.Return to Oz

Thirty years ago, Australia's Circus Oz pioneered the art of cirque nouveau. Today it remains on the fringes of the genre.

The nostalgia-based phenomenon of tent pole circuses without animals
reached its zenith with Cirque du Soleil, an internationally known
performance company that launched 25 years ago in Quebec. By
resurrecting old traditions of acrobatics and clowning and presenting
them in a highly stylized, contemporary format (a live rock band, a
multi-cultural cast of performers, Vegas pyrotechnics, and a
quasi-coherent storyline that glues everything together), Cirque du
Soleil quickly became a household name. It’s now the eight
hundred-pound gorilla of so-called “cirque nouveau” shows, but it’s not
the originator. Australia’s lesser-known Circus Oz actually
predates Cirque du Soleil by about six years. Conceived around the same
time as San Francisco’s Pickle Family Circus, Circus Oz set the bar for
every high-quality indoor variety show that followed. It’s a lot more
irreverent than Cirque du Soleil (Oz features Monty Python-style
slapstick, female “strongmen,” drag performance, and stunts that
incorporate the Australian flag in various imaginative ways) and a bit
more homegrown (hence the kangaroo costumes), so it hasn’t drawn as
much attention as it’s larger, more dazzling counterpart. Yet, the
impiety of Circus Oz makes it a much more interesting show.

What most distinguishes this show from others in its vein is the
performers’ willingness to upend all the indoor-circus conventions,
even at the risk of alienating some audience members. Rarely, besides a
Mark Morris dance performance, do we see the variety of body shapes and
sizes depicted in Circus Oz, which includes husky female trapeze
artists whose thick, taut muscles belie their elegant movements, along
with clowns in fat suits and kangaroo tails, and tumblers with Gumby
limbs. Many of the cast members started out as buskers and street
performers who came to the circus through several unorthodox channels:
acrobat Flip Kammerer is also a break dancer and pro skater; clown
Nicci Wilks has moonlighted in Shakespearian theater and drag king
shows; aerial artist Sosina Wogayehu toured for five years with Circus
Ethiopia; clown Justin McGinley trained in cabaret and stand-up, and
has a degree in psychology. The resulting pastiche of influences makes
for a show that’s as indebted to punk rock and hip-hop as it is
grounded in circus arts.

Circuz Oz’s brazen humor and contemporary aesthetic put it just a
little to the left of your average small circus; not to mention it’s
overtly political — part of the proceeds get funneled to human
rights charities and indigenous communities. Many of its performances
end in a giant explosion or conflagration, which might not go over so
well at the more socially conservative Cirque du Soleil. But at this
show it seems apropos. Circus Oz celebrates its 30th anniversary bash
at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall (Bancroft Way at Telegraph
Ave.) from February 5 through 8. $26-$48. CalPerfs.berkeley.edu

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