USA: CIRCUS OZ PERFORMS ACROBAT ACTS FOR NEW YORK AUDIENCES

Record ID: 390831

  • Title: USA: CIRCUS OZ PERFORMS ACROBAT ACTS FOR NEW YORK AUDIENCES
  • Date: 28th January 2001
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) SCU SOUNDBITE (English) KAREENA OATES SAYING "But also I think a unique company in that we're very Australian and we try to hold on to that. That's about an easy going, kind of ... being on stage but not being really - it's not really slick and polished like Cirque du Soleil, it's kind of rough around the e
  • Embargoed: 12th February 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA8G37IKD50UBYNSKXE91KD3YSZ
  • Story Text: Defying the laws of theater and physics, Circus Oz creates an alternative universe, upsetting the laws of the Big Top itself. This zany troupe, originally from Australia, is soon to begin a world tour following their recent appearance in New York.
    Instead of wild animals, there are marble statues that scoff at contortionism, high -heeled, leather-bound dominatrixes cracking whips, and hula-hoop dancers with bare midriffs and tattoos.
    They traipse over tradition, giving new meaning to "the Greatest Show on Earth," by creating arresting mind expanding images set to funky rock and roll.
    Founded in 1978 in Port Melbourne, Circus Oz blends artistic experiment with pure entertainment and social commentary. They loot high and low culture, pillaging the popular and the obscure.
    Hula-Hoop artist Kareena Oates, who sets her hoops into a swirl of flames says they don't follow a particular school of circus unlike their counterparts in Europe and North America.
    While traditional circus artists are constantly faced with the question of identity, Australians don't have the weight of history on their shoulders, so they just tend to try things.
    Circus Oz 's predominant aesthetic is to create a group of strongly individual characters, not a homogenized group following a single vision. They're brasher, rougher and sexier than most.
    Sebastian Dickins, who performs the hair- raising swinging trapeze, says they make it a point to turn people's expectations of "the circus."
    This group of global roustabouts have built an international reputation for its off-the-wall displays and open mocking of its Australian origins.
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