Hailing from Brisbane, Australia, CIRCA Contemporary Circus is pushing the boundaries of circus excellence, blending incredibly skilled circus performances with contemporary dance in their Peepshow (Club Remix) at Underbelly’s Circus Hub on the Meadows.
Exhibiting the absolute extremes of what the body can do, as performers become swings, statues and spinning columns
Set in a dark club environment with a live DJ and fluorescent lighting, Peepshow explores the boundaries between pleasure and pain in this sexually charged atmosphere. If you want to see perfection in circus skill, this is the place to go.
The performers are almost robotic in their fluid, super-human strength. Unlike other Fringe circus productions I’ve seen this year, CIRCA focuses on movement itself, rather than pushing thematic boundaries.
Those of us looking for a show which makes us laugh or questions traditional gender roles in the circus may be disappointed, since CIRCA’s moments of humour are a mode of dark comedy which calls upon fairly heteronormative gender dynamics. But the spectacle here is not asking us to relate to the performers. Instead, we mere mortals can sit back and marvel at their absolute precision – the beauty of choreography which goes to the absolute extremes of what the body can do, as the performers become human swings, statues and spinning columns.
There are no false gasps from the audience in this show – the standing ovation showed that the audience were genuinely gobsmacked by the end of the performance.
Watching CIRCA is like going to the ballet, where we are moved simply by the extraordinary movement of bodies on stage, the commitment to their craft, and the strife it must take to get there.
The live DJing in this production was also perfectly timed to match the changing moods of each act, ranging from aerial silks to a bold balancing act involving stilettos. Initially taking on a classic house music sound, the DJ then shifted to avant-garde strings and folky laments.
The club world aesthetics of this production may not appeal to everyone’s tastes but this will be made up for in talent, and the sound is refreshingly diverse too. This production could benefit from a little more humour, even in the performers’ reactions to our appreciative whoops. One couldn’t help feeling that the performers were a little too consumed in the precision of their tricks, which meant that the production lacked some of the human connection that we might expect to find at the circus. But for those who want to experience the heights of circus skill and contemporary dance in one performance, this show is a must-see.
