Next Door Circus Magazine

NEXT DOOR CIRCUSPlatform for Contemporary Circus and Street Arts in Baltic States

Next Door Articles Māra Pāvula TXENMāra Ganģe Liina Eller ROODJonna Leppänen SUCRICKonstantin Kosovec Sebastian Kann Cultural house: “Arts Printing House” Next Door Photographs TXENthanks to Circus Studio Folie ROODCultural house: “Arts Printing House” Eglė Tautavičiūtė and promotional SUCRICphotos Luis Sartori do Vale Alex Hinchcliff Karel Koubek Next Door Team TXENFounder and Director Māra Pāvula Project Manager Rūta Skujiņa ROODProject Manager in Latvia Ieva Miltiņa Artistic Consultant Māra Ganģe SUCRICEditor, English language specialist Kaylee Webster Main Designer Yassmin Yaghmai Cover based on artwork by Ilze RušmaneNext Door Circus Magazine- Platform for Contemporary Circus and Street Arts in Baltic Statesis an independent and self-financed project. Authorized reproduction of this volume is highly encouraged! ONLINE ISSUE # 1, August 2014 www.nextdoorcircus.org facebook.com/nextdoorcircus

INDEX KNOCKING ON THE ESTONIA NEIGHBOUR’S 5BRIEFLY ABOUT CIRCUS IN ESTONIA DOOR by Liina Eller There are some new circus trends in the Baltic 6TALLINN TREFF FESTIVAL by Māra Ganģe States, but it is still too early to speak of a ho- mogeneous movement, since each country has LATVIA chosen a different path of development of this artistic genre. In Estonia, it is present in educa- 6BRIEFLY ABOUT CIRCUS IN LATVIA tion, in recreation and youth circus. In Latvia the by Māra Pāvula. new circus occurs mainly due to foreign, par- ticularly French, artists through theatre festivals FINALLY THERE IS A CONTEMPORARY CIRCUS and for the last two years presented by Interna- tional World Music and Street Art Festival RE RE 7FESTIVAL IN LATVIA - FESTIVAL RE RE RĪGA! RIGA!. Lithuania has recently witnessed the birth by Māra Pāvula of its first circus companies following the annual organization of an international circus festivalKULDĪGA AS THE TOWN LOVING FRENCH CIRCUS? New Circus Weekend in Vilnius during the past 7 years. This festival not only presents different 8By Māra Ganģe shows, but organises practical workshops and theoretical lectures for students and professio- INTERVIEW WITH SEBASTIEN KANN nals. By linking the approaches of these three countries, exchanging experience and passing 9-10by Māra Pāvula from a national level to regional, I believe, it would be strengthen the contemporary circus LITHUANIA culture and obtain the recognition for contempo- rary circus as an art form itself in the Baltics. BRIEFLY ABOUT CIRCUS IN LITHUANIA Next Door Circus, Plate-form for contemporary circus an street art in Baltics, is new project 11by Māra Pāvula aiming to encourage international cooperation between artists and develop contemporary cir- “CIRCUS IS A SERIOUS MATTER”, ANNOUNCES cus and street art in the Baltic States. The Maga- CONTEMPORARY CIRCUS FESTIVAL IN VILNIUS zine you are holding in your hands or reading on your screen is the first step we have decided 12By Arts Printing House to make. This is the first issue, but definitely not the last. We are planning to cover important HOW TO CREATE CIRCUS WHEN THERE IS NO topics for the development of Baltic contempo- rary circus and street art four times a year. The CIRCUS. Testimony of Lithuanian artist next step in the project will be the creation of the data basis of artists and other circus-oriented 13Konstantin Kosovec organisations from the Baltics. At the moment we are gathering the information and hoping to EUROPE publish the first part in September 2014. Next Door Circus is building a digital platformBALTIC-NORDIC CIRCUS NETWORK IN PROGRESS where in the line with magazine and databases you could find a list of books concerned with 14by Jonna Leppänen circus and research written and available in the Baltics as well as interactive wall of circus news. In order to strengthen circus culture in the region we have to build a community. We have to coo- perate! Keep following our project! For the sake of circus, Māra Pāvula, Next Door Circus founder and director, www.nextdoorcircus.org facebook.com/nextdoorcircus

