Schouwburg, a mais longe no jogo com as relaes de poder entre artistas e entre artistas e pblico, envolvendo este, de imediato, na tenso de um ambiente perigoso. Logo no incio uma voz anunciava que este espectculo no era para cardacos. De seguida, um boneco equilibrista deslizava por um fio at ao meio do palco. A chegado, um tiro fazia-o cair no cho. Estava dado o tom ao resto da performance. Com o nome inspirado no universo dos ataques terroristas, o cirque Inextrmiste pouco se importa com a empatia ou com a colaborao do pblico. Irritado, enervado, chegando mesmo agresso ou pequena humilhao, o pblico obrigado a colaborar na pea, a no ser que a dado momente no tolere o que acontece dentro da tenda do Chapit: ser atingido propositadamente por um sapato na cara, por uma bilha de gs que s depois de muitos e ruidosos suspiros se soube ser de esponja, por uma bola de ping-pong lanada com fora ou com um lquido que talvez fosse mesmo urina. Talvez por ter sentido medo algumas vezes, o risco pareceu-me estar muito mais do lado pblico do que dos equilibristas. O risco em Extrmits era por isso inerente, tanto ao trabalho de equilibrismo em palco, como ao limite de tolerncia do pblico. Formalmente, trata-se de uma pea com trs actores de circo que se equilibram em grossas tbuas de madeira suspensas em bilhas de gs. A esttica crua e as bilhas de gs, constantemente em risco de cair, criam um estado de tenso continua do incio ao fim do espectculo. Um dos equilibristas um equilibrista com mobilidade reduzida, necessitando de uma cadeira de rodas para se mover, mesmo quando est em equilibro precrio
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dimension. The director of Cirque Inextremiste sees his circus as part of the broader work of social activism an attitude which is expressed in dramaturgical terms in the way the company devises its material. Its team of little dictators defend DIY processes and methods of sharing and creation based on open source systems. Supporting itself through collaboration, Cirque Inextremiste does not compete for subsidies or grants of any kind to produce its work. The collaborative relationships that I mentioned at the beginning of the text serve not only the work of equilibrists but also other social dimensions related to the production of a circus performance. These three examples make me think that contemporary circus, to ward off the veil of seduction, perfection and illusion in the traditional circus, clearly exposes risk without fearing the error, and works as well with dramaturgical strategies related to the modes of collaboration between artists, and between artists and the public, in order to express and explore different modes of social relationship. In this way, I find part of what very much fascinated me in the risk involved for the acrobats of my childhood: the social interaction and the confidence that was needed in the arena for the risk to be overcome.

a uns metros do cho. A dramaturgia da pea baseada num jogo perverso de poder que os outros dois equilibristas estabelecem com esta personagem, a quem tentam sempre dificultar a vida, irritar, humilhar. As proezas dos equilibristas no valem s por si, mas fazem parte do vocabulrio de uma dramaturgia que no esconde a sua dimenso tica. O director do Circo Inxtrmiste, v o seu circo como parte de um trabalho de activismo social, que se exprime tanto em termos dramaturgicos como na forma como a companhia encara o trabalho de produo das suas peas. A sua equipa de pequenos ditadores, defende processos de produo DIY (Do it yourself) e mtodos de partilha e criao baseados no sistema open source. Apoiando-se em modos de colaborao, o Cirque Inxtrmiste no concorre a subsdios ou subvenes de qualquer gnero para produzir o seu trabalho. As relaes de colaborao que mencionei no incio do texto servem aqui no s o trabalho dos equilibristas mas tambm outras dimenses sociais relacionadas com a produo de uma pea de circo. Estes trs exemplos fazem-me pensar que um certo circo contemporneo, ao afastar o vu de seduo, perfeio e iluso presente no circo tradicional, ao expr claramente o risco sem temer o erro e ao trabalhar estratgias dramatrgicas relacionadas com os modos de colaborao entre artistas e entre artistas e pblico, esto a dar relevo, atravs do circo, expresso e explorao de modos de relacionamento social. Desta forma, volto a encontrar parte do que muito me fascinava no risco que corriam os acrobatas da minha infancia: os modos de relacionamento social activados e a confiana que era necessria trazer para a arena para que o risco fosse ultrapassado.

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Art in the Big Top

N A T A L I A S K O C Z Y L A S

Sztuka pod namiotem

N A T A L I A S K O C Z Y L A S

I hope, reader, that you are familiar with the notion of contemporary circus, the rules it follows, and what is the difference between the new and the old circus, because Im not going to explain any of that. I treat these terms as given, as I would rather move on to another level of awareness and criticism where extracting ideas from, interpreting, or even adding extra meaning to circus shows takes place. On the one hand, Im drawing on my visual and intellectual experience, which is impossible to share; on the other hand, Im providing you with sort of a pattern a certain matrix is being created that can prove useful in your own encounters with the circus, an artform which can be very different than it seems on the surface. Numerous significant, complex things took place in Rotterdam. At least thats the way it seemed to an observer from a sociological and political, as well as journalistic, perspective. Many performances that Circusstad hosted influenced the viewer on various levels. Entertainment constituted the first level being an integral part of the circus, something we expect or even demand. However, as we had a chance to witness, contemporary circus expands the borders and incorporates other theatrical forms which minimise the ludic aspect of a circus show, thus creating some space for reflection. The second level: the perception of physical strength in the observation of perfect bodies capable of atrocious effort. From one point of view, these bodies appear to be the material that exists within each performance, being an indispensable element of the whole. From the other point of view, the flesh establishes its own independent value and pleasure, linking to the Old Greek concept of kalokagathia to the breaking of physical boundaries and the

Mam nadziej, czytelniku, e wiesz, czym jest nowy cyrk i na czym on polega, czym rni si od starego bo nie bd ju tego tumaczya. Pewne rzeczy uznaj za pewnik i przechodz na inny poziom wiadomoci i krytyki, wydobywajc, interpretujc, a moe po prostu dopisujc treci i znaczenia do pokazw cyrkowych. Z jednej strony korzystam z pewnego bagau wizualnych i intelektualnych dowiadcze, ktrymi nie mog si z tob podzieli ale z drugiej, daj pewien szablon, tworz pewn matryc krytycznego patrzenia na nowy cyrk, ktra moe przyda si w twoich poszukiwaniach i przysuy si odkrywczym spotkaniom z cyrkiem, ktry potrafi by inny, ni si wydaje. W Rotterdamie wydarzyo si sporo zaangaowanych rzeczy, tak przynajmniej jawiy si obserwatorce w politologicznych, socjologicznych i dziennikarskich okularach: wiele spektakli, ktre Circusstaad goci, dziaao na widza w wielu wymiarach: rozrywka bya pierwszym z poziomw, wpisanych wtemat cyrku, oczywistym i oczekiwanym, czynawet wymaganym (cho, jak si przekonalimy, nowy cyrk amie bariery i sigapo teatralne formy, ktre w sumie t ludyczno dusz, robic miejsce egzystencjalnej refleksji). Drugi poziom todowiadczenie fizycznej sprawnoci, obcowanie z boskimi ciaami, zdolnymi do nieludzkich wysikw, ktre z jednej strony jaktworzywo wtapiay si w sens pokazw, stanowic po prostu warunek konieczny dla caej reszty z drugiej jednak byy wartoci iprzyjemnoci same w sobie, wiony starogreck kalokagati, przekraczaniem granic, olimpijskim ekstremem fizycznych zdolnoci.

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depiction of an Olympic extreme of physical perfection. Finally, the third level, hidden under the layer of aesthetics, physicality, entertainment and decoration: politics, social involvement, criticism, pastiche and caricature. This level emerges as added value food for thought for those who are looking for extra meaning. To ultra-sensitive spectators, the circus proves to be surprisingly abundant in meaning. This quality of communication is extremely significant. On the one hand, it gives the circus the chance to alter its image and attract versatile, interested groups of people. People who, after dispensing with their stereotypes and prejudices concerning this branch of art, will be able to watch the circus performance aware of its artistic potential and rich content and see it displayed in a more entertaining form than theatre or dance, both of which circus is frequently compared with. On the other hand, circus, being a light-hearted, accessible form of art that is considered to be attractive and interesting to a wide audience, constitutes a powerful artistic and social tool because it can be employed for the communication of various kinds of content different values and pieces of information which will reach different audience members in different ways. In our quite packed schedule we saw circus performances depicting various faces of this artistic form: the nave, improvised sketch of a clown; a titanic show of young acrobats; a theatrical miniature, the main idea of which is difficult to decipher; a one-man, minimalist show of maximum precision; a psychologically almost unbearable performance by Cirque Inextremiste; and, finally, a show by Gandini Juggling, Smashed, which fascinated by its numerous hidden references. Imagine a stage in a big top. A couple of chairs. A couple of people dressed smartly: two women in black dresses wearing heels, seven men wearing suits. The colour and style of the setting are reminiscent of a European metropolis of the 1920s, giving the atmosphere

