Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body. Rosemarie Garland Thomson. ed. New York: New York University Press, 1996. xviii. 400 pp., illustrations, notes, contributors, Index.

Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body

In this article, an applied analysis of the psychological processes and skills necessary for performance artists to excel in contemporary circus is presented. This analysis is based on applied experience at Cirque du Soleil and the National Circus School, leading contemporary circus programs in the world. The importance of learning the rules of the circus domain, transferring motor skills to the circus environment, and developing an artistic identity and mindful mindset are discussed. Furthermore, general and discipline-specific performance pressures are identified and discussed in light of current performance enhancement techniques.

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The making of expert performers at Cirque du Soleil and the National Circus School: A performance enhancement outlook

This research project represents the first formal research conducted into the potential application of Decision Training in an elite circus arts school environment. The research examines the effects of the introduction of Decision Training—a training model developed for sports applications—into the elite circus arts training program at the National Circus School (NCS), a key circus arts school in one of the world’s most vital circus domains, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Decision Training, a cognitive-based training model, has been shown through extensive sports-based research to support the development of decision-making ability and self-regulatory learning behaviour, both of which are fundamental for the long-term retention and application of physical skills. A key research aim was to investigate whether Decision Training had the potential to enhance existing teaching practice at the NCS.
This research investigates how this cognitive training model—developed for use in the world of competitive sports—functions in a performing arts context in which not only physical and technical skills are trained, but also elements connected with performance, such as aesthetic expression and the creation and development of new performance material.
A qualitative action research methodology was employed, consisting of three reflection–action cycles with three case studies of student–teacher pairings. Data collection took place over an extended training period at the NCS from November 2011 to April 2012. Observation, interviews with teachers and students, and group discussions were used to collect data and to provide the impetus for the Decision Training interventions for the three action research cycles.
This qualitative study reveals how teachers implemented the three-step Decision Training model and how students responded to these teaching interventions. This was done through an action research process investigating the lived experiences of the participants involved in each case study. The research findings indicate that incorporating a cognitive training method such as Decision Training into circus pedagogy has the potential benefit of giving students the means of acquiring important skills such as effective decision making in performance situations, and self-regulatory behaviour such as the ability to effectively self-assess their performance. Teachers have the potential to benefit by not having to be the sole providers of feedback or motivation, allowing the rapport between student and teacher to become collaborative and creative. The research findings show that the effectiveness of the Decision Training interventions was influenced by the different learning and teaching backgrounds and styles of the student–teacher pairings, and the different ways in which the teachers integrated Decision Training into their existing teaching practices.
The research findings led to the proposal of an “integrated” pedagogical approach based on a combination of Decision Training and direct teaching. This “integrated” pedagogy would enable a teacher…

https://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2779&context=theses

Pedagogy in performance: An investigation into decision training as a cognitive approach to circus training

Examination of Life Satisfaction, Child Maltreatment Potential and Substance Use in Mothers Referred for Treatment by Child Protective Services for Child Neglect and Substance Abuse: Implications for Intervention Planning View project Brad Donohue University of Nevada, Las Vegas 158 PUBLICATIONS 2,306 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Yulia Gavrilova Medical University of South Carolina 21 PUBLICATIONS 73 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE

Empirical development of a screening method for mental, social, and physical wellness in amateur and professional circus artists.

Ce memoire porte sur l’histoire de l’immigration et de l’integration des Irlandais au Quebec et cherche a departager les experiences singulieres vecues sur un territoire commun par les Canadiens francais et les Irlandais catholiques. Cette recherche interdisciplinaire se fonde a la fois sur le corpus litteraire quebecois et sur l’historiographie contemporaine. Les analyses litteraires, appuyees sur une solide lecture socio-historique, vont entreprendre l’etude du personnage irlandais pour demontrer comment la figure de l’Irlandais etait percue dans l’imaginaire litteraire et social. Le memoire analyse une periode d’environ cent ans, du debut du XIXe au debut du XXe siecle. La premiere partie (1815-1844) met en scene un imaginaire patriote et liberal et permet une relecture des enjeux en cause dans les rapports entre Irlandais et Canadiens francais, des rapports caracterises par l’ideal utopique de l’ouverture a l’autre, tels que mis de l’avant dans le roman Les Fiances de 1812 de Joseph Doutre. La deuxieme partie (1845-1922) porte sur la consolidation des acquis des deux communautes et au mouvement possible de retranchement, explore le contexte social domine par la religion, et couvre la periode allant de l’immigration provoquee par la Famine irlandaise, jusqu’aux premieres decennies du XXe siecle. L’Appel de la race de Lionel Groulx est relu a la lumiere de son insertion dans un discours a la fois litteraire et socio-politique. Le memoire demontre que les rapports entre Irlandais et Canadiens francais ont suivi un parcours qui les a menes d’abord au rapprochement politique et culturel et ultimement vers une relation plus conflictuelle.


