National Institute of Circus Arts Presents THE LANDSCAPE PROJECT

This November, Melbourne audiences will experience the extraordinary skills and creativity of Australia's next generation of circus stars before they step out onto the world stage when the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) presents The Landscape Project; circus as a reaction to space, time and intensity. This ensemble production features elite-level circus in three acts. Each act is a continuous flow of movement aiming to destabilise our expectations of what circus is. Directed by accomplished Australian director, performer and choreographer Debra Batton, the show playfully investigates the concept of circus as a physical and mental landscape.

Fifteen final year circus artists have spent thirty hours a week for the last three years honing their circus and performance skills. For the production, each student was asked to imaginatively respond to the question, "How do we engage with our landscape to unearth the show waiting to be exposed?" From here, the ensemble crafted original acts incorporating aerial rope, bottle walking, hula hoop, group acrobatics, slackline, tumbling, trampoline and more.

The Landscape Project transposes the qualities of a traditional landscape panorama to the circus environment, asking us to consider the stage as our landscape. The journey of the human eye through each scene guides us to ponder depth, foreground, focal points, surfaces and atmosphere. The production proposes the landscape as a frame for each young artist's vital contribution to the circus environment.

Image credit: AaRon Walker Photography

Director Debra Batton is a renowned independent artist, director, performer, choreographer, and teacher with thirty years of experience. Batton was the Artistic Director of Legs on the Wall for nearly ten years and awarded two Helpmann Awards for On The Case, which premiered at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games Arts Festival. Batton is currently the Touring Show Director for Circus Oz, half of clown duo Batton & Broadway, and has also directed for Circus Oz, The Women's Circus, NICA and Australian Theatre for Young People. She performed recently in Calamity for the Zoe Louise Moonbeam Dawson Shakespeare Company; as part of NEON Festival of Independent Theatre in 2015 in The Waiting Room; as part of Big West Festival 2013 in Born in a Taxi; in Alexandra Harrison's What's Coming and She knows too Much, both at Dancehouse. In 2013, Batton spent five months in China as the Circus Choreographer for the preschool TV series Hoopla Doopla (ABC).

NICA is Australia's Centre of Excellence for training in contemporary circus arts. It is one of eight national arts training institutes and offers Australia's only Bachelor of Circus Arts. Graduates of NICA have gone on to pursue exciting careers both locally and internationally and have contributed to the development of Melbourne's vibrant circus arts industry. The course is accredited by Swinburne University of Technology and attracts applicants from around the world.