Relationship between other artforms
At the Clocktower, we often speak of a twenty-five year vision: the establishment of a centre of excellence in training and education in and through the popular performing arts. This vision, which people are invited to participate in, is first and foremost about learning: the discovery and achievement of the creative best in ourselves, a sense of excellence which combines physical, emotional and spiritual in a unique artistic expression of all that is human. An extraordinary synthesis of laughter, of song and dance, of participational, accessible theatre and of spectacle and skill.
For it is uniquely in circus that it happens. Whether it is No Fit State’s large-scale community commitment, in Soleil’s lavish designer/director extravaganzas, in the many smaller and richly diverse touring shows across the U.K, and in the passion of Will’s Belfast Community Circus. It is as obvious in the wild and savage imagery of Archaos as in the lyricism of Stagefright and Skinning the Cat, it is there in the traditional circus with its flashbacks to older routines, it is there in the richly theatrical stories of Baroque and in the much missed Snapdragon. All human life is there.
Those of us privileged to be working in this old, traditional and yet, at the same time, strangely new form, must surely agree that Circus needs proper recognition, a recognition beyond inclusion in Combined Arts, so it can attract proper investment in training, education and in excellent practice so that it can continue to inspire and excite, amaze and amuse, educate and enlighten in the next millennium……
David Alexander