ESTONIA

When I started with the circus, mygrandmother told me a story, how mygreat-grandfather used to love the circusand always wanted to take my father andaunt to see it. But my grandmother wasstrongly against it because in her opinion,the circus was entertainment for lowerclass people. Even today when you say‘circus’ in Estonia people would think ofan image with small and filthy tents. Theystill remember the traditional Russian cir-cus where a clown with a red nose makespoor jokes.Today, after many years of hard workdone by a few enthusiastic people, theimage of the circus is starting to change.There are two circus studios- OMAtsirkusand circus studio Folie. Both of themhave worked over ten years to developnew circuses in Estonia. Both started witha few kids in really poor conditions. Nowthese studios have over 100 kids, young-sters and grownups training regularly.We have managed to develop a strongnetwork with youth circuses in Germany,Finland, Belgium and the UK. Every yearyoungsters from Estonia take part invarious international festivals and youthexchangesThese events are a unique chance todevelop Estonia’s circus scene. Kids havea possibility to compare themselves withcoevals and gain motivation to practiceeven more.These studios have also raised a newgeneration of circus artists, who considerthe circus their life style and a way toexpress themselves. They now work inde-pendently and make project-based circusshows. Three young artists have decidedto go further with the circus and havechosen to study it in professional schoolsabroad in Finland and Belgium.Our aim is to educate people in Estoniaeven more. We are trying to bring con-temporary circus companies to performand also to show that there are wor-ld-class circus artists in Estonia.And most of all we hope that parentscan proudly say that their kids are circusperformersBy Liina Eller, performer and trainerin the circus studio Folie.Folie www.tsirkus.eeOmatsirkus http://www.omatsirkus.ee 5

TALLINN TREFF LATVIA FESTIVAL The tradition of circus in Latvia is very oldIn June 2014, for the 8th time since goinginternational in 2007, the Talllinn Treff festival and strong, and because of government sup-was held in capital of Estonia. Even port traditional circus is in privileged positionthough labelled ‘visual theatre’ festival ‘Treff’ compared to both Lithuania and Estonia, ashas long experience of including street perfor- well as contemporary circus. Contemporarymers, acrobats, puppeteers, dancers, musicians circus here is mainly known thanks to guestand performers from various fields. Unfortuna- performances organized by New Theatretely, due to lack of financial support from Tal- Institute of Latvia. In 1997, Latvia was the firstlinn City Council, the street performance part of the three Baltic States to receive a foreignthis year has been cut down. In spite of this, on contemporary circus artist. Contemporarytwo mornings spectators had the chance to circus performances have mostly been partsee aerial silk demonstrations in the park. And of the contemporary theatre festival “Homodifferent groups from local circus studio Folie Novus”. Subsequently, the audience encoun-presented their work. tering contemporary circus, was generally theOf course, it is visual theatre festival, but as for one with an interest in theatre. Workshops forthe context in Baltic states, where the number professionals in various fields have been heldof international festivals can still be counted on at the time of some guest performer visits, butboth hands, in a way Tallinn Treff lies the clo- have failed to evolve into lasting contemporarysest to contemporary circus, than many others. circus projects. However, there is good news:Why? Essentially, because it is balancing on the for the first time there is one person from Lat-edge. Using performing objects as not only the via studying circus in professional circus schooltool, but the medium, is common both in con- in Switzerland, different towns has started totemporary circus and contemporary puppetry. invite circus for their festivals (Liepāja, Ventspils,As well, for example, the Italian companies Kuldīga) and RE RE RIGA! has started a newScarlattine Teatro performance ‘Unleashed’, tradition of creating a festival that focuses oncreated for the children, has no clear narrative, presenting contemporary circus and streetbut plays on the senses – sound, touch, move- theatre.ment… New Theatre Institute of Latvia www.theatre.lvOr the Philippe Genty show ‘Forget me not’, Festival RE RE RIGA! www.rereriga.lvwhich was the culminating event of thefestival, has always caused troubles for so- Cie Nuua, Lentomeone willing to put it in a certain frame. Is itpuppetry, dance performance or circus? If the Nuua’s (Olli Vuorinen and Luisdance is so refined that it seems not to have Sartori do Vale) circus performan-been done by ‘just dancers’, how far is it from ce LENTO will represent Finnishacrobatics? The elements they use, such as the circus at Re Re Riga! Festival inenormous satin wraps that were manipulated August 2014. The Baltic-Nordicso lightly, leave an impression of a fragility circus network aims to improvecomparable with that of observing wire dan- the visibility of the contemporarycers. circus regionally.The question is – when does contemporarycircus start? And do we need to distinguish it Photo by Luis Sartori do Valeso much? Tallinn Treff festival has no intentionto be a circus festival, but what they do showlies very near, and it deserves to be noticedinternationally!By Māra Ganģe, theatre critic and student oftheatre directing in Latvian Academy of Culture.Festival organised by http://www.nuku.ee/6

