2018 American Circus Educators Conference

Sometimes the difference between a circus act that’s physically amazing but doesn’t quite move or reach us, and one that’s not only technical but also thematically or emotionally resonant and memorable, is whether the act (and its tricks) are grounded in something authentic, coming from a desire to communicate something, or evocative of an aspect of the human experience. First we’ll talk about tools that circus can (and often does) borrow from theater—exploring choices about characters, themes, structures, as well as unique relationships to time, space, apparatus, and audience. Then, we’ll watch and analyze video clips of a variety of circus acts and discuss what artistic choices help make these acts both striking and resonant. Finally, we'll talk about how to collect feedback on a new piece in a way that’s validating, useful, and empowering for the artist. This workshop is designed for people who teach circus artists (of any age) and/or who direct circus acts, shows, and showcases. (Circus artists themselves are welcome as well.) It is a gentle introduction to thinking about dramaturgy in circus, focusing on the artistic choices themselves. L has been teaching this workshop around the country since 2015, and has been a panelist on Contemporary Circus Dramaturgy at festivals and conferences in Chicago, San Francisco, and Montreal. NOTE: Participants are invited to submit videos of circus acts/excerpts that they find artistically striking, moving, or resonant and that they would be interested in analyzing as a group as part of the workshop. (You can email those videolinks to lauren.m.feldman@gmail.com.) The video-discussion part of the workshop may include videos from both L and from workshop participants.