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Contemporary circus research in Quebec : building and negotiating an emerging interdisciplinary field

Leroux, Louis Patrick
2016

This chapter provides a first hand account of the creation of the Montreal Working Group on Circus Research, and its rapid growth and integration into Montreal’s vibrant cosmopolitan circus scene. The Working Group and its ongoing collaboration with National Circus School of Montreal have served as a nexus for developing research strategies and a vocabulary for the new field of contemporary circus studies in North America. Quebec’s brand of theatrical, mostly animal-free contemporary circus, born out of French nouveau cirque, Soviet-inspired elite acrobatic training, and American entrepreneurship and showmanship, has emerged from a burgeoning nation preoccupied with its own singularity and distinctiveness. The Quebec provincial arts funding agency established a circus arts program, with a distinct budget from other performing arts, in 2001. The Canada Council for the Arts integrated contemporary circus into its interdisciplinary Inter-Arts Office. While Quebec contemporary circus is first and foremost acrobatic and artistic, it does include a few interesting examples of equestrian practice.

This chapter provides a first hand account of the creation of the Montreal Working Group on Circus Research, and its rapid growth and integration into Montreal’s vibrant cosmopolitan circus scene. The Working Group and its ongoing collaboration with National Circus School of Montreal have served as a nexus for developing research strategies and a vocabulary for the new field of contemporary circus studies in North America. Quebec’s brand of ...

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Contemporary Nordic circus : introduction to the art form

Purovaara, Tomi
2016

The current state of diversification and hybridization in the performing arts means that it can be difficult to quantify and classify the content of performance as circus. This chapter proposes an ideal future for the development of contemporary circus. A good starting point would be a centralized public culture administration similar to what exists in the Nordic countries. In this model, the institutionalization of the circus field affects the whole production chain. The network of performance venues available for contemporary circus is being constantly developed and the art field's markets and the number of artists are developing at a fast rate. New traditions have been developing in Finnish circus training since the 1970s. New institutions and an increasing commitment to the state and municipalities have shaped a safety net and springboard for the new generation of artists – and provided new things to rebel against.

The current state of diversification and hybridization in the performing arts means that it can be difficult to quantify and classify the content of performance as circus. This chapter proposes an ideal future for the development of contemporary circus. A good starting point would be a centralized public culture administration similar to what exists in the Nordic countries. In this model, the institutionalization of the circus field affects the ...

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The Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas : an American strip-tease

Leroux, Louis Patrick
2016

The idea of a Quebec-based entertainment corporation specialized in spectacular extravaganzas taking the city of kitsch by storm is already an extraordinary one in itself. The Cirque built its reputation on a dreamspace, an ‘imagination’, as Jennifer Harvie and Erin Hurley put it, where one can transcend traditional national parameters, where sexless bodies contort before the reader, and artists from across the world unite to tell the nonverbal tale of infinite human potential. The Cirque’s occasional gaudiness and usual excesses might point to an Americanization of its shows, yet one can’t help but notice the gradual imposition of a narrative-based, indeed almost a literary, sensibility in the Vegas productions. The passage from one pole to another is ensured by Zumanity and Love which are both European in reference while succumbing to an American pop aesthetic and fetishization of individuality. This chapter was originally presented as paper at the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, McGill University, Montreal, February 2008.

The idea of a Quebec-based entertainment corporation specialized in spectacular extravaganzas taking the city of kitsch by storm is already an extraordinary one in itself. The Cirque built its reputation on a dreamspace, an ‘imagination’, as Jennifer Harvie and Erin Hurley put it, where one can transcend traditional national parameters, where sexless bodies contort before the reader, and artists from across the world unite to tell the nonverbal ...

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Risk, danger and other paradoxes in circus and Circus Oz parody

Tait, Peta
2016

This chapter explores the paradoxes of the circus form, in relation to perceptions of risk-taking and the performance of danger, and by contrasting examples of flying trapeze acts and Circus Oz aerial acts. Although circus signifies large social concepts such as freedom, marginality, and human exceptionalism, the conceptual focus is on how circus performance is perceived as dangerous in visual as well as metaphoric ways. Circus aerial acts are discussed to unravel some of the paradoxical implications of perceived and actual risk. All circus acts are intended to hold an audience's attention but some acts are viewed as having more risk and therefore being more dangerous than others. Contemporary circus mitigates against the risk management that has spread into all public activity in recent decades in ways that curtail behaviour and fragment judgement and with parallels to what Mary Douglas discerns are 'political uses of danger' in the 'politicization of risk'.

