1.
Acrobatics
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Acrobatics is the performance of extraordinary feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. It can be found in many of the arts, sports events. Although acrobatics is most commonly associated with human performance, it may also apply to other types of performance. Acrobatic traditions are found in cultures, and there is evidence that the earliest such traditions occurred thousands of years ago. For example, Minoan art from c.2000 BC contains depictions of acrobatic feats on the backs of bulls, ancient Greeks and Romans practiced acrobatics, and the noble court displays of the European Middle Ages would often include acrobatic performances that included juggling. In China, acrobatics have been a part of the culture since the Western Han Dynasty, acrobatics were part of village harvest festivals. Acrobatics continues to be an important part of modern Chinese variety art, though the term initially applied to tightrope walking, in the 19th century, a form of performance art including circus acts began to use the term as well. In the late 19th century, tumbling and other acrobatic and gymnastic activities became competitive sport in Europe, acrobatics has often served as a subject for fine art. An aerialist is an acrobat who performs in the air, on a suspended apparatus such as a trapeze, rope, cloud swing, aerial cradle, aerial pole, aerial silk, acrobatic gymnastics Contortion List of acrobatic activities
2.
Circus
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The term circus also describes the performance which has followed various formats through its 250-year modern history. Philip Astley is credited with being the father of the circus when he opened the first circus in 1768 in England. Early circuses were almost exclusively demonstrations of equestrian skills with a few types of acts to link the horsemanship performances. Performances developed significantly through the next fifty years, with large scale theatrical battle reenactments becoming a significant feature, as styles of performance have changed since the time of Astley, so too have the types of venues where these circuses have performed. The earliest modern circuses were performed in open air structures with limited covered seating, from the late 18th to late 19th century custom-made circus buildings were built with various types of seating, a centre ring, and sometimes a stage. The traditional large tents, commonly known as Big Tops were introduced in the mid 19th century as touring circuses superseded static venues and these tents eventually became the most common venue and remain so to the present day. Contemporary circuses perform in a variety of venues including tents, theatres, many circus performances are still held in a ring usually 13 m in diameter. This dimension was adopted by Philip Astley in the late 18th century as the minimum diameter that enabled a horse rider to stand upright on a cantering horse to perform their tricks. In the book De Spectaculis early Christian writer Tertullian claimed that the first circus games were staged by the goddess Circe in honour of her father Helios, the modern and commonly held idea of a circus is of a Big Top with various acts providing entertainment therein. For many, circus history begins with Englishman Philip Astley, while for others its origins go back much further—to Roman times. In Ancient Rome, the circus was a building for the exhibition of horse and chariot races, equestrian shows, staged battles, gladiatorial combat, the Roman circus buildings were, however, not circular but rectangular with semi circular ends. The lower seats were reserved for persons of rank, There were also various state boxes for the giver of the games, the circus was the only public spectacle at which men and women were not separated. It was constructed during the monarchy and, at first, built completely from wood, after being rebuilt several times, the final version of the Circus Maximus could seat 250,000 people, it was built of stone and measured 400m in length and 90m in width. Next in importance were the Circus Flaminius and the Circus Neronis, a fourth circus was constructed by Maxentius, its ruins have helped archaeologists reconstruct the Roman circus. For some time after the fall of Rome, large buildings fell out of use as centres of mass entertainment. Instead, itinerant performers, animal trainers and showmen travelled between towns throughout Europe, performing at local fairs, Astley performed stunts in a 42 ft diameter ring, which is the standard size used by circuses ever since. Astley referred to the arena as a Circle and the building as an amphitheatre. Joseph Grimaldi, the first mainstream clown, had his first major role as Little Clown in the pantomime The Triumph of Mirth, or, the Royal Circus opened in London on 4 November 1782 by Charles Dibdin and his partner Charles Hughes
3.
