ARQUEEM Not for ordinary people

How Cirque du Soleil

Took Over the World

An inside look at how the Canadian bred troupe

quickly became the center of attention.

A Leap of FaithKari Podgorski went

beyond the small town troupe to big time star.

Small Circus, Big Dreams

How small circus troupes are making it in the shadows

of Cirque du Soleil

Circus Psychology

The key to landing the

act.610

14

18

22 Death-Defying Do-Gooders23 The Moscow Circus 24 Freedom is Ours

26 Breathing Life into the Traveling

#23Winter 2011

Editor’s Note

Hello Marquee Readers,

Marquee is not for the ordinary. We know as our audience, you expect nothing but greatness with every issue. Each season brings exciting news of the Circus Performing Arts both contemporary and traditional style. We know that the art of performance is constantly being reinvented and we look forward each and every issue to see what is on the rise. Here at Marquee, we are a circus family of our own. Everyone involved in a circus needs to lend a hand to erect the big top, feed the elephants and be able to fill in for a clown, juggler or lion tamer if needed, but everyone has their specialty. We acknowledge your specialties and are always thinking of you first. Marquee isn’t for us, it’s for you and this is something that is taken into account each and every issue. Each topic that is discussed, Contemporary, Traditional, Artist Feature, and Specialty, is carefully related to each other in each issue and just like the circus, no issue is ever alike. So enjoy the Winter 2011 issue of Marquee filled with the latest news on circus culture worldwide.

Liliana CerquozziEditor of Marquee

StaffEditor

Liliana Cerquozzi

Art DirectorAshley Nadeau

WritersRebecca A. ClayKelly NestruckShawn TelfordLauren CannonCourtney Nash

Heather Yeomans

Copy Editor: Chelsea Hubbell

Tabl

e of

Con

tent

s

6

10

18

How Cirque du SoleilTook Over the WorldAn inside look at how the Canadian bred troupe quickly became the center of attention.

14 A Leap of FaithKari Podgorski went beyond the small

town troupe to big time star.

Small Circus, Big DreamsHow small circus troupes are making it in the shadows of Cirque du Soleil

22

24

Death-Defying Do-Gooders

Freedom is Ours

23

26

The Moscow CircusAnaloque Entertainment Under the Big Top

Breathing Life into the Traveling Circus

Circus PsychologyThe key to landing the act.

Marquee6 Winter 2011 7

Photo Courtesy of tatyana skymyrka

Winter 2011 7

Circus Psychology: The key to landing the act.As senior performance psychologist for Cirque du Soleil, Hallé helps the company’s 1,300-plus artists perform nearly impossible feats at about two dozen different shows around the world. She began working with Cirque du Soleil on an as-needed basis in 1998, then came on full time when the company integrated performance psychology into its training program.

By Rebecca A. Clay

Marquee8 Winter 2011 9

TransformationsOne of Hallé’s main responsibilities is helping trainees adjust to their new identities as performers. They come from the elite ranks of gymnastics, diving, synchronized swimming and other sports, but once they walk through Cirque du Soleil’s doors, they are seen as artists. It’s a major transition, says Hallé. “Here everybody is at the same level, even if they have Olympic medals,” she says, explaining that former athletes can also have trouble becoming beginners again. Adapting to the chaos of the creative process is another challenge. In contrast to the regimented routine of an elite athlete working toward a gold medal, the process of creating a show is fluid and nonlinear. “They don’t know how to cope with the fact that we go in one direction one day, and the day after it’s the complete opposite,” says Hallé.

Juggling TasksAlong with the other staff psychologist, Hallé spends her days working in small groups or one-on-one with performers on such issues as overcoming fear, recovering from fatigue or injury and coping with the pressure of preparing for a show. Performers have

more mundane concerns, too. Drawn from around the world, they often miss their families, for example. Although Hallé is based at Cirque du Soleil’s headquarters in Montreal, she can find herself in Macao, Tokyo or other far-flung destinations if there’s trouble at one of the shows. She spends about a month on the road every year, helping staff and artists communicate better or overcome disputes about workload or other issues. She also flies to shows worldwide to provide assistance when there’s a crisis, whether it’s a serious injury or a disaster such as the Japanese earthquake. Performance AnxietyHelping performers stay confident isn’t just a matter of mental health, it also reduces their chances of injury, according to research by Hallé published this year in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. To figure out why some performers are injury-prone, Hallé and a co-author examined the answers would-be performers gave in health questionnaires they filled out when they arrived at Cirque du Soleil try-out camp and then looked to see who suffered injuries in the months of training that followed.

