The circus world is a special, cosmopolitan world that consciously sets itself apart from normal everyday life. But even the circus cannot completely decouple itself from global trends. In recent years, the international circus scene has experienced a phase of de-globalization. The pandemic period had a particularly strong impact on China and it seems that the Chinese troupes, traditionally known for sensationalism, have only slowly recovered from it. Russia's war against Ukraine led to a justified reluctance towards Russian artists who, with all due respect for their individual achievements, especially when they come from state-affiliated institutions, also represent the aggressor state.
This year's Girona International Circus Festival may mark the beginning of a phase of the "new normal" that is surprisingly similar to the old one. The festival, whose unique selling point is the first presentation of performances from all over the world in Europe, is a good indicator of international trends. The Chinese troupes are back in their usual strength, and Russian artists make up a significant proportion of the field of participants and awardwinners. They were competing alongside Ukrainian artists who continue to deliver top performances with astonishing resilience despite challenging circumstances. Artists from South America and Mongolia, who have benefited from the upheavals of recent years, played a rather subordinate role this time.
Interesting trends were also observed in terms of the genres presented. The combination of unicycle with other disciplines seems to be one such trend and was represented both as a solo and as a duo. While Ukrainian Anna Fursenko, who is still at the beginning of her career, sets fresh accents with her unicycle and hula hoop performance that leaves still some room for further development, Marie-Lee Guilbert and Philippe Bélanger from Canada were convincing all along the line. Their "Pas de Deux" on the unicycle with him as the "base" included amazing tricks such as a handstand on his arms, a foot-on-head stand and, as the climax, a handstand on his head. The two artists, who had already worked in several shows for Cirque du Soleil, received a silver elephant.
Silver was also awarded to the Russian acrobatic quartet Uniqum. The four acrobats performed triple backflip and somersault as well as an original trick, a four-man-high handstand – all with precision and seemingly effortless.
The four aerial straps numbers in the competition were a somewhat one-sided accumulation, but did allow for interesting comparisons, especially between the three duos. The Russian-Ukrainian duo DayLight chose the adagio style all in white with a solo hair suspension intro. With such strong tricks as the fast rotation in the double tooth hang and the risky slide from the knee into the foot span, they secured bronze.
The American-Russian duo Desire won the jury's special prize and impressed with flowing transitions from trick to trick, which hardly gave you a chance to breathe over the pushing rock music. The dynamic up-tempo style is rare for the genre - it is interesting how the guitar solo replaces the drum roll to build up the tension for the final trick, when the partner falls from a height of around two meters into the arms of the partner hanging at the bottom of the trapeze.
The Russian duo "On Exhale" in golden costumes accompanied by spherical singing and violin sounds were reminiscent of ancient images. She stands on his shoulder and the two of them rise up; a moment later she falls and lands in his arm and a moment later in the back of his knee - the sequence of tricks is so graceful and the changes between tricks so quick that you almost forget the extreme risk. So it's not just the costumes that are golden, but also the well-deserved prize.
Despite some strong tricks, solo aerial straps artist Aidan Bryant was unable to take home any of the main prizes in this competition. The fifth straps act was the playful solo act of Nikol Taranenko that won the photographers' jury's award.
The second golden elephant went to China, to the Suining Acrobatic Troupe for a breathtaking combination of partner acrobatics, contortion and bowl balancing. Even when jumping in handstands from the feet to the arms of the base, the bowls remained skillfully balanced. This also applied to the final trick, in which the ase woman climbs a ladder while her partner stands on her head in a one-armed handstand. The only thing that caused some mixed feelings was the apparently very young age of the artists - this performance is unlikely to be seen on stages anywhere in Europe.
The second participating act from China came from the Cangzhou Acrobatic Troupe. The eight artists balanced kite-like fabric-covered masts while they presented a mixture of Far Eastern choreography, hand vaulting, and Icarian games. The unusual performance, which was particularly impressive with its opulent, colorful appearance, was awarded bronze.
The line-up of bronze winners is completed by the Zholdasovy trio from Kazakhstan. Straightforward, classic, powerful - that's how you can describe their number on the Russian Bar. Driven by the sounds of "Hit the Road Jack," the daring of the jumps increased to a double straight backflip and a triple backflip - always performed with confidence.
The jury of critics chose the Chilean juggler Chris Aguirre, who represents the fifth generation of artists in his family. His performance, in which he juggled up to six clubs and five footballs, contained a lot of South American temperament, but few unique features.
In line with the classic style of the festival, there were of course clowns too. In one selection show, Cachipuchi from Chile made the audience laugh, in the other show the "Entry Clowns Team" did the same. They are typical representatives of the clown styles of their home countries, but were unable to set particularly convincing new accents.
If there were a prize for the best choreography, there would probably be two candidates. The Japanese formation Haribow combined rope skipping with absolute dance virtuosity. Inspired by urban dance, their number was one fast-paced "dance battle" in which the rope whirled through with perfect timing.
The Davydenko Trio from Ukraine was choreographically strong in a different way. The three young artists Daria, Oleksandra and Valeriia knew how to embed their technically strong partner acrobatics in flowing and synchronized movements. The three sisters are also successful as solo handstand artists. Valeriia in particular is no stranger to the world of circus festivals - and is also a multiple world record holder in handbalancing.
With such a strong field of participants, thirteen was anything but an unlucky number for the festival organizers. We experienced the thirteenth edition of this festival, which attracts not only artists, but also professional audiences from all over the world. Director Genis Matabosh lives for the circus - this is demonstrated not only by his festival, but also by the other activities of his "Circus Arts Foundation". Anyone visiting the festival for the first time should definitely plan a tour to the museum he created, "Circusland" in Besalú.
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