Tell us about the first time you saw a circus show….

We love the circus here at Nothing Ever Happens in Brisbane, and it turns out, so do all the circus artists we know! We’re so excited for CIRCFest 22 Meanjin, so we went to all the circus performers and asked them to tell us about the first time they saw a circus show, or glimpsed a clown, or found the magic of the circus stage…

Moira Finucane – Diva Dive
“The very first circus show I saw was a tiny traveling circus that camped at the end of my street on the railway line. My brother got bitten by the pony, there were dogs on seesaws and ladies in tights. They were tough and exciting, from the pony to the people.”

Harley Mann in Arterial. Image: Tiffany Garvey.
Cover image: Dale Woodridge-Brown and Clint Bolster with CIRCFest 22 Meanjin producers, Deb Wilks and Kate Malone Image supplied.

Ela Bartilomo - A Collection of Circus - Let Them Eat Cake
“Either -The Shanghai Acrobatic troupe or Knee Deep by Casus… basically the bar was set pretty high from the get go haha!”

Charmaine Childs - POWER and Minus the Monkey
“The very first circus show I saw was Ashton’s Circus as a kid in Rockhampton - I didn’t see any more until I moved to Brisbane and saw Rock’n’Roll Circus, Anna Yen’s Chinese Takeaway and Circus Oz all in quick succession…”

Natano Fa’anana – Knee Deep
“The first show I could recall was Saltimbanco by Cirque du Soleil. Although it was a memorable experience it didn’t inspire me to be a circus artist. It would be years later when I was asked to volunteer on a Flipside Circus show at Woodford Folk Festival where I saw amazing people doing amazing things and the culture that surrounded it. Which is an inclusive and caring one.”

Robbie Curtis – In The Arms of Morpheous
“The very first circus show I saw was Circus Oz in Armidale in NSW where I grew up. It was absolutely electrifying. I can remember so distinctly the energy and chaos of it. It was incredibly inspiring because it was such an expression of creativity and body control. It blew my mind. After that, as my Dad had taught me to juggle, I went into the backyard and trained for hours to try to do all the things that I had seen.
I’m still doing that actually.”

Clint Bolster – High Tea With Booff
“Hmmmmmm…. it was actually Slava’s Snow Show – it touched me directly to the core...all I can remember is being transported to a completely, a completely different world - I was hanging off every meticulosity crafted and nuanced articulated gesture; cheering, laughing and crying - just like I was a kid again - pure and unadulterated joy!”

Ela Bartilomo in Let Them Eat Cake. Image supplied.

Harley Mann – Arterial
“The first circus show I saw that really changed my perception of circus and deeply impacted my career was Knee Deep by Casus Circus. I saw this work as a child at the Catapult circus festival and I remember not only being in awe of the physical feats of the artist but the vulnerability they brought to the work. I felt like I knew these people and had built a meaningful relationship with them throughout the show.”

Clare Bartholomew – The Long Pigs & The Anniversary
“The very first circus show I saw was Circus Oz at the Melbourne Town Hall. My housemate at the time, Kate Kantor had been working on some acts in the show and took me along. It was the first time I saw the brilliantly funny clown, Leeroy Hart, who has been such an inspiration for me. He had a series of acts where he was an ‘animal tamer’ working with unseen animals (off stage, or missing from their cages) and every scene ended in some kind of comedic disaster. I loved it. Circus Oz also had a legendary double bass act where John O’Hagan would gradually be lifted into the air, and then flew wildly around above our heads chasing his flying double bass and trying to play it. And of course founding Oz member Tim Caldwell had his iconic ‘walking on the ceiling whilst getting ready for the show upside down clown act’, which was gobsmacking!  I loved the physical slapstick nature of all the acts and how clown, original music and physical comedy was such a huge part of the show.”

Thom Stewart – Assume People Like You
“The very first circus show I saw was so long ago and unimportant to me at the time that I haven’t stored it in my memory banks as I wasn’t interested in circus as a youth. The most defining circus show I saw was ‘La Soiree’ in the early 2010’s. Watching it was world changing because there was never a lull in the performance, and whilst the acts weren’t the highest of skill, the level of connection that I felt as an audience member changed my perspective of what a circus performer could be.”

Moira Finucane in Diva Dive. Image: Jodie Hutchinson

Debra Batton – Casting Off
“The first circus I saw was a traditional circus (not sure who it was though) it was the clowns that captured my imagination throwing buckets of saw dust  - I was so sure the fancy looking man in the special seats was going to be covered in water. Sucked in at 8years of age, I remember laughing so hard my Mum had to hold me down, I loved the deception and the trickery. On reflection, this clowning was my first introduction to legitimised rebelliousness! Many years later as I experimented with my creativity I began to understand the importance of destabilising  our socio political structures and the stereotypes that basically support them.”

Jesse Scott – Knee Deep
“I was first taken to a Flying Fruit Fly circus show in my mother’s arms when I was 3 months old… I can’t remember this but since then I can’t recall not seeing a circus show…”

Where will YOU find the love of circus this CIRCFest?

CIRCFest 22 Meanjin takes place 21 April to 1 May 2022.