Circus for Social Change

In this volume Social Circus is explored in depth by three Circus Studies scholars working with the aim of creating new ways of engaging with the field.

Lavers, Burtt, and Bochud investigate the way that Social Circus transforms in response to its immediate environment, and particularly its social, political, and cultural context. Extensively illustrated, with photos of different Social Circuses around the world, and extensively annotated, Circus for Social Change: Social Circus in Context provides a portal into ways of seeing today’s Social Circus and is of interest to practitioners and scholars. Social Circuses explored in this volume include Cirqiniq in far North Canada; Galway Community Circus in the Republic of Ireland; Zip Zap Circus in Cape Town, South Africa; Circus Harmony in St. Louis, Missouri; Circus Laheto in Central Brazil; Women’s Circus in Melbourne, Australia; the Mobile Mini Children’s Circus (the MMCC) in various locations across Afghanistan; Cirque Hors Piste in Montreal, Canada; Sencirk in Dakar, Senegal; the Slow Circus Academy in Yokohama, JDS/Juggling de Shinshu, and the Moon Night Project in Nagano, Japan; Ponleu Selpak’s Performing Arts School and Phare Circus in Cambodia; Sirkus Magenta in Helsinki, Finland; and Le Plus Petit Cirque du Monde in Bagneux in the outskirts of Paris, France.

This book will be of great interest to the general reader, to practitioners working within Social Circus or arts for social change, and to scholars, teachers, and students in schools, colleges, and universities.

Katie Lavers is a writer and researcher and is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), Edith Cowan University, Western Australia. She is a widely published Circus Studies scholar, Co-Editor of the Routledge Circus Studies Reader (2016), and Co-Author of Contemporary Circus (2019) now available in English, Chinese, and Korean.

Jon Burtt is the Director of the Master of Creative Industries and Senior Lecturer in Creative Arts at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. He is an award-winning director, choreographer, and performer, and an educator and Social Circus instructor. He is a widely published Circus Studies scholar and Co-Author of Contemporary Circus (2019).

Emmanuel Bochud is currently a Social Innovation and Training Director at HUPR (Center for Research on Human Potential) based at the National Circus School, Montreal, Canada. Widely regarded as a world expert in Social Circus training, he is the former Team Leader of Programs and Partnerships in Cirque du Soleil’s Public Affairs and Social Responsibility Program which included Cirque du Monde, Cirque du Soleil’s Social Circus wing.