A night with the circus
We were privileged to be able to a observe one of the circus’ training sessions at the Northcote town hall. In a bare room with no overt circus equipment, we didn’t know what to expect.
The class began with various warm0up exercises which we were invited to join in on. We were pleasantly surprised to discover how seemingly simple techniques of dancing around a room to Katrina and The Waves 1976 smash hit ‘Walking On Sunshine’ eroded notions of self-consciousness and fear both in the women attending the class and ourselves.
As the class progressed it was exciting to watch the women fearlessly attempting handstands on chairs, lifting each others body weight to create various acro-balance positions and human pyramids. At no point did we witness anyone doubt themselves or say “I can’t do this”, but rather the class was filled with an abundance of smiles laughs and sweat.
Witnessing a diverse group of women, of all different body shapes and sizes, showcasing their spectacular circus skills was a very personally enlightening moment. Opposed to watching a typical circus show with abnormal performers whose bodies appear designed for tricks that “normal” people could never attempt, the women we watched left us with a feeling of empowerment and confidence that we too could take control of our bodies and attempt amazing things, that for whatever reason we may have felt we weren’t “designed for”, and even if we failed we can laugh about it and try again.