One of the BESTROM main fields of work is the Romani people’s experience in the circus milieu. That is why our Finnish team, based in the University of Helsinki, is currently developing a research to re-map and re-imagine the cosmopolitan area of circuses throughout Europe. This enquiry is about to come to life thanks to BESTROM’s new associate partner, ArtTeatro Ltd, a Finland based production company specialized in creating original circus and theatre performances.
ArtTeatro Ltd founders are the circus performers Pauliina Räsänen and Slava Volkov, who performed a worldwide tour with the Cirque du Soleil’s Alegria show. Along with BESTROM, ArtTeatro Ltd is going to develop a research-based performance on the life of the former circus artist Edit Sandor Kleinbarth (1931-), who comes from the traditional travelling circus milieu. In order to also reach areas outside the Centre, the project has agreed on to arrange the performance at Kustavi, a very popular summer resort at the coast of Western Finland. Räsänen’s background in circus pedagogy, her own research in circus history and her working experience working and living with a traditional circus community makes her extremely valuable for this task. Other members of the project and Kleinbarth herself will support Räsänen’s in this work.
Since the very beginning, it was BESTROM objective to merge new research results, artistic practice and historical claims making, so we can provide youth and non-academic audiences with new perspectives on circus people with Romani background as agents of diversity and cultural transfer in European society. We are positive that this partnership between BESTROM and ArtTeatro Ltd will help us to fulfill this ambition and substantially enhance the quality and reach of our public engagement.
More info about ArtTeatro: http://www.artteatro.com/finnish/index.html