DOCSLIB.ORG

Wow! Whoops! Whee! Me?: Impact in Contemporary Circus

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Wow! Whoops! Whee! Me?: Impact in Contemporary Circus WOW! WHOOPS! WHEE! ME?: IMPACT IN CONTEMPORARY CIRCUS By Ruth Juliet Wikler Boom Arts / TOHU / Montreal Completement Cirque Festival [email protected] TATIANA - MOSIO BONGONGA WALKS MONTMARTRE, 2018 WHAT KIND OF IMPACT IS POSSIBLE? A. SPECTATORSHIP: A CATALYTIC EXPERIENCE B. ASSEMBLY: AN AVENUE FOR CIVIC & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT C. PARTICIPATION: A TOOL FOR YOUTH EMPOWERMENT A. SPECTATORSHIP: A CATALYTIC EXPERIENCE CONTEMPORARY CIRCUS MODELS: • BREAKING THE 4TH WALL • MASTERY, RISK, & FAILURE • LIVENESS & AUTHENTICITY • RIGOR, STRENGTH, & PHYSICAL DISCIPLINE, ESPECIALLY AMONG YOUNG PERFORMERS • COLLABORATION & INTERDEPENDENCE • SITE-SPECIFIC & IMMERSIVE • SOMATIC PRACTICE: “SNEAKY DANCE” “Our proximity concept--in which toddlers and young audiences are very close to moving bodies, to artists’ breathing, to the vertiginous side of the circus, to the concentration in the look of the acrobat who is about to make a complex movement and the experience of practically being with him in his performance-- is an incomparable way for a rich experience of access to live art. Contemporary circus combines virtuosity and the artist-audience encounter with a human approach.” -- Sandy Bessette, La Marche du Crabe This UK-based company, spotlighting at IPAY tomorrow and represented by Potluck Arts at Booth 15, develops new work through inclusive research processes with young people (and other populations) and weaves community engagement into their performance and touring practice. US opportunity: MAAF Touring Subsidy 2019 for “Bedtime Stories.” This Australian company, showcasing at IPAY tomorrow at 8:45pm and represented by Boat Rocker Entertainment at Booth 1, originally emerged from the Cirkidz training program in Adelaide and is now making its third major work under multiple international commissions. B. ASSEMBLY: AN AVENUE FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT EXAMPLES: • FOSTERING NEIGHBORHOOD COHESION: MONTRÉAL COMPLÈTEMENT CIRQUE FESTIVAL’S “NEIGHBORHOOD PROGRAM” • BRIDGING CULTURAL & LINGUISTIC DIFFERENCES: POTLUCK ARTS’ CIRCUS SITES • UPLIFTING CIVIC ENGAGEMENT: DOUBLE EDGE THEATRE’S OUTDOOR SPECTACLES TRAILER: ENTRE NOUS Circus Sites: a series of 3 presentations in communities around NW Arkansas in Fall 2016. The project aimed to integrate culturally & linguistically diverse audiences through contemporary circus. Pictured: Triciclo Rojo (Mexico). Audience reach: The project served 2,2174 NW Arkansans over 3 projects, 46% of whom were native Spanish speakers (percentage determined using online ticket purchasing data). Once a Blue Moon - Cada Luna Azul Jamaica Plain, Boston, MA The Ashfield Town Spectacle Ashfield, MA C. PARTICIPATION: A POWERFUL TOOL FOR YOUTH EMPOWERMENT Vimeo Link (3:05-4:05) AYCO STUDY: THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL CIRCUS ON YOUTH AT RISK JANUARY 2018 Prescott Circus Participants: Circus Harmony, St Louis, MO; Circus Smirkus Ringmaster Residencies, Greensboro, VT; Fern Street Circus, San Diego, CA; My Nose Turns Red, Cincinnati, OH; Prescott Circus Theatre, Oakland, CA; School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts Social Circus Program, Seattle, WA; Trenton Circus Squad, Trenton, NJ; Wise Fool New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM Circus Up, Jamaica Plain, MA Mission: Circus Up uses circus arts to overcome social barriers and build community with people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities. Vision: A world where inclusion is the model, access is the norm, and play, creativity, and diversity are celebrated. BENEFITS OF CIRCUS ARTS • Health & Fitness: Circus arts training bolsters overall health by offering fun opportunities for cardiovascular exercise and strength training while also promoting good nutrition and a healthy body image. • Creativity: Adults and youth learn to engage each other through new verbal and physical vocabulary, leading to innovative ways of thinking and understanding their surroundings. • Motivation & Competency: Goals allow students to experience the thrill of success through increasingly difficult challenges. • Focus & Concentration: The fun of learning circus arts inspires adults and youth to develop and practice routines, building new skills and transforming tasks into challenges. • Communication: The collaborative nature of circus arts demands and fosters strong communication skills, which are essential to performance and safety. • Teamwork: Circus arts create an encouraging environment where everyone's success contributes to and is necessary to the group. The Circus Project, Portland, OR Mission: To use circus arts as a catalyst for personal and collective transformation. Founding Credo: We believe circus arts has the potential to: • Open ourselves and each other to perspectives that elevate the human condition; and foster an appreciation of mystery, ambiguity, and difference. • Create bridges between mind and body, feeling and expression, self and other. • Transmute suffering into beauty, distill meaning from chaos, and forge community from isolation. • Empower us to become the creative directors of our own lives and author our stories with creativity, resilience, and grace. Founding Principles • Art creates change. • Everyone has the capacity to become an artist. • Diversity stimulates creativity. • Failure is an opportunity for innovation. • We’re all in this together. SOCIAL CIRCUS AROUND THE WORLD Caravan, the European network for social circus Sirkus Magenta, Finland Afghan Mobile Mini Circus for Children Phare Circus, Cambodia Sirkhane, Turkey Circolombia Circus Zambia Palestinian Circus School Zip Zap Circus, Cape Town ….And many more HUMANITARIAN CIRCUS: CLOWNS WITHOUT BORDERS Mission Statement: Clowns Without Borders (CWB-USA) offers joy and laughter to relieve the suffering of all persons, especially children, who live in areas of crisis including refugee camps, conflict zones and territories in situations of emergency. In 2018, CWB organized: 11 tours. 202 Performances for displaced/marginalized people. 30 Workshops for humanitarian aid workers and circus artists. 47,249 people served (audience and workshop participants). Budget $128,000. CWB sends small teams of professional circus artist to perform for displaced people. CWB always partners with local organizations - and whenever possible, local artists -- to make sure that the performances are wanted and appropriate. "Before the clowns came, the children were playing war. Now they play clown.“ - Partner Organization, Greece "The clowns are the first white people who haven't tried to teach me anything. We got to laugh at them and we needed that." - Local Partner, Haiti “In places where all other resources are scarce, laughter can be abundant. Circus offers our audience a chance to witness extraordinary acts and experience awe. Most importantly, it is an opportunity to gather. The audience laughs, cries, worries, and experiences frustration right along with the clowns. Our shows ignite curiosity. Kids wonder, "How did they do that," and then they try. Sometimes when we arrive, no one is playing with each other. Whenever we leave, people are.” – Naomi Shafer, Clowns Without Borders YOUTH CIRCUS TRAINING: CIRKIDZ & SA CIRCUS CENTRE, Adelaide: AUSTRALIA Teaching 560 children ages 2.5-18 y/o each week onsite NATIONAL FACTS: + Engaging up to 8 underserved regional communities/year • Every capital city in Australia has at least one through mobile teaching units youth circus training centre for extracurricular training, plus one circus integrated high school “Youth circus training is not only about creating circus artists. (Flying Fruit Flies) It’s about creating awesome humans– who are resilient & healthy using circus as a tool to achieve that.” • Circus/physical theatre is the fastest-growing Craig Harrison, Board President genre in Australia in participation & audience “Circus is that magical space where brave travellers can • 16 outcomes recently articulated in U of South dream and embody new stories for themselves and their Australia study of the impact of circus training on communities around them. It is a space that inspires and learning outcomes for children disciplines people into realities that they, not only thought were impossible, but into realities that they didn’t even know • “Youth Circus in Australia: A Manifesto for the existed.” Development of Australian Youth Circus Sector Joshua Hoare, Artistic Director 2014-2020” commissioned by circus sector professional association ACAPTA (now CAPT, part of Theatre Network Australia) YouTube Link (:33-1:10).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Reflections and Exchanges for Circus Arts Teachers Project
