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25.01.16, 09:08
National Institute of Circus Arts
Historically, circus has been a hot commodity in Australia since 1847. In the past, it was horses and exotic foreign acts that brought the crowds out. Nowadays, it is innovation, a contemporary merging of other arts with traditional circus skills, and narrative—the welcome addition of story or themes to unify the action— which is keeping audiences hooked. While traditional circuses such as Circus Royale are touring in big tops around the continent, audiences in the big cities are embracing a variety of options, from Flying Fruit Fly Circus (a polished children’s circus), to Circus Oz, Australia’s long running and wildly popular circus with a mission. Australia is also home to one of the world’s better known circus schools, the National Institute of Circus Arts in Melbourne. With so much circus education and history, it is no wonder that Australia is prone to turn out cutting edge modern circus.
I met with Emma Serjeant, a living example of how the circus climate in Australia keeps growing diverse artists and entrepreneurs, like a many headed hydra. She is just about to launch her new company ESP (Emma Serjeant Productions), after a long stint as executive director of Casus Circus, which she co-founded. Casus is the perfect illustration of how modern circus companies are adapting to the times. These new, mid-sized circus companies; Casus, as well as other international companies; Cirkus Cirkör (Sweden), 7 Fingers (Montreal) and Circa (Brisbane) are wowing audiences worldwide with their new take on circus in a theatrical setting. These companies are smaller and streamlined, with a troupe of typically 3 to 8 performers, all who have often developed the shows (and sometimes the companies) together. They are the start-ups of the circus world, and they are succeeding based not simply on their innovative artistic and technical techniques (which are considerable) but also on their lower production budgets, and the relative simplicity (compared to moving a tent and animals) of travel. Casus Circus is still touring their premiere work, Knee Deep for its 4th year. Other productions include Finding the Silence, Jerk (Emma’s award winning solo show about exploring the edge of ourselves) and Tolu.
Like her country, Emma Serjeant is a powerhouse with a story to tell, but sitting before me dressed in a green wool jumper on the hottest day of the summer, she looked tiny. It was her energy that was big, and if you’ve seen her perform hand balancing and acrobatics, you are aware of her exquisite sense of balance, strength and poise which she seems to carry with her in her every day dealings. She was talking about using a choreographic language to tell a story and beating the structure of circus by cross-pollinating the arts. I was hooked. She had just hopped off of a flight from Thailand, where she went to get inspired for her newest projects, she explained. And now we sat on the patio at Tusk, a café in Melbourne’s hip Prahan neighborhood, just up the road from the National Institute of Circus Arts. The circus school is known by the students, including graduate Emma and my daughter Fiona (who we were in town to visit) as NICA. Besides being a performer and director, Emma is also a choreographer and producer, because working with a small company means you get to wear many hats. Settling in for a long talk, we all ordered smoothies to combat the pre-Christmas heatwave.
Afterwards, we strolled over to the airy structure of the National Circus Center, home to NICA, but they were closed for a staff Christmas party, so Emma snuck us in with her key for a tour. After a year of imagining what my daughter’s school was like, I was there at last, but rather than the bustling environment I’d imagined with aerialists hovering above coveted floor space, there was a slight echo as our words floated up to the impossibly high ceilings of the sunlit rooms.
So Emma brought me up to date on the place, down to describing what it is like when full of the 100 plus students all competing for floor space. The modern cube-like marvel known as National Circus Center was a $10 million venture that was completed in 2005. Before that, students had to train in an old warehouse. But now, thanks to the support of the Australian Government, the Australian Roundtable for Arts Training Excellence and Swinburne University, the students at NICA enjoy a state of the art facility and top notch instructors from around the world. As an American, ‘arts funding’ seems like a magical gift bestowed upon people in other nations by rare forward thinking governments. But when the budget belt has to be tightened, it turns out that the arts get cut in Australia too. The Federal Arts funding will be cut by $100 million in the next 4 years, a prospect which concerns all Australian artists. Emma is grateful that her projects have been a recipients of the grant process but wonders how heavily the cuts will affect her sector.
