The #CircusVoices development scheme is an initiative to build a culture of critical discourse around circus arts, inspired by the Unpack The Arts programme, but focused on introducing critical vocabularies to the circus industry, rather than introducing circus vocabularies to existing arts journalists.
The first residency took place in 2016 during Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and in 2017 a curated group of artists were been brought together to continue the discussions at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. A third edition of the programme invited applications to join a larger group of diverse circus practitioners to explore varied strands of critical discourse during Circus City festival in Bristol.
The latest edition took place during Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2018, and the first batch of reviews came after three days of immersion in the festival, some following a traditional format, and others shaking up the notion of what a critical response can look like:
Egg, by Paper Doll Militia
Casting Off, by A Good Catch Circus
Notorious Strumpet Dangerous Girl, by Jess Love
The second batch of reviews came at the end of the week, with more experimentation in their form:
8 Songs, by Gandini Juggling
Hot Brown Honey, 2018
Gibbon, by Chris Patfield and José Triguero, co-produced by Gandini Juggling
You & I, by Casus
The Artist, by Thom Monckton / Circo Aereo
WireDo, bu Lumo Company
We also produced video responses to each show we watched and discussed as a group, which can be found on our YouTube channel (captions to be added soon):
Egg, by Paper Doll Militia
You & I, by Casus
Casting Off, by A Good Catch Circus
Mat Ricardo Vs. The World, by Mat Ricardo
Tabarnak, by Cirque Alfonse
The Artist, by Thom Monckton / Circo Aereo