FINALLY! CONTEMPORARY CIRCUS FESTIVALIN LATVIA - FESTIVAL RE RE RĪGA!RE RE RIGA! is an international street art and world music festival in Riga taking placeannually in August since 2013. The festival’s program involves performances of variousart forms – music, dance, contemporary circus and street theatre. This year, festival RERE RIGA! will be held from 6th to 9th August, gathering more than 60 artists from 12countries.Presenting a fine program of indoor and outdoor shows, it can be considered the big-gest contemporary circus festival in the Baltics. But is it enough to be the biggest tomake an impact? And is it actually the aim of the festival, or is it just one of the elemen-ts of the Riga 2014 European Capital of Culture programme? I tend to think the festivalhas made its choices to show that they care about the future of circus.In 2014, for the first time, the festival has organised an educational program. The cir-cus school is taking place in the park next to The Riga Congress Centre. In collaborationwith circus studios from Daugavpils, Salaspils and Riga, as well as individual local artists,there will be numerous workshops for kids as for adults and even for professionals. It issignificant that students and their professors from traditional circus schools are readyto come and help a contemporary circus festival. For a long time there were no linksbetween them in Latvia. Of course there is still a long way to go, but could it form thebeginning of the transformation of the Latvian circus? More big news: in cooperationwith Next Door Circus, the festival will offer three workshops of aerial acrobatics withNatalie Oleinik and Sebastian Kann from the USA. (Read more about them in the fol-lowing interview)In order to promote contemporary circus during summer, the festival visited differentcities and events presenting juggling workshops and the inspiring documentary aboutcircus “Grazing the Sky” by Horacio Alcala. 7

KULDĪGA: THE TOWN THAT LOVES FRENCH CIRCUS? That is the impression that the city has been giving for the last few years. Companies such as ‘Pipototal, ‘des Quidams’ and others performing in town celebration days have become a tradition. This town of few thou- sand people in the western part of Latvia, mostly known by having the widest waterfall in Europe, invited the incredibly beautiful show ‘Fiers à Cheval’ (‘Proud on a Horse’) by French company ‘Des Quidams’, which was the element of culmination at the opening show. There has even been a song composed by Latvian composer Valdis Zilvers especially for this event, with the lyrics stating that ‘a French circus is performing in the town square’, that clearly showed – yes, Kuldīga does love the circus! Moreover, in the context of all these events is the gravitation and balance master class by French company ‘Du O des Branches’ and vert of ‘Compagniev Retouramont’ – that contemporary circus is not only presented, but actually introduced here, giving a chance for young people to get to know it. This is the key reason for the lack of such artists here in Latvia – almost nobody who could have a capacity of doing it has the slightest idea what it is! During these four days in July, inhabitants and guests of Kuldīga experienced street performance by Islandic company ‘Hitt Husitt’, which was a rather joyful and colourful addition to the market being held in the same street, than self-sufficient show, but as it was part of the towns celebration, it worked perfectly – it caused the interaction with streets, buildings, shops etc., perhaps allowing locals to see their daily streets as so- mething fresh. And this is what contemporary circus does: maybe it doesn’t shock with dangerous acrobatic elements or overwhelming large scale of circus arena, but it does allow you to observe ‘the ordinary’ from new angle. By Māra Ganģe, theatre critic and student of theatre directing in Latvian Academy of Culture. MagManus, ATTACHED A circus show about holding on and letting go Photo by Alex Hinchcliff8

