Establishing Interdisciplinary Creative Practices With Circus and Poetry

My senior thesis work culminated in a series of poems focusing on issues of embodiment and racial identity as explored through circus and acrobatic movement practices. Research for this project was conducted over the summer... [ view full abstract ]

My senior thesis work culminated in a series of poems focusing on issues of embodiment and racial identity as explored through circus and acrobatic movement practices. Research for this project was conducted over the summer of 2017 while training acrobatics at New England Center for the Circus Arts and attending the Montreal Cirque Festival. Looking at literary theory surrounding notions of the grotesque body, and contemporary poetry focused on race, I sought to reinterpret and contest images of the grotesque female body in my own creative practices. My work focused on examining the relationship between literary representation of the body and the physical sensations of the body as experienced through acrobatic forms. 

The challenges that arose during my summer in establishing creative research methods in conjunction with the intensely physical and demanding requirements of acrobatic training will be the focus of my talk. Looking at my project from its original proposal to final submission, I will give a brief overview of my creative process and project trajectory. I will also provide background on the circus community, briefly address the growing academic field of circus studies, and discuss how my work continues to grow following my thesis completion.