BRATTLEBORO — New England Center for Circus Arts is celebrating World Circus Day in a big fashion as is fit for the school that is now the most comprehensive circus training destination in the United States.
Saturday, April 16 is the seventh annual World Circus Day. Established in 2010 by H. S. H. Princess Stéphanie of Monaco to “publicize the role of circus as part of our shared cultural heritage,” World Circus Day is held each year on the third Saturday of April.
Her goal is to promote and preserve Circus arts and culture worldwide. Hundreds of circuses around the world participate in the international celebration of all things circus, and planners anticipate celebrations in 50 nations, as well as in Brattleboro.
With this in mind, NECCA is offering events for participants, watchers and supporters.
Starting with a full roster of circus workshops for all abilities April 14-17, NECCA is offering opportunities for beginners through professional high flyers. NECCA especially hopes to see some people try circus who might not naturally think of doing it.
“As a mother of three, I especially want to see parents come try it out, not just their kids,” said NECCA co-founder Serenity Smith Forchion in a news release. “Young people certainly enjoy the climbing and flipping and rolling around, but moms and dads also deserve to enjoy their physicality. Circus arts offers a holistic way of being fit as it combines stretching and strengthening with lower and upper body movement. It is non-competitive and super fun!”
For those who prefer to watch circus rather than do it, acclaimed guest company Acrobatic Conundrum will grace the NECCA stage with their contemporary circus show, Love & Gravity. One show only at the Austine Gymnasium on Saturday, April 16, at 7:30 p.m.
In this new work, Acrobatic Conundrum transports audiences to a captivating world seemingly free of the bounds of physics, but not free of the capricious struggle for human connection. Fluent in the language of acrobatics, this cast risks all on a quest to tell honest accounts from an uncharted territory.
Real life romances are portrayed through mesmerizing juggling acts, breathtaking aerial and partner acrobatics - all while balancing on a bar 20 feet in the air. Carey Cramer, Terry Crane, Scotty Dont, Erica Rubinstein, Ty Vennewitz, and Xochitl Sosa are the featured performers.
Sosa is a graduate of NECCA's professional training program. From Brattleboro, she embarked on an international performing career. Sosa is now renowned for her integration of Hispanic dance forms into her aerial work and has brought her love for flamenco-inspired movement and the intensity of Spanish classical music together to create a unique and fluid style on dance trapeze.
She has received honors at the Aerial Acrobatics Festival in Colorado, the Mexican Circus Convention, and the Topsy Turvy Queer Arts Festival in San Francisco and is excited to be back in Brattleboro for the first time with Acrobatic Conundrum.