Wreszcie by poziom trzeci, schowany pod powok estetyki i fizycznoci, zabawy i dekoracji polityka, spoeczne zaangaowanie, krytyka, pastisz i karykatura. I ten przekaz okaza si wartoci dodan, intelektualn poywk dla tych, ktrzy szukaj drugiego dna: dla oka przewraliwionego poszukiwacza znacze cyrk okazuje si zaskakujco bogatym nonikiem treci. I ta cecha ma ogromne znaczenie. Z jednej strony to szansa dla cyrku na inn opini, na przyciganie zrnicowanych, zaciekawionych grup ludzi, ktrzy ju wyzbywszy si stereotypw i uprzedze dotyczcych tej dziedziny sztuki bd mogli przychodzi na spektakle nowego cyrku wiadomi ich potencjau, bogactwa treci, opakowanego w bardziej rozrywkow form ni taniec czy teatr, do ktrych czsto z reszt nawizuj. Z drugiej strony to wanie lekka forma, przystpna, zabawna i interesujca dla szerokich rzeszy jest narzdziem o wielkiej mocy, mona w ni bowiem zapakowa rne przekazy, treci, wartoci, informacje, ktre mimochodem, z rnych stron i na wiele sposobw docieray bd do publicznoci. W do napitym programie rezydencji znalazy si cyrkowe wystpy, ktre pokazay rne oblicza tej dziedziny: byy naiwny, improwizowany skecz klauna, tytaniczny popis modych akrobatw, czarno - teatralna miniatura o trudnej do rozgryzienia koncepcji, jednoosobowy, minimalistyczny popis maniakalnej precyzji, psychologicznie trudna do zniesienia akcja Inextremistw, i wreszcie Gandini ze swoim onglerskim zespoem, ktry fascynowa ukrytym bogactwem odniesie. I to bez adnej nadgorliwoci nadinterpretacji. Wyobra sobie scen w namiocie cyrkowym. Kilka krzese. Kilka osb, elegancko ubranych: dwie kobiety w czarnych sukienkach, na wysokich szpilkach, i siedmiu panw w garniturach. Kolorystyka i styl przypominay troch o latach 20-tych w europejskich metropoliach, klimat eleganckiej bohemy. I na tej scenie jeszcze tylko setka jabek i troch zastawy domowej, jakie wazy, patery, talerze i filianki, wszystko koszmarnie kiczowate i tanie. W sumie koszt samej dekoracji jest may,
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of elegant bohemia. This is not to mention the hundreds of apples and the tableware on the stage vases, plates, glasses to name just a few, all trashy and cheap. In general, the cost of the sets decoration is low, especially because the wares come from sales and flea markets. But the tableware was carefully chosen by the artists as it has a mission of its own in this performance: the artists wage war on cheap design and make sure this trash never makes its way to peoples tables. Here comes the social and aesthetic motif of the show. The performance is based on sound and movement. The jugglers stand up, take a number of apples each, and walk in disciplined, ordered patterns between lines of fruits, juggling all the while. The magic of this picture stems from its complete simplicity. The minimalism of means is rather hypnotising. The song I Always Wanted to Waltz in Berlin by Little Jack Little comes from the record player in a crackling voice music that brings the bohemian atmosphere back to life. This is the starting point for reflection on the show: the slightly swing, American soundtrack crackles so much that one can guess that its over seventy years old. In fact, it was recorded in the 1940s; in 1943, to be more precise. The company provoke the audience: the innocent waltzing in Berlin that the singer dreams of is a straightforward political declaration squeezed into a promenading and dancing choreography. Its the pacifists declaration, spoken by those who dont want wars, who can never understand the drive toward total destruction. What is the point of changing artistic meccas into military centres, sources of destruction, when its possible instead to simply waltz there and enjoy ones life? As the Gandinis walk gracefully around the stage, the message of the song grows even more powerful as the company highlight the contrast between art, a stronghold of beauty and an escape from painful reality, and the brutality of human existence. Yet at the same time this deeper theme is emerging there are still surface elements in the foreground of the show: its playful character, the absorbing presentation of the companys juggling skills, and the ability to

szczeglnie e porcelana pochodzi z wyprzeday i pchlich targw, wybrana z reszt starannie przez artystw, ktrzy realizuj jednoczenie pewn misj: prowadz wojn z tanim designem i dbaj o to, by caa ta tandeta nie trafia ju do domw. I ju mamy bardzo adny wtek spoeczny i estetyczny zarazem. Spektakl opiera si na ruchu i dwiku. onglerzy wstaj, bior jabka, i w porzdku, magicznie zdyscyplinowani, wdruj midzy liniami zbudowanymi z owocw, bez przerwy onglujc. Kompletna prostota, na ktrej rozpita jest caa magia. Hipnotyzujcy minimalizm rodkw. Z szumw adaptera wydobywa si staro, I always wanted to waltz in Berlin Little Jack Little znw pachnie bohem, ale ju zaczynaj si refleksje: ten lekko swingujcy, bardzo amerykaski kawaek trzaska na tyle, by mc podejrzewa, e ma on dobre siedem dekad na koncie i faktycznie, nagrano go w latach 40-stych, dokadnie w 1943 roku. Gandini prowokuje widza: niewinne walce po Berlinie, o ktrych marzy wokalista, to przecie ewidentna polityczna deklaracja, cinita pomidzy taczco chodzony ukad, to nawoywanie pacyfistw, ktrzy nie chc wojen, nie rozumiej koniecznoci totalnego zniszczenia pod adnym pretekstem i dla adnej wyszej idei. Dlaczego zmienia artystyczne Mekki w centra dowodzenia, epicentra zniszczenia, jeli mona w nich rwnie dobrze taczy tego walca, cieszy si yciem. Zesp onglerw Gandiniego z gracj przechadza si po scenie, wzmacniajc jeszcze przekaz utworu, wyjaskrawiajc kontrast pomidzy sztuk, ostoj pikna i ucieczk od problemw rzeczywistoci, a brutalnoci ludzkiej egzystencji. Na pierwszym planie wci jest ludyczno, wcigajcy pokaz umiejtnoci onglerskich i budowania spektaklu na dosownie kilku elementach, ktry potrafi zaabsorbowa na dobr godzin jakim magicznym sposobem. A pod spodem a kipi od ironii, gorzkiego dowcipu i ciekawej dyskusji z widzem. W trakcie trwania spektaklu z reszt midzy onglerami zaczynaj si budowa specyficzne relacje artyci wychodz na poy z roli
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create a fascinating performance on the basis of just a few elements. During the show some quite peculiar bonds start to develop between the jugglers by reproducing typical male-female relationships the performers are no longer circus artists only, they turn into actors. Tension builds up, because the men become interested in the women, and from time to time outward competition is visible between them. Finally, the tension becomes extreme as seven males have two attractive women at their disposal. From this point on a significant part of the show is linked to the chemistry between the sexes, this topic being approached from several different perspectives. At first, it seems to be just a game the men make clichd advances, not really serious, inflecting their juggling with a social etiquette thats quite embarrassing from a contemporary perspective. This makes things even more light and amusing. However, gradually other aspects come to light. Sexism in its purest form appears: women seem restricted, competitive behaviours turn into farce, and the men become aggressive and degrading, acting on the most primitive instincts. Its worth noting that the female jugglers build this atmosphere up by making seductive movements and dancing, intensifying the overall effect. After the meeting with the shows director, Sean Gandini, I understood how deliberate the company is in its actions. Each and every element of the show has been worked on with great attention to detail, and various themes and references have been intentionally incorporated into the performance. Many allusions are impossible to spot at first glance the circus performance comprises, undoubtedly, a multi-layered text, and that is why an in-depth analysis is necessary to arrive at new, surprising conclusions. Sean Gandini admitted that many viewers observations have been surprising even to him, yet thats the power of art. Art triggers the need for reflection and intellectual exploration; it influences each viewer in a distinct way. The performances sexist tone reaches a peak in the scene accompanied by the American country song Stand By Your Man

cyrkowcw i staj si aktorami, reprodukujc typowe dla msko damskich sytuacji ukady. Buduje si napicie, mczyni zaczynaj interesowa si kobietami, od czasu do czasu dochodzi do ostentacyjnej rywalizacji, w kocu proporcje s zabjcze, siedmiu samcw ma do dyspozycji dwie atrakcyjne kobiety. Dua cz spektaklu od tej pory w jaki sposb nawizuje do chemii midzy pciami, i traktuje j na wiele sposobw. Widziaam w tym najpierw zabaw, ot standardowe, niekoniecznie nawet powane, zaloty, karykaturaln onglerk spoecznym konwenansem, do enujcym z perspektywy. Co przydawao tylko humoru. Powoli jednak zaczy wypeza inne elementy. Pojawi si seksizm w czystej postaci, kobiety sprawiay wraenie osaczonych na tej niewielkiej przestrzeni, rywalizacja przeistoczya si w fars, agresywn i upokarzajc, grajc na banalnoci instynktw, pierwotnym spotkaniu. Ponadto onglerki ten klimat jeszcze podsycaj, dodajc od siebie uwodzicielskie gesty, kilka tanecznych ruchw, jaki obrt, subtelnie wzmacniajce oddziaywanie. Po rozmowie z Gandinim zrozumiaam, jak wiele celowoci jest w ich zabiegach, jak troskliwie zesp pracuje nad kadym elementem wystpu, wiadomie i celowo wplatajc we rnorakie treci i odwoania. Wielu z nich nie sposb nawet dojrze za pierwszym razem, wielowarstwowo tekstu, jakim jest ten cyrkowy popis niewtpliwie, wymaga drobiazgowej analizy, z ktrej powoli wyoni si nowe, zaskakujce konkluzje. Z drugiej strony, jak sam przyzna, wiele obserwacji, jakich dostarczyli mu widzowie, zaskoczya nawet jego na tym polega jednak moc sztuki, pomaga przecie wyzwala potrzeb poszukiwania i na kadego wpywa inaczej, indywidualna perspektywa nawietla i profiluje indywidualne dowiadczenie, eksponujc to, co dla nas istotne, grajc na posiadanym dowiadczeniu i wiedzy. Seksizm z reszt osiga totaln kulminacj we fragmencie, kiedy w tle rozbrzmiewa amerykaskie country: Stand by your man Tammy Wynette. Ju sam tekst tej piosenki moe by z perspektywy feministycznej potraktowany albo jako obrzydliwa
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by Tammy Wynette. The very lyrics can be seen either as a disgusting, unacceptable manifestation of regressive thinking, or a prime example of how to overthrow tradition through withering criticism. Gandini Juggling present a choreography in which women wearing beautiful, elegant dresses and heels crawl in a circle in front of the seven men sitting on chairs. Not only do the men roll apples along the womens backs, but spankings also take place from time to time. I can only imagine the reaction of committed feminists to such a choreography scandal on the Internet, the boycotting of Gandini Juggling; outrage and disgust are all more than guaranteed. Reproducing such scenes on the stage can be felt a grave error by anyone who cares at least a little about womens liberation and would like to live in an equal society. How can you sing that you should stand by your man, regardless of who he is and what he does, only because he is a man? It is also sung: Youll have bad times is it some kind of a warning? Let a man do anything he wishes, while you stay patient that is the gist of the song. If such a song is accompanied onstage by a degrading scene, one in which passive and humiliated women crawl on all fours, apples should be thrown by the audience at the performers at least thats the way it seems to me. Female artists deserve it for accepting such a state of affairs, male performers for their sexism and rude excess. Reportedly laughter is the most typical reaction to this scene. The audience finds it amusing, but the question remains: what is so funny about it? Maybe we have moved to a stage of postsociety one that follows different values, that has already dealt with the discrimination problem, and that feels comfortable with such content because it has already solved the issue at its core? Perhaps its a matter of location, as the Netherlands is known to be one of the most advanced countries in terms of liberalism and egalitarianism? Maybe the Dutch are emotionally distanced from these matters because they have already resolved the problems of segregation and prejudice? These things are possible. However, some completely opposite arguments also need to be taken into