    REFLections and Exchanges for Circus arts Teachers project INTRODUCTION 4 REFLECT IN A NUTSHELL 5 REFLECT PROJECT PRESENTATION 6 REFLECT LABS 7 PARTNERS AND ASSOCIATE PARTNERS 8 PRESENTATION OF THE 4 LABS 9 Lab #1: The role of the circus teacher in a creation process around the individual project of the student 9 Lab #2: Creation processes with students: observation, analysis and testimonies based on the CIRCLE project 10 Lab #3: A week of reflection on the collective creation of circus students 11 Lab #4: Exchanges on the creation process during a collective project by circus professional artists 12 METHODOLOGIES, ISSUES AND TOOLS EXPLORED 13 A. Contributions from professionals 13 B. Collective reflections 25 C. Encounters 45 SUMMARY OF THE LABORATORIES 50 CONCLUSION 53 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS 54 Educational coordinators and speakers 54 Participants 56 FEDEC Team 57 THANKS 58 2 REFLections and Exchanges for Circus arts Teachers project 3 INTRODUCTION Circus teachers play a key role in passing on this to develop the European project REFLECT (2017- multiple art form. Not only do they possess 2019), funded by the Erasmus+ programme. technical and artistic expertise, they also convey Following on from the INTENTS project (2014- interpersonal skills and good manners which will 2017)1, REFLECT promotes the circulation and help students find and develop their style and informal sharing of best practice among circus identity, each young artist’s own specific universe. school teachers to explore innovative teaching methods, document existing practices and open up These skills were originally passed down verbally opportunities for initiatives and innovation in terms through generations of families, but this changed of defining skills, engineering and networking.
    [Show full text]
  • Challenging Artists to Create Tomorrow's Circus Circadium Is the Only Higher-Education Program for Circus Artists in the United States
    Challenging Artists to Create Tomorrow's Circus Circadium is the only higher-education program for circus artists in the United States. We offer a full-time, three-year course that grants a Diploma of Circus Arts, recognized by the Pennsylvania Board of Education. We are committed to radically changing the future of circus, and performing arts as a whole, by bringing a multidisci- plinary and experiment-driven approach to creation and performance. As a 501(c)3 organization, the school relies on individual contributions and foundation support to cover costs that cannot be offset by student tuition. We keep our tuition rates low to encourage students from different backgrounds to attend, and to ensure that they will not launch their artistic careers bur- dened by student debt. Circus Arts are Thriving Worldwide, contemporary representations of circus are thriving and expanding – from Cirque du Soleil, to Pink’s performance at the Grammys, to the wide array of theatre and dance groups that incorporate elements of acrobatics, aerials, and clowning into their performances. Circus is no longer confined to the Big Top, as artists in every discipline discover its rich potential for physical expression. And yet, until now the United States lacked a dedicated facility for training contemporary circus artists. Students who wanted to train intensively in circus traveled to Canada, Europe, or Australia. They often stayed in those countries and established companies, meaning that now virtually all of the edgy, exciting, vibrant new circus companies are based overseas. There are a growing number of arts presenters in the U.S. who are clamoring for these kinds of shows – and the only way to get them has been to import them.
