FOURTH STATE OF DUTCH CIRCUS
by Soesja Pijlman
Written in Dutch and pronounced on November 29th, 2024
on the occasion of the THIS IS NOT A CIRCUS festival organised by TENT and Theater Bellevue in Amsterdam.
Esteemed audience,
In preparation for this evening, I delved into the work of my predecessors – including those in the field of dance and theatre – and concluded: ‘the state of’ is a mix of stately lectures full of imagery and the New Year’s Eve conference. For the many foreigners who make up the Dutch circus scene: the New Year’s Eve conference is a Dutch tradition that started in the theatre in the 1950s. A comedian looks back on the past year in a special performance. Nowadays, most people watch the performance on 31 December at home with an oliebol in their hand on TV.
The New Year's Eve conference taught me that it's smart to look at what was in the news. I typed 'circus' into the search field of the websites of the NOS, NU and a number of newspapers. There were many hits. In most articles, circus is used as a metaphor. They are about sporting events such as the Tour de France and the Olympic Games, "the unpredictable circus called play-off football" or the fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson about which the NOS headlined: "A kind of circus act, but you still want to see what happens". I repeat: "a circus act, but you still want to see what happens." Circus is often used to describe 'The state of Dutch politics' and even more often, American politics. And Oscar-winning cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema and Disney+ series maker Willem Bosch also like to appropriate some circus into their field. Hoytema thanked his wife and daughter for "keeping him grounded in this circus they call filmmaking" and Bosch said: “Directing is a lot of fun. That's just the circus, one big chaos.”
Only a handful of reports really have to do with the circus as ‘we people from the sector’ mean it. One news report reports the death of Harry Dikmans, a variety artist, clown and the first interpreter of villain B2 from the children’s series Bassie en Adriaan. Another reports the farewell of the deceased bishop Harrie Smeets, referent for the circus, fairground and skippers’ pastorate. That referentship is now vacant – so if you are Catholic and have ambitions…
Finally, I found an article about lion Remy, who probably came from a circus in Wallonia and was taken over by a private individual, who then dumped the animal in a meadow. Remy was placed with the Stichting Leeuw in Anna Paulowna and recently moved to South Africa.
And umbrella organization Circuspunt is trying to beat the media machines with the #ontdekcircus (discover circus) campaign to spread the magic of the circus.
Circus and metaphors; they seem to be inextricably linked by now. Not only because people outside the sector like to use the circus to describe fuss, foolishness and everything that moves around. Precisely because many makers in the sector use circus disciplines and skills as symbols for universal themes. For example, circus artists are better than anyone at ‘breaking patterns’ with juggling objects or translating ‘with trial and error’ into an acrobatic performance. That is beautiful and powerful. It ensures that a wide audience can connect with circus.
Despite my bachelor’s degree in Circus Arts, I never became a visual circus maker myself. I like concrete, I love data and I like to express myself with words at language level B1- so that the vast majority of the population understands it. That is why I limit myself in this State to one metaphor: that of the ecosystem. A term that fits in well with our history because circus in the Netherlands fell under the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture until just over 10 years ago.
A healthy ecosystem consists of all the components needed for a vital sector: from a circus playground close to home where a child spins a diabolo or climbs on a balance ball for the first time to internationally touring companies with certified artists.
The circus ecosystem was small and far from complete for a long time. Looking up at the flourishing systems of dance and theatre, we are gradually expanding the ecosystem of the circus. We know this well within the sector, because we have often proudly patted ourselves on the back over the past 15 years. An enormous amount of energy has been put into building and strengthening the professional circus field. The result: 2 bachelor's programmes. 4 development programmes for alumni and young makers. Circus moved from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, after which 6 organisations and companies were awarded multi-year subsidies. There are places for residencies such as the Circus Chapel. Daily training is possible in the Tall Tales Studio. A collaboration between Emilie Weisse Circustheater and science led to the first circus performance for babies. We have a platform for the united Dutch circus field. And there is much more circus to see, thanks to 3 annual festivals and many theaters and events that have put circus on the program. From the HBO (arts) monitor we know that none of the alumni of the HBO circus programs are unemployed; 91% are active in their own field. That sounds pretty flourishing, doesn't it?
The only question is for how long. Because not all elements of the ecosystem are valued. We forgot to put the founders of the fertile soil on a pedestal. People laughed at the artistic quality of tent and youth circuses and shook their heads at the professionalism of organisations. Without admiring what was achieved despite limited manpower and resources, the lack of training opportunities, increased legislation and regulatory pressure and years of cutbacks in support for amateur art.
The circus is also not free from old-fashioned hierarchy. One discipline gives more status than the other, with jugglers at the bottom of the chain, not brave or fit enough to risk their lives for their profession, and hand-to-hand acrobats as the stars of the show. Cirque du Soleil has the most prestige ‘for people from outside’. And a lot is arranged via the ‘old boys network’. Although not everyone is old and boy, it is also a world in which a small group has an enormous influence on what our circus society looks like.
Selective indignation determines where the attention goes and who or what remains standing. When the advice of the Performing Arts Fund showed that a number of circus companies and festivals would receive less or no multi-year subsidy, I saw - rightly - messages in the press and on social media with words such as 'painful choices', 'hard blows' and 'capital destruction'. But when Codarts decided last summer to stop the Preparatory Circus Course for talented young people, the supplier of almost all Dutch people who became circus artists via the bachelor's degree programs in the past 10 years, not a single professional made themselves heard publicly.
This, and the absence of teacher training, a continuous curriculum and the opportunity for young people to make sufficient training hours, pose serious threats to the flourishing of the field. Accession and room for growth are essential. The Council for Culture also sounded the alarm bell at the beginning of this year: “there is insufficient structural attention for essential functions such as cultural education and talent development. […] Talents who try to progress from the amateur field often end up in a twilight zone where they fall between the cracks […]. The amateur field is undervalued, while it is crucial for a vital sector.” If we are not careful, in a few years the media will headline a quote from Sarah Gruen in Water for Elephants: “The thing about circus is that it does not last. No matter how wonderful and enchanting it is, before you know it, it is gone."
I would like to say it: I am proud of everyone who is committed to making circus dreams come true. Because dreaming of a career in circus is an art in itself. Because examples are scarce, the dean at school does not know that you can study circus, parents doubt whether you can make a living from it and because you always have to react wittily when someone starts singing Entry Of The Gladiators. [Ta-da-da, ta-da-da, ta-da-da-daa-daa-daa! Ta-da-da-da, ta-da-da-da, ta-da-da-daaa!]
The good news is: the seeds for a flourishing ecosystem have already been planted. We know what it should look like. The good examples are buzzing around between youth circus and world stages. Like Zinzi Oegema, who started at Circus Elleboog and is now performing her show Mat in the Meervaart Theater. And Liza van Brakel, from Poehaa to campaign image of ‘This is not a circus’. They, and many others with them, are the bees of a healthy ecosystem where amateurs and professionals work together directly or indirectly because they need each other to survive. It is time to provide that extra light, nourishment and a little love. So that circus blossoms into a field where dreams do not disappear into the twilight zone, but shine in the ecosystem. Because every artist once started as an amateur. And if we continue to appreciate that, the Dutch circus will become a success that outlives every New Year's Eve conference.