Though she graduated in 2006, Emma isn’t done with NICA. Since her return to Melbourne, from Brisbane (where she was based with Casus Circus and Circa before that) Emma has been brought on to co-direct the student showcase with director Hayden Spencer. She reeled off some of her projects as we crammed ourselves in to her car full of belongings. “I might relocate here and rent an apartment. Melbourne is wide open for circus. The environment is so perfect. But I may not rent, because I travel so much,” Emma explained. She is producing Kaput, a solo show in Hong Kong starring Tom Flanagan, and co-directing Love, Lost and Lattes (which will head the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 2016). In February in Liverpool, and at the Brighton Fringe in spring, she will be directing an all-woman show called R.E.D. She’s got residencies booked in between shows, and is slated to collaborate with the director of her solo show Jerk to develop it further. There’s even a collaborative cross-continental project in the works for 2016/2017 between her and Winifred Haun & Dancers, an American dance company.
Still, while starting her production business, Emma isn’t sure if she will create another performance company. She might stay focused on directing and producing for a while after a difficult transition away from Casus Circus. Emma and Casus parted due largely to creative differences, but she worked so closely with them for so many years that there is a hole in her that she can’t picture filling back up just yet. She concedes she will miss the creativity that can arise from a close community of friends like the one she crafted with Casus co-founders Natano Faanana, Lachlan McAulay and Jesse Scott. I asked her if she missed performing. Since she has recently gotten the go ahead to start training after recovering from shoulder surgery she says is ready to delve back in to her training regimen and performing as well.
Circus Oz
When we pulled in to the back lot at Circus Oz, a huge mural by Keith Harring on a neighboring building caught my eye. It showed tumbling, flipping, and falling bodies that looked like they were being ejected from a giant millipede. I found it appropriate for a building that had a whole circus tucked behind it. The mural had been painted 30 years ago but was recently restored. Emma apologized as I dragged her over to observe the mural, “I just pass by that all the time and forgot it was even there.” She told us how the building, formerly a technical school, was scheduled to be demolished, but recently the city decided to turn it in to the Collingswood Contemporary Arts Precinct, making it a perfect fit for a growing compound of creative exchange.
Another fascinating building on the lot is the Melba Speigel tent, a sturdy, intricate structure of mirrors, canvas and wood. It is a popular venue for circus shows and residencies. We tried the doors but they were locked too. All of the circus world had rolled up their carpets and gone surfing. So we scooted over to the modern facility next door, the new headquarters of Circus Oz.
“You just missed our ensemble! They had to leave yesterday to go to Sydney,” explained Antonella Casella, former Circus Oz acrobat turned senior artistic associate. Antonella was the founder of Vulcana Women’s Circus in Brisbane, and a founding member of Rock-N-Roll Circus (which dates back to the 70’s before everyone knew circus was cool). She described her work with Rock-N-roll circus as a way to help change the nature of theater at the time in order to open it up to other arts. Rock-N-roll Circus eventually became Circa. Antonella knew Emma because after Emma graduated from NICA, she joined the Circa ensemble for 3 years and became the head trainer of Circa Zoo, the youth circus.
After we had the circus talk (who you know in common, your circus mantra, where you had been and are going and what your projects are), Antonella squeezed Fiona’s arm, ropey from hours of handstands, and launched straight in to a little background info about Circus Oz. For 33 years they have considered themselves counter-culture. Antonella described their shows as cabaret-style, full of anarchic action, parody and comedy--with a lively band. The current show is called But Wait…There’s More! I went straight home afterwards and watched the trailer, searching carefully for elements of anarchy. Wedged in between the more classis acts, this year’s production features an acrobat who leaps through smoke rings, a chanteuse for a ringmistress and a wardrobe that looks like it came straight out of BeetleJuice. Their mission statement focuses on issues of social justice and eco consciousness, and their shows reflect it. Take for example their sponsor, ‘Stuff’, and the ensuing commercial break; “Do you ever lie awake at night wondering ‘What’s it all about?’ Is there a hole deep inside you? Hmm? Well, say goodbye to that messy existential crisis forever and fill that hole with stuff!” I was sad to have missed them, but Antonella assured me that I would soon have another chance as they tour America frequently.
