The circus is invented and reinvented. An example is the Australian company Circa, which was already in Barcelona to open Grec 2013 with Opus, to the rhythm of Shostakovich’s string quartets, or in 2019 at the Palau de la Música, where it presented its acrobatics with music by Schubert in En masse.
Now, from January 17 to 27, the company directed by Yaron Lifschitz presents the show Humans 2.0 at the Coliseum theater in Barcelona, ??which, with ten artists on stage, is an evolution of the previous Humans, based on acrobatics in pairs or alone .
“Now all ten artists participate in almost every number, throughout the show,” says Ben Knapton, associate director of Circa. The circus discipline performed by these young people is known as hand-to-hand, where the acrobats use the strength of their hands to perform combined numbers with their partners.
“We explore the limits of the human body,” says Knapton, who has acrobats ranging from 19 years old to almost forty years old, “but age is not what matters most,” declares the associate director, who explains that they are always on tour, and after Barcelona the Sydney Opera House awaits them.
For this occasion, the contemporary Brisbane circus company is not accompanied by classical music, but by the compositions of Ori Lichtik. “He is a very popular DJ, who has worked all over the world and has also composed music for contemporary dance. We had already worked with him and, on this occasion, he has composed all the pieces that we present.”
In some moments of the show, some figures appear that remind us of a pillar of three, of the castellers, to which the associate director responds: “We know the castells very well, we have observed them and they have been a source of inspiration for us.” Now the only thing left is for the one on top to do the fin, as was suggested at the press conference.
The work of the company, which tours with more shows around the world, “is rehearsed in days from nine to five, with time for lunch,” continues Knapton. “During those hours, Circa’s 25 acrobats work on acrobatics at the highest level, to be able to offer the most demanding show.”
“We have 12 active shows and we can tour with five or six shows simultaneously,” he points out. The trick to Circa’s success is “staying safe and connecting with the public through performance,” concludes the associate director, who accompanies this part of the company in Barcelona, ????in its performances at the Coliseum.