Winter 2011 9

says Hallé. Some simply had an innaccurate view of their abilities, suggesting that what they needed to avoid injury was not further physical training but confidence-boosting. “Low self-efficacy brings doubts and anxiety and decreases the full concentraton that’s absolutely necessary,” says Hallé.

Running the ShowHallé earned a coaching-oriented master’s degree in sport sciences, followed by a doctorate in sport psychology from the Université du Montréal in 1989. An amateur gymnast, Hallé became the head coach at a gymnastics club, helping to prepare future Olympians and others before joining Cirque du Soleil. “I didn’t have the body to become a gymnast of the first quality,” she says, explaining that she lacked the talent and petite frame required of female gymnasts. “I did marathons instead, just because it better fits my morphology.” Today, though, she’s content with lunchtime runs on the 5-kilometer running path at Cirque du Soleil’s headquarters. “It’s a fantastic environment to work in,” she says. “I’m really lucky to be able to work here.” r

They found that trainees with low self-efficacy — general confidence in one’s ability to face challenges — were nearly twice as likely to be injured as those with high self-efficacy scores. And that wasn’t because trainees with low self-efficacy actually lacked the skills they needed to perform safely, Hallé adds. Some simply

had an inaccurate view of their abilities, suggesting that what they needed to avoid injury was not further physical training but confidence-boosting. “Low self-efficacy brings doubts and anxiety and decreases the full concentraton that’s absolutely necessary,”

“Low self-efficacy brings doubts and anxiety and decreases the full concentration that’s

Photos Courtesy of tatyana skymyrka

Photo Courtesy of Cirque du Soleil

While many arts companies are struggling to make ends meet, a certain French-Canadian troupe is flying higher than ever. Kelly Nestruck traces the jaw-dropping rise of a cultural phenomenon

By: Kelly Nestruck

In 1984, a group of 20 street performers put together a circus show in the small town of Baie-Saint-Paul in Quebec, to celebrate the 450th anniversary of explorer Jacques Cartier’s claiming of Canada for France. Few could have guessed that this ragtag bunch of French-Canadian hippies, calling themselves the Cirque du Soleil (“circus of the sun”), would soon set off on a journey of world domination.

Twenty-five years later, Cirque du Soleil’s big-budget, animal-free circuses are Canada’s largest cultural export, employing more than 4,000 employees from more than 40 countries and pulling in an estimated C$800m (£440m) a year in revenue. Over the course of 2009, the company will present 20 different shows on four continents. That includes eight touring productions as well as permanent ones scattered from Macau to Orlando. There are already six shows in Las Vegas alone; the seventh (a musical-circus hybrid based around the music of Elvis Presley) will appear in December.

HOW CIRQUE DU SOLE ILTOOK OVER THE WORLD

“The owner said, ‘We’re probably going to keep this show forever.’” Some have wondered whether that’s a bit too ambitious, even for Cirque. As its empire has expanded, the company has attracted criticism for producing shows that are too similar. “There has been some dilution of the quality of their product,” David Rosenwasser, a former circus executive, told the New York Times in the spring. “I’m not as awed as I used to be. The shows are almost indistinguishable to me.” The Guardian’s dance critic, Judith Mackrell, admits she simply doesn’t get the Cirque phenomenon. “However bendy the contortionists, however bouncy the acrobats, however many risks the aerialists take, they always appear too buffed, coiffed and airbrushed to seem real,” she wrote in 2007.

The company has also been encountering problems off the stage, courtesy of Montreal journalist Ian Halperin, who published an unauthorised biography of Laliberté

Cirque’s often pretentious, new-age concepts are not to everyone’s taste; they were memorably lampooned in a 2000 edition of The Simpsons, when the family visited the Cirque du Purée only to find a clown lamenting: “I cannot get the lid off my jar of rainbows.” But the troupe’s feats of strength, agility and derring-do have found a vast, seemingly insatiable audience. The company estimates that more than 15 million people will see a Cirque show in 2009. And while clouds have gathered over the rest of the economy, for this troupe the sky seems to be the limit. Indeed, founder Guy Laliberté, one of a select club of billionaires to increase his net worth over the past year, is preparing to blast into space later this month as the world’s ninth space tourist; or, to use the nomenclature he prefers, “humanitarian space explorer”. The exploit is estimated to be costing him a cool US$35m (£21m).

