Circus and Changing Realities 2020–Imagining New Infrastructure for Circus

Welcome toCircus and Changing Realities 2020–A Series of Virtual Dialogues about the Future of Circus. In this episode titled Imagining New Infrastructure for Circus, we explore the core concepts of what is essential in circus and what changes may occur as a result of the temporary halt of live performing arts due to the coronavirus. 

As a jumping-off point for this conversation, co-host Nicki Miller introduced the concept of the four ingredients for Expansiveness as mentioned in American choreographer Twyla Tharp’s most recent book, Keep It Moving; 

1. Intention defines our next move…
2. Honest appraisal of the past is how we deal with the inevitable setbacks, failures, and embarrassments life hands us…
3. Anger about the past… cancels out the sound of our best intentions.
4.  If you have an abundance of time and energy but waste it by getting stuck in the stale routines of the past, you have no chance of moving forward.

The guest panelists are from diverse backgrounds, regions and roles in the circus world:

• Isabel Joly – Director at FEDEC in Belgium
• Raffaele de Ritis – Historian, Author, Director from Italy
• Tilde Bjorförs– Artistic Director and Founder of Cirkus Cirkör from Sweden
• Linda Catalano – Producer, Tour manager for Hot Brown Honey in Australia
• Andréane Leclerc – Artist, Director Nadère Arts Vivants from Canada
• Steven Santos – Rigger, Fabricator from the United States
• Juanita Cardenas – Artist, Designer, from US/Colombia

Thank you to all of the panelists who joined us and please stay tuned for follow-up panel discussions.

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Read more about the Circus and Changing Realities 2020 Panel Series.

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Kim Campbell

Writer -USA

Kim Campbell has written about circus for CircusTalk.News, Spectacle magazine, Circus Now, Circus Promoters and was a resident for Circus Stories, Le Cirque Vu Par with En Piste in 2015 at the Montreal Completement Cirque Festival. They are the former editor of CircusTalk.News, American Circus Educators magazine, as well as a staff writer for the web publication Third Coast Review, where they write about circus, theatre, arts and culture. Kim is a member of the American Theater Critics Association.

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Nicki Miller

Director, Performer, Writer -United States

Nicki Miller is an NYC based director and performer known for her theatrical take on aerial arts. She is co-founding artistic director of Only Child Aerial Theatre (ASYLUM NYU Skirball CN:ICE, Framework INSITU Site-Specific Dance Festival). Her work as aerial designer and choreographer has most notably been included in Ripe Time’s The World is Round at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) directed by Rachel Dickstein. Recently Nicki was assistant director of 5th Wall Studio's Breaking Surface in NYC. She has also been a resident artist at Cirkus Cirkör (Sweden), the 2016/17 New Victory LabWorks Program, the Santa Barbara Floor to Air Festival, Circus Sessions at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre, the Contemporary Circus Arts Festival of Toronto, and was the recipient of the Glenn P. Davis Aerial Choreographer’s scholarship award for the 2018 Frequent Flyers’ Aerial Dance Festival in Colorado. In 2017 Nicki spent two months in Europe assisting and observing projects at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Shakespeare's Globe, as well as advanced training with Frantic Assembly. She also completed a creative residency in Sweden, where she also shadowed Cirkus Cirkör director Olle Strandberg on the premiere of his new show Under. Nicki is a graduate of Syracuse University's College of Visual and Performing Arts. She is also a freelance director, aerial theatre consultant, and educator. www.nickimiller.com

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