WHEN I CONSIDER THE CIRCUS, I TEND TO THINK ABOUT VIRTUOSIC ACROB ATIC ACTS INVOLVING THE
MANIPULATION OF BODIES AND OBJECTS, WITH AN APPARATUS OF SOME SORT, BY PEOPLE IN COSTUME.
The action requires the acrobat to optimize mechanical advantages: tuck tighter to increase rotation, tuck
quicker to increase time available to rotate. Maximum efficiency comes from maximum removal of idiosyncratic
personal movements — the conversion from person to mechanical object is paramount — before a return to
personhood with a gestural flourish at the end of the act. We're meant to watch acrobats very closely because
they put their very existence at risk in the course of performing. This threshold of existence/nonexistence provides
the tension on which circus dramaturgy has always turned.
BY COLIN GEE
11 | PEAKPERFS.ORG
