Greetings from Baltic Nordic Circus Network project manager Giedrė! I have just visited CircusLink professional forum organised by Archaos, Pôle National Cirque (as part of ENTRE2 BIAC 2022) in Marseille and i really want to tell you all about it.
For starters, i want to mention the project itself (because it’s a great project!) – CircusLink is a platform that seeks to make collaborations between different organisations and artists easier. Also, to try to make touring more sustainable. Check out the website and you will find all the info you need www.circuslink.eu .
So, having in mind that covid situation in the world is not the best at the moment (there are more and more cases almost everywhere in EU every day), i was a bit hesitant to go, but when i came there, all my hesitations were gone as i understood how much i missed my circus colleagues (they are so funny and nice people!). Seriously, i was thinking about it and i think one of the reason i chose this sector is because of the people working there – they are soooo much fun (and in my personal belief, humour will save the world).
So the first day was quite mellow – we checked out a working progress by Theatre Du Centaure which is situated in a beautiful shapito in the suburbs of Marseille. Dinner in between and then saw “Otus” – great show by Portuguese duo Oliveira&Bachtler.
Second day – the day of great discussions and roundtables! Together with speakers from different countries we touched these subjects:
– Contemporary circus and digital tools – widely used before the pandemic, digital technologies has taken even more significant role for professionals (what’s the future, can it change the art field in general, different digital tools and we use them); I’m sure nobody can imagine a world without zoom or google drive these days, but the speakers also talked about the influence of the digital for various aspects of circus. Funnily, to sum up, everybody agreed that we have to be “more live” than digital.
– Supporting creation at the international level – internalisation! Is it possible to support creation on an international level, why is this a necessary step to consider and why is it important to develop ways to do it (CircusLink project is a great example of that kind a collaboration).
The day was quite intense, but in the evening we got to go to a beautiful show of Johann Le Guillerm called “Terces” (that show was one of a kind!).
Day three started with an interesting approach to tightrope by Les Filles Du Renard Pale called “Respire”. Balancing in crazy heights, adrenaline and risky tricks looked effortless for tightrope artist Johanne Humblet. After that there was a local artist pitch session were 4 local companies presented their upcoming work (so great to experience the local scene!) and at the end we saw Loosers circus company show “Heroes” from Czech Republic.
To sum up, I understood how fortunate (and privileged) i am to be, first of all, travelling in these times and that i get to have experiences like this. Projects that are created by people who really care about their community, work really hard and want to share great art with others. And how important is to find those links (like CircusLink, hahahahaha!).
I appreciate you a lot circus people ❤
CircusLink is created by Biennale Internationale des Arts du Cirque, festival Letni Letna, Teatro Da Didascalia, Dynamo – workspace for circus & performing arts and BNCN as associated partners.
Co-funded by Creative Europe
Comments