Laliberté rather likes people with stratospheric ambitions. At a time when most businesses have reasonably modest expectations, Carmen Ruest, one of the original Cirque pioneers and now the company’s “director of creation”, blithely told me: “The word impossible does not exist here.”

The company’s president and CEO, Daniel Lamarre – the pinstriped executive to Laliberté’s spacesuit – is similarly upbeat. “What’s happening in this recession is that people are not buying houses, they’re not buying a new car, they’re not travelling as much – but they need to be entertained,” he says. “In general, show business is doing well. We’re touched like everybody else, but not as much as other sectors. That allows us to invest in the growth of the company.”

Ovo, a new touring show with an insect theme, opened in Toronto this week and will soon be followed by two ambitious permanent projects. One, tentatively called Vaudeville, will preview in Chicago in November before heading to New York. Then, in December, Cirque will open the Las Vegas Elvis show – a musical-circus follow-up to Love, its wildly successful partnership with the Beatles. Earlier this summer, Los Angeles city council agreed to a plan to sponsor a loan of US$30m (£18m) to retrofit the Kodak theatre – the venue used for the Oscars ceremony – for a new Cirque show tied to Hollywood’s history. Subject to Washington’s approval, the money would come from a federal job-creation programme.

The US government needn’t be anxious about its investment, reckons Lamarre. “I just renewed my contract for Mystère for five more years,” he says, referring to the first Cirque show to set up shop in Las Vegas, at the Treasure Island hotel and casino.

CRAZY

BUT IT WAS

A BEAUTIFUL

CRAZY

stilt-walker who is now “director of creation”, worked on the costumes

for Cirque’s first show. “It was a very special time,” she remembers. “Crazy, but it was a beautiful craziness.” She recalls Cirque’s 1987 trip down to California – its first to the United States – as a turning point for the troupe. “We were in debt, and every penny we had we put in gas to

go to LA,” she recalls. “If it hadn’t worked, we would have had to

hitchike back.” Ruest argues that money has changed Cirque for the

better. “For people like me who started passing the hat to pay for dinner, it’s a

big difference,” she says. “Of course, the business has changed things, but it’s changed so

that we can create more. Guy said he wanted to bring positive energy to the world. That’s still true – we just have bigger means.” r

this summer. Halperin describes it as “a motivational piece” about how a street performer ended up as Forbes’s 261st richest man in the world. But, perhaps predictably, the Canadian press latched on to more salacious details – lingering on stories about wild parties that Laliberté used to throw at his mansion in Saint-Bruno, Quebec. The company was not impressed: such tales from its past do not fit well with a global, family-friendly entertainment brand that has Disney-like ambitions. Cirque’s lawyer says the company won’t waste their time on “gossip”, but had one run of the book recalled over an unauthorised, copyrighted cover image. Other lawsuits are pending. And yet Cirque does, rather charmingly, cling to other vestiges from its peripatetic past. Carmen Ruest, sometimes

Photos Courtesy of Cirque du Soleil

Winter 2011 15

Photo Courtesy of David Adam Edelstein

Winter 2011 15

By: Shawn Telford

Aerial artist, Kari Podgorski, came across the idea of aerial acrobatics on a whim when she finished college. She is now one of the most well known Aerial Acrobatics in the Seattle area.

Starting OutTen years ago, Kari Podgorski did what many people aspire to do: She joined the circus. “Oh, do we have to use that cliché?” she objects through a smile. Besides, Teatro Zinzanni, where she is currently contracted as an aerial artist, is more of a cabaret. But let’s go back a decade. In the early thoughts, Podgorski described herself as “floating around.” “I had finished college,” she recalls, “but didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I finished it just to finish it, not because I had a career in mind. Then I moved (to Seattle) on a whim.” She got a job through AmeriCorps working “with an environmental restoration organization that happened to be housed in the same Seattle warehouse as Circus Contraption.” “Total coincidence,” she adds emphatically. Nonetheless, she soon found herself knocking on the door next door. Yet, it wasn’t her background in dance and gymnastics, it was more curiosity and a desire to help -- be it handing out fliers or volunteering -- that drew Podgorski to Circus Contraption. Once there, the artistic director had other ideas for the little blond with the big smile. “She said, ‘You can come to my $12 class on Monday night.’ So I did, and within a few days I got an e-mail asking me to come to a rehearsal and I ended up being a guest artist in their next show.”

