"Summer Circus Celebration"
785 7th Street, Oakland
August 9, 2025
There’s a circus community alright. By my observation it’s a tight knit one, a cultural clique with unfettered enthusiasm for the athleticism of its coterie, expressed through unrestrained hoots, hollers, and shouts. The performers’ bodily awareness of space at West Oakland’s Kinetic Arts fourth annual “Summer Circus Celebration” was impressive, sure enough: 14 acts on the second night of this two-night circus fête showcased displays of physical prowess from juggling to gravity-defying acrobatic contortions to aerial twirls, all of them featuring costumes that were fanciful and oftentimes risqué. The bubbly emcees, Sierra Camille and Lucy Juggles, also made dress changes in between nearly every act.
The last time I witnessed a circus arts performance was years ago in Redlands, California, at the circus school there known as The Great All American Youth Circus. My partner’s niece was one of the countless performers ages pre-school and up in a show that went on for a very long time. Surely, this one has to be more interesting, I thought. The performances were certainly more creative and daring (and occasionally erotic), yet, like that exhibition in Redlands, the acrobatic demonstration at Kinetic Arts was another tableaux-in-motion assortment. Don’t get me wrong, many of the acts were charming and entrancing. But without a unifying theme or continuous story I found myself sort of adrift without a narrative paddle. Then again, as an outsider I assume the circus community is simply able to see and appreciate elements of the dexterous and lithesome I’m ignorant of.
The Bay Area has been mostly cool and overcast this summer, which isn’t unusual, but the Saturday of the Summer Circus Celebration was hot. Entering the packed house we could really feel the heat, not only by the venue’s interior temperature, but by the anticipation in the air (no pun intended). The crowd, which included many families and kids, was into it. During nearly every act the audience broke into cheers, shrieks, and applause at various points as though at a sporting event, which I found distracted me from the acrobatic acts and their accompanying music.
My favorite act was Kristine Cannon, whose performance saw her take to the air whilst suspended from the top of her head. Dressed as a film noir gumshoe with a newspaper, it had a thematic thoughtfulness which I appreciated. And the fact that she was pullyed around by the hair was fascinating to me—I wondered if it was painful. All her limbs were free to move to the who-dunnit detective music of her piece, an act more balletic than the others.
Vix Nolan’s act was also striking. The armature of her acrobatic presentation resembled a giant wind chime, and Nolan flew along with it to gentle, eerie music that sounded like wind tinkling through an actual wind chime. It was visually powerful and perhaps the most elegant of the performances.
“They’re all in such great shape,” my partner remarked of the performers at one point. Indeed they were; after watching the show I felt a bit vicariously exhausted. But it was interesting to peer inside the intimately tight acrobatic community and experience its deep passion for circus arts.