    [Show full text]
  • Mapping Circus and Street Art in Southeast Europe INTRODUCTION
    MAPPING CIRCUS AND STREET ART IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE INTRODUCTION For the circus in the Balkans, it can be said to be a spontaneous growth plant that builds its way through a series of obstacles, side-tracks, and aggravating circumstances. Over the past years of persistent work and action, the plant called the circus has succeeded in roots taking and growing in a tree that is expanding its branches. Through the years, with the development of Cirkobalkana festival, contemporary circus festival that is focused on representing regional circus scene from Balkans, artists, groups and circus organizations started to collaborate more and more. It was obvious that if we are working together, it helps us to develop new ideas and shows, to bring foreign educators in the region, international high-quality shows and also to position contemporary circus and street art in national cultural policies. In 2018 we started the first regional platform, CPuP - Circus on the move and we got the grant from Foundation Kultura nova which gave us the wind in our sails. Through various activities (co-production of performances, residency programs, education and quest performances), program cooperation is developed as well as a greater flow of cultural work in the region. The educational program strengthens the capacity of member organizations; enable professional training of artists and artist’s mobility in the field of regional contemporary art. One of the activities was mapping circus organization in the region to collect more information about organizations, spaces and performers (individuals/companies) that are working in the circus or street performing art in the Balkan Region.
    [Show full text]
  • Modes of Sonic Interaction in Circus: Three Proofs of Concept
    Proceedings ICMC|SMC|2014 14-20 September 2014, Athens, Greece Modes of Sonic Interaction in Circus: Three Proofs of Concept Ludvig Elblaus Maurizio Goina KTH Royal Institute of Technology KTH Royal Institute of Technology [email protected] [email protected] Marie-Andree´ Robitaille Roberto Bresin Stockholm University of the Arts KTH Royal Institute of Technology marie-andree.robitaille [email protected] @doch.uniarts.se ABSTRACT of technology in circus, with a special focus on sound and interaction. The art of circus is a vibrant and competitive culture that Practice-based artistic research in circus offers an oppor- embraces new tools and technology. In this paper, a series tunity to generate new modes of creation, composition and of exploratory design processes resulting in proofs of con- expression in circus. This paper focuses on using tech- cepts are presented, showing strategies for effective use of nology that will enable performers to interactively control three different modes of sonic interaction in contemporary computer generated sounds by means of their own body. circus. Each design process is based on participatory stu- Used in this manner, interactive sonification [1], and re- dio work, involving professional circus artists. All of the lated artistic practices, can be a tool to overcome the stan- proofs of concepts have been evaluated, both with studio dardized traditional formats of circus, re-invent choreo- studies and public circus performances, taking the work graphic methods and to redefine the use of music and sound beyond theoretical laboratory projects and properly engag- support in circus expression. Furthermore, by novel use ing the practice and culture of contemporary circus.
    [Show full text]
  • What Is Circus Today? Explorations Through 250 Years of British Circus by Professor Vanessa Toulmin in the Beginning
    What is Circus Today? Explorations through 250 Years of British Circus by Professor Vanessa Toulmin In the Beginning In 1768 a uniquely British invention created from entertainment popular in late Georgian London was born. The innovator was Philip Astley who with his wife Patty, a gifted equestrienne, and his horse Gibraltar, gave riding displays at Glover’s ‘Halfpenny Hatch’ between Neptune and Angel Streets in April 1768. On this site Mr and Mrs Astley developed scenes of horsemanship and later incorporated older forms of entertainment such as acrobatics, performers from the street and clowns to draw the crowds. It was this combination of speciality skills that developed into the circus entertainment we recognise today.1 As we celebrate 250 years from when modern circus combination of performance genres within a ring was created, the narratives and histories that are of a set diameter quickly became global and being revealed, especially in the United Kingdom, by the early nineteenth century circus could be demonstrate the complex and global history of the found in thirteen different countries including the genre that is circus; an evolving language of visual United States in 1793, Canada in 1797, Mexico in and physical performance.2 The Astleys settled at 1802, Russia in 1816. Within the European and Westminster Bridge Road where initially they used an North American traditions evolutions in popular open-air circular arena, then built a partially covered entertainment from the music hall to the menagerie ‘amphitheatre’ styled ‘Astley’s British Riding School‘ tradition of previous centuries played a key part which opened in 1770.
