| |  | | Kia ora e kā tākata maninirauAue! Ko te waekanui o te tau Kerekori, kua tata ki te tau hou Māori. Kua roko mātou i kā pūroko mai i kā motu katoa o te huka maninirau e noho kaha ana i te Kahuru ataahua. I a tātou katoa e aka atu ana ki Matariki, he wā pai tēnei ki te okioki me te whakaaro huritao mō te tau i tēnei wā - me te mahara ki o tātou hoa aroha kai ruka i Kā Whetū. Kai konei he pānui maninirau mōu :) Greetings to our fellow circus humansGosh! It’s the middle of the Gregorian year already, and almost the Māori New Year. We’ve been hearing reports from across kā motu of our circus peeps keeping active in a lovely Autumn. As we all head toward Matariki, it’s a nice time to pause and reflect on the year thus far - and remember our loved ones up there amongst Kā Whetū.
Here’s some of the latest circus news direct to you :)
| PĀNUI ANZCA / ANZCA UPDATE I roto i te ao maninirau o Aotearoa, he nui kā mahi kua tutuki i roto i te wā poto, ko te Taiopeka Rakatahi te mea tino nui. Nā Circability me Circ-Us i whakahaere, me te whakaaro ki te tū i ka rakatahi ki mua mo te haka kaupapa, te whakahaere, te whakaako awheawhe me te mahi. I kaha ake anō te whakauruka o te ao Māori ki roto i kā huihuika o te hui, ko te whakatau hei whakatuwhera, ko te poroporoaki hei kati, ko te tākaro raraka taura a Wiremu Sarich (Ngapuhi, Te Rarawa). He tauira tēnei mō te whakahaereka o ēnei huihuika Maninirau a muri ake nei, hai whakatenatena i te manaakitaka o te hapū nō rātou te whenua kai te whakahaerehia te huihuika. Mō te nuika o kā tākata i reira, koinei tō rātou whakaaturaka tuatahi ki kā tikaka Māori i waho o te haka whutupaoro. In the Aotearoa circus scene, a lot has accomplished in a short time, with the Youth Circus Festival being a particular highlight. It was co-organised by Circability and Circ-Us, with a view to placing young people more at the forefront in terms of event production, managing, teaching workshops and performance. There was also more integration of te ao Māori in the festival’s proceedings, with a whakatau to open it, a poroporoaki/karakia to close it, and a Māori rope-weaving game by Wiremu Sarich. This sets a precedent for how such Circus festivals could be run in the future, encouraging acknowledgement of the hapū on whose whenua the event is taking place. For many people there, it was their first exposure to Māori culture outside of rugby haka. | KŌRERO HAPORI MANINIRAU / CIRCUS COMMUNITY KŌRERO Kai te takitaki a ANZCA i tētahi kaupapa hou hai manaaki i kā kōrero ipuraki mō kā mea katoa Maninirau! He taiao noa e hui ai kā kaitoi Maninirau o te motu ki te whakaroko ki kā kōrero mai i ētahi atu o kā kaiwhakakuku Maninirau me te whakaputa i o rātou whakaaro me ō rātou whakaaro. Ka tū tō mātou tuatahi Kōrero Hapori Maninirau ki ruka Zoom ā te Rātapu te 25 o Takurua ā te 11am, mō 1.5 haora pea. Ka tukuna e mātou kā ororoko mai i te kōrerorero a muri ake nei kia wātea ai ki tō mātou paetukutuku. Ko tā mātou kōrero tuatahi ka ahu mai i te whakataukī e whai ake nei: “Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua." Ka tono mātou i kā tākata o te hapori he kōrero kōrero mō te whakapapa o Maninirau i Aotearoa (te takenga whanui ake rānei o Maninirau), te takeka mai o tā rātou kamupene (ina koa ko kā mea kua roa nei) me o rātou ake kōrero takeka mai ka whai whakaaro nui ki te whānui o Aotearoa. Tukuna mai tō hiahia ki te hiahia koe ki te whakapuaki kōrero ki info@anzca.co.nz. Kai te tūmanako mātou ki te whakaroko mai i a koe! Rēhita mā te takiuru ipuraki ki www.anzca.co.nz.nz ANZCA is piloting a new project to host an online kōrero for all things Circus! Kōrero means many things, i.e. to speak, have a conversation, tell stories, news, and history. It will be a casual environment where Circus artists from across the country can gather and listen to stories from other Circus practitioners and share their thoughts and ideas.
