Latest / The Front / Run away to the circus with us

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Run away to the circus with us · The Front

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: What are we calling you? Good question. Circus correspondents like that,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: that's awesome from the Australian. This is the front. I'm
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Claire Harvey.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Every so often a crazy assignment pops up in our newsroom.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: In this case, it was to join circ de Sela
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: for the day and pull off some crazy acrobatics without
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: breaking any bones. There was only one journo for the job,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Bianca far Marcus, who's one of those truly multi talented
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: twenty somethings who can do just about anything. Bi Anchor's
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: a filmmaker and a video editor. She's a beautiful writer
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: and a sharply analytical, thoughtful creative. Oh and she's also
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: an ultra fit recreational ballerina. Today we're running away to
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: the circus with b Anchor.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: How did you end up at sirk disilay?
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: Okay, So this is a very very good question because
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: it all centers around the fact that our arts editor
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: Tim Douglas, good friend.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Of the show, end of the Circus and of the Circus,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: his own dark history at the circus.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: Yes, his own green haired past. He just emailed me,
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: He's like, would you like to do this? And I
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: said yes, of course, and he's like, good, I think
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: you have a strong core and you actually could, which
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: is an enormous compliment because I don't think I've done
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: a sit up in the past five years. So I
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: waltzed in and it coincides with the Sydney run of
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: circ Disilay's Lucier, which is part magical realism, part fantastical retelling,
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: and this gorgeous, sort of illusory love letter to Mexico
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: and the history of the country, all of its cultural
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: elements woven in, from animals to artistry. You know, it's
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: not just two hours of these incredible stunts. It is
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: two hours of these incredible stunts, but they all feel
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: into this gorgeous narrative, and you watch the peaks and
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: troughs of like these incredible emotional moments. There's these beautiful
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: numbers I believe they call them in a dodge or
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: in adage Yo, where it's more of like a slower
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: group acrobatic performance. And that's when I was watching this
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: girl be swung around like a robe and then thrown
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: into the arms of someone in ping ponged across the
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: other side of the performance hall. Then it comes into
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: this accelerating moment where it's energetic again, and it's meant
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: to kind of manifest this gorgeous history of a country
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: that it has, like this kaleidoscopic culture, but they just
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: bring it to this other worldly level and they think
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: it truly sets apart their comprehension of circus artistry.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: I'm glad to see you all in one piece.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: You posted a video on your Instagram of yourself leaping
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: through a hoop into a forward role on a mat
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: and then managing to come out of it without a
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: fractured vertebrae.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: How did you know you could pull it off?
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: I had no comptvidence. And that is what I would
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: like to stress to everyone is that there is no athleticism,
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: no prior skills you can retain to prepare you for that.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: They just said, look, you just need to stretch your
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: neck for thirty seconds, tuck it in and try to
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: avoid hitting your head on the way in. And I
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: was absolutely terrified. I did say, I haven't been off
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: the ground more than my height in probably the last
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: twenty years, so it was good fun.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: That.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Septs Alay is forty years old.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: It's quite remarkable. It's a Canadian circus. But what's different
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: about it? Why is it a different kind of circus?
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: What said circus lay apart from I guess you know,
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: your more conventional circus, is that they have perpetually been
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: what we call now a modern circus, so devoid of
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: any animals. They are very anti that, and they make
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: up for it in this beautiful way and kind of
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: pay homage to this sort of complex history of animal
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: performers by having the most fantastical costumes. I was amazed
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: that in the middle of this rehearsal space they had
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: all these animal heads around, like there's some kind of
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: deities of the cirk Disilay just watching them, and they're like, no,
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: we actually perform acrobatics in them. They're quite heavy. I
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: was like, there's no way. I mean, I was scared
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: about breaking my neck being five centimeters off the ground.
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: These people are coming in with like ten kilo cheetah
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: print heads and horses and everything. That's what I love
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: about Cirq Disilay is that they have completely transcended that
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: galling stereotype and had the most impressive reimagination of what
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: circus can be.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: An art form that you and I both love is
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: ballet absolutely. Ballerina said to me once that the test
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: of great ballet is that it should be art, not acrobatics.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Movements should be considered and should be part of the
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: kind of artistic story. And if dancers kind of or
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: choreographers try too hard to just be athletic and kind
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: of show off their prowess, they're losing the point, losing
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: the art. Circus is something where we expect some level
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: of acrobatics and insert Disilay. It's certainly exceptional acrobatics, but
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: they have added on the level of artistry or almost
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: a spiritual aspect to it that we don't really expect
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: from Circus, do we.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: No, not at all.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: I mean with Cirk Disilay, I think the artistry comes
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: from this amalgamation of different forms. They pay respect to
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: visual arts to music. You have a whole little den,
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: which probably gets to about one hundred and forty degrees,
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: is where all the musicians sit underneath the stage, and
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: they are the only live musicians in any art form
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: that actually respond to the performers, rather than the performers
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: responding to them. Another aspect of the show is that
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: the whole thing is drenched in over five thousand liters
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: of water the entire time, which, again I stress cannot
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: think of a more questionable combination.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: I mean I nearly slipped in.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: The shower on my way over there. It was embarrassing enough,
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: but it's such a magical thing to see because it
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: has combined all these elements that are akin to the arts,
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: but also it's devoid of if I can say this
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: as a fan of many snobby art forms, it is
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: devoid of that snobbery where there is no elitism other
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: than the physical part, because it just has such an
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: embrace to every single other art form that they engage
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: with to bring the show together.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Did you learn much about their exercise and diet regime?