INSTEERVBIEAWSWITTHIEN KANN cagWaneoon[xadptept‘ocSMcelwstiteehintptaareoabae]cnlrrdksr.eauokdeetIsmsertstido.t’fhdisiHinfaeoetmtsooinrprhneueeeiSKrsinnceinteearicttrwb’nahef,cyinasheearuosrsesbauainttr,ain!eeueawtlidttwnmthawueNnamaceecdbhtaoeninotcnnnwaiuootqlheERtnifuemeuit2tgeenrhO0poameaap1loie5anpnrrein.dadonsaTdrrhinihktyamooterahawcypywneri,’rrdeyrchchoe’iourtoAvrhmecsoiwmseufsvafsieeahhettrirrrieooisiyit-swnni,sg,tsseotf 9mdtywmmWlgcIoIoey’aumowayeucmhntsrrminaheckadcaaagsaanegbinIkrnnrs.eaeoewIegAek.rnuwesavcmDdtnIreisaot.rduwenoiscWmrn,mrtauigistsencahsshaoeeegakeekcpttnInithnemtunaijhwnaorcgsI“eegtiticshsnrh,wiomctseoeslaaniuauntnvdatratmssaiteiIInranetsammtsggetdetrgtaioeptadloaymilitrnorsnbmviststeryneeo,eamIndrdufscrrwayrytityitoocrsuha”dicmotuidtesriewu!wscciemFspttsouanrhosamarsobterfkreadnoostyaat(ecIsruofmothmtslattrfohtnoharbaaneaal)oetyerrgnilNsttkv.ifodernuiteEaerSudigbmNsetfarouietxliaoCnleenrrptendebt,igciewtmaInlsiisrrnylvtaceihcohomgCeesuofouininaeswmwNrutecnhgaaemaheoutrwhrsicresfgatetoidoiCrnhSsYrtcfv-ti-oehwcru.luppirihqaikgslrketnotueehnrceoCe.wsfargeclsiadaltuocielnybesutrur.iedirnMwolGSyittne‘oo-hrrCy,rnyonlaiiea.vawgrttiIrncinlgriéI,ndundoeawaosgndwndlamSludioioasntmpuenheag2,bngoirsrot0ittuekha,ai0trniuelanns9gscrfntee’,iaoo,dntltunatowhmImdsnieadncwdiyyessoikoanppiifntuswnrcie’orsisdeireeltfrcynhdooeidfrra--’sl-

That shift was key for me. Once you manage to put one element We’ll go into creation in Novemberof the traditional circus recipe into question, nothing can be au- or December, and hopefully pre-tomatic anymore. Or, in other words, everything is a choice: not mière in the fall! It’s all very unpredi-just the performance quality, but also the pacing, the structure, ctable, but also extremely exciting!the visual aesthetic, the context of the presentation, down to the And although we don’t really knowessential goal of the piece. The possibilities are endless! what the content of the show willIn the States, it is hard to convince people that performance be—except in the broadest way—that is not primarily “exciting” is worth anything at all. The ulti- it’s been brewing inside us for longmate indicator of success or failure is ticket sales. So then when enough that whatever comes outyou’re making a show, everything becomes about how to keep is bound to be strangely delicious.people from getting bored—I think it has something to do with And we want to bring it everywhere!how expensive it is to go to the theatre in the States. People de- So hopefully we can show it to Rigamand full sensory-overload catharsis (“bang for your buck”). But audience. We come from a placewhen someone looks like they’re trying to entertain me, I feel where circus is really disadvanta-more embarrassed than anything else. I try to avoid eye con- ged, so we’re making it a priority totact. It’s the worst feeling! So obviously the American formula is bring our work as far afield as possi-not for everyone. I’m not suggesting that circus should become ble. We’re really looking forward toboring—that would be terrible as well!—just that when the goal coming to Latvia!of every show is the same, every show begins to look the same.I came to Europe in 2012, and I plan on building my career here. by Māra PāvulaIt’s a little bit less consumerist, and so people have permission tobe people and not commodities on stage. And you can feel hi-story on the street. And it’s so different everywhere! That part ofthe reason it’s so thrilling to be coming to Riga—I’m really lookingforward to getting to know new people and a new culture.I started writing Manor House with Natalie Oleinik in thewinter of 2013. We had both been in Europe for less thana year, but we were already so excited by the new circuswe had seen since being here that making a showtogether seemed imperative. We feel like we reallyhave something unique to contribute. Althoughobviously I haven’t seen everything that’s out there!We’re going to make a piece that gathers, like a cloud.Our goal is a steady crescendo of ambiance until itreaches critical storm-mass. The show inspired byour suburban American childhoods, and feeling likesomething is wrong or weird but not knowingwhat, like the terrible truth is hidden just out ofsight. But it’s going to be very non-literal—I don’t think it’s even going to look like suburbia,especially. It takes place in the fantasy world of adissatisfied suburban teenager, so what actuallyhappens on stage will probably be as far awayfrom the reality of suburbia as he or she canmanage to conceive! All of that said, we are yet tohave our first real creation period. To make a showin Europe, you really have to plan far ahead! The first stage was all the writing and picture taking, which isstrange when you haven’t actually started to figure theshow out with your body yet. But you need it to get space to do the research! So we wrote a show dossier, andillustrated it nicely, and sent it out to residency spaces tocreate a rehearsal calendar. Our first version was twelvepages of artistic explanation followed by shortbiographies, and that did not work at all. My adviceis to emphasize the CV and then sketch out yourshow in broad terms. These spaces want to knowmostly that they can trust you to make work andthat you have an interesting approach. Writinga ton about the show before just paints youinto a corner.

