Ringside is a new one-to-one performance that is part circus, part theatre, created and performed by aerialist and theatre-maker Ellie Dubois. Developed in association with The Arches and the 2014 winner of Summerhall’s prestigious Autopsy Award for experimental performance, Ringside is the first circus-theatre performance of its kind, uniquely presented for one audience member at a time.
Circus is always viewed while part of a large crowd with the aerial performers far away and high above the audience’s heads. This performance brings the work up close and magnifies it both as a visceral experience and a meditation on the strength of the human body. This is a circus performance that is made just for you – stripped of the glamour and sequins and the illusion of effortlessness. However, it is still a circus show; like those big top aerial acts it is thrilling, heart-stopping and anxiety provoking all at the same time. It is both a performance in itself and one that raises the ghost of every sequinned female performer ever seen high up on a trapeze in the big top.
Crucially Ringside explores the representation of women’s bodies on stage. This work will create a new space in which a woman can move and use her body for entertainment in a ‘one-on-one’ context which subverts the traditional male gaze. Ringside is not just about stereotypes of female beauty or sexual gratification. It goes further to explore strength, danger, power and the thrill of physical prowess, asking the audience to interrogate the tension between female empowerment and the patriarchy present in performative contexts of the female body.
By moving the artform of trapeze into an intimate setting the audience is invited to observe the body in detail. They can view up close the sweat from exertion; see every muscle twitch and the bruises and burns that accumulate on the artist’s skin from contact with the trapeze.