Circus Oz At 30 - On The Move And Kicking Up Its Heels

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday February 14, 2008

Jo Roberts

WHEN it comes to 30th birthday celebrations, Circus Oz knows how to party. Swinging from the rafters they were. Well, one of them, anyway.

Like spaghetti twirling on a fork, acrobat Stu Christie spun and tumbled up and down an eight-metre rope as part of the celebrations for one of the country's oldest, and most internationally successful, arts companies.

Behind Christie loomed part of Circus Oz's history: a leopard- printed sign long consigned to memorabilia. While over on another wall, to mark another memorable event that day, another old Circus Oz sign had been hastily and inspiringly rearranged to read "sorry".

Circus Oz was in the mood for leaving old ways behind, not just in Canberra, but in their own Port Melbourne camp, as they unveiled plans for their birthday year.

From this year begins the Lab, a six-week training and development period in March that will lead into eight weeks of rehearsal ahead of a new show's premiere in Melbourne in June. This comes thanks to an 82 per cent increase in funding that takes its annual budget to close to $1.2 million.

In the past, Circus Oz's training and rehearsal - and therefore its ability to introduce new acts into shows - was compromised by the need to take any gig offered to keep making money, said artistic director Mike Finch.

"It's finally allowed Circus Oz to stop being a kind of freelance street performer," he said. "Now when a tour promoter calls us up and says 'can you come do a festival in Germany in March?', we'll be able to say 'no, we're rehearsing, but we're available in three years' time'," he said.

Also unveiled yesterday was a new company logo, and plans to find a new home, with the company having outgrown its Port Melbourne premises.