Circus performances come in a variety of profiles: children's shows, walk about's, full scale production, partner acts or mini festival acts. But my favorite has to be cabaret and burlesque. It lends it's self to small intimate audiences, skimpy costumes for good prop-skin contact and short fast shows with big gestures.
The Neo-burlesque revival has been going strong for 10 years now with house hold names like Ditta Von Tesse and our own Ministry of Burlesque, or MoB, proving this. Performers have been specializing in cabaret/burlesque and making a name for themselves through this art form again. The Edinburgh Fringe 2010 saw an increase in performers riding on Neo-burlesque's notoriety which would explain the expanding array of vintage clothing basements and stalls around.
This new burlesque is open to a wider range of performance styles such as theater, modern dance and of course circus. Some Burlesque acts draw direct influence from circus such as the popular boylesque rope bondage - familiar with Corde lisse circus performers. Circus and burlesque both have a long history, as forms of entertainment they have come and gone in fashion, mocking the mainstream and humoring serious art through strange and freakish performance. They both now fall into the category of variety show and are doing well for themselves by assimilating together.
In Cambridge there are now two nights tailoring to this revival, the hugely popular Salon Rouge and a new but no less sparkly Neon Moon's night @ the Hidden rooms. I had the pleasure of performing a Christmasy act I had been working on to much success at the latter. I practiced my crowd interaction and audience control. The next step will be learning to hula in heels!