    [Show full text]
  • Fedec Fédération Européenne Des Écoles De Cirque Professionnelles the Fedec 3
    THE CIRCUS ARTIST TODAY ANALYSIS OF THE KEY COMPETENCES WHAT TYPE OF TRAINING IS NEEDED TODAY FOR WHAT TYPE OF ARTIST AND IN WHAT FIELD OF ACTIVITY? PASCAL JACOB FEDEC FÉDÉRATION EUROPÉENNE DES ÉCOLES DE CIRQUE PROFESSIONNELLES THE FEDEC 3 PREAMBLE 4 OBJECTIVES AND FINDINGS OF SURVEY 6 INTRODUCTION 7 The landscape – requirements and resources 7 Sources? 8 Methodological issues 9 FIRST PART 10 SOME REFERENCE POINTS 11 QUESTIONS OF PRINCIPLE 15 SECOND PART 18 TYPOLOGIES OF SETTINGS 19 QUESTIONNAIRE 25 - Inventory 25 - Objectives 26 - Analysis 26 - Expectations 27 THIRD PART 34 Transmission and validation 35 CONCLUSION 39 RECOMMENDATIONS 41 APPENDIX 45 Questionnaire used in survey 45 Students from the schools of the European Federation under contract in classic or contemporary circus businesses 47 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 49 This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication refl ects 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. THE CIRCUS ARTIST TODAY ANALYSIS OF THE KEY COMPETENCES PERFORMANCE WITHOUT SPIRIT OR SPIRIT WITHOUT PERFORMANCE? WHAT TYPE OF TRAINING IS NEEDED TODAY FOR WHAT TYPE OF ARTIST AND IN WHAT FIELD OF ACTIVITY? PASCAL JACOB 1 2 THE FEDEC Created in 1998, the European Federation of Professional Circus Schools (FEDEC) is a network that is comprised of 38 professional circus schools located in 20 different countries (Albania, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France,
    [Show full text]
  • Interview Ira Seidenstein
    Interview with Ira Seidenstein (IS) by Mike Finch (MF), on behalf of Circus Network Australia Introduction MF- Ira Seidenstein is a highly respected, skilled and experienced clown, performer, acrobat, teacher, mentor and elder. He is originally from Pittsburgh USA, but for many years has been based in Australia. Ira has worked all around the world alongside a virtual Who’s Who of physical, clown and Circus performance from major international luminaries and iconic organisations, to grassroots practitioners and soloists. We are lucky enough to have access to him for this interview about his life, his influences, his methodology, some advice and his hopes for the future. In his own words, “Intuition isn’t only knowing what to do next. It is also not knowing what else to do and having no choice”. MF- Hi Ira, thanks so much for your time. Firstly I want to thank you for offering yourself up to be interviewed. We intend this to be the inaugural interview of a series for Circus Network Australia on Australian Circus people, and I’m glad you will be the first! Let’s start at the beginning. Can you tell us what your childhood was like? IS- Oy vey Maria! It was located in the melting pot of the USA. Pittsburgh is a city with three rivers the Allegheny and Monongahela join to form the Ohio which helps form the Mississippi. There are lots of hills of the Allegheny/Appalachian Mountains. Pittsburgh is surrounded by farms and coal towns populated by ethnic Europeans who were starving in the 1800s.