manifestacja tradycyjnego porzdku, z ktr nie sposb si zgodzi, albo jako warsztatowy przykad, na jakim mona by t tradycj dekonstruowa, wszystkie zdania piosenkarki miadc krytyk. Gandini Juggling dooyli do tego ukad, w ktrym panie, w tych swoich piknych, eleganckich sukienkach i szpilkach, pezn w kko, przez cay czas przechodzc przed krzesami siedmiu facetw, ktrzy przekadaj na ich plecach jabka i sporadycznie klepi je po tykach. Wyobraam sobie reakcj zaangaowanych feministek na taki ukad taneczny masakra w Internecie, bojkotowanie Gandinich, oburzenie i zniesmaczenie murowane. Kademu, komu cho troch zaley na ostatecznym wyjciu z konwenansu, wyzwoleniu kobiet i przejciu do rwnego spoeczestwa, reprodukowanie takich sytuacji na scenie, za pomoc sztuki, moe jawi si co najmniej jak wielkie nieporozumienie. Jak mona piewa o tym, e przy swoim facecie trzeba by, niewane kim jest i co robi ostatecznie jest tylko facetem? I e dni bd rne, trzeba si na to nastawi? Niech pije, bije, wytrzymaj. Jeli akompaniuje tej piosence upokarzajca sytuacja, kobiety pezajce na kolanach, kompletnie bezwolne i upokorzone (przynajmniej ja tak to widz), to jabka powinny posypa si teraz ze strony publicznoci, i to we wszystkich bez wyjtku paniom za zgod na co takiego, panom za seksistowskie, chamskie wybryki. Podobno do czst reakcj na ten kawaek jest miech. Publiczno to bawi powstaje pytanie, co w tym widz zabawnego? Czy przeszlimy ju na etap takiego post spoeczestwa, ktre kieruje si innymi wartociami, ma za sob dyskryminacj, czuje si wygodnie, bo t walk przynajmniej ma za sob? Czy to kwestia miejsca, bo przecie Holandia to jedno z najbardziej zaawansowanych w liberalnym, a wic pro rwnociowym, sensie pastw. Moe Holendrzy w swoim kraju maj ju komfort dystansu, bo traumy segregacji i szufladkowania maj przepracowane? Jest taka moliwo. Istnieje te inny scenariusz, totalne przeciwiestwo, czyli te prostackie podmiechiwania to manifestacja hulajcego
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consideration. This low mockery could be the manifestation of a ruling, primitive masculinity and machismo that is too prevalent to be forbidden on the stage. So perhaps laughter is the best bet because thats life. Then again, the value of the Tammy Wynette song stems from its ambiguity: it is the double meaning that creates space for consideration and personal reflection. It is significant to note that the notion of feminism is still being discussed. After all, its mission hasnt been completed yet, since from an early age the traditional model of a womans life is still inculcated within little girls an early conditioning that makes breaking the chains much more complicated for them in later life. The fact that the circus takes up such a controversial subject matter is extremely important. For me the intention is clear supporting equality of rights. However, the means adopted for this purpose are almost unbearable. Right away hundreds of situations come to ones mind of when even the most committed and broad-minded people unconsciously adopt a stereotype or prejudice. Gender issues emerge in the context of this performance women are still a minority in the circus arts. The question is, why is it so? The majority of shows that we had a chance to see were all male: there was a clown with his oneman show; French minimalism was represented by a man of course; and there was also an acrobatic show by young, impressive men and an extremist show, very masculine in its character, performed by an all-male cast. The circus arts draw to a large extent on physical strength: they are connected with unceasing toil, require a muscular build, and are physically demanding. Some discussions concerning the role of women in the circus sprang up. The common view was that after all, women are not able to stand at the bottom of human pyramids; its not their task in the circus art. Yet in the performance Net by the company Tent there was a female artist who managed to support an impressive human tower on her shoulders. Again we return to the point that society perpetuates gender stereotypes and attributes male and female roles and activities. In Gandini Jugglings performance

maskulinizmu, rozpasanej samczoci, ktrej trudno czegokolwiek zabroni. Wic moe si mia, bo przecie TAKIE JEST YCIE. I znw, warto tego mocnego, kontrowersyjnego kawaka mieci si wanie w tej wieloznacznoci, w pozostawianiu przestrzeni do mylenia, bez strachu o konsekwencje. To wane, e wci o tym mwimy feminizm wci przecie jest ide nie w peni zrealizowan, tradycyjne modele wpaja si dziewczynom od dziecka, dziki czemu niezwykle trudno jest te okowy zrzuci. To wane, e cyrk te ten problem bierze na warsztat, pokazujc sytuacj sporn, dyskusyjn, moim zdaniem z wyran intencj wsparcia rwnouprawnienia, sigajc jednak po rodek trudny do przeknicia. Od razu staj przed oczami setki innych sytuacji, w ktrych nawet najbardziej wiadome i zaangaowane osoby sigaj bezwiednie po jaki stereotyp, uprzedzenie, utrudniajc ostateczn rozpraw ze spoecznym status quo. Pojawia si przy tym take kwestia genderowa kobiety s w cyrku wci mniejszoci. Powstaje pytanie, dlaczego tak jest. W wikszoci spektakli, ktre widzielimy, wystpowali wycznie mczyni: by klaun ze swoim one man show, by francuski minimalizm w wykonaniu faceta, akrobatyczny spektakl kilku piknych modziecw, zmaskulinizowany popis trzech ekstremistw, i tak dalej. Cyrk to sztuka w duej mierze siowa, niewtpliwie wymagajca cikiej pracy, nierzadko niemaej muskulatury, fizycznie obciajca. Z reszt pojawiy si krtkie dyskusje na temat roli kobiet w cyrku i tego, e przecie nie bd one gray podstawy dla ludzkich piramid, to nie jest zadanie dla tej pci. A potem na wystpie Tent bya i taka, ktra trzymaa na swoich barkach pokan wie. Znw wracamy do schematycznego podziau rl, automatycznego przypisywania pciom pewnych zada i wykluczanie ich z innych. O ile u Gandiniego ta nierwno miaa moim zdaniem uzasadnienie w treci wystpu, ktry wymiewa i hiperbolizowa konwenanse, o tyle ju nieobecno kobiet w innych wystpach czy te marne ich proporcje pokazuj po prostu, jak wiele jest wci do zrobienia. I podnosi pytania
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Cie Sackripa Vu Camille Chalain

this distortion was part of the subject of the show as it laughed at and greatly exaggerated these traditional gender roles. However, the absence of women in other circus performances, or their scarce representation, proves that theres still a lot of work to be done in this area. How can the current state of affairs be improved? This is a topic for a much longer discussion, and a task for people committed to the circus. The skilful creation of sociological and psychological perspectives is what I really like about Smashed. In just an hour the juggling company composes a microcosm of human society where slightly distorted yet recognisable relationships are continuously devised. The fact that the microcosm is distorted only demonstrates how crucial gender stereotypes are to the imagined scenarios, and what happens when some extreme types are given free reign. It all starts with innocent juggling, then some advances appear, but the girls seem unimpressed. Not all the girls share the same interest; not all the advances live up to the girls expectations.

o to, jak mona t sytuacj zmieni? To ju jest problem na duszy elaborat, i zadanie dla ludzi zaangaowanych w cyrk. Podobaa mi si wreszcie w tym spektaklu umiejtna budowa socjologicznej i psychologicznej zarazem perspektywy: w cigu zaledwie godziny stworzyli mikrokosmos ludzki, nieco zachwiany (co take ma znaczenie, dystrybucja czy proporcja pci s niezwykle wane i wietnie wida na takim przykadzie, co dzieje si, kiedy sytuacj rzdz anomalie), w ktrym nieustannie buduje si pewne kontinuum relacji. Najpierw niewinne onglowanie, potem troch zalotw, dziewczta niezbyt chtne, poza tym nie kada cieszy si takim samym powodzeniem, albo oczekiwania si rozmijaj. Wreszcie jedna z onglerek wykonuje mocno rozerotyzowany, solowy popis, w ktrym jest duo dotykania, jabka nagle nabieraj podniecajcych waciwoci, wlizgujc si za jej dekolt, wypeniajc piersi, wreszcie finguj ci. Pikna sytuacja, w ktrej erotyka balansuje na granicy sztuki, nie ma przecie nagoci, a jedynymi rekwizytami s jabka, z drugiej strony
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Finally, one of the female jugglers makes a solo, very sensual performance. Touch is the main means of expression: even apples become erotic in their character. Apples get into the artists dcollet, filling out her breasts, and, finally, they simulate the pregnancy. The scene is stunning, the eroticism nearly artistic in its expression; theres no nudity, while apples are the only props. However, in view of the whole performance, this scene might be the reason for feminist movements to level criticism. Ultimately the tension between the jugglers reaches a peak that brings about total destruction. It reminded me of Lord of the Flies, and the failure of that narratives microcosmic society. The windows break, the apples smash on the floor, the chairs are broken into pieces. In this ruined setting the final, minimalist juggling performance takes place, accompanied once again by I Always Wanted to Dance in Berlin. We have seen this same picture already, at the shows beginning. It evokes a whole lot of new associations and metaphors and finishes a onehour show with a witty frame. In my opinion, Gandini Juggling have created a committed and intellectual circus that does everything within its power to remove the artforms low culture label. The contemporary circus need not belong in this category. The Gandinis are not ashamed of their unsophisticated roots, because these give the basis for an advanced, thoughtful exploration of the world. The potential of the circus art is immense. It evokes powerful emotions and, at the same time, helps audiences to relax. Ladies and Gentlemen, going to the circus is no longer for unsophisticated viewers. Dont hesitate, come to the circus instead of the theatre.