Emma walked us through the big practice and performance spaces. Circus Oz moved in to the building last year, but you wouldn’t know it. The place was stamped with character; a jumble of props and white boards carefully mapping out their production plans. A composer worked on his notes in the music room as we strolled through, and a huge white board of unfamiliar looking words caught my eye. Emma saw me looking and explained, “That’s an indigenous language. Circus Oz works with indigenous Australians. You may have heard of Dale Woodbridge? He works with them.” Americans know next to nothing about Australia, I thought for perhaps the 100th time that trip, and stared in awe at the strange words, “Womraka moses yenyen walla” the first line read. It turns out it was an Aboriginal Christian hymn called Ngaraa Burra Ferra in the Yorta Yorta language. The language is considered extinct-with only an estimated 21 speakers left based on the 2006 census, but the song gained some popularity in 2012 with the release of a movie about 4 Aboriginal musicians in the 1960’s called the Sapphires. Clearly, Circus Oz is committed to following their mission statement, and the effort to help keep indigenous culture alive is part of that.
On the way back, I noticed Emma seemed at home in Melbourne, jetting us across the many roundabouts that made the city a maze to outsiders. Describing a residency where she will invite choreographers to explore flow, repetitive actions, breath and conscious movement, she said “I want to grow the culture of telling stories with bodies, because the body is an artistic tool, not just a set of skills.” This is why I call the woman a powerhouse, because she digs deep in to the motivation and intuition of artists while exploring technique. She is an example of the type of innovator Australia continues to produce in its ground-breaking exploration of contemporary circus. Best of all, as an artist she wasn’t just concerned with producing her own show, she was also collaborating, innovating and facilitating new artists.
Fiona asked Emma her opinion on the current and future trends in Australian circus. Emma thought about it while shifting gears and leaned in to another roundabout, “The circus and dance fusion that Circa started maybe eight years ago was so new and edgy—that stripping down of circus— it’s still hanging in there. And a mix of theater and circus is happening, although some of that stuff can be cringe-worthy, it has become almost its own art form. I think when you blend in circus it lifts the other genre,” she explained. And why not? Mixing circus with other art forms adds the physical dimension to stories. Won’t adding the physical feat to music, art, dance and theater, help complete the story that we tell ourselves to explain our existence? And why not circus bodies? Aren’t those the bodies that show us that it is possible to defy logic, nature and gravity with sheer willpower? And isn’t that freedom what humans are striving for?
Women’s Circus
There was one circus still in town in December. It was the Women’s Circus, a ‘feminist organization dedicated to the individual well-being of women and connectedness within and across their communities.’ Just our luck, it was located in the highly populated immigrant territory of Footscray, right where we were staying, and there was a student showcase. So on another hot day, my family and I found ourselves crammed in to a busy gym in a small circus school, sitting on the floor to see a show. It was just like home, except this tight-knit community of women of all ages and abilities had Australian accents. Watching the performances and the love the community had for the performers was fabulous. I saw an act involving women my mother’s and daughter’s ages interacting in a presumed race against time. They struggled and collided with each other and crossed paths in a blur. Sometimes they got stuck, and when one person halted, the others slowed down for a minute, pausing in their frantic efforts just long enough to reconnect and help the other out. Like Emma, they were barreling through space and time on their individual missions, but reconfiguring when necessary and when other bodies crossed their paths. That was the choreographic language of bodies telling its story and it solidified my impression of circus in Australia. They were groups of individuals all striving in their own way to tell a story and make an impact not just on the arts but on other humans, and taking the time to stop and assist each other when things got a little rocky.
