Growing up, aerial artist Alyssa Bigbee was one of the smart kids – smart enough to make the third-grade honor roll and earn a field trip to see the all-Black UniverSoul Circus in Fairmount Park.
There, her heart filled with a dream of being like the Black aerial artists she saw soaring above her under the circus tent.
It was pure joy, but, as a little Black girl, “it seemed out of reach,” she said. Too few classes, not enough money to take them, and nowhere near enough role models.
Even so, she persisted and now, as co-host of Cannonball Festival’s Black Circus Week, Bigbee wants to bring her joy to others.
“We want to transport audiences into what a world looks like filled with joy and love,” she said. “In my piece, I’m trying to invite my audience to imagine a world, what this world could look like and how you can bring those possibilities into your world.”
Black Circus Week runs Sept. 6 through Sept. 11 as part of the Cannonball Festival and the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Black circus artists offer nearly a dozen different acts including “Finding Joy,” by Bigbee’s group, Rebel Arts Movement. “Finding Joy” envisions a world of pride and openness for Black and queer people, she said.
Circus arts – juggling, aerial, acrobatics, and clowning – play a big part in the Fringe, running Sept. 5 through Sept. 29. In addition to Black Circus Week shows, there’s a lineup of a dozen more circus shows, most of them at one of the Fringe Festival’s main hubs, Circus Campus in Mt. Airy. Shows take place in and around the campus, a repurposed Catholic church.
There’s even a circus opera, “The Tire Swing,” designed to re-connect the audience with the child-like joy they experienced when young. “Audience will experience a contemporary opera sung from new heights,” says the program guide.
Circus has evolved from the three-ring extravaganzas many of us remember. And because a nationally accredited circus school, Circadium School of Contemporary Circus, is located here, Philadelphia has enough circus talent to become a national center for circus’ many disciplines.
“How to Fringe” guide: Here’s how to find the performances, dates and locations that work for you.
“In general, circus is a discipline that connects to a perennially and captivating thing, which is exploring our own human potential,” said Ben Grinberg, himself a circus artist and the Cannonball’s programming manager. “It’s inspiring and cathartic to watch a human being approach a danger or take a risk. To see them face that and overcome that, it has an immense value.”
Last year, Grinberg said, the Cannonball made a deliberate effort to solicit and include Black circus acts, but there was a problem. They were scattered all over the festival, and not organized in a way that allowed the Black circus artists to meet, collaborate, and see each other’s shows.
This year, for the first official Black Circus Week, there are day-time workshops, skills jams, and an artist-only open-mic, salon, and showcase. Bigbee shares her hosting duties with Zeloszelos Marchandt of Portland, Oregon’s Tauraro Artist Residency, and Connecting Circus Students Around the World (CSAW), an organization with Philadelphia roots.
Among the offerings is this year’s CSAW winner, “Black Joy: An Ancestral Journey to Liberation” from Twin Eclipse, a Black aerialist duo from New York. “Black Joy” combines circus, dance, and documentary to pay tribute to the past and history in an exploration of identity and resilience. The CSAW award, for a new circus work from a BIPOC artist, company or collective, includes a $5,600 prize and other support from Cannonball.
Circus week co-host Marchandt presents “Water Follows Salt” and hosts “Black Circus After Dark.”
In addition to Bigbee’s “Finding Joy,” performances, she will host a “Black Circus Family Extravaganza, a free show for families on Sunday, Sept. 8, at 2:30 p.m. at Liberty Lands park, 913 N. 3d St. She and her son, fellow circus artist Kane Duvene, 8, team up for “Team Mighty,” a free show for youngsters about a high-flying, mother-son superhero duo.
“A lot of artists create from their day-to-day experiences or to connect with audiences that want to see themselves in their arts,” Bigbee said, explaining that Black circus goes beyond athletic prowess.
“Many of them have social justice at their core. What they are experiencing day to day becomes part of their art,” she said. “They want to provide that space for the audience to come and to not just be entertained, but to be invited to think, to see themselves.”
FYI
Philadelphia Fringe Festival 2024, Sept. 5-29, hundreds of performances at venues around the city. Includes the Cannonball Festival, Circus Campus Presents, and Black Circus Week offerings. Search “circus” under events, then genres on the website. 215-413-1318.
Cannonball Festival, Sept. 1-29. Shows every day at four Philadelphia locations: Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 N. American St.; Icebox Project Space, 1400 N. American St.; Liberty Lands Park, 913 N. 3d St., and Maas building studio and garden, 1327 N. Randolph St.
Black Circus Week, Sept. 6-11, shows at Cannonball locations.
Circus Campus Presents, Sept. 5-29, part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, 6452 Greene St., in Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, near SEPTA’s Upsal regional rail station.