This chapter explores the paradoxes of the circus form, in relation to perceptions of risk-taking and the performance of danger, and by contrasting examples of flying trapeze acts and Circus Oz aerial acts. Although circus signifies large social concepts such as freedom, marginality, and human exceptionalism, the conceptual focus is on how circus performance is perceived as dangerous in visual as well as metaphoric ways. Circus aerial acts are ...

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The resilient body in social circus : Father Jesus Silva, Boris Cyrulnik and Peter A. Levine

Lavers, Katie
2016

This chapter explores the concept of social circus and how and why it is effective. It brings together the work of two thinkers on trauma, and the application of their ideas as a way of explaining how the physicality of learning circus skills assists young people affected by trauma. The ideas of French psychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik are referred to in the manual for Cirque du Monde instructors entitled The Phoenix: Building the Concept of Resilience into Cirque Du Monde Practices (Morelli and Lafortune 2003). However in this writing the author has brought Cyrulnik’s thinking about recovery from trauma together with the ideas of American psychologist Peter A. Levine to create the notion of the resilient body as a principle that can be seen to start to explain the successes of social circus. The chapter goes on to outline a number of different examples of social circus as a global movement.

This chapter explores the concept of social circus and how and why it is effective. It brings together the work of two thinkers on trauma, and the application of their ideas as a way of explaining how the physicality of learning circus skills assists young people affected by trauma. The ideas of French psychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik are referred to in the manual for Cirque du Monde instructors entitled The Phoenix: Building the Concept of ...

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Female circus performers and art : the shift to creative authorship and its implications

Sizorn, Magali
2016

This chapter considers the roles and performances of circus women as good examples of aesthetic, axiological and social transformations that are occurring in the present multifaceted 'world' of the circus. In France, it started in the late 1970s, when cultural institutions recognized the contemporary circus as a distinct art form. In the 1980s, a debate started as to what a circus should be, with clashing arguments on how to define the circus as an art form. From the 1970s onward, the French circus has undergone a profound transformation with many upheavals, articulated around a struggle for the circus to be considered as art form. However, although the people have seen that the contemporary circus arts transgress the rules and break with conventions, it is important to note that the arts labelled contemporary are in fact extremely varied. Traditional circus has a relatively well identified ‘classic style’ and appears as a kind of conservatory for forms and techniques.

This chapter considers the roles and performances of circus women as good examples of aesthetic, axiological and social transformations that are occurring in the present multifaceted 'world' of the circus. In France, it started in the late 1970s, when cultural institutions recognized the contemporary circus as a distinct art form. In the 1980s, a debate started as to what a circus should be, with clashing arguments on how to define the circus as ...

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View from the big top : why elephants belong in North America circuses

Schmitt, Dennis
2016

The continued improvement of captive elephant care is dependent on the adoption of standards by the elephant industry, including circuses and private individuals using elephants for traveling exhibitions. Circuses are pioneers in developing and adopting advanced new training methods for elephants as well as other animals. Just as veterinarians are gaining more knowledge of elephant physiology, circuses are incorporating new training methods-ones that assimilate such new scientific knowledge-into training protocols and husbandry techniques for elephants. In addition, some large circuses have their own very strict animal care standards. In addition to providing entertainment to large numbers of people annually, circuses in North America have been active in promoting elephant conservation and research. Circus elephants provide a handson, one-on-one experience that cannot be replaced by interaction through television, Internet, or movies.

The continued improvement of captive elephant care is dependent on the adoption of standards by the elephant industry, including circuses and private individuals using elephants for traveling exhibitions. Circuses are pioneers in developing and adopting advanced new training methods for elephants as well as other animals. Just as veterinarians are gaining more knowledge of elephant physiology, circuses are incorporating new training methods-ones ...

