(Note: originally written in 2019)
Summer 2017: after quitting the ill-fitting job that was my first real foray into adulthood and spending a month at my alma mater, I was somewhat shamefacedly back living with my parents. Partially on a whim, partially due to a deep-seated desire, I applied last minute to the New England Center for Circus Arts's (NECCA) newly revamped PROTrack program. To my surprise, I was accepted the following week. Two months later, I began my year at NECCA.
I never set out to pursue circus; it found me at college. More specifically, I was intrigued by the possibility of attending a month of circus school January of my first year. It seemed like a fun opportunity and I had always wanted to learn how to do a walkover (my nine-and-a-half years of ballet lessons never thought to cover that for some reason), so I created the required video displaying several rudimentary skills. I was soon accepted and so spent a month at the School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts (SANCA). That month piqued my interest in circus arts even more, and before long, I became an administrator for OCircus!, Oberlin's student-run circus. As an admin, I focused my energies on creative decisions such as helping determine the theme for, creating the posters for, and appearing in most of the twice-yearly circus shows. The next two Januaries I would find myself spending a month at Circus Warehouse, and collaborating on a short silent comedy featuring the circus.
Oberlin has a history of producing circus artists ranging from hobbyists to professionals; I like to think of myself as somewhere in the middle: a professional hobbyist, if you will. Circus arts will always be important to me and I will continue to strive to improve my skills for my own edification. However, I don't see myself ever seriously pursuing a career as a professional circus performer. I like solving analytical puzzles too much. Therefore, while going to circus school for a year made sense in order to learn techniques for contortion training and ameliorate my somewhat lacking core skills (tumbling, juggling, handbalancing, trampoline, etc.), I never felt like I fit in motivation-wise and I disagreed with much of the structuring. The program was designed with the intention of cultivating a new generation of circus performers, and left little room for anyone with other aspirations, such as would-be directors, choreographers, physical therapists, or in my case, circus tech engineers.
You see, not only did I discover an affinity for circus arts while at Oberlin, I also discovered a passion for computer science. I added and dropped the introductory course several times before I finally took it second semester of my second year. After that class, I was hooked. The next two years I took as many computer science classes as I could fit into the schedule, ultimately achieving a "minor plus," as it were.
I realized I could not live without having both the creative and analytical parts of me satisfied. I concluded I needed a career in techXarts or STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art/Design Math). After looking around at the contemporary circus world, I discovered that while contemporary circus artists were beginning to integrate digital technology into their work, it was almost exclusively in the form of highly choreographed acts. I realized that the circus world needed someone to create apparatuses and spaces that would respond in real-time to an artist's movements. Who better than I to make that happen? I had the requisite interest in both fields after all.
My last year at Oberlin, I was in Christy's junior Technology in Music and Related Arts (TIMARA) recital, a collaboration with another friend's senior dance recital. Throughout her time at Oberlin, Christy had been exploring the interactions between technology and arts, but with sound, as warranted by her major. For the recital, Christy engineered several interactive sensor musical interfaces which created, distorted, and augmented sound clips throughout the performance. Obviously we had to team up beyond creating circus acts together and hanging out, and so CirqueIT in its current form was officially born.
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