Marquee16 Winter 2011 17

conventions and conferences. This would happen, of course, while people were mingling and never during keynote addresses and such, when many conference attendees could be easily distracted by her high-flying antics. “I’d be up there for 20 minutes, moving more slowly than I do in my short routine. Usually hitting some poses, just adding to the overall atmosphere (of the event).” For Podgorski, her main piece of equipment is the “cloud swing.” “It’s a rope that’s hung end-to-end. When there’s no weight on it, it looks like a letter U. When there’s weight on it, it looks like a letter V.”

Unlikely PerformancesPodgorski has also been hired for auctions, fundraisers and, yes, even a wedding or two. Although aerial art is a relatively new and probably rare form of wedding entertainment, it certainly trumps a cover band as far as the cool factor is concerned. “There were some guests that seemed baffled by the presence of a circus performer, but some who were just utterly delighted,” she says.Another of Podgorski’s jobs was for the Seattle Opera, performing an acrobatic role in their production of “Pagliacci, which is the Italian word for “clown.” Think about that next time you order pizza! It was there that Teatro Zinzanni spotted Podgorski and invited her into their current production, “License to Kiss,” which runs through April 25. Once her Zinzanni contract is up, Podgorski might do a teaching tour down the West Coast. She’s previously taught workshops in San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Calif., and Ashland, Ore.

Unexpected SuccessThis series of fortunate events interrupted some vaguely drawn plans she had made for herself. “There was a possibility of going to medical school,” she reveals. “I also thought a career in the environmental sciences might be a good avenue for myself.” But once Podgorski went up in the air, she sort of stayed there. “I took it up to have something fun in my life while I looked for a real career, even though I had no idea, no clue what that would be,” she says. “I think I grew up with the understanding that to be successful you have to have a so-called ‘serious job,’ and make decent money and hopefully be a very helpful member of society along the way.” These ideas of success, she explains, were too narrow. “It took a long time to realize that there were more things out there that could fall under the wonderful umbrella of success and happiness and fulfillment and being a contributing member of society.” And yes, that includes the aerial arts. “I realized,” she explains, “I actually have the capacity to make a career, a professional career out of this. That was shocking to me.” Surprisingly, Podgorski isn’t the only one hooked on trapeze. “There’s an enormous, thriving community of aerial students, hobbyist-performers, semi-professional performers and burgeoning professional performers in Seattle,” she says. “We also have multiple spaces where aerial is taught.” Yet, despite the artistic fulfillment, Podgorski soon found that working with Circus Contraption rarely paid the bills. The transition from hobbyist to full-time, tax-filing aerialist required courage, faith and a few simple goals -- the first being “take yourself seriously,” she says.

Future In MindHer next goal was one of practicality. “I wanted to find a job that would cover all of my expenses and open up new opportunities.” To do so, she knew that in some ways she’d have to leave the nest. “There’s a certain level of local performance that doesn’t necessarily lead to other things,” she says. “I was at that level and I wanted to grow beyond.” Podgorski then began freelancing as an aerialist at various corporate events for the likes of Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Chateau St. Michelle. While the exact jobs would vary, she would most often be hired to perform what she calls “aerial ambient entertainment” during

“I ACTUALLY HAVE

THE CAPACITY TO

MAKE A CAREER.”

Winter 2011 17

Mezzo Lunatico, a production of Teatro ZinZanni Seattle on Kari Podgorski:

Spending her formative years immersed in as much dance and gymnastics as humanly possible, Kari leapt into circus art with true passion and delight. With the creation of her bubbly yet sensuous character Sally Pepper, Kari performed with Seattle’s Circus Contraption from 2001 to 2009, charming audiences with her vocal sols, hula hooping, tap dancing, tumbling, group acrobatics, roller-skating, and her unique signature act the static cloudswing. Lauded as an aerialist par excellence by the Seattle Times, Kari has performed her cloudswing act in over 30 U.S. cities, and

internationally from Canada to Portugal.

