Acrobats and clowns

Model : me. From Metropolitan Magazine, Jan 2015 issue

I don't know what compelled me to go and watch Kooza, a show by the Cirque du Soleil, on a cold and rainy Sunday evening  but I certainly do not regret it.
I was brought up on a Fellini diet and he was a great circus lover.  La Strada which is one of the best films ever, one which I cannot watch without bursting into tears as soon as I see  Gelsomina's face, is about a violent circus performer and a carefree sweet girl who is sold to him and performs mime and clownish acts only to die prematurely and so many more films by Fellini portray scenes from circus life, with his beloved clowns.

I too love the clowns. They are acrobats who  bring out the fragility of the human experience, through their fake clumsiness and their slapstick. And of course, the 'serious' acrobats, the tumblers, the contortionists: they mesmerise me. They are human beings with a hyper disciplined body: yet in one split second, things can go incredibly wrong, a reminder of our inescapable mortality.
I saw Cirque du Soleil for the first time many years ago, in the 1990s. I went back yesterday and  I was transported. Cirque du Soleil's shows are wonderful: they bring together some of the very best acts from around the world and they have a theme that is explored throughout the evening. Add to it gorgeous music, skilled dancing and you have a typical Cirque the Soleil performance.
Their show for the Oscar ceremony 2014 was beautifully put together, beautifully choreographed, with scenes from famous movies juxtaposed with live acts. It was also an implicit homage to the stuntmen of Hollywood of yore, a breed that is fast disappearing in these days of enhanced digital manipulation.

But the circus no, it will never disappear. It's been around for thousands of years.
I can't sit still if I watch the circus. I am totally focused on  the performers and hold my breath when they do something dangerous - basically all the time - and then let out loud gasps and begin to applaud and shout out my appreciation. Sometimes I stand up, to the annoyance of those sitting behind me - I do not do this these days but I used to.  From where I was sitting yesterday everyone after a while began to behave like me though, leaning forward, gasping and with cries of 'Oh my god...Ahh'.
I love the  focus and body control that is on display and the fact that there is always, always  a sense of real danger. When  things go wrong, we are made aware that  these are people with real bodies challenging themselves to do  the most daring things ever. Last night  I saw women tumbling in stilts, performing triple somersaults before landing upright on their stilts on a tiny mattress held by their colleagues,  contortionists who seemed to be made of rubber, two men who appeared to have the gift of flying when they got out of the rotating Wheel of Death contraption - the very name is a reminder of what it can actually do - and a Chinese acrobat who would stand upside down on some ten chairs stacked high on top of each other, carefully balancing on them on his hands and performing splits in the air. I could not believe my eyes.
Two years ago a Cirque du Soleil acrobat died in mid performance. It was horrendous for the audience to watch. But that is the life of a circus performer, full of calculated risks and tremendous exhilaration.
Even more than the actual acts, I love watching circus performers in rehearsal, without the glitter of their magnificent costumes - last night I nearly fainted at the sight of so much satin and feathers and diamante.
In Bristol in 2002 The Invisible Circus began performing in squats and in derelict buildings, providing a sense of community. The film by Futureartists Invisible Circus . No dress rehearsal follows them on a four year journey, for 98 minutes. Beautiful performances!



Invisible Circus: No Dress Rehearsal - www... by futureartists

 Today The Invisible Circus is a thriving company, praised for its educational work.
Nothing beats the circus and it has to be seen live, films and DVDs cannot do it justice.
Which is why I braved a cold evening and went to see the amazing Kooza. I strongly recommend it.