Exciting Circus Performances Coming to Riga: Riga Circus School Students and French Star Joans Bourgeois to Perform in Renovated Arena

Already this weekend, June 11 at At 17.00, the first public performance of the students of the Riga Circus School will take place in the renovated Riga Circus Arena The new circus game. Young people aged between 11 and 18 will participate in the show, and various circus disciplines learned at the circus school are represented in it – aerial acrobatics, balance (unicycles), juggling and acrobatics. The new circus game was created by the teachers and students of the circus school in cooperation with the director of Jelgava New Theater Antra Leiti-Straumi, actors Juri Bandeniek and Anna Marija Ozola, as well as other performing arts professionals. The show is suitable for audiences of different ages, especially families.

Director of the Riga Circus, Māra Pāvula, emphasizes: “The future generation of artists has a place where they can perform – in the same circus arena where the guest performances of circus artists from around the world are seen. We have the opportunity to see how the future of Latvia’s contemporary circus is being formed.”

Riga circus schools manager and show producer Mari Sanžarevska says: “Circus is not only about physical skills – it is also about artistic vision and the ability to address the audience. The children of the circus school learn teamwork, empathy and cooperation with other stage partners. This show is also a contribution to the field of Latvian circus direction – since there are no circus directors in Latvia, this is an opportunity to expand experience for directors of other performing arts and young professionals. Cooperation with Antra Leiti-Straumi was very successful, as she has experience working with children and young people, as well as an interest in new forms of expression.”

On the other hand, on June 17, a modern circus and choreography star from France will visit Riga Circus Joans Bourgeois with a centrifugal show Falling – a production that plays with the laws of physics, defying centrifugal force and gravity.

“Bourgeois’ performances are enhanced not only by powerful performance, but also by surprising scenography solutions. In this show, a platform-pendulum weighing almost two tons will be installed in the dome of the circus arena – a “stage” inhabited by six characters of the show. Joan Bourgeois (1981) is internationally recognized circus and movement artist, widely known not only in circus and choreography circles, but also in the digital environment, where Bourgeois has gained great popularity ladder performance video. This is the first time that a large-scale show by Bourgeois is visiting the Baltics.

“This show complements the already magnificent program of the arena’s warm-up season – Joans Bouržuas is a personality with a capital letter in the European performing arts scene,” says the creative director of Riga Circus, Mārtiņš Ķibers. He mentions that in the first season after the reconstruction of the arena, he managed to use the potential of the arena very successfully, bringing to Riga bright and mutually very different modern circus performances. “Also the aesthetically clean and laconic, but technically so complicated show Falling we can accommodate thanks to the reconstruction of the arena and the powerful suspension systems,” continues Mārtiņš, adding that the transformation of the circus arena is still in progress – next season the arena is to be equipped with grandstands, as well as sound, light and curtain systems.

The international contemporary circus and street art festival has also become known Re Riga! program – this year the festival will take place from August 15 to 20, and this time it will take place both in the premises and yard of the Riga Circus, and in the nearby surroundings in the Riga urban area. As usual, there will be shows for both families and more mature audiences, as well as both paid and free shows. The festival program includes several clowning shows, object manipulation and juggling shows, and much more. The main guests of the festival: The Galindos (Catalonia) with a show of black humor Stop laughingclown Cronopio (Argentina/Latvia) with a show Pachamamoassociation Haircut (Sweden) with an amazing show Apparatus and Federico Menini (Argentina/Spain) with a juggling act Game.

More about the festival – cirks.lv