LITHUANIAIn recent years Lithuania has seen a Photo by Eglė Tautavičiūtė 11new circus generation taking shape.It is thanks to the Arts Printing Houseand the Festival they have been or-ganizing since 2006. The festival hasnot only presented new and con-temporary circus to the Lithuanianpublic, but has organized a numberof workshops that have inspiredyoung artists to experiment in thecircus field. The festival is proud tohave already presented Lithuaniancreations. That is why Next Door Cir-cus asked Arts Printing House to tellus about the festival and Lithuanianacrobat Konstantin Kosovec abouthis way of doing circus.New Circus Weekend is not the onlycircus Festival held in Lithuania. Forseveral years there has been streetcircus festival in the middle of July inKlaipeda Stebuklų Šalis . This yearit took place in Palanga for the firsttime. In 2013 there was a new circusfestival held by locals in Kaunas.by Arts Printing Househttp://www.menuspaustuve.lt/en

“CIRCUS IS A SERIOUS MATTER”, ANNOUNCES CONTEMPORARY CIRCUS FESTIVAL IN VILNIUSArts Printing House presents IInternational contemporary circus festival – “New Circus Weekend”,which will occupy Vilnius on 11 – 14 September, 2014.The annual event of contemporary circus will present different disciplines of the circus, combinedwith visual arts and touching stories performed by well-known and rapidly growing artists fromFrance, the Netherlands, Finland and Lithuania. In addition, the educational program for circus pro-fessionals will take place during the festival.Finland’s first contemporary circus company ‘Circo Aereo’ traditionally brings one of the compa-nies’ productions to the Festival. “New Circus Weekend’14” will begin with the object circus trilogy(“Un cirque juste juste”, “Un cirque tout juste”, “Un cirque plus juste, dinner”), created and perfor-med by France-based juggler Jani Juutinen. The guests will establish their circus camp with thethree circus tents in the old town of Vilnius and will announce that theNew Circus has arrived into the city.Nuutinen’s subtle work goes beyond traditional virtuosity. He uses mundane objects that he hasbuilt himself. The audience do not know what to expect but venture out to uncharted waters withthe performer. The wooden ring brings the audience close to the performer – all three performan-ces catch the intimate atmosphere of circus campfires.The festival will also present two performances by the French dancer and juggler Clément Dazin,who will come to Vilnius straight from the Festival d’Avignon.The program of the Festival presents another guest from France – Cie Les Choses de Rien. Theproject Mouvinsitu created by Boris Gibé and Florent Hamon is a hybrid approached through theprisms of choreographic and visual arts.For the second time, the three art academies ESAC (Belgium), CODARTS and ACaPA (the Nether-lands) will join “New Circus Weekend”. An interactive “Open Circus gala” will present different kindsof new circus disciplines (jugglery, acrobatics, clownery and contemporary dance elements) andwill introduce the audience with the best sketches from the student troupe CirqueGebouw.In recent years, Arts Printing House has been glad to present Lithuanian artists’ experiments in anew circus field. The Festival inspired the first contemporary circus performances, gave encoura-gement to rising artists and modern circus troupes. This year, Lithuania will host acrobat Konstan-tin Kosovec and his new solo performance.As per tradition, there will be New Circus workshops, training sessions and seminars during theweekend of the Festival. This year we will invite professionals, young artists and students to worktogether with Maksim Komaro (Finland) and Cie Les Choses de Rien (France).