w kontekcie caego wystpu to znw nieza poywka dla feministycznej krytyki. Wreszcie ilo napicia nagromadzonego midzy onglerami dochodzi do kulminacji i koczy si totalnym zniszczeniem przypomniao mi to o Wadcy Much i klsce tamtego mikrokosmosu. Pkaj szka, jabka rozbryzguj si na pododze, krzesa id w drzazgi. I na tych zgliszczach po raz ostatni odbywa si minimalistyczna onglerka zagrana ju na samym pocztku, znw do dwikw I always wanted to Dance in Berlin, i znw odkrywaj si cae morza nowych znacze i metafor, ktre zamykaj zgrabn klamr godzinne dowiadczenie. Gandini i spka to moim zdaniem cyrk zaangaowany i intelektualny realizujcy warunek niezbdny do wyjcia go w kocu z szufladki niskiej sztuki, bo nowy cyrk wcale by ni nie musi. Nie wstydzi si swoich mao wyrafinowanych korzeni, bo daj one baz do zaawansowanej eksploracji wiata w bardzo przemylany sposb. Daje materia na elaboraty i doktoraty. Oburza i odpra. Panie i panowie, chodzenie do cyrku przestao by rozrywk dla niewyrobionego widza. Moecie wic miao zmienia teatry na namioty.

natalia s kocz yla s

56

Chaos: Creating it and Returning to Order

SARA NYBERG

Kaaos, sen tuottaminen ja jrjestyksen palauttaminen. Sirkus.

SARA NYBERG

A circus performance is like a fireworks display, with the spectator always expecting, and receiving, new and more surprising experiences. It seems like circus well never runs dry, but what is really going on? I joined a group of ten reporters and went to Rotterdams Circusstad festival to find out. We immediately began to ponder what the circus that we talk about really is. What are the elements of a circus performance that make it successful? If there was a single recipe for success, many artists would surely lock it away and keep it to themselves. It is an impossible question, but on the other hand after a few performances I began to perceive some common aspects and suspect that performances actually follow a few rules and contain some shared elements. Naming and defining the elements sounds like it is limiting the idea of circus and its freedom, but it is necessary if there is to be less prejudice against circus and if people are going to become more familiar with it. Us amateurs in the field would perhaps be able to speak about circus if we understood its basic elements, or at least we might learn to listen better. Hopefully we will also learn to understand, even a little. Although circus is thoroughly human, since it is about realising creativity in unusual situations, todays audience has not completely taken to it. Circusstads artistic director Maaike van Langen is working hard to raise the artforms profile, however, and has set the ticket prices

Sirkusesitys on kuin ilotulitus, katsoja odottaa, ja saa, aina uusia ja entist ylltyksellisempi kokemuksia. Sirkuksen suihkulhde ei tunnu koskaan ehtyvn. Mist oikein on kyse? Siit olin Rotterdamin Circusstad festivaalilla ottamassa selv yhten 10 henkisest toimittajaryhmst. Aloimme heti alkajaisiksi pohtia, mit se sirkus on, josta puhumme? Mitk ovat onnistuneen ja menestyneen sirkusesityksen elementit? Jos menetykseen olisi olemassa yksi resepti, moni taiteilija varmasti tallettaisi sen kassakaappiin vain itsen varten. Kysymyshn on mahdoton. Silti jo muutaman esityksen jlkeen aloin nhd yhtenevisyyksi. Aloin epill, ett esityksiss tosiaan on joitakin lainalaisuuksia, jokaiseen esitykseen sisltyvi elementtej. Elementtien nimeminen ja mrittely kuulostavat sirkuksen ideaa ja vapautta rajoittavilta, mutta ovat tarpeen, jotta sirkustuntemus voisi lisnty ja ennakkoluulot vhenty. Mys me alalla amatrit pystymme ehk jo muutaman esiin nostetun tekijn avulla puhumaan sirkuksesta. Ainakin kuuntelemaan aikaisempaa sujuvammin. Toivottavasti opimme mys ymmrtmn, edes vhn. Vaikka sirkus tarkoittaa kaikkea inhimillist, inhimillisen ihmisen luomia eptavallisia tilanteita, ei nykypivn yleis ole viel kokonaan lytnyt sirkusta. Cirkusstad festivaalin taiteellinen johtaja Maaike van Langen pyrkii omalla tylln saamaan tunnustusta lajille. Lytkseen uusia yleisj
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for the festival very low to help find new audiences. It costs only 2 Euros to get into the outdoor arena that has been built in the middle of central Rotterdam, and curious onlookers are able to get a glimpse of what is going on from outside because van Langen wants everybody to be able to find circus. We are gradually building an audience base. When you see one circus performance, you want to see more, she tells our group of reporters. She is of the opinion that the power of circus lies in the fact that everybody can identify with it. This ability to appeal to everyone is a great strength of circus, and perhaps the passer-by who peeks in for a few seconds will buy a real ticket next time. The spectator is the person the performance has been made for. They love to see the acrobats daring to make flying somersaults, the trapeze artists balancing high up, and the jugglers manipulating their objects night after night. Perhaps a young circus student thinks selfishly, makes things for herself and only practices to get better at her art, but in the ring she must have the ability to turn her gaze authentically towards the audience. The audience does not care about the days or years of practice only the end result, what happens on the night, matters. The artist has to carry the spectators into the world she is expressing. The fireworks must keep going off. The entertainment must be maintained through every 7-8 minute act and in the changeovers too in a show that often lasts 60-90 minutes.

festivaalin esitysten lippujen hinnat olivat todella alhaisia. Rotterdamin keskustassa sijaitsevalle festivaalialueelle rakennetun ulkoareenan liput maksoivat 2 euroa, ja lisksi uteliaat saattoivat kurkkia esityksi katsomon raoista. Jrjestjt jopa kannustivat kurkkimiseen, sill van Langen haluaa kaikenikisten lytvn sirkuksen. Rakennamme yleispohjaa vhitellen. Kun net yhden sirkusesityksen, haluat nhd lis, hn totesi toimittajajoukollemme. Hnen mielestn sirkuksen voima on siin, ett kuka tahansa pystyy samastumaan siihen. Ja kaikenlaisiin ihmisiin vetoaminen tekee sirkuksesta voimakkaan. Ehk ohikulkija kerran aidanraosta kurkisteltuaan seuraavalla kerralla ostaa ihan oikean lipun. Katsoja on se, jolle esitykset tehdn. Katsojan iloksi akrobaatit uskaltautuvat lentviin voltteihin, trapetsitaiteilijat tasapainoilevat korkeuksissa, jonglrit heittvt tavaroitaan, ilta illan jlkeen. Nuori sirkusopiskelija kenties ajattelee itsekksti, tekee itselleen ja harjoittelee vain voittaakseen itsens, mutta kentll hnen on kyettv kntmn todellinen, nkev katseensa yleisn. Katsoja ei vlit pivien tai vuosien harjoittelusta. Lopputulos ratkaisee, se mit silmieni edess esitetn. Taiteilijan on imaistava katsojat mukaan maailmaansa. Ilotulituksen tulee kest. Viihdytyksen on jatkuttava jokaisen 7-8 minuutin tempun ja niiden vlisen ajan, usein tunnin puolentoista mittaisessa kokonaisuudessa.

As many arts as artists

Performing arts today are often combined with one another. Dancers act, actors play instruments, and musicians dance. Multidisciplinary performers yield new possibilities and add new dimensions. There are some factors, however, that let us know that we are watching circus. The physical skills of the performer are naturally the source and inspiration for the performance, and its these same, demanding physical skills, required to move the human body through space, that have always astonished spectators.

Yht monta taidetta kuin on taiteilijaa

Tn pivn esittvt taiteet sekoittuvat helposti toisiinsa. Tanssijat nyttelevt, nyttelijt soittavat instrumentteja, muusikot tanssivat. Monitaiteellisuus luo mahdollisuuksia ja uusia ulottuvuuksia. On kuitenkin joitakin tekijit, joiden ansiosta tiedmme katsovamme sirkusta. Sirkusta tekevt sirkusammattilaiset. Fyysisyys, esiintyv ihminen on luonnollisesti esityksen ydin ja lhde. Ihmiskehon liike, sen vaativa fyysinen taito on aina llistyttnyt katsojia. Sirkuksessa liike yhdistyy esineisiin ja
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In circus the movement is connected to objects and equipment through the performers techniques, which differentiates circus language from the language of the dancers body. The circus tradition is to play, laugh and be free and on the other hand it is extreme discipline and squalor. Laughter and its flip-side death combined with playfulness are the powerful elements of circus and humanity, writes Finnish contemporary circus author Tomi Purovaara, who plays many active roles in Finnish circus, in his book An Introduction to Contemporary Circus.1 Speech, or rather the lack of it, separates circus from traditional stage theatre. The spectator understands circus without spoken words, and the performance heightens and stimulates the spectators kinaesthetic senses and their own bodily experience of the events onstage. This is why circus is universal: it is comprehensible no matter what language the spectator speaks. A circus performance no longer necessarily happens in a 13 metre ring; rather the circus artist can exploit the spectators kinaesthetic senses anywhere at all. The skilful performer tempts the spectator onto different kinds of stages or even engages them on the street. She is authentic, doing what you see. Movements happen in a flash, 3D or perhaps even 4D kinds of movement form a continuum. It is possible to walk around a street performer and inspect her from all sides. If the circus performer seems to be in danger, on the high wire for instance, the situation is real. The danger of falling is really there, unlike any dangers that may appear to be present in spoken theatre, for instance. Of course there is also room for professional illusionists in the circus, e.g. the Finnish magician Tatu Tyni, whose tricks and illusions have not only been seen in circus performances but also many theatre and dance works. The language of the circus is both the same and different between various places, countries and

