Changing the World and Other Circus Related Things EP7 - Marie-Andrée Robitaille

Today we will be speaking with Marie-Andrée Robitaille. Marie-Andrée, originally from Québec, Canada is an artist based in Stockholm, Sweden. In the past, she has participated as a circus performer in multiple productions with the pioneering Swedish contemporary circus company Cirkus Cirkör. Marie-Andrée Robitaille also worked as a dancer, acrobat, and stuntwomen in various other International projects and as a talent scout with the casting team at Cirque du Soleil.

For the last nine years, Marie-Andrée has been assistant professor of circus and the head of the Bachelor program in Circus at the School of Dance and Circus (DOCH) at Stockholm University of the Arts (Uniarts). She is the initiator of the Stockholm-based international Nordic Women in Circus Network and the founder of Gynoïdes Project, an undertaking which aims to examine the roles and representations of women in circus arts. She is the artistic director of CirkusPerspectiv whose latest work and activities include: Gynoïdes Circus Female intelligentsia, acclaimed in 2016 at Orionteatern, one of the most avant-garde stages in Sweden; Music and Circus in Dialogue, a circus performance inspired by the experimental approaches and ideas of the Bauhaus, a project of Circus Art Gallery Space in Stockholm; and the production and curation of 5 editions of the Women in Circus Consortium.  At Uniarts she has conducted the research projects Women in Circus, Sound of Circus and is currently conducting Hidden Circus which focus on alternative modes of composition in circus art. As of January 2019, Marie-Andrée Robitaille is a Ph.D. candidate in performative and mediated practices with a specialization in Circus Choreography at Uniarts. https://www.uniarts.se/english/people/co-workers/marie-andree-robitaille

Nordic Women in Circus Network

The Women In Circus Network aims to:
-Unite the creative forces of women in circus
-Increase visibility of circus works directed and or performed by women
-Provoke dialogues on the topic of gender and norm-creativity in circus arts
-Contribute to the development of feminist strategies in the field of circus
-Share and transfer knowledge from existing feminist practice and research.
-Strengthen and develop collaborations in relation to the agency of women in circus

The network currently has 219 members from 23 different countries.

It's our diversity united that makes us stronger!

Click HERE to join the network and get involved.

Join the Facebook group HERE!

Any additional information, request for interviews or proposal for partnerships can be submitted to info@cirkusperspektiv.se

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Next Women in Circus Consortium

August 8th and 9th in cooperation with Dynamo Workspace for Circus and Performing Arts, Odense, Danemark

November 1st-2nd 2019, Helsinki, Finland!

Check out the Facebook group for more info!

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This podcast is an initiative of the Circus Action Network.

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/circusactionnetwork/

Check out our website: https://circusactionnetwork.wixsite.com/home

Write to us: circus.action.network@gmail.com

Changing the World and Other Circus Related Things EP6 - Anthropocentrism in Circus

In this episode we’ll be having a round table discussion on the topic of anthropocentrism in circus. Our guests today are four circus professionals that I met at the Serious Circus Symposium in London: Josh Smith, Fiona Salisbury, Carolyn Watt and Valentina Solari. Anthropocentrism is the belief that humans are the most important thing in the universe. In her Open Letters to the Circus, Bauke Lievens describes the world view that circus often puts forth as anthropocentric — humans dominating over nature. In this episode we discuss this concept and what it might look like to try and make circus that puts forth a different worldview.

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Resources mentioned in the podcast:

Object Oriented Ontology

The Ordinary Acrobat by Duncan Wall

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This podcast is an initiative of the Circus Action Network.

Like us on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/circusactionnetwork/

Check out our website: https://circusactionnetwork.wixsite.com/home

Write to us: circus.action.network@gmail.com

Changing the World and Other Circus Related Things EP5 - Acting for Climate

Today we will be speaking with Acting for Climate, a multidisciplinary performance group based out of Norway and Denmark, aiming to inspire people to take actions towards a more sustainable future. They are currently in creation for their show “Into the Water,” a collaboration with the Hawila Project, which they will be performing and touring around the Baltic this summer on the two-masted wooden sailboat Hawila. To find out more about Acting for Climate, check out their facebook page and website below.

