Gender on the Circus Stage: “Being Yourself and Doing What You Want Is What Matters”

As far back as the early 20th century, the stages of major circuses around the world were home to all kinds of bodies, with gender taking a backseat. While gender norms in the surrounding world were becoming ever stricter and women could not even do things like vote, in circus tents bearded women and immensely strong female trapeze artists were wowing audiences.

But as Professor Janet M. Davis, whose research focuses on circus culture, notes, this celebration of diversity was often an illusion. Rather than being the pinnacle of open-mindedness and somewhere that differences were embraced, traditional circus was considered a kind of safe space for ‘freaks’ who found themselves without a place in society.

What kind of framework does contemporary circus provide for gender representations? What can women, men or non-binary people do on a circus stage? What is touring circus life like for a mother with a young child? And what about if a woman is clumsy or excessively sexy on stage?

To find out more, we discussed gender, chopping sauna wood, and artistic freedoms on stage with two circus artists: Sanja Kosonen, a circus artist living and working in France since a long time, and Miradonna Sirkka who will be showing a preview of her work at CirkusExpo Stockholm in February 2026. Miradonna is also part of the Finnish delegation participating in YPAM in Yokohama in December 2025.

Balance, virtuosity and craziness – with the efficiency of Finnish women – Mad in Finland

“A woman chopping wood on stage is still seen as some kind of exceptional peculiarity in France. In Finland, we just accept it that the wood for the sauna needs chopping, and someone’s got to chop it, man or woman,” ponders Sanja Kosonen, a circus artist living and working in France.

“Or a woman hanging out in her underwear on stage, rather than having to be some kind of feminine princess. It’s interesting to explore what a woman can be. But at its core, Mad in Finland is rooted simply in the idea that we can be whatever we want to be and do whatever we want to do,” Kosonen emphasises.

The contemporary circus performance Mad in Finland was created in 2012, when Circus Artist Elise Abonce Muhonen invited seven successful female Finnish circus artists, who were all living outside Finland, to create a commissioned piece for the Galapiat Cirque festival in France.

What makes a performance feminist?

“It’s crazy that we still live in a day and age where a woman portraying a slightly different image of womanhood makes a performance feminist,” Kosonen states.

Mad in Finland, which received the State Prize for Circus Art in Finland in 2015, was originally inspired by the book ‘Seven Brothers’ (1870) by Finnish national writer Aleksis Kivi. The classic work paints a picture of the Finnish mindscape as deeply melancholic, springing forth from wild forest origins.

The main role in Mad in Finland is occupied not by seven brothers but by seven very close female circus artists – seven sisters, if you will.

“We worked on the basis of combining womanhood, Finnish identity abroad, and, of course, circus and the touring lifestyle.”

Sanja Kosonen has herself lived in France for 20 years. “I left Finland to continue my studies at CNAC (Centre National des Arts du Cirque), and then ended up staying in France for work.” Kosonen specialises in tightwire dance and highwire balance, and is also a key proponent of the ancient circus art of hair hanging.

The original intention was to perform Mad in Finland just once, but things ended up taking a slightly different turn, with it so far having been performed over 150 times in France, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Finland, to over 55,000 audience members.

Kosonen highlights the contrast in cultures, while French culture loves to spend time mulling over and talking about things, “The Mad in Finland team is very much about doing rather than discussing – Finnish women are next level when it comes to efficiency.”

We adore that unique Finnish craziness, and gently poking fun at ourselves

Mad in Finland was created in just nine days. “We came up with the pieces, taught ourselves to play the songs, and sewed our costumes all within that timeframe. Each one of us came up with an idea for our own piece that was somehow linked to Finland,” Kosonen explains. “I created the dance scene based on traditional open-air pavilion dancing, which for me encompasses some of the essence of Finnishness.”

“We adore that unique Finnish craziness, and gently poking fun at ourselves – that’s a constant theme throughout the performance.” In their roles on stage, the performers chop wood, work themselves into a state of euphoria in pavilion dances, explore the contrast between darkness and light, and touch on reindeer, the Winter War, and national composer Sibelius.

“The performance ends with us heading to the sauna,” Sanja Kosonen laughs.

When we tour we have kids, dogs and boyfriends all along with us

The group has remained a tight-knit affair, with only Finnish women permitted to be part of the show. “To keep our collective spirit strong and to make sure all the performers really understand even the deepest levels of Finnishness.”

Over the course of its 11-year history, Mad in Finland has seen 25 performers, as stand-ins have been needed from time to time. “With a show that involves seven women in their thirties, you know that’s just how it’s going to be from the get-go. We’ve had to factor in babies being born and some of us being on maternity leave,” Kosonen explains.