This interdisciplinary study, drawing from both Quebec literature and contemporary Irish-Canadian historiography, explores the history of Irish immigration and integration in Quebec and the singular experiences of both French Canadians and Irish Catholics in a shared social space. Benefiting from a rigorous reading of socio-historical materials, the literary analysis allows for a study of the figure of the Irish to explore how he is portrayed as a Quebec social and literary reference. The thesis covers a period of about one hundred years, from the start of the XIXth to the beginning of the XXth centuries The first period (1815-1844) is steeped in a liberal and patriot perspective and allows us to reconsider what was at stake in the relationship between the Irish and French-Canadians, positing an idealistic and utopian heterogeneity as promoted in Joseph Doutre’s novel, Les Fiances de 1812. The second part (1845-1922), sheds light on the efforts of both communities to consolidate their achievements and to perhaps turn inward in a religiously dominated societal context covering the period from the Irish immigration in response to the Great Famine to the first decades of the the XXth century. The part engages in a reinterpretation of Lionel Groulx’s novel L’Appel de la race as seen through its contribution to a literary and socio-political reading of the times. The thesis illustrates the evolving relationship between the Irish and French Canadian communities over one hundred years, from an initial desire for connexion to an eventually more conflicted relationship.

¬La figure de l’Irlandais au Québec : perspectives historiques et littéraires (1815-1922)

Describing an emerging field of research, one that is fundamentally interdisciplinary and heuristic in its phenomenological approach, can be overwhelming. In one sense, everything has yet to be done, but to state even this would be to negate precursory forays into the study of contemporary circus as practiced in Quebec and disseminated throughout the world from an unexpected new circus capital. In this short essay, I give a first-hand account of the creation of the Montreal Working Group for Circus Research, its rapid growth and integration into Montreal's vibrant cosmopolitan circus scene. The Working Group and its ongoing collaboration with National Circus School of Montreal have served as a nexus for developing research strategies and a vocabulary for the new field of contemporary circus studies in North America. In thirty short years, circus--in its contemporary narrative-driven, animal-free form--has blossomed in Quebec to the extent that it has become a potent cultural and economic symbol of the successful marriage of creativity and entrepreneurship. Circus is both performing art and business, fundamentally global and multinational in its traditions and the provenance of its artists and, in the case of Quebec, very much presented as a distinctive hybrid model for creativity emerging from a distinct society. The impact of Quebec circus on the Montreal economy is well over one billion dollars in direct revenue, not counting the trickle-down effect and impact on secondary and tertiary industries, which rely on circus activity locally and abroad. Cirque du Soleil's annual gross revenues have been, alone, roughly one billion dollars, with over 85% coming from the US, through its touring shows, product sales, and--mostly--its eight permanent Las Vegas productions, with the remainder from its ten touring productions throughout the world. (18) Its administrative and creative headquarters are situated in Montreal, as are its costumes, properties, sets, and multimedia workshops, production and touring offices, and many of its creative partners such as Sid Lee Marketing (with whom Cirque has created the joint venture Sid Lee Entertainment), and Geodezik. Before the recent wave of job cuts (30 in Fall 2012, 400 in Winter 2013, and depending on sources, another couple hundred over the past year), (19) Quebec-based expenses accounted, before the recent wave of job cuts, for roughly 85% of its expenses on a one billion dollar operating budget. Cirque's impact, locally, is phenomenal. The next category of Montreal-based circus companies, Cirque Eloize (in which Cirque du Soleil reportedly a 50% stake) and the independently-run 7 doigts de la main (known in the US as 7 Fingers) and their subsidiary companies reportedly have operating budgets of around 10-12 million dollars each. (20) Most of their revenue comes from international touring. Another forty smaller circus companies make up for roughly a million dollars of direct economic activity. I'm not including the five circus for social change organizations, the National Circus School of Montreal (the only government-funded elite-level school in North America), the twenty "feeder schools" and studios, Montreal Complement Cirque, Montreal's annual international circus festival, or la TOHU, North America's only permanent theatre-in-the round devoted to contemporary circus which offers a complete subscription season. Quebec schools now regularly offer circus activities as par of their physical education curriculum or as part of extra-curricular activities. Finally, the province of Quebec, since 2001, has recognized circus as a legitimate art form and has ensured steady provincial funding for its more experimental productions through a program exclusively devoted to circus arts. (21) Contemporary circus with its combination of artistic activity and sports ethos has permeated Quebec society in ways that cannot be ignored by the academy. Following Cirque du Soleil's quick and phenomenal success worldwide, its spectacular success in the US and effective infiltration into American pop culture (Cirque presence twice at the Oscars, twice at the Super Bowl, and filtered through musical stars such as Madonna and Pink as they integrate circus in their acts), with the resulting economic consequences, the very term "cirque" has come to differentiate the high value artistic brand from the traditional family-oriented circus. …

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Contemporary Circus Research in Quebec: Building and Negotiating and emerging Interdisciplinary Field

