At C!rca we create circus that moves the heart, mind and soul. We discover, cultivate and present works and experiences from the living heart of circus – vital, challenging and delightful. We believe circus is a rich artistic territory that can deeply touch audiences and participants. To achieve this, we progress with ceaseless inventiveness (in all aspects of our art and operations) guided by safe danger and fuelled by love and respect.

C!rca is unique in a world filled with circus works that conserve and preserve the traditional and spectacle-driven elements of the circus artform. Too often, circus is about continuing practices that affirm rather than extend our understandings of what circus, and indeed, the world can be. In place of this, C!rca’s work posits that the human body is, in extremis, emotionally connected, spiritually resonant and deeply affecting. In its five current creations touring Australia and the world, C!rca has created a boutique contemporary artform from the traditional languages of circus. Alive to improvisation, multi-media and collaborations, infused with an immersive use of light and sound and featuring startlingly re-imagined circus skills, the work is a new frontier in circus arts.

In the words of Artsitic Director Yaron Lifschitz:

"In the circus we don’t need words to communicate. Instead we have the most magnificent expressive vehicle of all – the human body.Our bodies speak of pain and joy, of hope and despair, of love and loss, of courage and timidity. The list goes on and on and the words pile up. So at the end of the day when we talk about our shows we have a big pile of pitiful words and 70 minutes of powerful, visceral and immediate human action.C!rca contains little or no set, characters, storyline or theme. It has the barest of costumes and basic lights, circus equipment and choreographic languages. There is nothing up our sleeves (and we don’t even have sleeves!). We also don’t use words.Instead we have an ensemble of artists who can move, think and feel. Who make choices, improvise, explore. Who understand that strength and vulnerability are not opposites. Who know that their failure and effort is as valid and compelling as their successes.In the incandescence of live performance I hope this courage, openness and humanity find a way into our audiences hearts. I love the ideas that went into making the work (how many circuses have scenes named after books of poetry by Paul Celan?) and I love that these are part of the lived fabric of the show – something to be watched and savoured rather than understood or written about.For if anything C!rca is like a meal. Full of ingredients and flavours you know but in combinations that are utterly new and often disconcerting. I hope you enjoy.”

C!rca produces work for all different ages and spaces, bringing the C!rca experience to the broadest possible audience.