Cirque ’SC brings a taste of the circus to campus
Students that ventured into the cooling November night on Saturday were treated to a dazzling spectacle of lights, music and “cirque,” the French word for circus. It has taken on a meaning that refers to human performance art.
Raging success · Over 500 USC students witnessed the spectacle. The performance was divided into four acts, and the feedback from students in the crowd on the performances was uniformly positive. — Photo courtesy of USC Performing Arts Committee
About 500 students milled about on McCarthy Quad throughout the evening, playing carnival games, drinking hot chocolate and watching the artwork of the physical feats of Dream World Cirque’s best performers at Cirque ’SC.
A program organized by the Performing Arts Committee of Program Board, Cirque ’SC was the brainchild of Performing Arts Committee Executive Director Monisha Bajaj. She envisioned bringing a circus act to campus when she first joined the Performing Arts Committee three years ago and was thrilled to see it come to fruition Saturday night.
“I never imagined it [would] be outside, or that we would get the feedback that we did,” she said.
The show consisted of a variety of cirque acts, including ribbon dancing, stilt walking, aerial silk acrobatics and a performance on a Cyr wheel, a large metal wheel that an acrobat uses to spin around the stage. Four acts took place, with constant ambient performances in between, and viewers got a visual treat in a variety of ways.
The stage was set up with apparatuses to hang the silks from and colorfully lit from all around, giving the vividly costumed performers an ethereal glow as they contorted, spun and danced.
Bajaj described the inspiration for the event to be promotion of visual and performing arts and said that she wanted to create an experience in as many senses possible. Though Performing Arts Committee often puts on programs for what Bajaj described as niche audiences, she believes the amazing show of talent at Cirque ’SC really brought the enthusiasm of the students.
The performers themselves were excited to have a chance to showcase their art and skills. Seventeen-year-old Lauren Hasserjian was one of the aerial acrobats and got involved in cirque art through her gymnastics background. She described the show as more than just a spectacle, as a strong form of artistic expression and release.
“I think I can relate my struggles in life to gravity, so when I go up there, I’m looking down on my struggles,” Hasserjian said. “I feel invincible and liberated.”
Hasserjian is a full-time student and part-time worker, and said the stress of her busy life is released when she goes to aerial practice. She is part of Dream World Cirque, a boutique cirque company founded by performer Jena Carpenter in 2005. Carpenter herself has been professionally performing all around the world since 2000, and was in the film Polar Express and one of Outkast’s music videos.
Hasserjian said the number of gigs each type of performer gets in a month varies, and was excited that Cirque ’SC called for so many different shows of talent.
The event’s environment was augmented by the D.J. skills of freshman music industry student Tanner Williams, who has been producing and deejaying for six years. He said he came to find Cirque ’SC through a friend involved, and was excited to showcase his skills for a larger audience. Though his true passion is producing (his original music can be found on SoundCloud under the moniker ONX), he said he loves to help create an atmosphere. “For this type of event, I start off chill and read the crowd, and play what the crowd is into,” Williams said. “I started with the circus theme, and went from there.”
Students responded very positively to the event, and the crowd grew as the evening wore on. Sophomore Rachel Ben-Menachem, marketing director for the Performing Arts Committee, said that they had been promoting the event in a variety of media, including on Facebook, on campus with posters and balloons and via email to get a buzz around the event. “We did a lot of things to get the buzz going,” Ben-Menachem said. “We had a promo event a few days ago at Tommy Trojan where people could throw paint darts and now it is the background for the photobooth.”
After watching 17-year-old contortionist Brandee Mills fold herself into a hoop shape and be picked up and put around her partner’s waist, senior communications major Patricia Silva was in awe.
“They’re doing things that look humanly impossible,” Silva said. “At the same time, its such a different outlet, more intricate and interesting to watch.”