Next Door Circus Magazine Next Door Circus Magazine No.1 | Page 13

HOW TO CREATE CIRCUS WHEN THERE IS NO CIRCUS Testimony of Lithuanian artist Konstantin Kosovec Photo by Karel Koubek 10 Konstantin is 28 years old and he has been involved in circus since 2010. He mainly works w fire juggling, ith dance, contact juggling and aerials (T issue, rope). We asked him to share his experience of trying to become a circus artist when there are no schools or structures to help him doing it. I started doing fire shows and later dance, then acrobatics and aerials before realising what could be done w it. Seith eing contemporary circus performances at New Circus weekends made a big turnaround. Circus is challenging, fun and a very w ide area to explore. Why contemporary? I love mixing disciplines, working w choreographers and directors to ith create unusual performances. I also like the idea of not using animals but only human skills. Now I train 4 to 6 hours per day, depending on the season, amount of rehearsals, gigs and other things. I start w some strength exercises in ith the morning, rehearsals and personal practice during the day, and as there is no circus school I am attending lessons at different studios like tissue, acrobatics, dance, pole dance or capoeira in the evenings. It is still hard to decide if being a circus artist can be a full time profession in Baltics. This question is under research now. I do hope it is and I am trying to make it happen. Contemporary circus is becoming more popular. There might be 10 – 40 other people in Lithuania doing the same as me; it is hard to be precise, but at least the number is grow ing. It w take time, but the progression is poill sitive. It could be faster if we would not have problems w space to practice. ith 13