Our first Circus Community Kōrero will be held on Zoom on Sunday the 25th July at 11am. This will be approximately 1.5 hours. We will upload the audio from the conversation afterwards so it is available on our website. Our first discussion will be based around the following whakataukī: “Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua. I advance backwards into the future, with one eye fixed on the past (lest history’s mistakes repeat themselves).” We invite members of our community who have a story to share either about the history of Circus in New Zealand (or the broader origins of Circus), the origins of their Circus company (particularly long-standing ones) or even their own origin story that would be of interest to the wider Aotearoa circus community. Please send your interest through if you wish to share a story to info@anzca.co.nz. We look forward to hearing from you! Register by logging in online at www.anzca.co.nz | MĀTAURAKA / EDUCATION I tēnei wā kai te kana a ANZCA ki te haka i tētahi kōrero mō ka tohuka maninirau mai i Aotearoa hai āwhina i a mātou ki te tohe i te maatauraka mahi maninirau i Aotearoa. I puta mai tēnei i kā kōrerorero ki a Toi Mai - Te Kaunihera Whakawhanake Kaimahi - kai te mahi i tēnei wā i te arotake i kā paerewa o kā wāhaka ako mō kā mahi toi. Kai te pīraki rātou ki te mōhio he aha te ahua o te tohuka mahi maninirau ki te whakatau i te whakamahika e tika ana mō kā paerewa wāhaka o nāianei me te āwhina i a mātou ki te haka i kā mea hou mēnā ka whakaarohia e tika ana. ANZCA is currently trying to build a profile of circus professionals from Aotearoa to help us advocate for circus education in New Zealand. This has come out of conversations with Toi Mai - Workforce Development Council - who are currently doing a review of educational unit standards in performing arts. They want to get an understanding of what being a working circus professional looks like to determine the most relevant use of existing unit standards and to help assist us in creating new ones if deemed necessary. |  | Toi Rekeraki ki te Kāreti o Hato Mākareta / Cirque Aerials at St Margaret’s College | HE KŌRERO O KĀ WHĒUAUA ORA/LIFE ON EASY STREET BY PAUL KLAASS I’m trying to stay calm. The nerves are kicking in though. It's a mixture of trepidation from working a brand new pitch in a brand new town, and the building excitement I know I need to put on a good show. Will I be able to pull a crowd out of this relatively quiet morning? Will my show connect with them? Will they tip well at the end? Best get to it, a wise man once told me opportunity doesn’t knock on your bedroom door. One foot in front of the other. Wheel the case out. Put on the mic. Throw out the rope. Time to shine. 20 years ago, I watched a street performer’s show and thought it was the cleverest thing I’d ever seen. Not the magic tricks he was doing with 3 cups and a ball, or the juggling tricks with 3 oranges, or even the savvy patter that accompanied his presentation. It was the fact that he started on a normal everyday street, transformed it into his own personal theatre, and then impressed the crowd enough to demand not only their undivided attention for 45 mins, but also a substantial amount of notes and coins in his hat afterwards. All voluntarily and willingly given. I just thought “Wow, this guy’s cracked it!” No website. No business card. No agent. Just something out of nothing. And then off to do whatever he wanted with the other 23 hours of his mysterious and blessed day. I wanted in. And have been in for 2 decades now. I’ve performed my show in 7 different countries, had innumerable adventures, won some awards, made many friends (and a few enemies), and continue to make a full time living chasing this crazy career path. I’m not gonna say it's all fun & games though, I quickly discovered that the other 23 hours are not just spent sitting in cafes drinking coffee and chasing beautiful women. There are many many hours of training, devising, prop construction and admin. Sooo much admin! And yes, I had to get a website and an agent. But it's all worth it, and I still get a rush every time I set up a show, feel that it’s working, nail it, then count up the loot afterwards. People sometimes ask me if I’ve ever thought of quitting and the honest answer is no. I couldn’t think of any other job I’d rather do. As a guideline I’ve always said to myself when I wake, “Do you want to do what’s in front of you today?” And the answer is still “Yes.” So I do. It hasn’t gotten any easier either. It’s an ever changing world we live in. There