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Bio & links:
Kim Campbell is a circus and theatre critic and writer. She has written for Spectacle magazine, Circus Now, Circus Talk and was a resident for Circus Stories, Le Cirque Vu Par with En Piste in 2015 at the Montreal Completement Cirquehttp://www.nica.com.au/the-nica-story Festival. She is the editor of American Circus Educators magazine, as well as a staff writer for the web publication Third Coast Review, where she writes about arts and culture. You can follow her frequent musings on circus via Twitter, Instagram or at Kimzyn Chronicles .
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Circus Promoters and Kim Campbell with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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28.08.15, 22:52
(Photo credit Steve Hersee)
Improve your life, your act, your art, your profession, the industry itself, and your income potential.
By Kim Campbell for Circus Promoters
Who is an independent circus artist?
You are a professional performer, getting gigs and traveling the world. You are living the dream. But your work does not stop there. There are auditions to attend, employment details to be negotiated, as well as travel, training, networking, and collaboration. In the midst of all the hubbub, perhaps you wonder whether you are you creating the art you once longed to make, while positioning yourself for a long career that will lead you to newer heights. How can you possibly do all of those things at once? Is it as simple as putting money in the bank and planning for other opportunities a year or two in advance? Do you have to market yourself and your art form too?
Every day you take enormous physical risks to do the art you love, but as an independent circus artist, you must also take professional and personal risks to gain a reputation as an innovator and an outstanding performer in your field. There is no circus school that can teach that set of skills; they are cultivated on the job by years of trial and error. Fortunately, there are many tools, resources, and experienced people in your network that can help you to grow not only as an artist, but as a professional. With a little attention to detail, you have more potential to craft a career designed to meet your goals than any previous generation of circus performers.
What does it mean to be an independent artist?
To be independent means to be free to create and control your product (i.e., your work), to stipulate the details of your contracts, to negotiate your salary, to create your own brand, to shape your artistic identity, and to freely express your creativity. To some performers, maintaining independence is paramount; else they risk becoming a puppet who is called upon to perform their tricks, rather than a central figure in the process of their own creation. Yet circus work is, in some ways, like any other work environment: there are tiers of authority; collaborations must exist between artists and industry professionals regarding everything from act creation, costuming and performance themes, to lodging and pay. In these situations, you are not always acting solely as an individual, but for the whole production team. The bridges you build in these settings help lay the foundation and expectations for future performers. It takes years of experience to strike the right balance between independence and collaboration, but it is a crucial step in the balancing act of any professional.
Thomas Monckton, describes himself on his website as ‘a freelancer creating cross-genre contemporary theatre and circus as well as touring a number of international solo and ensemble shows’. Although he chooses to work independently, he recognizes the nuances that circus artists experience in their efforts for independence, since each performer comes with their own goals and background, “ Being independent is perhaps of less significance or benefit overall than having positive and transparent working relationships considering the spectrum of work avenues and artist's goals. Circus can attract athletes focused on honing their abilities to the highest level or creators who are focused on creating new forms of circus and of course a mish mash of both and everything in between. All variations have different optimal levels of independency and creative freedom.”
What does independence require of you?
Does independence have a price? It certainly does, but the cost is up front, like paying cash rather than relying on credit. All of the work you need to do to maintain your independence as an artist is that cost, requiring hours spent in research, administrative tasks, and decision making. But the benefits are personally enriching and can lead to a better work environment, increased income, more creative input, greater respect from peers and employers, and ultimately even a longer career. The risk of independence is that as a freelancer, a solo artist, or as part of a small company, you might have to make difficult choices, like deciding between job offers. Dana Dugan, a freelance circus artist in the US and former Operations Manager at Chicago Contemporary Circus Festival, explains some of the costs of retaining her independence, “My priority was to become an artist an expert in what I do- to create meaningful body work that was intelligent, challenging, touching, memorable, and inspiring to my peers and the general public. I chose the projects that were inspiring. They didn’t always pay well, but I could stand behind them. They fed me as an artist and challenged me. I also do lots of corporate work that is generally awful but it pays the bills.”
What are the benefits?
