Everything You Wanted to Know About Contemporary Circus, and More

by David Hsieh

Hans was Heiri. Photo: Mario Del Curto

Its influence can be seen from movies to Broadway shows to Céline Dion concerts to performing arts with a capital “A”. It has even made its more tradition bound older brother a bit jittery by adopting some of its stock-in-trade. But what is “contemporary circus”?

According to the national director of the advocacy group Circus Now, Duncan Wall, who will conduct a talk on contemporary circus at BAM on Oct 24, contemporary circus is the name given to the evolutions in the circus arts over the last 40 years. Beginning in 1970, the codes of the circus cracked, allowing for a greater infusion of creativity and the inclusion of other art forms, especially theater and dance. “Today, contemporary circus is an international movement, with tens of thousands of companies and schools around the world,” said Duncan.

Spin Doctors

by Susan Yung

Photo: Mario del Curto

Zimmermann & de Perrot dream up ridiculous situations that act as comedic crucibles in which quirky performers communicate through action. In Hans was Heiri, at the BAM Harvey from Oct 23—26, a four-room apartment building suddenly starts tumbling like a dryer. What to do? If you’re one of five who perform with Swiss directors Martin Zimmermann (choreographer) and Dimitri de Perrot (composer), you go with the flow, wholeheartedly embracing the chaos and conjuring felicitous art. As you fall through doorways into adjoining units, you become chummy with your neighbors—an intriguing rubber-limbed bunch that, stripped to underwear, attempts a yoga class in the tumbling edifice.

The artists discussed the importance of the set in the development and rehearsal process. “Since we work without language, the stage settings are a key element in the stories we want to tell,” said Zimmermann & de Perrot recently by email. “First we have to create a world into which we then introduce our dancers and actors. They interact directly and physically with this world, they need to confront it again and again until they grow accustomed to it and internalize it.” This is perhaps nowhere more evident than in a scene featuring Mélissa Von Vépy, an elegant woman in floral leggings and pumps who hangs from a corner rod as the building rotates, causing her to dangle dangerously, like ballet’s Don Quixote caught on the bladetip of a windmill.