Circusstad – A City full of Circus
Accessibility is a key topic in the performing arts nowadays. Circus arts may have accessibility already in their DNA. However, with contemporary forms of circus aiming towards the so-called “high arts”, it becomes a topic for circus producers as well. For Circusstad festival Rotterdam and its artistic director Menno van Dyke, accessibility has always been a key point and they are doing a great job in providing a space for diverse forms of circus as well as diverse audiences.
This year’s edition is again a wonderful example. There is room for the entertaining cabaret-style aesthetics of the company Laser Kiwi from New-Zealand. Their “world’s first surreal sketch circus” is trash in its best positive sense. After the disclaimer not to expect any kind of consistent meaning in their show, “Rise of the Olive” releases a hilarious firework of crazy ideas. However, demonstrating the wide range of different circus aesthetics, there is also room in the festival program for thought-provoking theatrical shows like the monstrous, ritual-inspired immersive performance “Reclaim” by the Belgian company “Theatre d’Un Jour”.
Open-air shows in the city centre that are free of admission represent the lowest-threshold format. This is also a place to try out. Young artists from the local youth circus Rotjeknor are given a stage as well as the final year students of the Rotterdam circus school Codarts with their solo acts.
The three artists of the French company “Compagnie L’Immédiat” took the idea of bringing the circus to the city literally. They performed “La Lévitation Réelle”, a short piece that creates the illusion of a person defying the laws of gravity, even at the Rotterdam train station. A simple idea is executed with so much sophistication that it really seems that the bases have to hold down the flyer instead of lifting her.
Funny and entertaining shows for low entrance fees in a wooden arena are the next level of accessibility. This year it was “Captain Frodo’s” duty and pleasure to fill this unique space with an energetic atmosphere. While his “family freak show” was already a fun and bizarre experience, the “Late Night at the Opticum”, where they were congenially accompanied by “Laser Kiwi”, became a true witches’ cauldron.
During the early preparation phase, it was anything but sure that this edition would become such a seamless continuation of the festival history. In July of last year, the Dutch Performing Art Fund had announced a significant cut of their funding. Many efforts to point out the high relevance of Circusstad in the performing arts scene of the Netherlands and beyond were to follow – without success. Therefore, it was up to the enthusiasm and improvisational art of the organizers to create a festival that in the end did not reveal any compromises to the audience.
Showcasing the local Dutch circus scene, including international projects of graduates from Dutch circus schools, is a key element of Circusstad. In a pitching session organized for the professional audience, the artists had the chance to promote their work. Some of the pitched shows were on the show program of the festival as well: The Cyr wheel performance “The Stage ins not Enough” by the German duo Léolé adds a storytelling layer on the question “is less not more?” to their classical duo act. Simon Granit Ossoinak realized his idea to transfer the “parkour mindset” from the street to the circus arts in the show “UKEMI: The Art of Falling”, dealing with the moment of falling in acrobatics. A show specifically about the moment of mistake or failure – a similar theme was chosen by the jugglers of the “Tall Tales Company” in their new creation “Droplines”. As a work-in-progress it was not yet performed, but the juggling elements interwoven with the pitch already made us curious to see more.
The studio of the “Tall Tales Company” is also where Clara Köpf premiered with her solo show “Garment Gatherings: High (on) Fashion”. Aiming to show her frustration about fast fashion, her show had strong moments like an accelerating climb-and-fall sequence on the Chinese Pole ending with a bunch of clothes collapsing over her – but also showed the limitations of a ~1h solo show on a quite specific theme.
Overall, the Dutch circus showcase – apart from few exceptions – revealed a trend towards solo or duo performances, often focusing on one circus discipline. This seems to be a general trend of these days driven by decreasing budgets of venues and an increasing individualism among artists. Works which might have become interesting circus acts with an unconventional theme in the past, end up being evening-filling niche circus shows instead. It is encouraging to see that the young generation of circus artist sees themselves more and more as creator of their own original work. However, the market for one/two-person-contemporary-circus companies is limited and the question is justified if one or two persons already make a “company”.
Manuel Rosés from Barcelona on the other hand demonstrates that even a one-person show can catch the audience. The performance “Ákri” centers around a staircase of 22 steps standing in the middle of the stage. Combining elements of movie-inspired slapstick clowning with exploring the meaning of thresholds, he skilfully combines acrobatics and physical theatre and manages to draw the audience into his world.
Whereas in “Ákri” the acrobatic movements are means of storytelling, “OM” by the German-Iranian artist Roxana Küwen Arsalan chooses a different approach. She tells the story of her two grandmothers from Germany and Iran who imaginarily meet for a cup of tea primarily by words. With the indeed skilful juggling and antipode sequences being somewhat disconnected, the message of the show lacks subtlety.
Switching from one-person performances to an energetic 13-artists-show: 15 years after opening the very first Circusstad festival, the Groupe Acrobatique de Tanger came back with “KA-IN” – and with a unique collaboration. The show’s director Raphaëlle Boitel turned KA-IN into a sophisticated play with light and shadow demonstrating the theatrical possibilities of cutting-edge light design together with the archaic power of the acrobats. “KA-IN” is a wild mixture of Moroccan acrobatic traditions and modern street-art vibes.
Circusstad is also a showcase for the local circus school of Rotterdam, Codarts, which is attracting students from all over the world to their four-years Bachelor program. They have invited the professional visitors of the festival into their modern training centre in the south of Rotterdam. Besides facts and figures, the most interesting insights have been revealed in the group performance of the third year’s students. Their show “All and Nothing” features a wide range of genres, from tightwire over ball balancing and classic aerial disciplines to juggling. While the “clownish” overall aesthetics are refreshing and the solo disciplines have some highlights like an interesting Cyr wheel act of Corbinian Neubauer, the group acrobatic scenes show room for further development. However, it is good to see that group performances build a key element of the education and the solo pieces of the 4th-year students make curious to see their graduation show which will be premiering in June.
Besides the show program, Circusstad also once more offered a platform for professional exchange. A discussion session on inclusion in the circus arts was followed by a performance of “Buitengewoon”. This joint project by Circusstad, Liza van Brakel and Theater Babel brings together professional circus artists and people with disabilities to create circus acts together. This topic offered another take on the initially mentioned key topic of accessibility.
After all, accessibility always comes along with visibility. The most fascinating aspect of Circusstad is that it manages to fill the ˃600.000 inhabitants city Rotterdam with circus arts. May it be in the theatres, in the tent or in the streets – circus is everywhere. It is in contrast to problems that circus producers are typically facing nowadays: A circus that is either driven to green field places out of the city centres or cultivated only in the classical cultural venues will struggle to reach its audience. The strength of circus, always in its history, was that it found ways to get to the people. At Circusstad you can rediscover this strength. If there is one take-away-message from the festival with its various types of venues and shows distributed all over the city, it is this: Circus has to reclaim the public space. Let’s make every city a circus city!
The festival featured further shows that have not been subject of this review:
- Ballroom by Post uit Hessdalen
- iRRooTTaa by Grensgeval & Circus Katoen
- Meander by Marta & Kim, Knot On Hands, Felix Zech
- Tornado’s Eye by David Eisele (performance cancelled)
- (Un)limited Edition – Super Trampo 1000 by Aramelo (performance cancelled due to technical reasons)
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