OPEN LETTERS TO THE CIRCUS

“Translating this text has been a creative act requiring a strong command of contemporary language in the field of circus and performing arts. To translate means to make accessible the meaning that certain terms embody when they ‘travel’ from dance, theatre, or performance art into circus, from academic research into practice, from circus as a sequence of forms, acts, and tricks to circus as an art of creation, as a form of thinking and writing. 

Just as the OPEN LETTERS originate from a dialogue among multiple voices, we translators – coming from different backgrounds and modes of practice – engaged in dialogue and mutual listening within a collective translation process.

Circus brings us together as a field of professional research and finds us active across multiple areas – practice, teaching, creation, research, critical reflection: this plurality of approaches has expanded our capacity to structure an in-depth discourse on the text to be translated. With a vocabulary enriched by diverse experiences, we have sought to make the contents of the texts accessible to the circus community, using this exercise as an opportunity to critically question our own practices in light of the profound issues they raise.”