vlineisiin eri sirkuslajien ominaispiirteiden mukaan tekijns tekniikan avulla ja siten erottaa sirkuskielen tanssijan kehon kielest. Sirkuksen perinne on leikki, naurua ja vapautta ja toisaalta rimmist kurinalaisuutta ja kurjuutta. Nauru ja sen kntpuoli kuolema ovat yhdess leikin kanssa sirkuksen, kuten koko ihmisyyden, vkevi rakennusaineita, kirjoittaa suomalaisen nykysirkuksen monitoimimies Tomi Purovaara kirjassaan Nykysirkus.1 Puhe, tai oikeammin puhumattomuus, erottaa sirkuksen perinteisest nytelmi esittvst teatterista. Katsoja ymmrt sirkusta muun kuin puhutun tekstin avulla. Sirkusesitys viritt ja kiusaa katsojan kinesteettist aistia, katsojan omaa kehollista kokemusta nyttmn tapahtumiin. Siksi sirkus on universaalia, ymmrrettviss katsojan idinkielest riippumatta. Sirkusesitys ei en nykyn vlttmtt tapahdu perinteisell, halkaisijaltaan 13 metrisell areenalla, vaan sirkuslainen kytt katsojan kinesteettist aistia hyvkseen miss vaan. Taitava esiintyj houkuttelee katsojan mukaansa erilaisissa nyttmtiloissa tai vaikka kadulla. Hn on autenttinen, tekee sen mit nemme. Liikkeet tapahtuvat kuluvassa hetkess, 3D tai ehk jopa 4D muotoisena liikkuvana jatkumona. Katuesiintyjn ymprill on mahdollista kvell ja tarkastella esiintyj eri puolilta. Jos sirkuslainen nytt olevan vaarassa vaikka korkealla nuoralla, tilanne on todellinen. Putoamisen vaara on todella olemassa, toisin kuin vaara usein vaikka puheteatterissa. Toki sirkuksen sateenkaaren alle mahtuu mys visuaalisen illuusion ammattilaisia, esimerkiksi suomalainen taikuri Tatu Tyni, jonka temppuja ja nkymttmi oivalluksia on nhty sirkuksen lisksi monessa nytelmss ja tanssiteoksessa. Sirkuksen kieli on yht aikaa samanlainen ja erilainen eri paikoissa, eri maissa ja kulttuureissa. Maapallon eri kolkissa
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cultures. Different aspects are emphasised in different parts of the world and the focus is on different styles. In France, which is regarded as the home of contemporary circus, poetry and a poetic atmosphere often feature in the performance. This was confirmed by the leader of the Unpack the Arts programme, Yohann Floch, through the video clips he showed and the ideas he talked about.

korostetaan eri asioita ja eri tyylit nousevat keskin. Nykysirkuksen kotimaaksi kutsutussa Ranskassa sirkus liittyy runouteen ja runouden ilmapiiriin. Omalta osaltaan asiaa todisti mys Unpack the Arts residenssin vetj, ranskalainen Yohann Floch nyttmilln videoklipeill ja omilla ajatuksillaan.

Liimaa temppujen tytteen

Oli esityksess kytetty tekniikka mik tahansa, kaikkia sirkusesityksi yhdist suora ja vlitn kontakti yleisn. Esitysten logiikka on toisenlainen, kuin mihin olemme arjessa tottuneet. Se on jotenkin arjen vastainen, arkielmlle vieras. Jopa hyvn maun voi joskus unohtaa esitystapahtuman ulkopuolelle. Muoto, jonka sirkusesitys tekijittens ansiosta ottaa, voi pohjautua vaikka hip hop tanssiin, tai johonkin muuhun. Rotterdamissa esiintynyt Gandini Juggling esitti teoksensa Smashed, joka on saanut innoituksensa vuonna 2009 kuolleen koreografi Pina Bauschin tyst ja ajatuksista. Tanssillisuus toimi liimausaineena ja tarinankertojana. Ranskalaisen Cie Sackripan sooloesitys taas oli kuin pieni teatterillinen tarina, vain ilman sanoja. Monen omassa sirkustekniikassaan taitavan taiteilijan ongelma on dramaturginen. Esimerkiksi nyttmll oleva trapetsi ja sill esiintyv taiteilija ei riit luomaan kokonaisuutta, joka kiinnostaa ihmisi saapumaan paikalle, pysymn paikallaan ja tulemaan uudestaan. Kysymys on, kuinka temput yhdistyvt kokonaisuudeksi. Minklaista liimaa taiteilija kytt? Liimausaineet kuljettavat esityst sirkustaiteilijan esittmst tempusta toiseen. Mit paremmin liimaus toimii, sit enemmn ihmiset alan ulkopuolella kiinnostuvat esityksist. Yleis kaipaa nyttmlt tunnistettavia asioita. Katutaiteilijana esiintyv espanjalainen klovni Leandre loi kuvia, jotka yleis tunnisti elmstn. On huvittavaa huomata, ett tuo klovnihan on vesihana! Ja kun hn saa juomaa suuhunsa, vesihanasta jopa ruiskuaa vett. Mutta kulttuuriset tekijt rajoittavat
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The glue that binds the acts together

No matter what kind of technique is used, all circus performances feature direct and immediate contact with the audience. The logic of the performances is of a different kind than we experience in everyday life. It is contrary to the mundane, strange to normal reality. Even good taste can sometimes be lacking. The form that circus-makers adopt for their work can be based on another cultural form, like hip-hop dance, or on anything else. In Rotterdam, Gandini Juggling performed their piece Smashed, which was inspired by the work and ideas of the choreographer Pina Bausch, who died in 2009. Danceability worked as a glue and narrative tool. Frenchman Etienne Manceaus solo performance Vu on the other hand was like a small theatrical story, just without words. Many artists who are highly skilled in their own circus techniques have a problem with dramaturgy. For example, a trapeze on the stage and an artist to perform on it is not enough to create a work that will entice people to come, stay, and come again. The question is, how can different tricks be combined into a whole? What kind of glue can the artist use? Bonding agents run through the performance to connect one trick to another, and the better the glue, the more people from outside the field will be interested. The audience wants to see familiar things on the stage. Spanish street artist and clown Leandre created images that the audience recognised from their own lives, such as a funny water tap that sprayed water everywhere when he tried to drink from it. Leandre said in the

interview, however, that cultural factors limit understanding, so for instance Japanese people did not recognise the tap. In Europe the strange ways of the stage clown are well known, and there are things that are understood basically all over the world. Leandre decided to control the audience applause in Rotterdam by remote control: he made a clear gesture (with an empty hand) which every spectator from the youngest to the oldest in the audience understood, and the whole place was laughing. The performance was a great success.

ymmrtmist, Leandre kertoi haastattelussa, etteivt japanilaiset tunnistaneet hnen vesihanaansa. Euroopan alueella klovnin esiintuomat outoudet ovat yleisesti tuttuja. On asioita, jotka lhes joka puolella maailmaa ymmrretn. Leandre ptti Rotterdamin esiintymisens kontrolloimalla yleisn taputuksia kaukostimell, siis selkell eleell (ksi tyhjn), jonka jokainen pienist katsojista ikihmisiin tunnisti, toimi ohjeiden mukaan, koki olevansa osa onnistunutta esityst ja nauroi ilosta.

Circus in a multidisciplinary environment

The juggling at the festival included the aforementioned Gandini Juggling from England. The groups work Smashed is an unholy alliance of dance and circus which shakes away a lot of stereotypes. Juggling is a technique which benefits from having choreography woven around its acts. As a dance critic I saw the work as a dance performance that was seasoned with juggling, but already during the festival I heard spectators perceiving the performance differently, as a circus work seasoned with dance. Gandini Jugglings leader Sean Gandini considers the circus to be suitable for all age groups. After creating Smashed the group started rehearsing a new work called Clowns and Queens. Although our new work Clowns and Queens contains sex, it is still suitable for the whole family. They just wont understand all that they see, it will go over their head, said Gandini in the interview with reporters. Theres currently a trend for multidisciplinary approaches, so circus artists cooperate a lot with artists from other fields. The Finnish group Agit-Cirk had a premiere in May for their new work Jong, a collaboration between classical composer Lotta Wennkoski, a chamber orchestra led by the top-class conductor John Storgrds, and solo juggler Sakari Mnnist. The group intends to combine aerial acrobatics, music and architecture in their future works.2

Sirkus monitaiteellisessa ympristss

Jonglrausta nkemllemme festivaalille toi jo mainittu englantilainen Gandini Juggling. Ryhmn teoksessa Smashed tanssin ja sirkuksen eppyh liitto avasi solmujaan. Jonglraus on tekniikkaa, joka kaipaa koreografiaa ymprilleen. Tanssikriitikkona nin teoksessa tanssiesityksen, jonka mausteena oli jonglraus. Jo festivaalin aikana kuulin katsojien pohtivan asiaa toisin pin. Sirkusesitys, jossa oli mausteena tanssia. Gandini Juggling ryhmn johtohenkil Sean Gandini pohti sirkuksen sopivuutta eri- ikisille katsojille. Smashed teoksen jlkeen ryhm on harjoitellut uuden teoksen nimelt Queens and Clowns. Vaikka uusi esityksemme Queens and Clowns sislt seksi, voi sit silti lapsetkin katsoa. He vain eivt ymmrr nkemns, vaan se menee yli hilseen, sanoi Sean Gandini Gandini Jugglingista toimittajien haastattelussa. Taiteidenvlisyys, monitaiteellisuus on nykypiv. Sirkustaiteilijat tekevt paljon yhteistyt muiden alojen ihmisten kanssa. Suomalainen Agit-Cirk toi toukokuussa ensiiltaan teoksen, johon klassisen musiikin sveltj Lotta Wennkoski oli sveltnyt musiikin kamariorkesterille. Jong teoksen orkesteria johti korkean tason kapellimestari John Storgrds, ja solistina oli jonglri Sakari Mnnist. Myhemmin ryhm aikoo teoksissaan yhdist ilma-akrobatiaa, musiikkia ja arkkitehtuuria.2
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What is it that makes a multidisciplinary performance specifically circus? Even in Rotterdam the artists were not unanimous when they were interviewed. You could say that when an artist who has gone to circus school creates a work, it is circus, but its not really that simple. Young makers have gone through an education system, but there are also selftaught, highly respected circus artists in the field. However, there are certain elements that the spectator can pretty much expect to see in every circus performance. At the third edition of Rotterdams Circusstad I saw six performances. They were chosen by the festival organisers under the leadership of Maaike van Langen and all the performances were circus. The sample is of course small, but nevertheless it can be used to draw certain conclusions about the elements that are used to make a circus performance recognisable as circus. Six elements revealed themselves as many as the number of performances I saw.

