Four acrobats in dark briefs perform on stage; one acrobat is airborne, supported by another’s hand, as two more pose nearby. The audience watches the energetic act under dramatic stage lighting.

Prep School: BARBU Electro Trad Cabaret

Cirque Alfonse brings a hirsute wonderland to the stage with Barbu. You can find more on the company and the show at their website.

RELATED EVENTS
Four bearded men pose with serious expressions; three are upright while one is upside down, all against a purple and red background.
  • Thu Jan 3 – Fri Jan 4, 2019

Cirque Alfonse: BARBU Electro Trad Cabaret

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Nancy Smithner on Barbu

What do you get when you cross a lumberjack with a juggling acrobat? You might find the answer by attending the Barbu Electro Trad Cabaret. Composed of a troupe of players who closely resemble carnivalesque strong men and women, Cirque Alfonse performs in the “nouveau cirque” style without animals (mostly) and kitschy set pieces (does a human punching bag count?). The group is made up of acrobats, musicians, dancers and even a ski champion. Their farcical and ironic bios give a hint of their love of absurdity: “He was born from a cracked ostrich egg…”; “…he was sold to the circus at the age of eight for three sheep, a zebra and a unicorn…”; “she is proficient in Swiss wrestling with its focus on breeches lifting…” and so on.

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A performer with a beard spins inside a large ring on stage, wearing a shiny, silver, balloon-like costume. Blue stage lights and spotlights create dramatic shadows on the floor.

GET INTO IT

Guess who’s a fan of Cirque Alfonse?… that’s right, her majesty Dolly Parton. Here she is performing “Rocky Top” with Cirque Alfonse as back-up band.

Dolly Parton performs with Cirque Alfonse.

Plus: original music from the show, now available for your streaming pleasure.

GET THEE TO THE LIBRARY

Recommended readings to accompany the Indefinite Article by Nancy Smithner.

  • Ernest Albrecht, The Contemporary Circus: Art of the Spectacular. Scarecrow Press, 2006.
  • Charles R. Batson and Louis Patrick Leroux, Cirque Global: Quebec’s Expanding Circus Boundaries. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2016.
  • Pascal Jacob, The Circus: A Visual History. Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2018.
  • Linda Simon, The Greatest Shows on Earth: A History of the Circus. Reaktion Books, 2014.
  • Peta Tait and Katie Lavers, editors, The Routledge Circus Studies Reader. Routledge, 2016.

OFFICE HOURS

Antoine Carabinier and Cecil MacKinnon talk “Barbu.”

EXTRA CREDIT

Even more fabulous muscles: a new documentary and memoir bring transmasculine athletes and bodybuilders into the spotlight.

Get into Thomas Page McBee’s new book Amateur: A True Story about What Makes a Man with an excerpt, and an article on the book’s centerpiece boxing match; and read an interview with T Cooper, the director of a documentary on trans bodybuilding, “Man Made.”