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/actingforclimate/

Website: https://www.actingforclimate.com/

Hawila project: https://www.hawilaproject.org/

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This podcast is an initiative of the Circus Action Network.

Like us on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/circusactionnetwork/

Write to us: circus.action.network@gmail.com

Changing the World and Other Circus Related Things EP4 - Zelda - AcrobACTION

In today’s episode we will be hearing from Zelda of AcrobACTION. AcrobACTION is an artist activist group based out of Copenhagen that organizes activist happenings. In coordination with the March 15th school climate strikes they will be taking their first action to the streets to stage a plastic wedding. If you would like to learn more about what they do or are interested in organizing a coordinated action you can get in touch with them through their facebook page below.

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AcrobACTION/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/acrobaction/

Changing the World and Other Circus Related Things EP3 - Matt Horton

In this episode we will be speaking with Matt Horton. Matt is a 2016 graduate of Dans och Cirkushögskolan in Stockholm where he began his research on making aerial equipment out of found and recycled materials. Along with Sianna Bruce, they are now expanding this research. With the idea that ‘nothing is created or destroyed, it only changes state,’ they are creating an environment that is non-disposable, always re-invented and ultimately sustainable. With global warming as a thematic center piece, they aim to highlight themes of addiction, materialism, fear and risk.

If you would like to learn more about his work and future projects, you can get in touch with Matt at mattsjhorton@gmail.com.

Changing the World and Other Circus Related Things EP2 - Nettie Lane

In this episode we will be speaking with Nettie Lane about her project Count to 12: Finding Our Way Home, an interdisciplinary performance work and community art installation/event - a response to the realities of climate change. Through visual and physical storytelling, and drawing upon theater, circus, puppetry and yarn-spinning, it is a tale of being lost and finding one's way Home.

Nettie Lane was born in Hollywood, Ca. She remembers walking along a chain link fence and peering through the metal diamonds down to a basin of concrete where there was a trickle of brownish liquid and slimy, green algae. The sign on the fence said: LA River. As a little girl, this confusing 'river' made quite an impact.

Now all grown, she has happily landed in Brattleboro, Vermont where rivers run free of concrete. She works for Circus Smirkus as an Artist-in-Residence in schools throughout New England and is on staff at the New England Center for Circus Arts.

In 2013 Nettie began teaching theatrical clowning classes and has had the honor of midwifing over 200 clowns from Vermont to California to Ireland. She firmly believes in the power and humanity of the Sacred Fool as a way of excavating inner wisdom. 

“Joanna Macy writes that until we can grieve for our planet we cannot love it—grieving is a sign of spiritual health. But it is not enough to weep for our lost landscapes; we have to put our hands in the earth to make ourselves whole again. Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

If you would like to contact Nettie you can reach her at nettielulane@gmail.com

This podcast is an initiative of the Circus Action Network.

Like us on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/circusactionnetwork/

Write to us: circus.action.network@gmail.com

Changing the World and Other Circus Related Things EP1 - Chantal Bilodeau

Chantal Bilodeau is a playwright and artistic director the Arctic Cycle, a theater company dedicated to fostering dialogue and inspiring action on climate change. Below you can find links to her website and blog as well as resources mentioned in the podcast.

Chantal’s website: https://www.cbilodeau.com/

The Arctic Cycle: https://www.thearcticcycle.org/  

Artists and Climate Change:

Blog: https://artistsandclimatechange.com/

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/artsandclimate/

Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/artistsandclimatechange/

Resources mentioned in the episode:

Climate Change Theater Action Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ccta-2019/climate-change-theatre-action-2019

Broadway Green Alliance: http://www.broadwaygreen.com/

Center For Sustainable Practice in the Arts: http://www.sustainablepractice.org/

This podcast is an initiative of the Circus Action Network.

Like us on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/circusactionnetwork/

Write to us: circus.action.network@gmail.com