    [Show full text]
  • “Flowers in the Desert”: Cirque Du Soleil in Las Vegas, 1993
    “FLOWERS IN THE DESERT”: CIRQUE DU SOLEIL IN LAS VEGAS, 1993-2012 by ANNE MARGARET TOEWE B.S., The College of William and Mary, 1987 M.F.A., Tulane University, 1991 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Theatre & Dance 2013 This thesis entitled: “Flowers in the Desert”: Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas 1993 – 2012 written by Anne Margaret Toewe has been approved for the Department of Theatre & Dance ______________________________________________ Dr. Oliver Gerland (Committee Chair) ______________________________________________ Dr. Bud Coleman (Committee Member) Date_______________________________ The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we Find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards Of scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline. iii Toewe, Anne Margaret (Ph.D., Department of Theatre & Dance) “Flowers in the Desert”: Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas 1993 – 2012 Dissertation directed by Professor Oliver Gerland This dissertation examines Cirque du Soleil from its inception as a small band of street performers to the global entertainment machine it is today. The study focuses most closely on the years 1993 – 2012 and the shows that Cirque has produced in Las Vegas. Driven by Las Vegas’s culture of spectacle, Cirque uses elaborate stage technology to support the wordless acrobatics for which it is renowned. By so doing, the company has raised the bar for spectacular entertainment in Las Vegas I explore the beginning of Cirque du Soleil in Québec and the development of its world-tours.
    [Show full text]
  • The Victorian-Era Freak Show and Its Legacy in Contemporary Popular Culture
    Southern New Hampshire University Otherness as Entertainment The Victorian-Era Freak Show and its Legacy in Contemporary Popular Culture A Capstone Project Submitted to the College of Online and Continuing Education in Partial Fulfillment of the Master of Arts in History By Ernst O Ploeger IV Chehalis, Washington Submitted December 2018 Copyright © 2018 by Ernst O Ploeger IV All Rights Reserved ii Student: Ernst O. Ploeger IV I certify that this student has met the requirements for formatting the capstone project and that this project is suitable for preservation in the University Archive. __________________________________________ December 12, 2018 Capstone Instructor Date December 12, 2018 __________________________________________ _______________ Southern New Hampshire University Date College of Online and Continuing Education iii Abstract This research seeks to provide a more detailed examination of the fate of the Victorian- era freak show than provided in the historiography. The prominent contention is that once the specific maladies became known, the performers lost their draw as being mysterious and inexplicable. Consequentially, the freaks became human in the eyes of society and our ‘wonder’ was supplanted by sympathy and shame at our subjecting them to such degrading exploitation. The problem addressed in the following thesis is that there is little, if any, historical evidence to support this notion other than the conclusions drawn by a prominent sociologist. On the contrary, there exists ample evidence in the historical record that support three connected conclusions: First, the demise of the freak show cannot be divorced in the timeline from the decline of the circus and there exist numerous causal factors for the decline of both.
    [Show full text]
  • Embodying the Animal: Questioning Human Identity in Literature and Circus
    Wesleyan University The Honors College Embodying the Animal: Questioning Human Identity in Literature and Circus by Emily Kate Vallillo Class of 2009 A thesis submitted to the faculty of Wesleyan University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts with Departmental Honors from the College of Letters Middletown, Connecticut April, 2009 Vallillo 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements………………………………………………..3 Introduction………………………………………………………..4 Chapter One Imaginative Embodiment in Literature……………….………....16 Red Peter…………………………..………………………….18 Enkidu and Gregor…………………………..……………..…20 The Churl and Gregor…………………………..………….…27 The Prisoner and the Hunger Artist………………………..…35 Chapter Two Physical Embodiment in Circus……………………………..……44 Roman Circus……………………………………………….…46 Traditional Circus…………………………………………..…50 Cirque du Soleil……………………………………………..…59 Conclusion….……………………………………………………..70 Notes……………………………………………………………....74 Works Cited………………………………………………………..75 Appendix …………………………………………………….……81 Vallillo 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To my family: For always supporting me, particularly my parents. To Lunchbox: For being the most warm, funny, and accepting group of people. To Kailie Larkin, Dylan Marron, and Jo Firestone: For a loving library visit. To those who went through it with me: Gedney Barclay, Sean Chin, Miriam Krent, Annie Paladino, Abbey Rosenstein, and my COL class. To my editors: Chris Patalano, Julia Milton, Mark McCloughan, Annie Paladino, Ben Vigus, and particularly Carol Scott, who all went above and beyond to help me improve my writing. To Ben Vigus: For endlessly supporting me even when I didn’t deserve it. To Erika Rundle: For giving me the language with which to express my ideas. To Claudia Tatinge Nascimento: For introducing me to performance studies, inspiring me to write about the circus, and reading my thesis. To Kari Weil: For offering so much help and advice in a field in which she is incredibly knowledgeable and reading my thesis.