Toulouse
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Toulouse is the capital city of the southwestern French department of Haute-Garonne, as well as of the Occitanie region. The city lies on the banks of the River Garonne,150 kilometres from the Mediterranean Sea,230 km from the Atlantic Ocean and it is the fourth-largest city in France with 466,297 inhabitants in January 2014. The Toulouse Metro area is, with 1312304 inhabitants as of 2014, Frances 4th metropolitan area after Paris, Lyon and Marseille and ahead of Lille and Bordeaux. Toulouse is the centre of the European aerospace industry, with the headquarters of Airbus, the Galileo positioning system, the SPOT satellite system, the Airbus Group, ATR and the Aerospace Valley. The city also hosts the European headquarters of Intel and CNESs Toulouse Space Centre, thales Alenia Space, and Astrium Satellites, Airbus Groups satellite system subsidiary, also have a significant presence in Toulouse. The University of Toulouse is one of the oldest in Europe and, with more than 103,000 students, is the fourth-largest university campus in France, after the Universities of Paris, Lyon and Lille. The air route between Toulouse Blagnac and Paris Orly is the busiest in Europe, transporting 2.4 million passengers in 2014, according to the rankings of LExpress and Challenges, Toulouse is the most dynamic French city. It is now the capital of the Occitanie region, the largest region in metropolitan France, sernin, the largest remaining Romanesque building in Europe, designated in 1998 because of its significance to the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route. Toulouse is in the south of France, north of the department of Haute-Garonne, the city is traversed by the Canal de Brienne, the Canal du Midi and the rivers Garonne, Touch and Hers-Mort. Toulouse has a subtropical climate which can be qualified as submediterranean due to its proximity to the Mediterranean climate zone. The Garonne Valley was a point for trade between the Pyrenees, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic since at least the Iron Age. The historical name of the city, Tolosa, it is of unknown meaning or origin, possibly from Aquitanian, or from Iberian, Tolosa enters the historical period in the 2nd century BC, when it became a Roman military outpost. After the conquest of Gaul, it was developed as a Roman city of Gallia Narbonensis. In the 5th century, Tolosa fell to the Visigothic kingdom and became one of its cities, in the early 6th century even serving as its capital. From this time, Toulouse was the capital of Aquitaine within the Frankish realm, in 721, Duke Odo of Aquitaine defeated an invading Umayyad Muslim army at the Battle of Toulouse. Odos victory was an obstacle to Muslim expansion into Christian Europe. Charles Martel, a later, won the Battle of Tours. The Frankish conquest of Septimania followed in the 750s, and a quasi-independent County of Toulouse emerged within the Carolingian sub-kingdom of Aquitaine by the late 8th century
4.
Static trapeze
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Static trapeze, also known as fixed trapeze, is a type of circus art performed on the trapeze. In contrast to the forms of trapeze, on static trapeze the bars. Most often, the trapeze is about 1.5 feet wide. The ropes are at least two lengths, as many figures are performed on the ropes above the bar. The ropes can be made of materials, including cotton or hemp. It can be performed by a single artist or two partners working together, a single artist will do tricks above and below the bar, the ropes playing just as important a part as the bar. A partner act will involve the partners working together — supporting each others weight, self-standing trapezes can be purchased for home use. Multiple trapeze is an act entailing the use of more than one trapeze, in these acts, multiple people perform simultaneously. The most common type of multiple trapeze is a triple trapeze, a triple trapeze has one long bar, held up by a ropes, basically three trapezes put together, with the middle trapeze sharing the ropes of the other two. Multiple trapeze can also refer to a structure with trapeze like structures. An experimental cage-like structure was created by Cirque du Soleil for their show Varekai, however, the structure did appear in the Making of documentary, Fire Within. A triple trapeze is a type of static trapeze with three trapezes on one bar, therefore, there are four ropes connecting this trapeze to its frame, or whatever it is hanging from. One example of a trapeze act can be seen in Cirque du Soleils show Varekai
5.