Mik sitten tekee monitaiteellisesta esityksest sirkusta? Edes Rotterdamissa haastattelemamme taiteilijat eivt olleet asiasta yksimielisi. Yksinkertaisimmin voi sanoa, ett sirkuskoulun kyneen taiteilijan luoma teos on sirkusta. Nuoret tekijt ovat koulutuksen saaneet, mutta alalla on yh arvostettuja, itseoppineita sirkuslaisia. Joitakin erityispiirteit sirkusesityst katsomaan menev voi melko varmasti saada nhdkseen. Rotterdamin kolmansilla sirkusfestivaaleilla Circusstad 29.4.-5.5.2013 nin kuusi esityst. Ne oli festivaalin jrjestjt valinneet johtajansa Maaike van Larkenin johdolla, siis sirkusta. Otanta on toki pieni, mutta jo sen pohjalta voi vet joitakin johtoptksi elementeist, jotka muodostavat tunnistettavan sirkusesityksen. Yhtkki niit nousi esiin kuusi, yht monta kuin nkemini esityksi.

Kuusi esityst, kuusi elementti

Ensimminen on ylltyksellisyys. Sirkusesitykselle tunnusomaista tuntuu olevan se, ett jotakin ylltyksellist, kontekstiin sopimatonta tapahtuu, ja se ylltt katsojat. Blick Thtren esityksess nainen sai yhtkki puukauhasta phns, kops. Ennen kopsahdusta mikn ei viitannut tulevaan. Cirque Inextremiste ryhmn esityksess miehet nostelivat raskaita kaasupulloja. Yhtkki yksi kaasupullo lennhti suoraan katsomoon sikytten kaikki. Katsojien kaasupulloksi luulema esine olikin pehme, vain kaasupulloksi naamioitu tyyny. Toinen tunnusomainen piirre on outous, awkwardness. Outous jlleen siis verrattuna arkipivn liikkeelliseen toimintaan. Siihen liittyy kummallisesti, eptavallisesti tekeminen. Esimerkiksi ranskalainen jonglri Sackripa piti lusikkaa nurinkurisesti kdessn sekoittaessaan kahviaan. Puheteatterissa tuollainen hahmo olisi ehk nytelmn mielenvikainen kaveri. Sirkuksessa hn on se tavallinen, maailmaa vinksallaan katsova esiintyj. Outoutta yhdeksn riviss liikkuvaan esiintyjn, jotka katsovat intensiivisesti kohti yleis, ei tuo se, ett he liikkuvat rivissn tanssien. Se, ett he kaikki jonglraavat tauotta omenoilla, tekee tilanteesta jotakuinkin oudon.
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Six performances, six elements

The first is the element of surprise. The most distinctive element in a circus performance seems to be that something surprising happens, something out of context which catches the spectators off guard. In Blick Thtres performance a woman suddenly got whacked on the head by a wooden ladle clunk! but nothing had happened beforehand to let the spectator know it was coming. In Cirque Inextremistes performance the men lift heavy gas cylinders, and suddenly one flew out right into the audience, giving everyone quite a scare. It wasnt real of course, just a disguised fake made from soft foam. The second distinct feature is awkwardness: compared to everyday movements something is done in a strange, unusual manner. The French juggler Etienne Manceau, for instance, holds the spoon backwards in his hand as he stirs his coffee. In dramatic theatre this kind of character would perhaps be a person with some kind of learning disability. In the circus, however, he is a normal character who is very

much part of our surreal reality. The nine performers in Smashed who form a row and gaze intensely at the audience do not create a strange impression because they are dancing but because they are juggling apples. Of course, the fact that they are constantly juggling apples without a break would make the whole thing seem awkward in any case. The next element I perceived in the six performances was expectation. The mental image of the circus is that it is fast and progresses quickly, but this was at odds with the reality of the festival at least. The skilful and technical routines that circus performers practice are intense and fast-paced, but there was a lot of waiting around between the acts. It is a skill in itself to maintain the intensity and speed of the performance, and it is down to the performing artist to do that. This is again a question of how strong the glue is, i.e. the dramaturgy. In traditional circus the completion of a dangerous trick was accompanied by a drum roll. The rhythm accelerated, preparing the spectator and the performer for the decisive moment. Although contemporary circus doesnt use expectation in such a concrete way, with drum rolls, it is still present. What will they think of next? We spectators at the main stage in Rotterdam waited while young acrobats who had graduated from Swedens DOCH circus school set-up for the tricks in their performance La Meute, in which six young men strangely dressed in towels surprised us time and time again with their skilful leaps. Expectation is linked to an oppressive atmosphere, especially if the waiting drags on. Something is coming in the performance which might be connected to some kind of risk. The risk is of course that the trick might not succeed. The atmosphere becomes more electric as the audience begins to get excited about what is about to happen. Anticipation, even fear, goes hand in hand with the high wire. It is quite possible to fall, and many have.

Seuraavaksi yhteist kaikissa kuudessa nkemssni esityksess elementtin oli odottaminen. Mielikuva sirkuksesta on, ett se on vauhdikasta ja nopeasti etenev. Totuus ainakin festivaalilla tuntui olevan toinen. Sirkuslaisten harjoittelemat taidokkaat ja tekniset taitonumerot ovat intensiivisi ja vauhdikkaista, mutta niiden vliin mahtuu paljon odottelua. On esiintyvn taiteilijan taidoista kiinni, kuinka hyvin esityksen intensiteetti silyy. Tss on jlleen kyse liimasta ja sen pitvyydest, dramaturgiasta. Perinteisess sirkuksessa vaarallisen tempun suorittamista odotettiin prisevn rummun sestyksell. Rytmi kiihtyi kiihtymistn, valmisti niin katsojia kuin tempun tekijkin koitokseen. Vaikka nykysirkuksessa ei kenties osoiteta odottamista aivan yht konkreettisella rummun paukutuksella, on odottaminen aina mukana. Mitkhn se seuraavaksi keksii. Rotterdamin kaupungin pnyttmll me katsojat odotimme, kun Ruotsin DOCH sirkuskoulusta valmistuneet nuoret akrobaatit jrjestelivt tilanteita tempuille sopiviksi teoksessaan La Meute. Oudosti pyyhkeisiin pukeutuneet kuusi nuorta miest ylltti meidt kerta toisensa jlkeen taitavilla hypyilln. Odottaminen liittyy ja pitkittyessn johtaa painostavaan tunnelmaan. Jotakin on esityksess tulossa, johon mahdollisesti liittyy joku riski. Riski on, ett temppu ei kenties onnistukaan. Tunnelman tiivistyess yleis alkaa jnnitt tulevaa. Varautuminen, anticipation, jopa pelko, liittyy vaikka nuorallakvelyyn. Nuoralta voi pudota, ja moni on pudonnutkin. Pelon jlkeen, kun taiteilija on tempun saanut onnistuneesti tehty, tulee huojennus. Aristoteles sanoi, ett katharsis, puhdistuminen, saadaan aikaan pelkoa ja myttuntoa synnyttmll. Arkikieless katharsis tavallisimmin merkitsee tunnetilaa, jossa katsoja on hyvn esityksen loppuessa, kun pitkn piinan jlkeen lopussa olo on huojentunut.3 Tunnetila saattaa olla jopa ylev tai kohottunut. Usein on ajateltu, ett Aristoteles tarkoitti katharsiksella tunteiden
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Gandini Juggling Smashed Joke Schot

After the fear, when the artist has successfully completed their trick, comes the relief. Aristotle said that catharsis, purging, is born of fear and compassion. In common usage catharsis refers to an emotional state that the spectator experiences at the end of a good performance, when the final wave of relief washes all the stress and tension away.3 The emotional state can be exalted or heightened. Often there is the idea that when Aristotle spoke about catharsis he meant the release of feelings, which brings emotional relief. Tension climaxes and leaves positive feelings. Is the laughter that belongs to the circus cathartic? Last but not least we have contact with the crowd. Eye contact is the first and simplest form of this. The circus artist really seems to be looking at the audience, and in group works they are also watching the other performers. In

