Popular Aussie circus brings new show to town

Finding the Silence is a new show from Casus circus company of Australia. Photo/Fen Lan Chuang

Australian circus company Casus prides itself on making a connection with the communities it performs in, particularly through school visits.

"I've taught kids at a homeless shelter how to trampoline and saw how great circus was as a social tool," Casus co-founder Emma Serjeant says.

"We never want to swan in, perform and stay in our hotel. That's really dull. We want to engage with the community and make some connections. We want to share a wonderful thing with others and never lose the joy of circus."

While in Tauranga, Casus will take master classes at Aquinas College.

Serjeant, who was a semi-elite gymnast as a youngster, trained at the National Institute of Circus Arts in Australia, and in 2011 founded Casus with three other performers.

Jesse Scott and Lachlan MacAuley grew up performing in the Flying Fruit Fly Circus, while Natano Fa'anana teaches circus skills, dance and music to children in some of Queensland's most remote indigenous communities.

"I sold an unmade show to a festival," Serjeant says of Casus' start, "so we had three weeks to make a show."

In October, Tauranga audiences will see Finding the Silence, a new show about the search for quiet in a life buzzing with noise and distraction.

With four shows and nine performers now in Casus, Serjeant has been able to take a year off to undergo surgery on a shoulder injury.

"I kept performing because I thought that would rehab the injury but it turns out I was making it worse. Fortunately, as circus performers get older we gain stage presence and there's less need to backflip to be noticed."

Programmes are widely available or see taurangafestival.co.nz.