Just outside Downtown Cleveland, a local gymnasium offers its high ceilings and padded floors to a group of performance artists who gather to hone their craft. Formed more than a decade ago, the teaches skills in a variety of acrobatic disciplines and offers opportunities for its members to perform throughout the year.
Co-founders Vanessa Lange and Jaime Bouvier both began as students, then they became instructors.
鈥淚 love teaching,鈥� Lange said. 鈥淚t makes me think about the moves I do in a very different way. You have to break it down step-by-step and have to learn how other people鈥檚 bodies and brains work.鈥�
Bouvier is also a teacher in her full-time job as an associate professor at Case Western Reserve University鈥檚 law school.
"I鈥檝e realized I鈥檓 teaching the same thing everywhere,鈥� Bouvier said. 鈥淚鈥檓 teaching a skill, and I鈥檓 teaching how to reach that skill, whether it鈥檚 writing or climbing up a silk or doing turns on a trapeze.鈥�
Focusing on collaborations as a group rather than individual performances, Crooked River Circus wanted to blend their usual 鈥渉uman tricks鈥� with theatrical elements to create a full-scale production. Their first foray resulted in an immersive theatrical circus show that combined a narrative and live music with aerial and ground acrobatics.
Three years later, the group returns to the stage for the holiday season with its second full-length show at Featuring original music composed by Obediya Jones-Darrell and scene design by professional rigger Bill Auld, the production will include artistic talent at every twist, flip and turn.
Lange loves the aspect of performing, but she admits there鈥檚 still a bit of intimidation to it, even after her many years in the craft.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of emotional buildup,鈥� Lange said. 鈥淵ou have to work through it before you go on stage. And then, you鈥檙e the only one in the spotlight, and even though I鈥檝e done it so many times, it鈥檚 terrifying. But you start to trust that you can do it, and you鈥檙e watching your friends do it and they鈥檙e doing amazing. And that feeling of being supported by your friends while you鈥檙e up in the air is really awesome too.鈥�
For its members, the Crooked River Circus provides much more than a space to perform. It鈥檚 about building trust, building relationships and building a sense of community.
鈥淲e all do this for love, because we literally love doing what we do. This is our hobby, this is our avocation,鈥� Bouvier said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e created a really wonderful group of people who are supportive of each other, and that鈥檚 just a lovely thing to be a part of.鈥�
鈥淗ow the Circus Stole Christmas鈥� will be performed at Cleveland Public Theatre in the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood Dec. 1-10.
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