purkautumista, joka tuottaa ihmiselle helpotuksen. Jnnitys laukeaa ja silloin koetaan mielihyv. Onko sirkukseen kuuluva nauru katharsista? Viimeinen, mutta ei suinkaan vhisin elementti on yleiskontakti. Katse, nkeminen, on kontaktin ensimminen ja yksinkertaisin muoto. Sirkustaiteilija tuntuu todella nkevn yleisns. Ryhmteoksessa sirkustaiteilija mys nkee ryhmns muut esiintyjt. Nytelmteatterissa esiintyjt nkevt roolihahmojensa kautta, mit hetkess tapahtuu, ja ottavat rooleissaan kontaktia toisiinsa tai yleisn. Nykytanssissa kontakti ei aina niinkn liity esiintyjn katseeseen, vaan tilaan asettumiseen. Tanssivat vartalot luovat jnnitteit vliss olevaan tilaan ja toisiinsa. Usein katse suoraan katsomoon on sisnpin kntyv, nkev, mutta vain itsen ilmaiseva. Taidetanssin lajeista ainakin Suomessa kansantanssissa tanssijat ottavat selvsti
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theatre the performers see through their roles, which means they make contact with each other and the audience as the character they are playing. In contemporary dance the contact is not necessarily made with the eye but rather through being in a space: the dancing bodies create tension in the space between them and between each other. Often the gaze is directly towards the crowd but turned inwards, so the focus is on self-expression. Among the artistic dance genres, at least in Finland, folk dancers have clearly more contact with each other and the crowd and are more approachable than artists in performances that are based on other dance techniques. Eye contact helps the performer bring the spectator into the performance. Circus performances go deeper. Of the six performances I saw at Circusstad, no fewer than three of them had moments when members of the audience were invited on stage. The well-known Finnish actor, director and stand-up comedian Jaakko Saariluoma said in a television interview that the stand-up comedian screws up if he fails to draw attention to a mobile phone ringing in the crowd, but an actor playing Hamlet would make a grave mistake if he were to notice it publicly.4 This is how he defined the stand-up artists contact with the crowd. According to this definition stand-up comedians and circus artists are related because stand-up comedians are also expected to provide an element of surprise, awkwardness, expectation, laughter and crowd contact. On the other hand fear is not so concrete, and communication is spoken. As one of the founding principles of circus is dialogue between the performer and the crowd, the performer is free to have a bit of fun if a phone rings, although we didnt get to experience this in Rotterdam due to many signs reminding us all to turn our phones off. It does still happen, however. Manceau said that he more-or-less accidentally introduced a scene where a spectator needs to help him. In one performance he had stared so intently at a member of the audience that she got out of her seat to be his assistant. The spectator knew the

enemmn kontaktia toisiinsa ja yleisns kuin muita tekniikoita hyvksi kyttviss tanssiesityksiss. Kansantanssissa tanssijat usein tulevat katseen voimasta mys katsojalle inhimillisemmiksi kuin muihin tanssitekniikoihin pohjautuvissa esityksiss. Katse auttaa esiintyj ottamaan katsojan sisn esitykseen. Sirkusesitykset menevt pidemmlle. Cirkusstadin kuudesta esityksest perti kolmessa esiintyj kutsui jonkun katsojan mukaansa nyttmlle. Suomalainen tunnettu nyttelij, ohjaaja ja stand up koomikko Jaakko Saariluoma sanoi erss televisiohaastattelussa, ett stand up koomikko mokaa, ellei huomioi yleisss soivaa matkapuhelimen pirin, mutta Hamletia esittv nyttelij tekee suuren virheen, jos huomioi soiton.4 Nin Saariluoma mritteli paljolti yleiskontaktiin perustuvan stand up komiikan. Mritelm kertoo stand-upin ja sirkuksen sukulaisuudesta, sill mys stand-up koomikolta vaaditaan ylltyksellisyytt, outoutta, odotusta, naurua ja yleiskontaktia. Pelko vain ei ole yht konkreettista, ja asioita esitetn puhuen. Koska mys sirkuksen yksi perusta on esiintyjn ja yleisn vuorovaikutus, voi sirkustaiteilija tehd kuten lyst, kun jonkun katsojan puhelin yhtkki soi. Useiden sulje puhelin nytksen ajaksi- huomautusten ansiosta Rotterdamissa emme psseet todistamaan puhelimen soittoa nytksess. Muuta silti tapahtui. Sackripa kertoi ottaneensa lhes vahingossa esitykseens kohtauksen, jossa joku katsoja auttaa hnt. Erss esityksess hn oli katsonut niin tiiviisti eturiviss istuvaa katsojaa, ett katsoja nousi yls ja alkoi auttaa taiteilijaa. Katsoja siis tunsi sirkusesityksen tavat ja muodot, ja toimi heti vinkin saatuaan. Sill kertaa taiteilija oli yllttyneempi, kuin katsoja. Kohtaus kuitenkin toimi hyvin, ja Sackripa ptti jtt kohtauksen esitykseen. Temppujen kautta kohtauksiin rytmittyvt esitykset mys mahdollistavat sen, ett esiintyjt kykenevt pitmn taukoa, tai vaikka ohjaamaan joku katsoja ulos, jos on tarve. Cirque Inextremiste ryhmn esityksess
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customs and ways of the circus, and acted when she got the hint, but in this case the artist was more surprised than the spectator. The scene went well, however, and Manceau decided to keep it in the show. As the performances consist of scenes built around acts, it is also possible for the performers to have a break or escort one of the spectators out if there is a need to do so. In Cirque Inextremistes performance a small babys crying was disturbing the performers concentration, and one of the members, Yann Ecauvre, made a number of comments about it before eventually helping the mother and child exit the arena. This is understandable because it was recommended that spectators be over the age of 7. Many age restrictions for circus performances seem rather artificial, however. One representative of Cirko the Finnish Circus Information Centre was of the opinion that the strictest age restrictions were due to circus wanting to profile itself as an adult art form. In this way it hopes to get the same respect as other performing arts. At the Rotterdam performances I thought that the age recommendations were to show that the performers need a certain level of concentration to execute their demanding acts, but according to baby circus director Mette Ylikorva babies are able to concentrate for a long time on circus. She says that it leaves them with a memory, and that when she has performed several times at a child health centre the parents say that the babies have begun to gurgle and laugh as soon as they have entered the building.5 One could almost say that the seventh circus element is a lack of speech, although this is not always true as, when other genres are involved, speech can also be part of the show. Finnish circus innovator Maksim Komaro said in an interview in spring 2012 that it is not important why something is done but rather how it is done: To me, a good circus performance is like a catalogue for a general store. It is full of different things, but they are bound together by

Extremits pienen vauvan ntely hiritsi keskittyvi taiteilijoita. Ryhmss esiintyv Yann Ecauvre kommentoi moneen otteeseen vauvan ntely, lopulta hn meni auttamaan idin ja lapsen ulos. Sinns ymmrrettv, sill esityksen iksuositus oli seitsemn vuotiaista ylspin. Monen sirkusesityksen ikrajat vaikuttavat kovin keinotekoisilta. Ers suomalaisen Cirko sirkuksen tiedotuskeskuksen edustaja arvioi korkeiden iksuositusten johtuvan siit, ett sirkus haluaa profiloitua aikuisten katsojien taiteeksi. Sill tavoin nykysirkus toivoo saavansa entist enemmn arvostusta muiden esittvien taiteiden tavoin. Rotterdamin esityksiss ajattelin, ett iksuositus osoittaa, ett nyttmn esiintyjt vaativat tietynlaista keskittymist vaativiin suorituksiinsa. Suomessa sirkuslaiset pyrkivt ottamaan kaikenikiset katsojat huomioon. Vastaavan vauvasirkusohjaajan Mette Ylikorvan mukaan vauvat jaksavat keskitty hyvin ja pitkn sirkukseen. Ylikorvan mukaan vauvalle j muistikuva sirkuksesta. Kun hn on esiintynyt neuvolassa monta kertaa, vanhemmat ovat kertoneet, ett vauvat ovat alkaneet jokellella ja nauraa jo ovella.5
Voisi lhestulkoon sanoa, ett seitsems sirkuksen elementti on puhumattomuus. Se ei kuitenkaan aina pid paikkaansa, ja taiteiden sekoittuessa puhe voi olla mukana siin miss muutkin taiteet. Suomalainen sirkuksen uudistaja Maxim Komaro kertoi haastattelussani kevll 2012, ettei trket ole, miksi jotain tehdn, vaan mill tavalla. Minulle hyv sirkusesitys on kuin Clas Ohlson sekatavarakaupan kuvasto. Se on tynn irrallisia asioita, mutta ne ovat just ja just katalogin selkmyksest kiinni. Ja kaiken saa ostaa samasta paikasta. Tm on tydellinen sirkusesityksen muoto.6

Artikkelin viitteet:
1) Tomi Purovaara: Nykysirkus, aarteita, avaimia ja arvoituksia, Like Helsinki 2005 2) Uutinen Pallot lentvt klassisen musiikin tahtiin Helsingin Sanomissa 15.5.2013, kirjoittaja Riitta Koivuranta. 3) Heinonen-Kivimki-Korhonen-Korhonen-Reitala-Aristoteles:

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the catalogue. And you can get everything from the same place. This is the perfect form of circus performance.6

Aristoteleen runousoppi, opas aloittelijoille ja edistyneille, Teos Juva 2012, sivu 157 4) Nyttelij Jaakko Saariluoma Arto Nyberg keskusteluohjelmassa 3.3.2013. 5) Sirkustaiteilija Mette Ylikorvan haastattelu Suomen

References:
1) Tomi Purovaara: Nykysirkus, aarteita, avaimia ja arvoituksia, Like Helsinki 2005 2) Uutinen Pallot lentvt klassisen musiikin tahtiin, Helsinki Sanomat newspaper 15.5.2013 written by Riitta Koivuranta. 3) Heinonen-Kivimki-Korhonen-Korhonen-Reitala-Aristoteles: Guide to Aristotles poems for beginners and students, Teos Juva 2012, sivu 157. 4) Actor Jaakko Saariluoma on Arto Nybergs TV chat show 3.3.2013. 5) Circus artist Mette Ylikorvas interview in Suomen Kuvalehti magazine 19/2013, writer Laura Koljonen. 6) Interview with circus artist Maksim Komaro 21.5.2012, printed in Etel-Suomen Sanomat mewspaper. Komaro directed Slapstick Sonata for the Czech company Cirk La Putyka; it premiered at the Finnish National Theatre in May 2012. Other background material: Jean-Michel Guy, The circus revolution, Like, Jyvskyl 2005. Other quotes from interviews conducted during the Unpack the Arts residency.

Kuvalehdess 19/2013 kirjoittaja Laura Koljonen. 6) Sirkustaiteilija Maksim Komaron haastattelu 21.5.2012, ilmestyi sanomalehdess Etel-Suomen Sanomat. Komaron ohjaus Slapstick Sonata Cirk la Putyka tsekkiryhmlle sai tuolloin Suomen ensi-iltansa Suomen Kansallisteatterissa. Lisksi taustamateriaalina kytetty: Jean-Michel Guy(toim.): Sirkuksen vallankumous, Like, Jyvskyl 2005 Muut lainaukset Unpack the art residenssin haastatteluista.