Trapeze
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A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes or metal straps from a support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances, trapeze acts may be static, spinning, swinging or flying, and may be performed solo, double, triple or as a group act. It is officially the last performance of the circus, the art of trapeze performance was developed by Jules Léotard, a young French acrobat and aerialist, in Toulouse in the mid-1800s. He invented the flying trapeze, practising over his fathers swimming pool, the difficulty on a static trapeze is making every move look effortless. Swinging trapeze refers to an act performed on a trapeze swinging in a forward - backward motion, the performer builds up swing from a still position, and uses the momentum of the swing to execute the tricks. Usually tricks on a swinging trapeze are thrown on the peaks of the swing, most of the tricks begin with the performer sitting or standing on the bar and end with the performer catching the bar in his/her hands or in an ankle hang. This act requires a great deal of strength, grace, the trapeze bar is weighted and often has cable inside the supporting ropes for extra strength to withstand the dynamic forces of the swing. Flying trapeze refers to an act where a performer, or flyer, grabs the trapeze bar and jumps off a high platform, or pedestal board. People of any size are able to execute basic trapeze maneuvers, Flying trapeze is generally done over a net, or occasionally over water. The trapeze is supported by wire rather than ropes. Dance trapeze refers to a used by many modern dance companies in aerial dance. The ropes of the trapeze are often attached to a single swivel, allowing the trapeze to spin in either small or large circles. Double trapeze is a variation on the trapeze, and features two performers working together on the same trapeze to perform figures and bear each others weight. It can also be performed swinging, in case the act is called swinging double trapeze. Multiple trapeze refers to a number of different shapes and sizes of trapeze, including trapeze, triple trapeze. Shaped trapezes are apparatuses that can take any shape imaginable. Aerial Circus Training and Safety Manual, view at Google Books Elena Zanzu, M. A. Il Trapezio Oscillante, Storie di Circo nellAria. Aerial silk European Federation of Professional Circus Schools Desiree Belmarez, the physics of the flying trapeze Bloomington once capital of aerial kingdom - Pantagraph Fred and Harry Green- The Flying LaVans - McLean County Museum of History
6.
Flying trapeze
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The flying trapeze is a specific form of the trapeze in which a performer jumps from a platform with the trapeze so that gravity makes the trapeze swing. The performance was invented in 1859 by a Frenchman named Jules Léotard, after practicing tricks above the pool, Leotard performed his act in the Cirque Napoleon. The traditional fliers costume, the leotard, is named after him, in a traditional flying trapeze act, flyers mount a narrow board and take off from the board on the fly bar. The flyer must wait for a call from the catcher to make sure he or she leaves at the correct time, otherwise, the catcher will not be close enough to the flyer to make a successful catch. The flier then performs one of many tricks and is caught by the catcher. Once in the hands, the flyer continues to swing and is thrust back toward the fly bar in a maneuver called a return. A return could consist of some kind of twist back to the bar, once back to the fly bar, the flyer can return to the board, and another flyer takes a turn. Cirque Du Soleils La Nouba features a flying trapeze act, and Cirque Du Soleils Corteo presents a high-flying act quite similar to flying trapeze. The flyers fly from one catcher to another in an innovative adagio-influenced aerial act, still other flying trapeze acts focus on high-flying aerial tricks from the flyers, but perform their release tricks to the net, rather than to catchers. Also In the early years of young Mr. Leotards performances and he would perform over a series of mattresses on a raised runway to give the audience a better view of his tricks, or passes. Most modern flyers start out wearing a safety harness, while a trainer on the controls the lines. Pulling on the lines will suspend the flyer in the air, once a flyer has mastered a particular trick, they will take off the safety harness. Every safe flying trapeze rig has a net underneath the rig. Many flyers in the circus do not start out using safety belts and those flyers who are not wearing safety harnesses learn how to fall safely into the net in case they miss a catch or unexpectedly fall off the bar or off the catcher. Listo/Lista - Ready, Used by the flyer and/or catcher to signify that they are holding the fly bar or have enough height in their swing for a catch. Ready - Used by the catcher to tell the flyer that they should leave the board momentarily, the flyer bends their knees and if executing a one-handed take-off, dips the bar so they can raise it higher when they jump off the board. Lining Up - Called from the board, when the person working the board for those who have not yet learned to retrieve and serve the bar themselves gives the flyer the fly bar. It really means that the flyer is lining up their trick, hup - Signal to leave the board and/or the fly bar
7.