Future PlansOnce her Zinzanni contract is up, Podgorski might do a teaching tour down the West Coast. She’s previously taught workshops in San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Calif., and Ashland, Ore. “Teaching depends on what the students are looking for,” she explains. “Sometimes I teach on my specialty apparatus, which is the cloud swing. But I’ve also taught rope, fabric, hoop and some basic trapeze.” What Podgorski doesn’t seem to realize -- and this could be because she’s entirely too modest -- is that her life itself teaches a very important and yet simple lesson: live! “Making the decision to become a professional acrobat and performer was both a huge leap of faith in myself and a broadening of my definition of success,” she says. So many young girls are taught to be quiet, small and less capable than they really are, Podgorski adds. In doing so, they deprive themselves and the world of their truest self. Whether Podgorski is referring to her own struggles remains to be seen. What is certain is that she doesn’t need wings to fly, nor does she need Lynyrd Skynyrd to tell her what it means to be free as a bird. r

Photo Courtesy

Photo Courtesy of Zing Zang Zoom Circus

Small Circus,

Big Dreams

Small circuS troupeS are creating opportunitieS for agile performerS with entrepreneurial aSpirationS.

By: lauren cannon

Marquee20 Winter 2011 21

The contemporary circus movement is finding a growing audience in places other than under the big tent. Scaled-down, independently-owned troupes, which infuse elements of burlesque theater with traditional circus acrobatics, are beginning to

showcase in clubs, parties, and notable corporate events. This growing trend is taking the circus from being a fringe spectacle to becoming a viable (and profitable) entrepreneurial pursuit.

“I think [it’s] because of the rise of Cirque du Soleil and the desensitization of everything else,” says Anya Sapozhnikova, founder, performer, and partner in Lady Circus in Brooklyn, New York. “Our society just keeps forcing everything to be more and more and more extreme, and circus is the most extreme form of performance art.”

Allison Williams, the artistic director of Aerial Angels in Kalamazoo, Michigan, has noticed a shift over the last 15 years from the circus being a family business to something that anyone with skill and artistic vision can begin as a small operation. Williams also credits Cirque du Soleil for showing audiences that animals are not a necessity within the context of a circus performance. “Not having animals puts circus within reach of a lot of people,” she says.

Timothy Mack, founder of The Imperial OPA circus in Atlanta, describes his “tangible” circus as the down-to-earth and approachable version of Cirque du Soleil. “We drop things now and then and we might not be super tight,” he says. “We’re trying to get better, but that’s touchability.” OPA, which consists of an ad hoc collective of 20 rotating performers, was founded in late 2009 after Mack, a seasoned street performer, completed a tour of duty with Cirque du Soleil as a photographer. They average one main production each month, plus an occasional scaled-down free show. Some of his performers were recently featured in an episode of The Vampire Diaries television series.

Like Mack, most of the entrepreneurs have a background in circus arts themselves. “You have to know what goes into every single aspect, from costuming to rigging to fire safety to how much floor space you need to choreograph a number. You have to have physically done all these things and know what it’s about from [the performers] perspective before you start booking,” says Sapozhnikova, herself an aerial performer.

Start-up costs for troupes are small in comparison to other industries. OPA’s start-up funds, which Mack describes as being relatively minimal, were produced out-of-pocket, and he still holds a full-time position with the gaming company Thrust Interactive.

Most performers are also solo artists apart from the troupe and come equipped with their own props as a result. This alleviates circus owners of the financial burden of having to supply every performer with equipment during the start-up phase. However, reliable practice space is “probably the biggest challenge for anyone looking to start a company,” says Williams, due to rental costs and insurance worries. For this reason, some companies collaborate with other groups to form symbiotic business partnerships. Aerial Angels is currently in residence at a gym in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they have free access to training space in exchange for teaching classes. Lady Circus works out of The Sky Box, another venture in which Sapozhnikova is a founder and partner and, in this case, instructor to those outside of the circus who are interested in taking classes in aerial arts.

