Summer and circus go together like the beach & the sun, like gin & tonic, like Grimaldi & Harlequin…
The circus has always been associated with summertime and outdoor social events. Traveling troupes would set up tents during the warm months at places where summer fairs, markets, and festivals were held.
Jugglers, acrobats, and clowns entertained audiences outdoors, spontaneously in the streets and squares. Over time, such performances grew into full-fledged circus acts and then into plays.
Today, in modern times, there are entire summer festivals dedicated to performing arts. Among the most significant for circus art are the French Avignon Festival and the Scottish Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Interestingly, they were founded in the same year 1947, almost 80 years ago!
In current century, the circus has gained another significant place. All the biggest summer music festivals incorporate circus spectacles into their programs: Glastonbury, Sziget, Primavera Sound, Tomorrowland, EXIT. Circus art perfectly complements music festivals by adding a visual dimension in which language and speech are irrelevant, thus leaving (acoustic) space for music, without compromise on either side – an ideal symbiosis.
When it comes to local events and festivals, Triko Circus Theater is an active participant in many of them. Some of them even every year! This summer, we would like to highlight the International Children’s Festival in Šibenik at the very beginning of the season and Rokovo in Virovitica in mid-August. We have already written about our involvement in the Šibenik festival this year, so here are a few words about Rokovo.
Rokovo is a multidisciplinary festival that celebrates Virovitica’s birthday on the day of Saint Rocco. Virovitica was historically known as a fair town, and Rokovo represents a contemporary interpretation of the tradition of gathering, trade and entertainment that accompanies fairs. From all of the above, it is clear that you will also find circus performers at Rokovo! Triko Circus Theater joined as three stilt walkers, who, wearing different costumes every day, walked high among the visitors and happily posed for photos with them.
And in the end, here’s a little video from the archives, when Triko Circus Theater was part of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Croatia’s biggest performing arts festival.
Dear audience, we hope to see you soon outdoors or indoors, maybe right in your neighborhood, in a park, on a square or street, in a theater, library, school… because the circus is where you are!