Apres des annees de spectacles aphones et hauts en couleur, la parole s’immisce au Cirque du Soleil par la voix salee d’un travesti new-yorkais vetu de cuir qui nous convie a accepter le freak en soi. L’article explore, notamment a partir d’ouvrages savants sur les exhibitions et la tradition americaine du freakshow et du sideshow, la paradoxale proposition, a la fois intimiste et discursive, d’une parole revendiquant l’unicite. Zumanity, malgre la promesse d’une intimite spectaculaire, offre des gesticulations erotiques sans but, sans joie ni allegresse. Le sexe demeure, selon les numeros et la susurration voluptueuse du maitre de ceremonie, quelque chose qui ne nourrit ni ne rend heureux. Reprocher au cabaret erotique sa vacuite, c’est du meme coup critiquer celle de notre societe consommatrice et superficielle, representee en un condense caricatural a Las Vegas. Avec Zumanity, le Cirque du Soleil s’est eloigne du cirque pour frayer avec l’idee americaine du cabaret allemand de l’entre-guerre. En pretant la gouverne a des gens de theâtre, le Cirque s’est donne la permission de devier, encore une fois, des preceptes du genre circassien tout en cherchant a renouveler son style et son bassin de createurs et d’artisans. Le discours de Zumanity demeure etrangement metatheâtral (et metacircassien), dans la mesure ou il affirme la volonte et la capacite du Cirque du Soleil de reveler ses atouts sans gene ni honte. Le spectacle se targue d’en etre un sur l’intime – l’intimite du sexe, le devoilement de ses desirs, de ses perversions et de ses preferences. En realite, c’est le Cirque qui s’exhibe. Non pas un individu ni un regroupement, mais une entreprise a vocation culturelle qui revele son desir de faire americain, d’etre vu par et avec ceux qui comptent, de defrayer la chronique mondaine, de souligner sa propre audace.

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« Zumanity : la spectacularisation de l'intime ou le pari impossible d'authenticité au Cirque »

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Le Québec à Las Vegas : pérégrinations postidentitaires dans l’hyper-Amérique

Cet article illustre le profond paradoxe chez David Fennario d'un combat contre l'inauthenticite d'un dramaturge presque platonicien dans ses resistances a la « posture » et aux pretentions. D'origine ouvriere, il vivra mal le succes immediat de ses premieres pieces au Theâtre Centaur ( On the job, Nothing to Lose et Balconville ) et son association symbiotique a ce theâtre institutionnel. Sa piece Banana Boots sera consideree et analysee en tant que moment d'affranchissement de ses anciens liens avec le Centaur et avec le theâtre traditionnel. L'affranchissement donnera lieu a un engagement dans l'action envers la population proletaire. Fennario, seul en scene, ne jouant d'autre personnage que le sien et relatant un moment de transformation lie a l'idee qu'il se faisait de lui-meme, laissera presager l'emergence d'un veritable recit de conversion. Ce recit donne lieu a une profession de foi a la fois politique et ethique qui s'inscrit dans une reflexion plus large sur la presomption de la prise de parole, sur les enjeux de la sincerite et sur le role de l'artiste dans la societe. Abstract: This essay explores the fundamental paradox found in David Fennario's ongoing combat against inauthenticity. This unabashedly Platonist playwright has crafted his discourse through his resistance to posturing and pretense. The immediate success of his first plays at the Centaur Theatre ( On the Job, Nothing to Lose, Balconville ) and his symbiotic relationship to the institutional theatre challenged his working-class origins and ethos. His play, Banana Boots , will be analyzed in this essay as a pivotal moment in his breaking away from traditional theatre and the Centaur, specifically. This new-found freedom allowed theatre to become a tool for active engagement with the working class. Fennario, alone on stage, playing himself, engages in a conversion narrative. This conversion narrative acts as a political and ethical declaration of principles and echoes a larger debate on the disenfranchised role in speaking out, on the moral stakes of sincerity, and on the artist's function in today's society.

Le combat de David Fennario contre l'inauthenticité

This introduction to the dossier examining where Quebecois and American circus cultures meet weaves in a lengthy historical overview of principal (and oft-forgotten) points of convergence and reciprocal influences across the border. The very term "cirque" as it has been used in the US to define Quebec-influenced contemporary circus, acts as a springboard to explore cultural cross-pollinations over the centuries, since Ricketts initial eighteen-month tour to Montreal and Quebec City in 1797-1798, and the emergence of a new global circus culture that grew out of Quebec but could only have been possible with its phenomenal commercial and cultural success in the US.

Louis Patrick Leroux

Papers

Contemporary Circus Research in Quebec: Building and Negotiating and emerging Interdisciplinary Field

« Zumanity : la spectacularisation de l'intime ou le pari impossible d'authenticité au Cirque »

Le Québec à Las Vegas : pérégrinations postidentitaires dans l’hyper-Amérique

Le combat de David Fennario contre l'inauthenticité

North-South Circus Circulations: Where Québécois and American Circus Cultures Meet