The National Institute of Circus Arts Presents PRECIPICE

This September, Australia's next generation of circus talents will be on show when the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) presents PRECIPICE. Leaping into a world of chaos, PRECIPICE defies danger in an effort to celebrate life - through exhilarating tumbles, turns, shifts and falls. Interrogating the impermanence of time, physical and psychological senses.

The elite NICA circus artists have spent the last two years honing their circus and performance skills, guided by world-class trainers including AaRon Walker, vertical aerial specialist and trainer for the past twenty years; Vasily Ivanov who toured the world with the Moscow Circus for over a decade, and; Earl Shatford, a master juggler who is currently chasing the Guinness World Record for the most rings juggled while bouncing a ball on a head pedestal. Onstage the performers will present spectacular solo and duo acts including roue Cyr, group acrobatics, handstands, adagio, unicycle, juggling, aerial rope, diablo, head trapeze and multicorde.

The NICA performers range in age from 30 (clowning specialist Ciara Thorburn) to 18 (foot juggler/ flying trapeze artist Karla Scott) and include: hoop rolling and aerial chair artist Georgia DeGuara, who also teaches in outreach programs; Poppy Fairbairn who trained as a ballet dancer for 20 years before discovering her inner acrobat, and was selected to perform in Hugh Jackman's show The Boy from Oz and; martial artist Zion Martyn. Fairbairn and Martyn perform as a duo, specialising in Pointe Adagio: a graceful fusion of gentle and fluid ballet pas de deux spiced up with a combination of dynamic and thrilling partner acrobatics. They are the only duo in Australia to perform pointe adagio.

Precipice is directed by former Cirque du Soleil artist ZebastIan Hunter, conceived by Hunter and Stephen Sewell, devised by acclaimed dancer Meredith Kitchen and designed by Stephanie Howe. Hunter a trainer, performance teacher and coordinator at NICA, has worked as an artistic trainer at Flying Fruit Fly Circus and the National Circus School of Montreal; Kitchen a trained professional dancer has worked with Australian Dance Theatre, Dance North, Chrissie Parrot Dance Collective and The One Extra Company, and is now Artistic Assistant with the legendary Paris company Compagnie Philippe Genty.

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.

Photo credit: AaRon Walker Photography