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Why circuses are unsuited to elephants

Alward, Lori
2016

Organizations devoted to the promotion of animal welfare and the protection of animal rights argue that the use of elephants in circuses should be banned for various reasons. The capabilities approach as applied to elephants entails that circuses should not use elephants, that circuses are unsuited to elephants. It is a separate, and perhaps more difficult question, whether the people have a duty to go out of our way to promote the well-being or protect the rights of elephants by more active means, for example, by working to preserve elephant habitat. After describing the main features of the approach, the author then applies it to animals in general and elephants in particular. Utilitarianism is the moral theory that most commonly grounds arguments about our moral responsibilities to animals, as is exemplified by the arguments about the use of elephants in circuses.

Organizations devoted to the promotion of animal welfare and the protection of animal rights argue that the use of elephants in circuses should be banned for various reasons. The capabilities approach as applied to elephants entails that circuses should not use elephants, that circuses are unsuited to elephants. It is a separate, and perhaps more difficult question, whether the people have a duty to go out of our way to promote the well-being or ...

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Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Nietzsche, Friedrich ; Hollingdale, R. J.
2016

When Zarathustra arrived at the nearest of the towns lying against the forest, he found in that very place many people assembled in the market square: for it had been announced that a tight-rope walker would be appearing. And Zarathustra spoke thus to the people:

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To reach the clouds : my high-wire walk between the Twin Towers

Petit, Philippe
2016

One more thing: Philippe, you are not a coward—so what I want to hear from you is the ecstatic truth about the twin towers.

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A contemporary history of circus arts in Buenos Aires, Argentina : the post–dictatorial resurgence and revaluation of circus as a popular art

Infantino, Julieta
2016

In this chapter the author brings forward some aspects of a more extensive research project that, through the case of circus arts, focuses on the process of resurgence and redefinition of popular practices that developed in Buenos Aires from the post-dictatorial years up to the present. During the performances of the Criollo Circuses, actors in the first part demonstrated their skills as trapeze artists, acrobats and comedians, while in the second part of the show they interpreted their roles as dramatic actors. While the Circo Criollo School was intended to maintain local circus traditions, the people will see that it played a central role in the generation of a particular street circus style typical of the 1990s to be discussed in the chapter. The early years of the 1990s saw the genesis of several styles or methods of doing circus: New Circus, Street Circus, and Social Circus.

In this chapter the author brings forward some aspects of a more extensive research project that, through the case of circus arts, focuses on the process of resurgence and redefinition of popular practices that developed in Buenos Aires from the post-dictatorial years up to the present. During the performances of the Criollo Circuses, actors in the first part demonstrated their skills as trapeze artists, acrobats and comedians, while in the ...

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When pigs could fly and bears could dance

Neirick, Miriam
2016

The story of the circus in the Soviet Union is, in some ways, a familiar one. The circus was already an anomaly among the revolutionary cultural products created after 1917, when “political and aesthetic revolutionaries tried to suppress the allegedly dangerous old world of commercial popular culture.” The circus was hardly the only prerevolutionary popular entertainment that the Soviet government continued to produce, and yet even among those, the circus remained exceptional. Both Soviet circuses and mass celebrations were surprisingly typical of popular and particularly carnivalesque forms of culture in other contexts, in that they did not function exclusively as modes of resistance to dominant ideologies, nor did they only enforce political compliance and social conformity. Yet its significance remained open to debate, which meant that it could attract even those viewers who might have seen it as an escape from dominant ideologies, an expression of political discontent, or a source of social disorder.

The story of the circus in the Soviet Union is, in some ways, a familiar one. The circus was already an anomaly among the revolutionary cultural products created after 1917, when “political and aesthetic revolutionaries tried to suppress the allegedly dangerous old world of commercial popular culture.” The circus was hardly the only prerevolutionary popular entertainment that the Soviet government continued to produce, and yet even among those, ...

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Bending the body for China : the uses of acrobatics in Sino-US diplomacy during the Cold War

Zhang, Tracy Ying
2016

This chapter investigates how acrobats' bodies and repertories are imbued with cultural meanings through the practices of nation-state building and international diplomacy. It demonstrates that in a cross-cultural context, new meanings of the acrobatic body could emerge from interactions between performers, audiences, journalists, host organizations, and other local participants. It discusses how acrobatics was attached to different meanings through the practices of nation-state building as well as international diplomacy during the Cold War era. China's acrobatic diplomacy prepared the groundwork for the acrobatic body to become a major cultural export in the following decades and marked the beginning of an export-oriented cultural production. As a cultural export, Americans and other overseas participants started to invest in the Chinese acrobatic body and to assign it meanings and value through their own cultural lenses.

