Circus Amok:
traditional and contemporary, spectacular and political
Keywords:
Circus Arts, Contemporary Circus, Art and PoliticsAbstract
This article examines Circus Amok, a circus company founded in 1989 in New York City, the United States, and directed by Jennifer Miller, a key figure in the debate on circus and political engagement, particularly in discussions on gender. By investigating secondary sources, including analyses of video recordings of performances and an interview with Jennifer Miller, the article explores the poetics and sensibilities at play in Circus Amok’s creations. The discussion considers Amok as a circus that simultaneously operates within the logic of the spectacle of attractions (in line with the American show business tradition) and articulates a political discourse that challenges structures of power (aligning with the tradition of politically engaged theater). Furthermore, the company draws on formal references from traditional circus while incorporating contemporary artistic discourses and issues.
Downloads
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Brazilian Journal on Presence Studies
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Readers are free to transfer, print out and use the articles published in the Journal, as long as there is always explicit mention to the author(s) and to the Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Presença and as long as there is no alteration of the original work. Any other use of the texts needs to be approved by the author(s) and by the Journal. By submitting an article to the Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Presença and having it approved, the authors agree to assign, without compensation, the following rights to the Journal: the rights of first publication and the rights to redistribute the article and its metadata to the indexing and reference services that the editors deem appropriate.
This journal use a Licença de Atribuição Creative Commons.