Another important consideration is liability risks. “What is crucial for any troupe to have is workers comp, and that is expensive,”

says Guillaume Dufresnoy, artistic director of the legendary troupe Big Apple Circus that was the subject of the PBS series,

Circus. Due to the expense, many troupes handle their liability risk simply by requiring their performers to sign a waiver

of liability and assumption of risk prior to joining the troupe. Dufresnoy scoffs at the widespread use of waivers

being used as the only protection for entrepreneurs in the industry. “I think they can easily and always be

contested and defeated [in court]. We use them, too. I think it’s a first line of defense, but they’re easily

challengeable,” he says. Williams has another take on the financial risks involved. “The biggest

defense we as small business owners have is that we don’t own anything worth taking,”

she says. Sapozhnikova echo’s Williams’s sentiments. “I think the liability’s not as

much of a big deal as it seems. If you’re really paranoid about getting sued, you probably shouldn’t be a circus performer.”

In addition to waivers, certain troupes mandate that artists carry performers

insurance. Specialty Insurance Agency covers performers for bodily injury and

property damage to the client for $210 annually. Kasumi Kato, an Atlanta-based aerial silks

performer, has more comprehensive coverage through International Special Events & Recreation

Association (ISERA) at a cost of roughly $2,000 per year, and requires that her co-performers also be insured.

However, she has never been seriously injured during her tenure as an aerialist, which began at the age of four. Now

24, having recently received a degree in public policy from Georgia State University, she’s embarking on a full-time career

as a performer and instructor and working to form a company with two other aerialists. She also performs with The Imperial OPA on occasion.

An LLC may be the ideal structure for an up-and-coming troupe, due to the relatively simple formation structure and limited financial liability risks for the partners involved. Mack recently converted OPA into an LLC and has plans to seek 501(c)(3) status

“the circuS iS the moSt

extreme form of performance

art.”

Winter 2011 21

as an LLC, the Sky Box venue is housed under the House of Yes corporation, co-founded by Sapozhnikova, that also incubates Make Fun!, a costuming and prop-making studio space.

Performers in start-up troupes usually receive their first payments through busking tips and donations, but steady gigs from paid clientele lead to the sustainability of successful troupes and the ability to take their acts on the road. The rates that circuses and individual performers charge varies greatly, and is mainly dependent upon the client’s budget and the types of artists that will appear in the act. “You figure out a fair price with the context,” says Sapozhnikova. “Let’s say it’s an upscale club and their budget is $1,000. I’m not going to give them more than two performers for that budget,” she says. “But, depending on if one performer is stilt walking for two hours and another person has prepared, specifically, a tailored three-minute aerial solo, we [take that into account].” For solo engagements, Kato charges a flat fee of $350 that covers booking, costumes, insurance, rigging, and other nuances associated with a show. That initial fee is followed by a $100-per-hour performance rate. An elaborate costuming requirement may incur an added expense for the client.

As for Aerial Angels, whose clients have included corporate entities such as Citigroup, Williams pulls 10 percent off the top as a booking fee for both herself and her business manager, and pays the company the equivalent of the highest paid performer at the gig. “The girls who work for us full-time do anywhere from $25,000 to $45,000 a year,” says Williams about her company of 11.

The Aerial Angels performers are all independent contractors. Dufresnoy recommends that owners of up-and-coming circus troupes stay within the 1099 model because, “it’s case by case, one show, two shows, then [the performers can] go away and do other things,” he says. Aerial Angels also scored a sweet deal in 2008 when they appeared on the Canadian version of the hit reality television show Dragon’s Den. Their appearance netted the troupe a quarter of a million dollars to finance a large indoor show. Regardless of the win, Williams, a former theater professor at Western Michigan University, and other circus entrepreneurs are doing quite well for themselves both creatively and financially, and see plenty of room for growth in the future. “I like to tell people I make more money than I did as a college professor and I don’t have to go to committee meetings,” she says. r

