Written by Sayuri Govender
In January 2022, Ratrock interviewed Emma Owens–the co-founder of Columbia Circus Collective. Following their graduation in 2022, she and other co-founder Sam Landa realized they couldn't leave circus behind as they moved into their post-Columbia lives. Thus, they founded the New York Circus Project, a nonprofit organization aiming to connect circus artists across the city and bring the art of circus into the lives of everyday New Yorkers. I got the chance to interview Emma and Sam about the process of creating the Circus Project and watch one of their first ever showcases.
I attended their Fall Cabaret show, presented during a Columbus Ave Open Streets event on October 8th. In the middle of Columbus Avenue, between 71st and 72nd, was a massive stage, a rig, and dozens of seats filled with audience members. It was the first time I had ever attended any sort of circus, and I was amazed by the artistry and the talent I saw. I also was astounded by the interdisciplinary nature of the New York Circus Project. As performers juggled, backflipped, and soared in the air, live singers accompanied with songs from Lana Del Rey to beabadoobee. The show was a blend of comedy, aerial work, contortion, and other unbelievable feats, where I was constantly in awe of the performers ability to push their bodies to the extreme in such beautiful ways. The personalities of each performer shone through their intricate costumes, distinct and detailed acts, audience interaction, and their comfortability on stage that made it seem like their overwhelmingly impressive talents were effortless. Through passion and skill, the New York Circus Project brought a world of wonder, joy, and creative expression to the streets of the Upper West Side.
Throughout the show, performers extravagantly contorted their bodies, flipped and twirled while suspended in the air, and moved through the stage with extreme precision and power. For the whole show, Emma stood behind the stage with a massive smile on her face, incredibly proud of the Circus Project and its performers. “It's been so special to work with this community and bring more people together,” Emma beamed. “That's been so rewarding. We’ve met a lot of people we didn't know about before, which has been really awesome. We're just trying to expand our network as much as possible. We want everyone to feel included in this new project.” Sam added, “We're trying to meet a lot of local New Yorkers that have done circus here, as well as bringing in a bunch of people from out of town. In this show, we have performers from Montreal, Vegas, Colorado, as well as New York. We're passionate not only about bringing more circus to New York, but also meeting and building the New York circus community.”
As the Circus Project works to bring circus to New York, they have faced their own set of unique challenges–especially through the Open Streets performances. Emma expressed how, in comparison to performing at venues at Columbia, “there are a lot more obstacles and a lot of moving pieces to performing in the middle of the street. But also, there're so many people who are stumbling upon it who wouldn't normally, and it's really awesome. We've even had people watching from their windows or their fire escapes!”
Many audience members were Upper West Side families, with children sitting eagerly in the front of the stage while their parents looked on from the sidelines. I noticed one young boy attempting to do a handstand after watching a performer walk around on their hands for minutes. In one act, the performer–a modern circus clown–interacted with the crowd and did a series of simple and silly tricks while “preparing” himself to do a backflip to the crowd’s delight. At one point, they asked for a volunteer, and a young boy enthusiastically stood up and got on stage. As I watched the performer and the boy laugh and showcase a trick together, I experienced the vision that Emma and Sam described. The crowd was enamored with the performers, the live singers, and the unique, shocking, and extravagant art of circus.
While the Open Streets performance featured more of a traditional circus showcase–as it was more family-oriented and featured typical circus acts–it still embodied a fresh take on circus. You could feel the passion of the performers and the care they had for each other. When one act was facing technical difficulties, another one stepped up and did some improvised juggling while they fixed the issue, entertaining the crowd and assuaging the stress of the first performer and the tech crew. The crowd also was deeply supportive, remaining engaged and clapping loudly when the performer took the stage again. Each act was passionate, thrilling, and heartfelt, making years and years of practice look easy.
Whether it was someone’s first time seeing a circus or their hundredth performance, a small community bloomed together on Columbus Ave. Sam expressed how “we want to keep this series of free shows going in some capacity; we really enjoyed doing these. We would love to do a similar project in the future and expand it, making it a bit more of a creative and novel project–whether that's performing in a new environment adapting books or plays into circus shows. Alternatively, we could take an interdisciplinary approach and work with other performance artists, like dancers, live musicians, fashion companies, actors, and so forth.”
As the New York Circus Project continues to grow, their vision stays at the forefront of the work they do. “We just want to bring circus to New York in a diversity of mediums,” Emma mused, “it's the center of the universe for arts–especially theater, dance, performing arts–and circus is a performing art that can be used to benefit different types of other art in a really great way. We don't want to be limited by being just a cabaret, just an adult sexy nightlife circus, or just a family circus. We want to be able to do it all. This is only the very beginning of what we want to do.”