Modern dance
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Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance, primarily arising out of Germany and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Modern dance is considered to have emerged as a rejection of. Socioeconomic and cultural factors contributed to its development. In the late 19th century, dance artists such as Isadora Duncan, Maud Allan, moving into the 1960s, new ideas about dance began to emerge, as a response to earlier dance forms and to social changes. Eventually, postmodern dance artists would reject the formalism of modern dance, and include such as performance art, contact improvisation, release technique. American modern dance can be divided into three periods or eras, Modern dance has evolved with each subsequent generation of participating artists. Artistic content has morphed and shifted from one choreographer to another, artists such as Graham and Horton developed techniques in the Central Modern Period that are still taught worldwide, and numerous other types of modern dance exist today. In America, increasing industrialization, the rise of a class, and the decline of Victorian social strictures led to, among other changes. It was in this atmosphere that a new dance was emerging as much from a rejection of social structures as from a dissatisfaction with ballet, womens colleges began offering aesthetic dance courses by the end of the 1880s. Emil Rath, who wrote at length about this emerging artform at the stated, Music and rhythmic bodily movement are twin sisters of art. 1877, Isadora Duncan was a predecessor of modern dance with her stress on the center or torso, bare feet, loose hair, free-flowing costumes, and incorporation of humor into emotional expression. She was inspired by classical Greek arts, folk dances, social dances, nature, natural forces, and new American athleticism such as skipping, running, jumping, leaping and she thought that ballet was ugly and meaningless gymnastics. Although she returned to the United States at various points in her life and she returned to Europe and died in Nice in 1927. 1891, Loie Fuller began experimenting with the effect that gas lighting had on her silk costumes, Fuller developed a form of natural movement and improvisation techniques that were used in conjunction with her revolutionary lighting equipment and translucent silk costumes. She patented her apparatus and methods of lighting that included the use of coloured gels and burning chemicals for luminescence. 1905, Ruth St. Denis, influenced by the actress Sarah Bernhardt and Japanese dancer Sada Yacco, developed her translations of Indian culture and her performances quickly became popular and she toured extensively while researching Oriental culture and arts. Other pioneers included Kurt Jooss and Harald Kreutzberg, an accomplished choreographer, she was a founding artist of the first American Dance Festival in Bennington. Holm choreographed extensively in the fields of dance and musical theater
8.
Aerial dance
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Aerial modern dance is a subgenre of modern dance first recognized in the United States in the 1970s. The choreography incorporates an apparatus often attached to the ceiling, allowing performers to explore space in three-dimensions, the ability to incorporate vertical, as well as horizontal movement paths, allows for innovations in choreography and movement vocabulary. Aerial modern pieces, whether solo or ensemble, often involve partnering, the apparatus used has its own motion, which changes the way a dancer must move in response. The introduction of a new element changes the balance, center. Aerial modern dancers gather annually for workshops in Boulder, Colorado, County Donegal in Ireland, Brittany, in France, and Italy. In Boulder Colorado, Frequent Flyers Productions produces the Aerial Dance Festival – the first of its kind – and has held every year since its inception in July 1999. In Brittany, in northern France, the festival is called Les Rencontres Danse Aeriennes and was founded in 2008 by Fred Deb. The Irish Aerial Dance Festival is organised by Fidget Feet, a dance theatre company based in Ireland, run by artistic directors Chantal McCormick. It is run every year in Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland, lindsey Butcher of Gravity & Levity, based in Brighton, England, runs the European Aerial Dance Festival in Brighton, England every summer. Fred Deb was one of the forerunners of aerial dance using fabric in France, Deb started her company Drapés Aériens in 2001, she has choreographed and conceived many works in collaboration with Jacques Bertrand. Originally a dancer by training, Bertrand is her assistant, partner, another early influence on aerial modern dance, Terry Sendgraff, is credited with inventing the motivity trapeze. The motivity trapeze came about as a result of an exploration on a circus trapeze. The ropes twisted together, causing the apparatus to spin, by formalizing this, hooking both ropes to a single point of attachment, Ms. Sendgraff used the apparatus to spin, twist, as well as fly in a straight line and in a circle. In Italy, an emerging aerial Dance company, brought the contemporary dance discipline in a vertical stage, the performance of the Company distinguish from others by the details of the choreography and the armony of the movement, typical elements of the classic dance. Aerial dance is an art form that is demanding and requires a high degree of strength, power, flexibility, courage. The first and only book detailing the history of dance was published in 1988 by Human Kinetics. Bernasconi and Nancy E. Smith Aerial Dance, haigood’s work is based on careful research of the history, architecture and societal impact of found spaces, and the translation of these memories into the movements performed in that space. Project Bandaloop combines rock-climbing with dance in performances that scale and/or descend canyons, rock walls, video of their outdoor work is sometimes integrated into indoor performances, projected onto screens or trampolines behind the dancers on stage