Photo Courtesy of Zing Zang Zoom Circus

Winter 2011 23

Microsofties, career baristas, and... circus performers? In flies with the greatest of ease yet another Seattle subculture: tightrope walkers, trapeze-swinging daredevils, unicyclists, and jugglers. They all, including juggler Arne Bystrom and trapeze artist Crystal Campbell, converged at the Moisture Festival in April. Jon McClintock, a computer security consultant whose alter ego is high-flying rope wrangler Dyno, dazzled audiences with Aerlift III, a performance that helped fight third-world poverty; proceeds went to a nonproft that sends aid to Guatemalan youth. Why the link between circus arts and charitable deeds? Says McClintock, who teaches a class at Georgetown-based School of Acrobatics and New Circus Art, “[Circus performers] are not cometitive. There’s no concept of winning–the focus is on collaboration, on making something, and giving back. r

DeathDefying

DoGooders

By: Courtney Nash

Photo Courtesy of Teatro ZinZanni

Marquee22

Winter 2011 23

The Moscow Circus has played an important role in the wonderful and rich tradition of the Russian Federation since the days of Catherine the Great. It is held in high regard in much the same way as the ballet or opera.

The Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard was founded in the late 19th century and became hugely popular with all walks of life, regardless of race, language, age or social class. They included such innovations as a swimming pool, brick stalls, a standing gallery, and a dress circle. In 1919, by decree on the order of Lenin, the circus was nationalized, and by 1927, state circus schools were formed starting in Moscow. These spread across the country, and eventually by the 1950’s a traveling circus was making frequent stops to the US and Europe.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 90s, there were 70 permanent circus buildings and close to 50 traveling circuses. Since that time, this cultural icon has had its ups and downs and its future was uncertain. But today it continues to thrive and recently celebrated its 120th anniversary. It remains the “gold standard” by which all other circuses are judged.

These photographs I took while on a college study tour to the formerUSSR in 1990. It really was a lot of fun, part of a wonderful experience I will never forget. The hairstyles and costumes are certainly 1980s retro, and we had some of the best viewing seats. I remember watching in awe as the acrobats performed feats I never knew were possible!

The animals were so majestic and beautiful, I just wanted to run and hug them all. If you live in Moscow and have not seen this, you should go! It would make a great outing for the “analogue for a day” contest.And if you haven’t, make sure you put this on your “bucket” list when you visit! You will not be disappointed! r

the moScow

circuS analogue entertainment

under the Big top

By: S. thomaS

Photo Courtesy of Cirque du Soleil

Freedom is ours

Where does the magnificent creative flight of the contemporary circus come from? Of all the families of the performing arts, today’s circus are the most open-minded and the most

innovative. They practice arts that are found at the crossroads, and they are endlessly creating new roadways into the fields of dance, the visual arts, theatre, the digital arts...

OthernessThe infatuation with otherness goes back a long way. Animals were always part of their creative world. And although this part of the tradition was initially rejected by the new circus, it still has its own importance. The current circus is part of a continuity and not a rapture with its past. No other domain of the performing arts is quiete so heterogenous. No other performing art is quiet so linked to the culture of craftsmanship. Istalling and breaking down circus tents are only the external aspect. Craftsmanship fully includes bringing people up into the trade. In nearly all forms of acrobatics, juggling and even working with animals, it all starts with the hands. Even on the high wire they are indespensable. In English, we say handicraft, in German it’s Handwerk. With all of its apparatuses, craftsmanship is at the heart of performance. Its presence is a wonderful entryway towards the visual arts. The circus takes us back to a time when craftsman was an artist by definition and when creativity was invisible.

The creaTive and proliFic conTemporary

circus draws From all sources, The visual

arTs, dance, TheaTre... wiTh Two wonderFul

Tools: iTs craFTsman’s hands and iTs Freedom

By: sTradda

Photo Courtesy of Stradda

Marquee24 Winter 2011

Fully BodyThe current circus was developed amidst an increasingly intense dialogue with dance. Although in acrobatics everything starts with the hands, the hands by no means attempt to steal all the attention. Since its invention, the circus has never had any kind of hierarchy between the different parts of the body. This is why it has always had an advantage over dance, which continues to struggle against this intrinsic hierarchy by examining its relationship with eroticism. The circus has always been fully assumed as erroticism, ber it by grace or by sweat. And even if, of all the genres of the performing arts, the circus is the one that is closest to dance, there are still fundamental differences. For starters, the circus represents a nice challenge to a choreographer’s creative potential in that it imposes different bodily schema due to the central role of the hands and the relationship with the obkect or with the other. Today, the circus is following through in this evolution. The body is freeing itself from the object the way that modern dance freed itself from its submissiveness to music. Movement and gesture are encouraged to exist on their own, which opens the circus up to choreographic creation.