Independent artists innovate their industry rather than repeating stale material. This improves the profession by giving artists a stronger voice in their work. Individual acts are better because artists are more invested when they are involved in act creation. Ultimately, independent work can improve income potential for the performer as well as the profession, because an educated, confident, creative, connected, protected artist is happier and projects herself as a strong candidate for show producers. She also improves the industry, since working independent artists are more innovative, creating better shows, which leads to bigger audiences.
Barry Lubin (a.k.a. Grandma the Clown) now works largely as a freelancer in Europe after many years with Big Apple Circus where he built his reputation and brand. He says that the responsibility to manage your career is entirely yours, and offers a simple suggestion to begin with: ”Read anything you can get your hands on about the art of negotiating, because that is applicable in any business or service. It is impossible to be totally independent in any business, but it is very possible to figure out the potential for synergy between you and everyone you do business with, whether you own a circus or theater company or are a beginner.”
Be yourself
The irony of circus training is that you can learn the discipline and the tricks, even the tenets of what makes a good performer, but the essence of what makes a good performance is something that can’t be taught. It is a mix of dedication, guts, honesty, passion, creative thinking, skill, openness and generosity towards the audience. The correct mix cannot exist without you, because you are the only person who knows what proportions of each ingredient is required for your best performance, and how to promote yourself to convey that. This is why ‘doing you’ can be such an essential ingredient in any successful show, and an integral part of your professional long-term success. Natano Fa'anana, creative director and co-founder of the popular contemporary Casus Circus in Australia, defines what the concept means to him: “The good practices that have helped sustain me as an independent artist and kept the passion alive is to be unapologetic about my creative choices and decisions. Steer away from the norm and carve a new aesthetic, play with other mediums, i.e. technology (and) other art forms.”
There are many ways to put your stamp on your art. Monckton defines the process that helps him stand apart in his league, “In order for an artform to progress and to remain relevant to a contemporary public, it’s imperative that there is a vibrant experimental movement discovering new territories with circus. As a creator, it can help if you block yourself off from your own genre and look to other forms or contexts for inspiration. For example, if you are an aerialist, try not to look at what other aerialists are doing.” Breaking out of the norms of your discipline might seem impossible until you consider your personal differences. For Fa’anana, what is unique about him is that he thinks of the stage as a place to tell a thought-provoking story, rather than to fit in with fashion. He explains, ”I place importance on making my own work because that's what excites and defines me as a circus artist. I have a catalogue of stories to tell tucked away in the back of my mind and gradually I hope to tell those stories using circus as my medium. To develop as an artist I think you need to be true to yourself. Be comfortable with yourself and roll with your gut feelings and less with current trends.”
Thinking about your background, your interests, and your experience will help you to embrace and craft your identity. Brainstorm, dare to be different, create your own act, and ultimately build your own brand that will attract the type of employers you seek – they will recognize that you have a marketable performance and value you for it.
DIY
While you are identifying what makes you unique as an artist, you may get inspiration for act creation, allowing you to put your own unique twist on what you do. But independence should not stop with creating a unique act. It can extend to all areas of your professional life, from designing your own apparatus to identifying themes for a show you would like to produce, from set design to crafting your social media presence. You do not have to do all of those things, but depending on your age, experience and budget, you may find yourself enjoying a higher level of creative control. Many new companies work together as a tight-knit team to create their identity, and they harness that momentum to generate interest in their work as well as plenty of performance opportunities. If there is a show, an act, an apparatus, a festival, or a circus school that doesn’t exist yet, create it and you will attract interested colleagues. Use social media to display your creation process, your triumphs, and to ask for advice and feedback.
Barry Lubin explains his methods for keeping engaged: “Part of my job as a performer is to remain relevant, which simply means that I need to adapt and remain successful in each new gig I do, which helps with word of mouth, helps with my own confidence, which then helps when I search for the next gig."
Keep in mind that you are in this for the long haul, and that networking is more of a long-term investment than an immediate payoff. Lubin says, "I also realize that relationships and contacting people such as producers, directors, owners, and agents can pay off years later, so patience is very important. Careers are built over time, but I know that I need to work now so that it can possibly pay off in two or three years with a job offer. Staying in touch via email and social media, going to festivals to network and let people know I am alive and working still, and simply the act of doing different gigs tends help further my career.”