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: You know how they get these bodies that are able
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: to do these incredible things.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Yes, I did so.
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: I spoke to the two Australian performers, and Nathan Smiles,
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: who is very adequately named because the man does not
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: stop grinning. He tells me that work on this philosophy
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: where they want the show to be the easiest part
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: of the day. They do six hours of strength and
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: conditioning at a minimum, broken into two exercise lots. Then
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: they do rehearsals in which they not only go through
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: elements of the routine that they'd like to refine for
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: that night's performance, but then they throw in a period
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: about an hour where they just practice tricks that they'd
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: love to work into a future show, things that they
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: typically work on for two years before they even make
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: it to the crowd.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: Coming up the story of one audience member, a little
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: Australian girl whose dream was to be on that big stage.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: Circus has a dark history as well as being this
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: art form that's four children primarily, but is capable of
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: making everybody feel like a child on any level. Really,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: there's I think an association for us in our culture
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: of circus as an energy place on the margins and
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: a history of animal mistreatment, a history or performers being mistreated.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: And of these people as kind of fringe dwellers.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: Septus Alay has turned that art form into this phenomenally successful,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: very mainstream, financially lucrative production. What do you think is
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: the balance there between honoring I suppose, the heritage of
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: circus while being in what sounds like a very functional
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: and happy environment.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: You know, when I first told people I was going
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: to the circus, they immediately said, well, you've always been
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: a clown when you don't wax, you're the bearded lady.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: And oh that is hush.
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: It's finally good to see you joining the freak show.
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: So it was like that immediate connotation which does spring
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: to mind, and it's so fascinating because it doesn't translate whatsoever.
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: And I think what blows my mind with Curp Disilay
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: and how they kind of do walk that final between
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: the legacy and the heritage is that it is so
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: auady and s driven and they have this unique capacity
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: to be able to translate their show.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: I mean, the show has been viewed by four million people.
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: I think they said something like forty different countries they've
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: traveled to in the forty year history, which is unbelievable.
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: But it is entirely rooted in this idea of like,
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: we are entertainers first, we are performers second, and we
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: fuse that into the legacy of how we want people
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: to perceive this act, and it still relies solely on
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: whether they know that people are going to be smiling
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: or they're going to be moved, or they're going to
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: feel emotional, they're going to feel connected, like it is
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: very much a fuel process that they cannot perform if
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: they do not feel like they're making people smile. And
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: it's it makes me emotional because I was speaking to
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: one in the performers and names Helena Murdon Incredible acrobatch
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: is a former diver, did every single sport associated with
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: heights you can imagine. And she was telling me she
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: saw her first sex dissolay show when she was seven
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: in her hometown of Brisbane, and she was so enamored
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: and she had this, you know, like this childlike innocence
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: to her. She was like, well, I can do a backflip,
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: so surely I can be part of this show. And
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: it actually fueled her to do that and she celebrated
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: this year twenty years on performing on the same stage
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: she first witnessed as a child and completed that circle
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: of magic. And to her, it was this idea that
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: I witnessed a spectacle in a dream come to life
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: before me, I didn't witness the show, and then.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: I made it happen. That's very movie I know.
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: Oh, oh my gosh. I was driven to tears mainly
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: because of that story, but also because my back was
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: killing me at that point.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Well, now I want you to teach me how to
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: do a forward role.
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely, you got to tuck your neck in and
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: then hope for the best.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Thanks, thank you.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: To get tickets to serc to Sola, just search Lucia.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: That's Luzia. You can read Bianchor's story and watch her
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: inaction right now in The Australian's Review section. At The Australian,
• 11:14
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• 11:18
  Speaker 2: from politics to wine and the deeply personal stories from
• 11:22
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• 11:26
  Speaker 2: the Lens. She's part of our talented team of video experts.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: To check out their work, search for The Australian on YouTube,
• 11:34
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