This chapter investigates how acrobats' bodies and repertories are imbued with cultural meanings through the practices of nation-state building and international diplomacy. It demonstrates that in a cross-cultural context, new meanings of the acrobatic body could emerge from interactions between performers, audiences, journalists, host organizations, and other local participants. It discusses how acrobatics was attached to different meanings ...

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The circus and modernity : a commitment to ‘the newer and ‘the newest’

Arrighi, Gillian
2016

This chapter accepts that the circus or, to be more precise, the large circuses of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries reflected a number of the ideas associated with modernity. It draws on a theoretical interpretation of modernity by Jameson and the delineation of historical eras by Marshall Berman. The publicity strategy of the FitzGerald Brothers' Australian Circus described indicates a proclivity for technology and its display. Frost, and all historians of the circus who followed him, trace the origins of the circus to the entrepreneurial and performance initiatives of Philip Astley in London, Paris, Dublin and the rural regions of both France and England during the latter decades of the eighteenth century. Frost's account of the early circus, and its striving for modes of production that were aesthetically and materialistically innovative, chimes with one of Jameson's observations about modernity.

This chapter accepts that the circus or, to be more precise, the large circuses of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries reflected a number of the ideas associated with modernity. It draws on a theoretical interpretation of modernity by Jameson and the delineation of historical eras by Marshall Berman. The publicity strategy of the FitzGerald Brothers' Australian Circus described indicates a proclivity for technology and its display. ...

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Notes on the Mexican-American circus

Kanellos, Nicolas
2016

Today, Mexicans are represented substantially in circuses around the United States of America. The development of Mexican circus culture goes as far back as the conquest and colonization of Mexico by Spain. The indigenous roots of acts that predate the Mexican–American circus can be identified in the entertainments by dwarfs, buffoons and a type of clown that Bernal Díaz documented as existing in pre-Columbian Mexico. The European popular performance traditions began in the New World with the Spaniards’ introduction of roving minstrels, saltimbanquis and jugglers during the colonization period. During the second half of the nineteenth century, the Mexican circus received important Italian, English and Anglo-American influences, most importantly the introduction of the English-type clown by the Chiarini Circus in 1867. The earliest reference to the Mexican circus in Texas is the following comment from the San Antonio Ledger, 8 November 1852: ‘The Mexican circus is with the reader.

Today, Mexicans are represented substantially in circuses around the United States of America. The development of Mexican circus culture goes as far back as the conquest and colonization of Mexico by Spain. The indigenous roots of acts that predate the Mexican–American circus can be identified in the entertainments by dwarfs, buffoons and a type of clown that Bernal Díaz documented as existing in pre-Columbian Mexico. The European popular ...

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P.T. Barnum : the legend and the man

Saxon, Arthur H.
2016

The cause of Barnum’s coming out of “retirement” was a proposition he had received from a young circus manager named William C. Coup, who, together with his partner Dan Castello, wished Barnum to join them in an ambitious enterprise. Barnum’s connection with the American circus has been notoriously misrepresented by past writers on the subject, some of whom have taken a perverse delight in pointing out what he did not do in this field, almost as though they were attacking a personal enemy. Barnum was obviously well qualified to advise in the museum and menagerie departments; nor was he so ignorant of circus matters as is sometimes claimed. One of the greatest and most far-reaching improvements during the 1872 season resulted from the decision to move the show exclusively by rail.

The cause of Barnum’s coming out of “retirement” was a proposition he had received from a young circus manager named William C. Coup, who, together with his partner Dan Castello, wished Barnum to join them in an ambitious enterprise. Barnum’s connection with the American circus has been notoriously misrepresented by past writers on the subject, some of whom have taken a perverse delight in pointing out what he did not do in this field, almost as ...