“Touring with little babies is a whole experience in itself. Often we’ve had the dads carrying the babies while the mums have been performing. I can remember plenty of situations when I was preparing for a performance while breastfeeding on one side and pumping on the other in some storage room. And at the same time finding a third hand to get my makeup done. When you get onto the stage after all that, it’s like a sense of freedom! Motherhood has changed my attitude to the whole profession: nowadays, making art doesn’t feel like quite such a serious endeavour,” she explains.

While touring, the performers listen to lots of rap by strong female Finnish artists and practise their twerking. Often, there are also very loud vocal rehearsals underway too. “When we tour, it’s never a small affair: we have kids, dogs and boyfriends all along with us for the ride. There’s a really strong circus family vibe.”

The image of women in the circus world is strongly intertwined with sequined princess imagery, but even that is constantly being dismantled these days. “I would say that, in the dance world for example, those stereotypes are still even more strongly rooted,” Kosonen contemplates.

Time has brought something completely new to the performance: a kind of boldness to perform and even just exist in front of people with a changing body

“But this kind of underwear humour – by women rather than men – and laughing out loud at yourself isn’t yet particularly common in the circus world either,” she states. “On a general level, women are under so much pressure to conform to different ideals and fulfil specific roles. But perhaps that’s not a problem specific to circus, maybe it’s a broader societal problem.”

When the Mad in Finland performance and group started up in 2012, the artists were in their thirties, so naturally, the majority are in their forties now.

“You can see it as a statement, too. Time has brought something completely new to the performance: a kind of boldness to perform and even just exist in front of people with a changing body,” Kosonen says. “While the pace might have slowed in places, that does not matter in Mad in Finland: it just brings more humour, and charisma too!”

Joy of the mundane, outrageous liberation – and the power of connection – Miradonna Sirkka

“No matter what we do, the bodies of women or non-binary people are always political. Through the multi-art collective Recover Laboratory, we seek to give people the right to express themselves in a way that feels natural to them, regardless of their gender or gender norms,” explains Circus and Contemporary Artist Miradonna Sirkka.

“It’s important to be able to stay true to yourself and also give those around you the opportunity to explore a wider spectrum of being. We have to make sure we don’t start unconsciously replicating external behavioural models.”

Miradonna Sirkka is one of the founders of Recover Laboratory. The group is known for its immersive multi-art pieces brimming with surrealism, wonderland installations and experiential routes designed for urban spaces, in the underground labyrinths of water treatment plants, abandoned factory buildings, and a network of tunnels of old fortifications.

The core group of Recover Laboratory comprises Performance and Circus Artist Miradonna Sirkka, Visual Artist Sofi Häkkinen and Experience Designer Inna Huttunen. The multi-art collective features women, men and non-binary people, in roles including performance artist, actor, musician and coder.

In the contemporary and performance art context, discussion about gender goes much further than it does in the contemporary circus world.

Sirkka explains that gender-related inequality can be seen in the structures around us and is always present, even if we do not want to see it.

“We engage in lots of big, tough conversations about values within the group. In our work, warmth, care and a family atmosphere are important,” Sirkka states. “In the contemporary and performance art context, discussion about gender goes much further than it does in the contemporary circus world.”

Circus training still coaches performers to stick to pre-defined standards

Miradonna Sirkka completed her master’s degree in 2020, and as part of her thesis explored awkwardness as a working practice.

“For example, the frameworks of awkwardness or sexiness, spaces women are ‘permitted’ to occupy on stage, are very narrow. I like going a bit beyond that, walking the tightrope of those boundaries. The contrast is fascinating!”

“The scale men have available to them on stage is so much broader.” When performing, Sirkka finds that stepping outside the traditional ideas of what women can do provokes reactions all the way from anger to praise for bravery.

“But is it bravery when you’re just doing what feels to you like the only right option – something that’s got to be done, as it were? Sticking to gender-based roles or trends dictated by some third party would feel inauthentic,” she contemplates.

As Sirkka highlights, circus training coaches performers to stick to pre-defined standards – being lean, muscular and beautiful all at the same time – to make them aesthetically pleasing to audiences.

“I did that for long enough and felt like a piece of meat for people to applaud on the stage. I wanted to start creating some kind of alternative to this norm, something more interesting and interactive.”

In 2023, Recover Laboratory’s piece ‘<3 (Smaller than three)’ was chosen as one of the 12 finalists in the highly-regarded CircusNext competition in Paris. The piece, combining contemporary circus with visual and sound art, is a celebration of the joy of absurdity and the mundane, of outrageous liberation – and of the power of connection.

In February 2026, Recover Laboratory and Miradonna Sirkka will show a preview of their show Nonstop Paradise at CirkusExpo Stockholm.

The article was originally published at Circus & Dance Finland by Emma Vainio.

Main Image: Mad in Finland © Sébastien Armengol