Circus Showcase 2013

Performed by NICA’s 2013 final year artists: Tamika Ball, Jonathan Campos, Ludivine Cassal, Emily Collins, Liam DeJong, Emeline Dunand, Nicole Gillett, Danny Golding, Hanne Grant, Tom McKinnon, Alyssa Moore, Anna Murray, Kate Nelson, Daniel O’Brien, Daniel Price, Nick Rothlisberger, Tim Rutty, Richard Sullivan, Hannah Trott, Tom Weatherley and Tessa Wilson.

Is Melbourne’s celebrated National Institute of Circus Arts suffering something of an identity crisis? Has the messy and very public departure of its founder – former Director and CEO Pamela Creed – changed the school in ways that might previously have been imagined to be purely administrative?

Ms Creed, as is the case with most founding artistic visionaries, casts a long shadow – and although she was apparently in the audience of this opening night performance, she didn’t take the stage when the school’s first graduates from 10 years ago did. The acknowledgement of a virtual Ms Creed was as awkward an opening night moment as they come.

I still have extremely fond memories of my first trip to NICA to review the 2009 graduation showcase. Since then, I have followed the careers of some of those graduates – from chancing across them busking in Federation Square to lighting up this year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival. But this year’s showcase was an entirely different proposition – one where the performance discipline of Circus Arts fought long and hard with the performance discipline of Dance. And so the question begs to be asked: are we to identify contemporary circus more with dance (or creative movement) than gravity-defying risk, high above the ground? And what, if anything, defines the difference circus has to offer?

Mr Golding’s fabulously camp opening number, structured as an epic series of cross-over vignettes, set the tone and successfully introduced each cast member as their airline-inspired character – from flight attendants and pilots, to bag-snatching, skateboarding holiday-makers. If Pam Ann had suddenly appeared onstage, no-one would have minded one little bit. Oddly, Ms Cassal’s expert command of the tightwire was right up the back of the cavernous theatre, almost as an afterthought. And so the intention of the showcase was set, and while there is no doubting Mr Golding’s physical literacy when it comes to dance, not everyone on show possessed the same level of prowess.

There is no question that NICA is a talent school, but I had always imagined it to be a very particular kind of talent that is nurtured within its spectacular facilities. And while the conversations about the development of the art of circus are, and will continue to be, complex and fascinating, there are many aspects of performance that highlight the differences and the similarities between circus in performance and dance. Fearlessness. Strength. Trust. Is it, then, the courageous aversion to risk (or a grander appreciation of it than mere mortals) that singularly defines the circus artist? Let’s face it; if it wasn’t risky, we’d all be doing it.

Which brings us to the circus acts.

Mr Rothlisberger’s work on the trapeze was sensational, rightfully bringing awe-struck gasps of admiration from his audience – particularly following his split-second dismount from one trapeze and his seemingly effortless grip onto a second trapeze that appeared just within his reach with exquisitely timed perfection. Similarly, Mr McKinnon’s Cloudswing routine was an exhilarating example of aerial acrobatics.

Mr O’Brien’s handstand routine was a brilliant study of strength and balance, with some outstanding transitions that appeared to be taking place almost in slow motion, while Mr Rutty’s bravura performance on the rope simply defied comprehension.

As someone who can barely manage to successfully juggle time, the respect and admiration I have for those who can really juggle, like Mr Sullivan can, knows no limitation. Mr Sullivan’s act was one of the highlights of the night – as a circus act apparently going wrong often is. There was something undeniably genuine about his performance – a determination to do this thing, where others might just have walked offstage and out of the building. What he was doing, and sensationally, was trying something new. His perseverance, determination and presence were rewarded by the fact that when it worked, it worked absolutely.

I have never seen a Roue Cyr performance live, and Mr Price’s performance is brilliant in a truly jaw-dropping kind of a way. Beginning with a crystal clear moment of fluid isolation of his arms (that appeared to be suddenly made of water), his pas de deux with a silver hoop, that gradually took on a personality all of its own, was breath-taking.

The stun factor was set to impossibly high with Mr DeJong and Ms Ball’s flawless pas de deux, that not only defied gravity, but all reasonable expectations about what two human beings could achieve with what must be extraordinary levels of trust, strength and super-human precision. There were moments when it was impossible to believe what we were seeing, topped only by moments when it became even more impossible to believe what we were seeing.

Ms Collins’s plantiff plea on behalf of a fragile environment was beautifully supported by her accomplished work on the Tissu, as was Ms Nelson’s beautifully moving account on the double rope of a young woman lost in grief, hope and love letters during World War II, which served as a fine counterpoint to the modern aviation sequences that had introduced the night.

Ms Dunand’s fabulous clown had a field day with a Liza Minelli, Kander and Ebb’s Mein Herr and a supporting cast of recalcitrant chairs. And watching her try and put her leg up on the chair in a dress that was too tight around the knees was delightful fun. Ms Trott and Ms Moore’s Fosse Dance and Tissu routines were fine combinations of the dance and apparatus disciplines, and with more development, might uncover the potential of a really interesting show.

Mr Golding’s dark and nightmarish sequence with the swinging pole was a dramatic departure from the carefree spirit of the night, which was later perfectly encapsulated by Ms Grant’s fantastic work with an inestimable number of hula hoops.

And as another audience member behind me whispered of Mr Campos’s work on the Chinese Pole; “He makes it look so easy!”, which he certainly did. And this is one of the issues associated with circus in performance that will challenge not only these exceptional young circus makers, but all future artists of the craft. What is new? And how important is it that it is?

Geoffrey Williams

Photographer: Aaron Walker.