Liz RatcliffeWith her body, a tightwire and a physical composition that draws on the Japanese rope art of Shibari, Hanna Moisala’s WireDo tells a mesmerising story of stepping out into the unknown. Moisala is a Finnish tightwire dancer and has...
Carmel ThomasonAshley Banjo and Diversity enter the circus ring to a soundtrack of The Greatest Show and the 2000-strong crowd goes wild. The atmosphere feels like a pop concert and there are grown women screaming like excited teenagers. In the 250th anniversary...
Since winning Britain’s Got Talent almost 10 years ago, dance act Diversity has grown to be one of the world’s most popular dance acts. Since then, its lead dancer and choreographer, Ashley Banjo has become a familiar TV-face, as a judge of Sky1’s...
This August bank holiday will see a huge red and white Big Top erected on The Lowry Plaza as French contemporary circus company Circa Tsuica take residence at the Quays. Circa Tsuica is part of the Cheptel Aleȉkoum collective, around 20 circus...
One of the great beauties of circus is its ability to cross boundaries of language, age and, for many of us, what we might imagine is physically possible. In the Little Mermaid, the multi-talented Metta theatre team use their circus skills to push...
The advances in digital technology have connected us in ways we could never have imagined. At the same time, our obsession with being ‘connected’ is also a cause of disconnect and overload. How we find a comfortable balance between the two is the...
The rising popularity of Cirque du Soleil has upped the ante for all circus troupes, large and small. Audiences are demanding more from circus entertainment but smaller companies are rising to the challenge with quirky, multi-talented acts, of which...
Pirates of the Carabina originally came together in 2011 for a one-off commissioned performance of Flown at Glastonbury Festival. Such was the response, that more than 120 shows later, the circus is still touring worldwide. For three days we were...
In the past 30 years Cirque du Soleil has changed the face of circus worldwide, from a fun family show to a sophisticated art form, packed with thrills and feats of acrobatics far and beyond what appear humanly possible. A big top tent is...
The idea of interpreting Coleridge’s famous poem, ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ as a contemporary circus performance, sounds as bizarre as it does ambitious. Square Peg’s award-winning production is both. The company of seven performers (three...