HOW TO CREATE Konstantin is 28 years old and he hasCIRCUS WHEN been involved in circus since 2010.THERE IS NO He mainly works with fire juggling,CIRCUS dance, contact juggling and aerials (Tissue, rope).Testimony of Lithuanian We asked him to share his experien-artist Konstantin Kosovec ce of trying to become a circus artist when there are no schools or structu- Photo by Karel Koubek res to help him doing it. I started doing fire shows and later dan- ce, then acrobatics and aerials before realising what could be done with it. Se- eing contemporary circus performances at New Circus weekends made a big turnaround. Circus is challenging, fun and a very wide area to explore. Why contempo- rary? I love mixing disciplines, working with choreographers and directors to create unusual performances. I also like the idea of not using animals but only human skills. Now I train 4 to 6 hours per day, depen- ding on the season, amount of rehear- sals, gigs and other things. I start with some strength exercises in the morning, rehearsals and personal practice during the day, and as there is no circus school I am attending lessons at different studios like tissue, acrobati- cs, dance, pole dance or capoeira in the evenings. It is still hard to decide if being a circus artist can be a full time profession in Baltics. This question is under research now. I do hope it is and I am trying to make it happen. Contemporary circus is becoming more popular. There might be 10 – 40 other people in Lithuania doing the same as me; it is hard to be preci- se, but at least the number is growing. It will take time, but the progression is po- sitive. It could be faster if we would not have problems with space to practice. 10 13

EUROPE BALTIC-NORDIC CIRCUS NETWORK IN PROGRESSThe network of Baltic and Nordic circus organisations aims to make contemporary circusstronger and more visible in the Baltic and Nordic countries. Contemporary circus as an artform is close to theatre or dance, but it is not as well known. Especially in the Baltic countries,there are not that many professional contemporary circus artists and not so many opportuni-ties to see contemporary circus performances. The situation is better in Nordic countries, butthe field is still young and there is a lack of funding, supportive str uctures and circus critics, toname a few examples.The needs for the future development are partly similar in all countries in the region. Becausethe circus art field is not so large, it is more effective to do the developing work together regio-nally. The Baltic-Nordic circus network brings together professionals of circus art field to im-prove working possibilities and knowledge of circus art in Baltic and Nordic countries.Where did we start?During the present year, people from Baltic and Nordic circus organisations have been coo-perating to create a network. The vision of a circus network that would strengthen the colla-boration among the Baltic and Nordic circus professionals and organizations has little by littlebecome more concrete. Currently, there are partners from seven countries in the network.The starting point of the network was a need for stronger collaboration among the circusorganizations of the Baltic and Nordic countries. In the Baltic countries the circus art field is stillyoung. Contemporary circus art is not very well known and the amount of professional circusartists interested in contemporary circus is not very high. In the Nordic countries, circus is bet-ter known as an art form than in the Baltics, but the working possibilities, financing opportuni-ties, structures for performing and touring still need to be developed. Circus art is growing anddeveloping in each country in the region but international collaboration is needed to supportthe progress.We need more informationThere is also a lack of information. There is also a strong need for information about the con-temporary circus artists and companies. Professional circus artists are usually well-knownnationally, but the information needs to be shared widely. Wider familiarity of the artists andgroups will help their work prospects internationally and will help the festival and venue pro-grammers when they are looking for new performances.Moreover, regionally shared information about all the venues and festivals will help the artistsand companies to find new performing possibilities. It would also be useful for the venues andfestivals to know each other so they could collaborate and share the costs of international per-formances or of new productions.The overall mapping of the local circus art field is certainly needed. Information is needed forthe professionals themselves but it is also needed for the policy makers and for the funders.What do we need?The main idea behind the Baltic-Nordic circus network is to improve the possibilities of artisticwork. In each country there are special areas of development but the needs are very similar inall Baltic and Nordic countries.Artists need more stable funding for working, more convenient spaces for rehearsal and ve-nues for performing. As well as this, knowledge of the contemporary circus art needs to get ona higher level in generally, so that circus art could reach new and bigger audiences.In the Nordic countries the New Nordic Circus Network (NNCN) has been in a key role in ma-king circus art more familiar in general. NNCN has been an active network which has increa-sed the collaboration among the Nordic countries during the last seven years. The activities ofNNCN have shown that network collaboration not only makes international projects and co-o-peration easier but also can strengthen the position of a unique art discipline nationally.It seems that the biggest needs concern collecting and sharing information and improving thesupportive structures for circus professionals, as well artist as producers, researchers, criticsand writers.14

