Common Circus

Common Circus is a three-ring exploration of the mundane, in which common tasks and notions will be shown through a lens of performance and spectacle.

As a pandemic’s worth of at-home time passed, I found herself focusing on the tasks and motions I repeated regularly, fantasizing about the site of utmost spectacle—circus—and questioning what it would be like to throw such rote tasks as making a simple cup of coffee into the three-ring environment. From folding laundry to existential dread, throughout this work audience members are invited to notice and celebrate the mundane and ritualized bits of their own lives.

About the Work

Common Circus started as an exploration of the mundane, through a performance lens. As I spent a pandemic year in my home I thought heavily about the tasks and motions I was repeating regularly, and to satiate my need for production value I fantasized on the idea of making them high performance. I thought about the site of utmost spectacle—circus—and what it would be like to throw such rote tasks as frying an egg into the three-ring environment. I thought a great deal over that year about what I did as household labor, the physicality required, and why my husband and I found ourselves taking on certain tasks. I spent a great deal of time considering the similarities between life as a gig worker (especially amidst work-from-home) and domestic labor. Creating such a three-ring site for performance allows me to examine routine acts through the device of spectacle, and allows an audience to rely on spectacle as a performance space safety blanket, as we unpack some larger ideas together. 

Over my tenure as Boston Dancemakers Resident at the Boston Center for the Arts, the work turned into not only an exploration of our day-to-day routines and rituals, but also an impactful and very humorous examination of what makes us human, through the lens of interaction and isolation.

Supported generously by the Boston Center for the Arts and the Boston Dance Alliance, Common Circus was shown for the first time at the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre to much acclaim, on October 7 & 8, 2022, as a roughly 70-minute dance theatre work.

The streaming version was then audio described, and released by Luminarium in April 2023, and also shown as part of the Providence Fringe Festival (July 2023).

The work-in-progress is being shown as a walking tour all over Roslindale Square in August 2023, with support from The Substation, Roslindale Village Main Streets, The Square Root, Distraction Brewery, ABCD.

Photo Gallery

Press Kit

Awards, Support & Funding

• The Boston Foundation’s LAB Fund (2022-2023)

• Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Innovation Fund (2022-2023)

• Boston Dancemakers’ Residency (2021-2022) - Resident Artist at the Boston Center for the Arts

• NEFA’s New England Dance Fund (2021-2022)

Press

• Boston Center for the Arts’ “Hello My Name Is…” Interview

• Dance Informa Preview

• The Boston Globe “The Ticket”

• ArtsFuse Weekly Picks

Collaborative Team

Creator: Kimberleigh Holman

with Performers/Creative Contributors: Angelina Benitez, Caitlin Canty, Jessica Chang, Cassandre Charles, Katrina Conte, Melenie Diarbekirian, Eliza Malecki, Amy Mastrangelo, Katie McGrail, Cassie Wang

Dramaturg: Wanda Strukus

Scenic Design: Frank Criscione

Music: Christos Zevos

Lighting Design: Anne Dresbach

Streaming Version Videographer: Ernie Galan

Audio-Describer & Access Consultant: karen Krolak

Audio-Description User Expert: Amber Pearcy

Producer of October 2022 Showing: Andrea Blesso, Boston Center for the Arts

Producer of 2023 Showings: Luminarium Dance

Contact

For more information or to book, contact kholman@luminariumdance.org