In Cirkus Cirkor, you will find juggling, trapeze and the tight rope, but you will not see lion tamers, clown cars and strong men. Like other contemporary arts -- and the Cirkus Cirkor troupe most definitely views circus as an art form -- circus is shedding tradition and smashing the old genres. Now, stilt walking involves cybernetic appendages and modern dance, and juggling is a narrative with a soundtrack.
"The dream we had was to create a new kind of performance using high wire, trapeze, acrobatics and other circus acts, and to incorporate theater, dance, music and other arts," said Tilde Bjofors, who founded the troupe in Sweden in 1995 and serves as the group's director.
This weekend, she brings Cirkus Cirkor to Taipei's Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall for three performances of Trix, the group's latest show.
Cirkus Cirkor is a contemporary circus, a scion form of traditional circus that was pioneered in France around 30 years ago and is best known for that country's Cirque du Soleil.
Unlike traditional circus, contemporary circus does not rely solely on stunts and showmanship and is not conceived as a simple succession of acts. Shows like Trix are uniquely formed with specific themes, moods and even stories. The six major shows and two minor shows Cirkus Cirkor has created so far have involved collaborations with dance choreographers, musicians, costume designers and theater and film directors.
"Every show has been a new way of finding meetings with other art forms," said Bjofors, who created Trix in with Orionteatern, Stockholm's top experimental theater. "This performance is a way for the circus to come into the theater."
Each segment of Trix is self-contained and centered around a single circus act, yet each also unfolds its own surreal narrative. One scene consists of a woman inside a giant translucent balloon who walks, bounces and rolls through a dance with two men who vie for her attention. And even though the device is simple -- the balloon as a symbol of isolation and separation -- the play among elements is engaging, especially when the players explore the limits of the latex wall by sticking arms legs and heads through the balloon's single orifice.
In another scene, the juggler is chased around the stage by three women, whose costumes allow them to grow mid-scene into giants between three and four meters tall. The juggler, who seems a Lilliputian among the giant women, runs between them, waving and curling his balls in and around his body as well as through the air. The movements are lyrical and strange, and the segment's overall visual effects recall Alice in Wonderland or Pink Floyd's The Wall much more than any popcorn and cotton candy show.
Remaining acts feature mime, a magician, a dance routine on a tight wire 5mm in width, contortionists, pole acrobatics (inspired in part by traditional Chinese acrobatics), clowns, the trapeze, and a man who drops from 7m on two bungy cords and then proceeds to catapult himself around the stage like a human slingshot.
Visual impressions and multi-disciplinary performances are the focus of this year's Taipei International Arts Festival, a two month affair which brings Cirkus Cirkor as part of a series of seven performance groups that will play in several of Taipei's major theaters. "We're trying to show audiences something that will really make their eyes pop out," said Serina Chen, the festival's director.
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