are many factors that contribute to it becoming harder. Less cash in peoples’ pockets, tv game shows overexposing the art form by bringing rare skills right into our living rooms, local council rules and regulations restricting where and what you can do on the street, and of course a pesky little pandemic in the last few years reducing international tourist traffic to zero. It’s been a big test with many streeties who live off grid having to find other forms of income, and the ones who have held on having to deal with lower numbers through the hat, smaller audiences in compliance with crowd regulations, and comprised only of locals, also with less disposable income. But we’ve all been in the same boat, riding out the storm together. I’m extremely grateful for the street, and every show it gives me. Theatre, corporate and cabaret have all struggled immeasurably, with indoor events pretty much drying up completely. The 3 P’s have been essential. Perseverance, Patience and Pluck. And It's been pluckin’ hard times for all! Things are coming right though. Travel is opening up and the world is becoming a possibility again. I’m writing this article on my first overseas trip in years, and it feels hopeful. The streets are calling, and I’m ready to rock n roll. You can find me on Easy Street, roaring at the crowd, having the time of my life. Stay and enjoy the show folks, and don’t forget to tip at the end…katoa mai. |  | Paul Klaass performing in Bread and Circus - World Buskers Festival 2021 | KŌRERO MANINIRAU O AOTEAROA/NZ CIRCUS HISTORY You Must Know How To Save Yourself 1974 NZ Radio Interview with REG WILLIAMS B.1914 - D.2009 https://ngataonga.org.nz/collections/catalogue/catalogue-item?record_id=207529 Ngā Taonga Film and Sound Archive in Wellington is a wonderful national resource. Simply walking through the doors on the corner of Ghuznee and Taranaki gives you permission to peruse all sorts of archives in any area of Aotearoa history, including New Zealand Circus. Aotearoa circus may still be young in the bigger global picture but that does not mean we don’t have a colourful history. In 1974, Laurie Swindell interviewed Christchurch-born gymnast Reg Williams for Spectrum, a long-running radio documentary series (1972 to 2016). Reg talks about how he entered the New Zealand circus community after he developed an act for a local gym display. He was inspired to create something original and so he came up with a stunt that he called ‘The Slide of Death’. Once he had developed the act, he simply approached a local circus in Petone, auditioned his act and that was the beginning of his circus adventures, travelling the country in a horse caravan with approximately 80 horses drawing wagons. He speaks of memories of carnival shows at the St James in Wellington, of life on the road, the comradery of the circus family and so much more. Even in 1974 when this interview was recorded he talks about how circus has survived for thousands of years and that its inherent nature is to adapt to the changing world around us but that it will always stay with us. I wonder what Reg Williams would think of NZ circus today.
By Jenny Ritchie.
| PĀNUI MANINIRAU O TE PĀPAKA-A-MĀUI / CIRCUS OZ UPDATE Back in December 2021, we shared the news that Circus OZ was to go wind up, in a shock move by the board of the organisation at that time. This resulted in a dispute with its membership - this from Richard Watts on Arts Hub Australia: “Collectively, Circus Oz has almost 100 Company Members who span diverse generations and skill sets. Those members fought back against the previous Board’s attempt to eject them from managing the traditionally artist-led company, allegedly because of a directive from key funding body the Australia Council (contained in a report that has not been made publicly available).” In response, the former Board announced that they had no option than to wind up the company. Once again, the Company Members disagreed, resulting in the former Board stepping down en masse and a new Board being elected at Wednesday night’s EGM.”
https://www.artshub.com.au/news/features/the-rebuilding-of-circus-oz-begins-2531421/ | KĀ WHAKAATURAKA WĀHEKE/UPCOMING SHOWS |
Cirko Kali - Puaka/Rigel, 24-26 June, 1-3 July at Cathedral Sq, Christchurch
Christchurch Circus Trust - Te Tau Hou, 24-25 June at Christchurch Circus Centre Flip N Fly - La Soiree, 25 June at Sky City Theatre Colossal - Dream Garden, 9-10 July at Te Auaha |  | Poster Image for Puaka - Rigel in Tīrama Mai 2022 | | |
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