    [Show full text]
  • Rethinking the Political: Art, Work and the Body in the Contemporary Circus
    Rethinking the Political: Art, Work and the Body in the Contemporary Circus by Lindsay Stephens A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Geography and Collaborative Program in Women and Gender Studies University of Toronto © Copyright by Lindsay Stephens (2012) Rethinking the Political: Art, Work and the Body in the Contemporary Circus Lindsay Stephens Doctor of Philosophy Department of Geography and Collaborative Program in Women and Gender Studies University of Toronto 2012 Abstract This dissertation is about the circus, but it is also about how we think through a range of possibilities for individual and social change in the contemporary post- Fordist or neoliberal moment. In the last 40 years geographers, along side other scholars, have documented an increasingly close relationship between social, political, and economic aspects of life in western countries. These shifts have raised concerns over shrinking spaces of resistance and loss of counter hegemonic voices, and increased interest in transgressive or ‘outside’ spaces and bodies as sites of resistance, escape, and social change. Two contested sites that seem to offer promise for resistance, yet are simultaneously critiqued for their participation in dominant discourses, are art (or creative labour) and the body. Despite prolific literatures on these topics in geography in the last decade, links between creative labour, theories of embodiment, and the living practices of cultural workers are still far too rare. To address this I examine the intersection of theories of research, labour, art, discipline, ii embodiment and politics, understood through the daily practices of circus performers doing highly physical and embodied work.
    [Show full text]
  • Le Nouveau Cirque Diana C
    Governors State University OPUS Open Portal to University Scholarship All Student Theses Student Theses Spring 2011 Le Nouveau Cirque Diana C. Lynch Governors State University Follow this and additional works at: http://opus.govst.edu/theses Part of the Art and Design Commons, and the Fine Arts Commons Recommended Citation Lynch, Diana C., "Le Nouveau Cirque" (2011). All Student Theses. 20. http://opus.govst.edu/theses/20 For more information about the academic degree, extended learning, and certificate programs of Governors State University, go to http://www.govst.edu/Academics/Degree_Programs_and_Certifications/ Visit the Governors State Art Department This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses at OPUS Open Portal to University Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Student Theses by an authorized administrator of OPUS Open Portal to University Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 1 Masters of Art Thesis Report Le Nouveau Cirque By Diana C. Lynch B.A Northern Illinois University, 2009 Submitted to the Committee of Advisors For the Degree of Masters of Art College of Art and Science At Governors State University University Park, IL 60484 2011 ______________________________________________________ __________________ 2 Abstract NAME: Diana C. Lynch COLLEGE: Arts and Sciences MAJOR: Art CONCENTRATION: Printmaking ACHIEVEMENT: Documentation of Graduate Thesis TITLE: Le Nouveau Cirque 3 Table of Contents Le Nouveau Cirque 4-19 Figure List 20-28 Works Cited 29-31 4 Exploring traditional circus and contemporary circus has lead me to my current body of print work titled Le Nouveau Cirque simply meaning The New Circus .
    [Show full text]