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The American circus

Wilmeth, Don B.
2016

The American circus as the people know it today dates, in fact, from the equestrian training circle of the eighteenth century. In contrast, in American circus the early trend was toward size and movement. The early American circus, then, was virtually transported from England, although elements of the circus were present in the form of itinerant entertainments some years prior to the establishment of a “circus” proper. Recent research indicates that the tent was probably not introduced in the American circus until 1825 or 1826 by J. Purdy Brown in Wilmington, Delaware. During the first half of the nineteenth century, distinctive characteristics of the American circus began to evolve. Among the major changes in the pattern of the American circus, in addition to mobility, was the introduction of multiple rings, in contrast to the typical European one-ring arrangement.

The American circus as the people know it today dates, in fact, from the equestrian training circle of the eighteenth century. In contrast, in American circus the early trend was toward size and movement. The early American circus, then, was virtually transported from England, although elements of the circus were present in the form of itinerant entertainments some years prior to the establishment of a “circus” proper. Recent research indicates ...

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The circus and nature in late Georgian England

Kwint, Marius
2016

The modern circus has a rather different form and content from the chariot races of its ancient Roman namesake because it is the product of more recent times. The Royal Circus not only coined a name for the genre, but also erected a fine stage next to the ring, bringing circus close to the world of drama for much of the next century. Astley died in 1814 but his company in London went on to survive the Royal Circus, the introduction of the big top tent to Europe by a visiting American company in 1842, and the proliferation of many smaller touring companies without stages. This chapter concentrates upon the founding example of Astley's in order to analyze the attitudes to the environment that the circus inherited, and with which it played. Although the performing arts have often served as an avenue of social opportunity, equestrianism also helped to reinforce the norms of class, race, and gender.

The modern circus has a rather different form and content from the chariot races of its ancient Roman namesake because it is the product of more recent times. The Royal Circus not only coined a name for the genre, but also erected a fine stage next to the ring, bringing circus close to the world of drama for much of the next century. Astley died in 1814 but his company in London went on to survive the Royal Circus, the introduction of the big ...

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Marginal body : the British acrobat in reference to sport

Carmeli, Yoram S.
2016

The first purpose of this chapter is to contribute to a long-ignored field of circus ethnography and the analysis of the significance of circus body presentation. Most of the author’s argument is illustrated through one acrobatic act presented in Jimmy Brown’s Circus in Britain during the late 1970s. Sport (the body engaged in gymnastics in particular is suggested as a comparative reference due to similarities in performance. Beyond a description of the acrobating body and its uniqueness, this chapter alludes to body presentation as a perspective for its context, that is, the codes and processes by which its significances are reproduced. The performance of the late 1970s ‘traditional circus’ is considered in this chapter as a reconstruction of the circus, which emerged through the reality of modernity characterized by fragmentation, the rise of fetishism, as well as the phenomenon of the spectacle.

The first purpose of this chapter is to contribute to a long-ignored field of circus ethnography and the analysis of the significance of circus body presentation. Most of the author’s argument is illustrated through one acrobatic act presented in Jimmy Brown’s Circus in Britain during the late 1970s. Sport (the body engaged in gymnastics in particular is suggested as a comparative reference due to similarities in performance. Beyond a d...

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Ecstasy and visceral flesh in motion

Tait, Peta
2016

This chapter starts with a note on some theoretical ideas about spectators’ sensory perceptions of muscular bodies. Aerial bodies are received bodily, and viscerally. It is clearly an individual's social experience of motion when, for example, a woman travelling alone might consider train travel unsafe for reasons to do with her gender, and a spectator's economic position might determine the extent of his or her familiarity with train or air travel motion. Like circus, bodies in action stunts for sensory effect are ubiquitous in cinema's imagery of motion, and more recently in game-based technologies, which often have unique motion aesthetics that can induce dizziness. Wenders repeatedly uses a male driver in his other films to show characters' movement as they unsuccessfully seek 'a consummation of the spatial and emotional dynamics' in his cinema's visualization of the 'interaction of motion and emotion'.

This chapter starts with a note on some theoretical ideas about spectators’ sensory perceptions of muscular bodies. Aerial bodies are received bodily, and viscerally. It is clearly an individual's social experience of motion when, for example, a woman travelling alone might consider train travel unsafe for reasons to do with her gender, and a spectator's economic position might determine the extent of his or her familiarity with train or air ...

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