The Artification of Trapeze Acts: A New Paradigm for Circus Arts

Abstract

This article uses the concept of artification to analyze how circuses have been transformed. Through a socio-historical study of trapeze artists’ work since 1850, I will show that the opening of two schools for circus performers in Paris in 1974 (the Carré Monfort school and the Fratellini school), as well as the concomitant development of new aesthetics constituted decisive factors in the shift to artistry and contributed to a redefinition of trapeze acts and the circus as arts. While my fieldwork was conducted mainly in France, the purpose of this contribution is also to initiate wider discussion about the effects of artification in a globalized context. The transformations, begun in the 1970s, succeeded in creating new markets, but also new spaces for training, production and circulation dedicated to the circus arts, within which actors, skills and values now circulate.