Aims and focus points be crossed and the limits blurred, contem-During the next few years the Baltic Nordic porary circus must have its own developers,circus network will hopefully bring together structures, networks and perhaps an identity,circus professionals working in different ro- too.les to develop the circus art field in the Baltic It is important to work near other arts andand Nordic countries. We are optimistic about their networks, to have the information mo-creating a touring system which will help the ving and to share good practices betweenartists and performances tour in the Baltic and the networks. When talking about contempo-Nordic countries. The touring system will also rary performing arts, it is never clear whichhopefully create strong collaborative relation- actor or organization goes in to which box.ships between the venues in the region and The network can have its special focus andmakes it easier and cheaper to invite inter- objectives that are limited to circus art, evennational circus groups outside the Baltic Sea if the organisations are multidiscipline or canregion. act in different roles over multiple networks.tried to take into account on the one hand The Baltic-Nordic circus network will be openthe specialties that every country has and, on and flexible. No one will be left on the outside.the other hand, all professional groups wor- There can be main partners and associativeking with circus. The overall improvement of partners in the network. The main partnerscircus art and its supportive structures being will form a coordinating group that will formu-the objective of network activities, it is impor- late the funding applications and commit totant to not only focus on artists but also other the key functions of the network e.g. residen-aspects, such as critics. ce activities, touring system, workshops andOne important goal is to make future colla- the network meeting. It is also important toboration in the region easier and make it a have associated partners so the whole circusnatural part of programming the festivals and art field of the region could have the maxi-forming the working groups of productions. mum benefit of the network. Additionally, theThe main aim for more active regional colla- collected information and the shared goodboration is for professionals of each country practices will be available for every actor into know each other. Knowing other people’s the field.working habits makes collaboration more pre- The vision is that all the functions of the Bal-dictable and stable, which creates a perfect tic-Nordic Circus networks would be need-ba-opportunity for everyone to learn from the sed. This network should be more like a toolothers. for operating in the circus art field in differentHowever, learning through sharing is just one roles than an empty structure. The aim is toof the objectives. It is beneficial to create an form an up-to-date network, which would beopen atmosphere where everyone could feel agile and reactive and also democratic. Thesefree to share good practices as well as the ideals can be difficult to combine, but to getmistakes or failed attempts; an atmosphere the network work, it is most important to buildwhere everyone could learn and teach. We the network from grass roots level and fromthink this could be the key in the overall de- real needs, otherwise it could not have a longvelopment of the circus art field in Baltic and and fruitful life.Nordic countries. On one hand, Nordic circus Now we are at the point where all the needsorganisations have experience of similar is- and professional actors in the field must besues with which the Baltic circus professionals mapped. The mapping will be published afterare wrestling now; twenty years ago, Nordic three years, but the collected information willcontemporary circus was as young an art di- be available on the network’s website beforescipline as it is now in the Baltics. On the other that. The website will be launched this August,hand, new organisations and now collaborati- after the present network partners will meet inve partners always bring fresh thinking along Helsinki and continue the planning and deve-and new partnerships can lead to the Bal- loping.tic-Nordic circus community to think together The network is coordinated by CircusInfoin new ways and develop the field towards a Finland. CircusInfo is an information centre ofnew direction. Finnish Circus, funded by the Ministry of Edu-It is indeed the best thing when structuring a cation and Culture. CircusInfo has internatio-new network and seeding new collaborations. nal collaborative partnerships, and has beenWe will never know where it is going to lead one of the main actors in New Nordic Circusus and what it will create! Network (NNCN).An agile circus networkBuilding Baltic-Nordic collaborations and by Jonna Leppänen networks appears to be in the air right now. Project Coordinator, CircusInfo FinlandBecause of this, it was necessary at the begin- Nordic New Circus Network www.nordic-circus.orgning to consider why to build a new network. Circusinfo Finland www.sirkusinfo.fiIs there not already enough structures thatsupport and facilitate the collaboration in the 15field? It was quickly evident that circus or-ganisations would need a network focusedparticularly on circus art. Before thefences between different art disciplines canvvv

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