As Circus Oz Artistic Director, Rob Tannion, moves towards his first full year at Circus Oz, he is delighted to reveal some new initiatives for 2017.
Honouring the foundation and ethos of Circus Oz, Tannion plans to collaborate with a greater pool of artists – who, through their diverse experiences and practice, will bring engaging content to contribute to the narrative of the contemporary art form.
Over the next three years, Tannion intends to create a dynamic portfolio of Circus Oz shows of varied scale and scope and will nurture a wide lineup of artists, blending established Circus Oz performers with new talent creating flexibility to collaborate across multiple and diverse projects.
“Having a broader pool of artists to draw from will open the possibility for numerous and concurrent collaborations for shows and acts that may evolve into intimate smaller shows, site specific performances or develop into our Big Top productions,” says Tannion. “This will continue to challenge our preconceptions of the creative process and expectations of what our audiences will see and experience on stage.”
From mid January, under the direction of Tannion, a new group of artists will collaborate on the creation of his debut production for the company – Model Citizens. With a broad range of backgrounds, these exciting multi-talented performers have skills ranging from sideshow to formal training in martial arts, gymnastics or music.
In March, Model Citizens will embark on a three-month tour through Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, before a four-week Circus Oz Big Top premiere season at Birrarung Marr in Melbourne opening on 20 June 2017.
Through February and March, the critically acclaimed TWENTYSIXTEEN (touring as Straight Up), directed by Anni Davey, tours four states in North America: Pennsylvania, Virginia, Arkansas and Iowa.
Following recent weeks of creative exploration, Circus Oz will continue to collaborate with Die Roten Punkte to develop a new show, The Strange and Spektakular Lives of Astrid and Otto Rot – a punk opera that meets a circus kind of show directed towards adult audiences.
Additionally, in early May, the Circus Oz BLAKflip program will continue to champion for more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander circus artists on stage with the continuing development of Chasing Smoke, directed by Natano Fa’anana.
“Chasing Smoke is an extremely important flagship First Nations Australian circus project and core to the values and dreams of Circus Oz,” said Tannion.
Straight Up artists include: April Dawson, Beau Dudding (rigger), Bek Gibbs (stage manager), Dale Woodbridge-Brown, David Trappes, Elke Uhd, Flip Kammerer, Jo Abbott (musician), Matt Wilson, Nick Martyn (drummer), Sam Oldham, Sharon Gruenert and Spenser Inwood. Directed by Anni Davey.
Model Citizens artists include: Ania Reynolds (musical director), Cath Carmody (stage manager), Freyja Edney, Jake Silvestro, Jarred Dewey, Luke Ha, Mitch Jones, Olivia Porter, Rose Chalker-McGann, Ryan Taplin (rigger) and Steph Mouat. Directed by Rob Tannion.
For more information, visit: www.circusoz.com for details.
Image: Rob Tannion – photo by Tania Jovanovic