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A New Type of Circus in Town

by John Morris in Arts, Community on 07/13/2010
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For the past 3 years or so, two good friends of mine have been building their skills and their audience through the performance hybrid of yoga and acrobatics. Aptly named AcroEntertainment, Kaci Torres and Katie Magee have been performing on street corners, in night clubs and warehouses, and at children’s parties and other events. In the past year or so, they’ve been joining up with performers of many stripes to bring a festive and entertaining show — jugglers, hula hoopers, and fire dancers, to name a few. Together, they’ve been bringing the streets and venues of Raleigh a type of performance not yet seen before.

The next couple of months will see even more developments and opportunities for the loose group of performers.

Meet the Duo Behind AcroEntertainment

I’ve known Katie and Kaci for about as long as I’ve lived in Raleigh. I can tell you they’ve been into various feats of balance and performance for as long as I can remember. I first featured the juggling duo as they performed for passersby during the Hillsborough Street hike in 2008, and they’ve grown tremendously in both skill and notoriety since that time.

Katie and Kaci continue to perform on their own (you can often catch them around Moore Square during First Fridays), but recently they have been performing with a troupe of jugglers, hoopers, firedancers, and acrobats. Many of the performers in these groups have similar skillsets and often change hats for each performance.

Some of the groups that colloborate are The Fire Triangle, AcroEntertainment, Flow Circus, the Raleigh Juggling Club, Caroleena (hosts the Raleigh Hoop Jam) and Jewels from HoopDrum (who host the Carrboro Hoop Jam).

The end result when these various groups get together is a circus-like performance that provides a visually stimulating experience.

Enter MaximusÂ Circus at Raleigh Wide Open 5

The ladies behind AcroEntertainment have teamed up with Gamil Design (of DesignBox) for Maximus Circus, a show that will be a part of Raleigh Wide Open 5. There are over 15 performers booked for the show, and there will be a 40 ft. circus ring in the middle of Fayetteville Street. There will be an aerial rig with rickshaws transformed into chariots. It’s being billed as part Roman Circus, part intergalactic space performance.

The show is on July 31st. It starts with a circus performance at 8PM, followed by Lake Inferior and roving performances until 10, then a fire show. It will be finished with a fireworks display behind the stage.

Bringing the Circus to SPARKcon

Following less than 2 months on the heels of Maximus Circus, the performers will bring their talents to the area’s largest creative conference, SPARKcon. For 4 days in mid September, Fayetteville Street and the surrounding areas will be transformed into art galleries, vendor booths, fashion runways, music venues, and platforms for various speaking arts.

This year will see the addition of circusSPARK, a new SPARK dedicated to the type of performer aligned with the circus arts. When asked about what circusSPARK was about, Kaci had this to say:

circusSPARK was born out of the need for a more encompassing SPARK. In years past, the hula hoopers and acrobats have been lumped together with danceSPARK and yogaSPARK, which isn’t quite right. Burlesque has been ignored even though there was a SPARKcon After Dark event last year. There has never been a good place for jugglers, unicyclers, magicians, etc. The circus has always been the place for people who are hard to define and they cannot be contained to one narrowly defined SPARK, which is why they always run away when people try to limit and contain their energy. There is a surprisingly large number of people in the triangle who are practicing circus arts, whether they know it or not. circusSPARK strives to be all encompassing, we encourage performers to bring whatever talent they want to share. We are dedicated to making room for everyone.

Interested in Getting Involved?

Every other Tuesday at 8PM at The Borough members of circusSPARK gather for planning. Everyone is welcome to attend. (The dates are: 6/29, 7/13, 7/27, 8/10, 8/24 and 9/7)