'I often wonder why I keep doing what I do. I do circus, but I don't just want to tell stories, I want to act, I want to live up to my beliefs and my values. And by acting, I don't mean eating organic food, sorting my waste and donating to Greenpeace, no ; I really want to contribute to all those issues that I think are important and that affect me.'
These are the words of a circus performer with an existential crisis. The text is by Lucho Smit, and he utters it in the performance 'L'Ane Et La Carotte' (The Donkey and the Carrot). This extraordinary performance is on at Festival Circolo in Tilburg. This festival, back this year after a year's absence, brings a sampling of the young, innovative circus that is popping up in more and more places. Circus with a purpose and a story, with a dramaturgy that gives it added value. Circus that rises above the one act of genius. Circus that is also gaining recognition as an art form.
Rescheduling
Lucho Smit is a circus innovator. Not that he thinks so himself, because in his show he holds a long monologue on how pointless thinking about innovation is. Circus, he argues, is always the same and will never get better than it already is. And so why this show that is so fascinating you won't forget it any time soon? Because in the end, it's about getting new ideas. And at the end of his performance, Lucho Smit gets that new idea, which, he argues in this interview, is nothing but a rearrangement of what we already know.
Lucho Smit grew up in the Netherlands, but now lives in circus country France. As a seven-year-old, he already set up a circus group with classmates. It was only years later, as a student, that he discovered there were numerous circus schools in France. He left for France and joined a generation of young performers who wanted to reshape the circus profession, who wanted to improve the world with their art.
Chairs
L'Ane et La Carotte is an hour-long solo performance in which Smit begins with a breakneck stunt on a row of stacked chairs, which ends up being only a fraction of the literally sky-rocketing act with which the show culminates an hour later. In the time in between, he shows himself to be a top juggler and excellent acrobat, with a fine sense of humour. The way he fries an egg is alone a reason to watch.
L'Ane et La Carotte is full of self-mockery. It is not seen by everyone, Lucho says in the interview below, recorded during a circus festival in the Czech Republic. 'Some people in the circus world were really angry about this show, as were some spectators. For example, those were offended that I say in the show that the first part was boring and predictable, while they enjoyed it. I like those kinds of reactions, they are the start of a conversation about our art.'
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