Circus and its Others (CaiO) is an international, cross-disciplinary research project that explores the ways in which contemporary circus artists and companies relate to concepts such as difference, otherness, and alterity in their practice. Through its activities, which has included three conferences (2016, Montréal; 2018, Prague; 2021, Davis/digital) and a themed double issue of the peer-reviewed journal Performance Matters, CaiO brings together scholars from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds, artists and arts professionals, and the broader community to engage with circus as a vibrant, complex contemporary art form and field of practice. CaiO’s participants share the desire to continue to establish circus studies as an academic field while at the same time resisting its full institutionalization, engaging in an ongoing reflexive inquiry that allows itself to query its own inclusions and exclusions.

Circus and its Others grew out of the Montréal Working Group on Circus Research led by L. Patrick Leroux (Concordia University). The co-directors of CaiO are Charles R. Batson (Union College) and Karen Fricker (Brock University), who co-directed the project’s first international conference (Montréal, 2016) with Leroux. Batson and Fricker co-directed the second international conference (Prague, 2018) with Veronika Štefanová (Cirqueon, Prague); the academic committee for the Prague conference also included Leroux, Michael Eigtved (University of Copenhagen), and Martin Pšenička (Charles University, Prague).

The third international Circus and its Others conference was hosted by the University of California, Davis and took place online from November 4-7, 2021. Batson and Fricker co-directed the 2021 conference with Ante Ursić, who received his PhD in Performance Studies from UC Davis and is an assistant professor in the department of theatre and dance at East Tennessee State University. The academic and creative committee for the conference also included Veronika Štefanová and Olga Lucia Sorzano (Artemotion, Colombia). More information about this conference is available under the “Davis 2021” page under “Past conferences and events” on this website.

The Davis conference was originally planned to happen face to face in 2020, but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Not wanting to wait an extra year to continue the Circus and its Others inquiry, the Davis academic and creative committee organized a series of five digital panels from Fall 2020 to the summer of 2021. These online events involving artists and scholars brought yet more attention worldwide to the CaiO community and its questions. Information about these events is available under “Past conferences and events” on this website.

The fourth international Circus and its Others conference will take place in Bogotá, Colombia from Feb. 28-Mar. 3, 2024, co-organized by Batson, Fricker, and Olga Lucia Sorzano. 

Circus and its Others welcomes inquiries and comments – please contact us using the “Contact” form on this website, or by emailing circusanditsothers@gmail.com.