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Circus: Not always for the audience, but very often with the audience
U L L A M A TT L

On hearing the word circus, many remember the excitement before attending a show as a child, the smell of lions and elephants in the circus tent and the suspense just before the seemingly fragile girl swings on the trapeze high above the audience. While the traditional circus still exists even if with fewer and fewer animals new forms of circus have appeared in the past 40 years that are proving to be no less exciting. Rotterdam is an edgy city offering its citizens and visitors a buzzing circus festival showing rough and urban elements in street shows, theatres and various circus tents. Circus in Holland is something very new and the artists are young. The Circusstad festival, now in its third edition, offers young artists support for their first professional productions. This international one-week festival is growing fast and expected to attract around 20,000 people in 2013, with the aim of growing further in the coming years. Maaike van Langen, the festivals artistic director, explains that she tries to develop the programme in such a way that the audience sees one show and will want to see more. She refers to Rotterdam as an area that has a lot of problems such as high unemployment but that is also culturally very diverse and a city of many nationalities. The programme aims to offer something for everyone and attract a wide and diverse audience. The circus shows, she says, are something that people can easily relate to.

Circus as we didnt know it When we arrived, a group of ten cultural journalists from across Europe, most of us knew little about new or contemporary circus. However, new circus, a movement started in France in the 70s, and contemporary circus, its modern manifestation, are both something that people can easily understand. They offer the audience a mix of theatre, dance, and traditional or alternative circus elements such as juggling, acrobatics, balancing, illusion and magic. In shows where circus elements cannot be spotted that easily, elements which are fundamental to circus practice, even in its most traditional sense, can, at a second glance, be found behind the concepts and ideas of the piece. This is good for an audience that is fascinated by one specific discipline only or that is interested to discover something new. However, it can be hard for an audience to know what exactly awaits them, even when carefully studying the programme, because all the performances are so different from each other. The structure of the show also shapes audience engagement. In general, the shows are not too long little more than an hour and consist of a series of acts, which is a characteristic that remains from the very early days of the circus. How to connect the different acts in order to assure a flow between them is one of the most important tasks for the circus artist looking to keep the audience engaged. How do artists connect with the audience and work with its expectations? How does the relationship with the audience develop during a performance? And how important is the relationship really for
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the artists? These are just a few questions addressed with regard to the six shows attended at the Circusstad Festival: No s by Leandre, Smashed by Gandini Juggling, Vu by Cie Sackripa, La Meute by La Meute, Extrmits by Cirque Inextremiste, and Weird night of illusion by Blick Thtre. Audience versus performer Leandres No s is entirely directed by its audience, who enjoy a traditional 360 degree, democratic perspective on the show. All dressed in red, Leandre walks in with a suitcase, outlined in red wire, full of gadgets that allow him to improvise and shape the show as he goes along. Leandre, an artist with more than thirty years of experience who mainly works at street theatre festivals, takes the show as it comes, plays with the environment, and makes the audience realise the crucial part they have to play in turning the show into a memorable experience, while encouraging them to have fun and enjoy the moment. The objects, he explains, serve to build a bridge with the audience and trigger their reactions. Besides using his own objects he also grabs peoples sunglasses and lunch and offers them to someone else, jumps right into the audience to kiss someone, or, at one point, picks an audience member who is asked to help him with his next number. Kissing is good, he says. I have to get close to the edge. He later confirms for us that he never forces people to participate and never makes fun of them. A good clown touches the heart, he says. While involving the audience to such a large extent is a great way to connect the different acts and keep everyone engaged, at Circusstad Leandre had real difficulty in keeping control of where the show was heading, with a group of kids basically taking over towards the end of the performance, leaving the audience to wonder whether it actually all went wrong and if the artist had maybe planned a different ending. In an interview, Leandre says that he didnt want it to end in a specific way, but that he sometimes finds it hard to control children. The flexibility of a clown like Leandre is tested frequently by the diversity of the audience and the conditions he works in: busy streets, bad neighbourhoods, places where there is nobody.

Humour is essential to his show and the audience was certainly laughing during No s. Clean and visual Gandini Juggling smashed it with Smashed, apiece offering a mix of theatre, juggling anddance, and covering all the main aspects ofcontemporary circus. The beginning and endare connected; the show is amazingly symmetrical, as well as visual, with 100 apples going up and down during the course of the show. While the juggling, the key element of thepiece, seemed relatively simple, it proved that the audience can be captured by very little if it is performed effectively. Compared to other shows viewed at the festival, Smashed also carries a lot of messages and meaning, for example on topics related to gender issues, which according to lead artist Sean Gandini makes the piece more theatrical. The music played an important role in connecting with theaudience, with the lyrics linking to what washappening on stage. Despite some intense messages, the audience found moments to laugh, keeping things light. Gandini also tells us, just as Leandre did, that audience reactions andwhat is perceived as funny varies across countries. Its good to make people laugh. Wecame late to the idea that laughing is good. Another way to interact with the audience is of course to directly address it byspeaking, something which happened in Smashed. Because there were only a few sentences spoken, the moment offered a certain surprise effect. Maniac perfection Vu by Cie Sackripa is a solo show by Etienne Manceau, his first. It has so far been performed about 100 times since May 2012 and is still developing. The audience has the pleasure of identifying with its odd character, a man who turns simple everyday activities such as putting sugar in ones tea or lighting a candle into brilliant circus acts by performing them with the precision and perfect timing needed for juggling or acrobatics. This combined with humour and direct interaction with the audience keeps everyone absorbed and leaves them patiently following the different acts of
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Cirque Inextremiste Extremites Joke Schot

the piece as they slowly develop one after theother. Etienne Manceau tells us that the character in the piece is someone who is never loved, and that he believes the audience identifies with this maniac because everyone is a maniac. The audience is directly involved in the piece with people picked from the audience to participate. The artist tells us that in the beginning he picked from the audience completely by chance, but that he now looks around and sees who is appropriate. Sometimes the perfect person seems to sit in the audience, sometimes the choice turns out to be more difficult. A balance is needed with regard to audience involvement. Playing too much with people can become a danger to the objective of the show, he adds. We are told that when he made the show he did it for himself; he never considered what other people would think of it. Thats why it is different to anything else. People say that they have never seen anything like it before.

Tragic accident La Meute by La Meute is the first show by a group of young male artists who have recently graduated from the University of Dance and Circus (DOCH) in Stockholm. Performed on the main stage of the Schouwburg in Rotterdam, some of the circus atmosphere offered by the other shows in tents is lost in a space that could equally be used for ballet, theatre or a jazz concert. The show is somewhat still under construction and will, as the company confirmed to us the following day, change and be further developed. The audience has the opportunity to see some breathtaking acrobatics, with the Russian swing the key element for most of the stunts. Sometimes there are hints of a storyline or hidden meaning, and I find myself looking in vain for a red thread throughout the show. Halfway through, the group stages a fake injury which they want the audience to believe is real in order to show that this is a real danger they live with every day. It feels more like an unwelcome interruption,
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however, and if it is really to be part of the show it will take some more work to actually convince the audience. Conversing with the artists reveals that they try something and then think about the effects afterwards. They watch the audience carefully for reactions and then adapt the show according to what seems to work best. Just like Etienne Manceau, La Meute tell us that they made the show for themselves first, for the audience second. The way they connect in the show is how they connect in real life, they tell us. They say that their priority was not to create an effect for the audience, but first of all for themselves. While I found myself looking for a storyline, La Meute tells me that the goal is that everyone can find their own interpretation, and that they are trying to build something that is logical in itself. Bombing The show Extrmits by Cirque Inextremiste also directly involves people from the audience, including by catapulting a fake gas canister and a shoe into their midst, in Rotterdam hitting a young girl in the face and making her burst into tears. In an interview, company member Yann Ecauvre explains to us that he wants the audience to feel fear and be scared and that each show is a bombing. Which is fine, as long as it is safe for the audience. The artists communicate a strong social message to the audience, illustrating the difficulties disabled people face in society, something which is rare in circus shows, but which gives additional meaning to the demonstration of first-class circus skills. The show included some excellent

balancing acts and was engaging throughout. The artists confirmed to us that the tricks in the show have the purpose of keeping the audience excited and engaged. This was also achieved through an ongoing conversation with the audience throughout the show not only through facial expressions and gestures, but also through occasional improvised dialogue with audience members which was very well received. Circus poetry In an interview after the show we found out that Weird night of illusion by Blick Thtre was just a one-off performance with many work-inprogress elements, but the audience did not know that the show was unfinished, which led to some disappointment among our group of journalists. The show might have been composed of different acts that are still being developed, but it was nonetheless captivating and very different to the other shows at the festival. The piece is a poetic but slightly dark journey, accompanied by piano music, that uses puppets, tricks and illusions. Although no storyline could be detected, the thread of madness, darkness and uncanny moments connects the different scenes. The show seems more like a play, and fits well into the environment of the Schouwburg. The artists tell us that they dont like applause, as it does not fit in the spaces between the acts. This time the audience is supposed to remain the silent observer. The festival certainly deserves some applause for its very well thought out and diverse programme. Looking around before and after the different shows was enough to confirm that it has succeeded in attracting a diverse audience.

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Partners
PROJECtLEADER:

Circuscentrum (B)
CO-ORgANizERs:

Copenhagen International Theatre (DK) CIRCa (FR) Festival novog cirkusa (HR) Subtopia (sE) Halles de Schaerbeek (B) Finnish Circus Info Centre (Fi) Circusstad Festival Rotterdam (NL) Humorologie (B) Crying Out Loud (uK)

This project has been funded with support of the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. Unpack the Arts. Only the project leader and co-organisers of Unpack the Arts can freely use this publication. If another organization or medium wants to publish (extracts of) the article, please contact maarten@circuscentrum.be.

www. unpack thearts .eu

Coordination publication: Maarten Verhelst English editing: John Ellingsworth Graphic design: Wilfrieda Paessens www.wilfrieda.com

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