Research UnitsAt the same time, the circus is following the same evolution as contemporary dance in that it is switching over to a landscape dominated by duos and even solos. The reasons for this are clearly economical. However, due to its cross-disciplinary nature, the contemporary circus has been energised by the small size of its companies. The smaller the creative unit, the quicker they come into being, are mobile and find themselves obliged but also desirous to exchange with other arts. It is too early to say if the growth of mobility will lessen the output of research. In the end, what has caused crisis in the domain of dance has energised the circus. While rupture thwarts dance, the circus seems to thrive off of it. The growth of individualised approaches broadens its creative potential. Inversely, the more heterogrenous elements there are to absorb, the more this internal contraint absorbs creative energy. As a result, these small structures find more freedom of tone when the goals is to take a politcal position with regards to the curent state of society. And this is easier through the spoken word. When the theatre enters the ring, the circus is able to make a more critical stance.

Research UnitsContemporary dance has stepped into a veritable creative crisis and is increasingly obsessed with its own history. The circus has not yet come to this. Its galaxy is constantly expanding and it still has new creative worlds to explore. Its history has only just begun and international exchanges will free up new creative energy. Cooperation between European companies and Africa and even Asia can only boost the level of creative energy in Europe and elsewhere. r

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Marquee26 Winter 2011 27

An audience from around Orange County and beyond congregated inside a circus tent pitched at the Irvine Barclay Theatre’s Cheng Hall for a one-hour extravaganza featuring one man. Surprisingly, there was never a dull moment.

Stand-alone showman Jamie Adkins gave himself his own drum roll during the Thanksgiving weekend in “Circus Incognitus,” which showcased the range of his mind-boggling circus talents that included pantomime, stunning tricks, juggling and acrobatics.

Adkins was as entertaining and engaging as a cast of 30 in a Broadway musical. His incredible showmanship held the audience’s attention from start to finish and left onlookers wondering what he was going to do next.

In “Circus Incognitus,” Adkins plays a clumsy character — a clown who is desperately trying to get his act together. Along the way, he stumbles and makes mistakes, but the audience loved it.

Behind their laughter lay a simple truth: No one wants to watch someone who is perfect. Audiences prefer characters who are flawed and quirky, and they thirst for the essence of an ordinary man and a performance that captures moments found in everyday life.

Adkins made the clumsy look easy. In a madness of organized chaos, he performed some astonishing tricks with such ease. But in reality, he was bluffing; the stumbling merely added to the suspense.

In the opening portion of the show, Adkins balanced a piece of paper on his nose for an extended period of time, which made audience members squeal with delight. But soon, those “oos and ahhs” were replaced with silence and dropped jaws as the tricks grew increasingly complicated.

BreathingLife into the

TravelingCircus

Legacy

By: Heather Youmans

Winter 2011 27

“Le Grand Finale” featured the infamous tightrope walk with a twist. Adkins juggled and balanced on one foot — an unfathomable feat. And just when you thought he finally had regained his balance, he fell and saved himself by getting tangled in the rope.

During another highlight of the evening, Adkins selected volunteers from the audience and gave them each an orange to throw. He then put on a catcher’s mask and held a metal fork in his mouth.

As the volunteers threw the oranges into left field, sometimes throwing the fruit off of the stage, Adkins tried to catch the oranges on the fork with stunning success.

Audience members were also left in a daze after the virtuoso performer walked on ladder stilts and even juggled six ping pong balls with his mouth. Looking around, you could see the mischievous look on children’s faces, who were obviously getting some ideas. However, the tricks were not the only impressive part.

Adkins showed that he has impressive acting chops of his own. In the show, Adkins didn’t speak much, but his little interjections were supported by spot-on physical comedy, which garnered an enthusiastic response from the audience. In addition, his improvisation skills and comedic timing reigned supreme.

Spectacle alone can wow an audience, but skillful acting works like glue putting all the pieces together, making true art.

“Circus Incognitus” breathed life into the legacy of traveling circuses. The production not only echoed an era, but brought the best of circuses to a contemporary audience. r

“No one wants to watch someone who is perfect.”

Photo Courtesy of Jamie Adkins