BRATTLEBORO — The idea for Circus in Place came out of a collaborative brainstorm by a group of circus artists in Vermont whose livelihoods were turned upside down during the global pandemic.
“All of our touring contracts were cancelled,” Kevin O'Keefe of Circus Minimus, a circus artist who lives in West Brattleboro, said in a news release. “So we came together to build an outdoor, site-specific performance event that a local audience could see safely.”
But due to out-of-state travel restrictions, most of their fans would not be able to enjoy this unusual combination of theater, dance, circus, and environment.
Until now.
The event, filmed last fall, will be streamed virtually on Wednesday, Feb. 13, at 7 p.m., when ticket buyers from around the world can attend the performance, followed by an online discussion with the artists.
“We are taking this as a unique opportunity to break down the walls that often exist between performers and audience,” said Nimble Arts Creative Director Serenity Smith Forchion, who came up with the idea for Circus in Place when hiking in isolation during the pandemic shutdown.
“We wanted to create a theatrical, circus-based show, out of doors, that would connect community, artists, and the land that was sustaining us in a time of challenge and uncertainty,” she added.
Circus in Place was created during a brainstorm collaboration - all outdoors while distanced and masked - among Nimble Arts performers Serenity Smith Forchion, Tony Duncan, Jan Damm, Ariele Ebacher, Elsie Smith, Casey Haynes, Julia Baccellieri, and FinnAnn Cotton, in collaboration with O'Keefe and with Native American singer/songwriter Bryan Blanchette.
The troupe collaborated with Native historians, local elders, and foresters to discover the stories of the land and share them through circus, theater, dance, music, and a nature walk.
The artists describe the show, filmed on conserved land in West Brattleboro in peak fall foliage of October, as “an outdoor walk through experience appropriate for all ages utilizing the natural landscape, trees, rock outcroppings, buildings, and fields.”
Highlights include Ebacher balancing across a tight wire suspended over a field of fallen leaves, Damm handstanding on a rolling board atop a glacial boulder, and Forchion dancing in a maple tree rigged from a harness and accompanied by Blanchette singing in Native Abenaki language.