Educating yourself on the circus industry is easier today than in the past, where learning was on the job and by word of mouth. That insider network was how most circus gigs were found. But now producers have more festivals and schools to comb for talent than ever before, not to mention the convenience of the internet for discovering potential acts.
As one of the online resources, Circus Promoters provides a platform in the world market and opens it up for professional circus artists and producers to meet. Circus Promoters has a large, private database for both employers and performers and works directly with individuals to help connect them. In addition, Circus Promoters will maintain this blog for the professional who wants to stay current on industry news, and gain insight in to the worldwide circus market, and other issues that will affect their career. In the coming months, this Circus Artists Blog will cover topics such as; understanding contracts, current circus trends, working with or without an agent, and what talent scouts are too busy to tell you.
Continued training and professional development is an area most circus performers do not struggle with maintaining. During off-seasons, gyms and circus schools are packed with individuals trying out new apparatus, testing their material, and sharing expertise with colleagues. But professional development can extend beyond physical skills into areas that seem less obvious, such as small business skills, studying a foreign language, researching performance grants, or pricing insurance quotes.
The Internet is a tremendous resource for promotion and research. You can use the Internet to follow industry news by using Google Alerts to be notified about topics of your choosing. You can sift through YouTube to check out your competition. You can take online classes in business, marketing, and finance to help manage your income and prepare for your future. You can watch videos about the circus world to see what audition processes are like. You can follow the blogs, publications, and websites of circus-centric businesses to see what trends are emerging and what is in demand.
When you are done scouring the Internet for guidance, there are always your agent, mentors, teachers, and colleagues to check in with. Barry Lubin agrees: “Educating yourself can come in many forms. Talk to people in the industry, especially veterans. Talk to them about how to ask for things like money, accommodations, getting travel costs covered. Talk with agents clearly about how they work, who they will attempt to contact on your behalf, what they will try to accomplish for you, and what their commission will be. Don't guess. Any unanswered question by a producer, director, agent, owner, etc. is your responsibility to get answered."
It's important not to burn your bridges. Lubin says, "I always talk to people about dealing in a positive way with those you are negotiating with. If you don't get what you would like, you can always go down a little, that is up to you, but if you really aren't going to make a deal, I still try to say, ‘I really hope next time we can figure out how to work together.’”
Protect yourself
As an educated, capable, and confident artist, you will naturally protect yourself throughout your career. You will create your own work, foster innovation within your field, chose a good agent, read through and negotiate your contracts to fit your needs, connect with associations that support artists, obtain good insurance, plan for your future by saving some portion of your income, plan your gigs one or two steps ahead of your current position, and network with the people you meet within your industry.
You will help the profession remain strong by educating and mentoring the next generation, promoting yourself and your colleagues, and upholding high standards in the industry for safety, compensation, and performance. If you can manage all of these things, you will not only be on your way to a tremendous career full of travel, opportunities, adventure, and artistic growth, but you will also be a treasure to the circus world itself.
In the words of Fa’anana: “ In my career, I have seen some great performers rise and then fizzle out. Sometimes out of the circus industry altogether simply because they didn't know how to manage themselves or understand how the industry works. Self-management, administration, negotiating and networking are a few of the important things a circus artist could benefit from having. To create a great act or product is one thing. To put it out there on to the stages is another. Be one step ahead. To protect yourself and livelihood, surround yourself with supportive, professional and motivated people.”
Bio & links:
Kim Campbell is a circus and theatre critic and writer. She has written for Spectacle magazine, Circus Now, Circus Talk and was a resident for Circus Stories, Le Cirque Vu Par with En Piste in 2015 at the Montreal Completement Cirque Festival. She is the editor of American Circus Educators magazine, as well as a staff writer for the web publication Gapers Block, where she writes about arts and culture. You can follow her frequent musings on circus via Twitter, Instagram or at Kimzyn Chronicles .
Photo Credit: Steve Hersee
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Circus Promoters and Kim Campbell with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.