For one special night on January 4th, the American circus community will come together with the non-profit Big Apple Circus at Lincoln Center for the Celebration of American Circus event. Circus Now, a national non-profit circus development organization, will present the event. As part of the celebration, the first-ever American Circus Awards will take place at the event, featuring performances by some of America's brightest circus stars.
"Every performing art has its awards," says Circus Now National Director, Duncan Wall. "The Tony's, The Bessie's. The circus has reached a point of artistry, diversity, and mainstream appeal that it deserves its own distinctions."
Recipients of awards this year include High Wire Artist, Philippe Petit, the subject of the Academy award-winning documentary Man on Wire, as well as the upcoming 3-D feature film, The Walk, directed by
Robert Zemeckis and starring
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Philippe. Petit will receive the inaugural Elevating Circus Award, for raising public awareness of the creative and poetic potential of the circus arts.
Big Apple Circus will also be honored with the Community Impact Award, for their 37-year history, family-friendly shows and community programs, including their hospital and after-school programs.
Gypsy Snider, circus choreographer of the Tony-award-winning Pippin, and co-founder of Les 7 Doigts De La Main, the company behind Traces and Queen of the Night, will receive the Evolving Circus Award, for her contributions to Circus Artistry.
"My whole life has been dedicated to the circus. I have always bent and twisted he rules of performance, movement and story telling," said Snider. "Circus taught me to take risks. I have never been more grateful and honored to be in the circus."
The ceremony will also feature performances by some of North America's most sought-after circus artists, including Charlotte & Nicolas, stars of Pippin and Les 7 Doigts De La Main; the Anastasini Brothers, featured in Big Apple Circus' Metamorphosis; and the New Mexico-based, Ricochet Project.
A Celebration of American Circus will take place on January 4, 2015 at 8:00pm at Big Apple Circus at Lincoln Center (Damrosch Park, Amsterdam Avenue and West 62nd Street), reception immediately to follow. Tickets are $20 to the public, to order, visit
www.circusnow.org/celebrate.
The event will also feature a special sneak peek at the upcoming Circus Now: International Contemporary Circus Exposure, a contemporary circus festival and showcase at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. That event will take place from January 8th-10th. For more information and tickets on that event, visit
http://nyuskirball.org/cnice.
Complimentary press passes to both the Celebration of American Circus and/or the upcoming Circus Now: International Contemporary Circus Exposure Festival are available to the press. For more information, please contact Becki Silverstein at Becki@rebeccaadele.com or via phone at 440-227-8794. Hi-res photography and interviews with Gypsie Snyder, Big Apple Circus and/or Duncan Wall are also available upon request.
Circus Now - Circus Now is a volunteer-powered, non-profit organization that encourages and promotes circus as an art and a practice in North America. Circus Now supports adult circus artists, enthusiasts, and thinkers in their efforts to create, practice, and evolve circus by hosting events for people to meet, see work, and make circus together. Circus companies survive, thrive, and connect with theaters and presenters from around the world greatly in part to Circus Now's advocacy campaigns. For more information on Circus now, visit
www.circusnow.org.
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