Columbia's First And Only Circus Arts Group Soars Into The Performing Arts Sphere

Upper West Side NY

07 November, 2021

7:04 AM

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Columbia Daily Spectator BY LAURA JIANG NOVEMBER 3, 2021 Aerial silks and trapezes hang high in the Glicker-Milstein Theatre, awaiting the first-ever circus arts production to take place on campus grounds. Preparing for the performance behind the curtains are circus artists from Columbia's first circus arts student group—Columbia Circus Collective. Sam Landa, GS '22, and Emma Owens, BC '22, have been working to create a circus arts student group since their first year at Columbia. Having founded Columbia Circus Collective early in 2020, the group did not come together until this semester, bringing circus arts to all Columbia students through in-person workshops and upcoming performances on Nov. 19 and 20. Neither Landa nor Owens started out as circus artists. Landa was first exposed to the practice through dance, where he did aerial as a strengthening exercise. What had been an add-on exercise soon turned into a greater passion, propelling the start of his circus career. Landa is a graduate of the National Circus School in Montreal and toured with Circus Smirkus throughout his middle and high school years. Circus Smirkus is also where Landa first met Owens, who started out as a competitive gymnast. "I was really, really tired of how rigid and strict gymnastics was. … I really wanted something that was more of an art form, and circus is definitely that," Owens said. Both Landa and Owens arrived at Columbia hoping to keep circus arts as a part of their lives. However, the only way student circus artists like Landa and Owens could obtain guided training was through studios in Brooklyn. "You'd have to go to Brooklyn an hour and a half on the train, and then pay $40 for one hour of class and then come back," Owens said. "Our biggest goal of our club is to just make circus arts accessible." In founding the club, Landa and Owens sought to introduce an art form that, in Owens' words, is "the epitome of inclusion." To Landa and Owens, circus arts gives more space for individuality than disciplines like dance and gymnastics because it encompasses a wide variety of skills and apparatuses. "There's all these things that some people know that other people don't, or some people's bodies work better for doing certain skills. … It's really about how your body moves," she said. Maia Oceana Castro-Santos, CC '25, grew up watching Circus Smirkus every summer as a family tradition, where she saw Landa perform long before she started her own circus career by joining the youth circus. Now, she works alongside Landa and Owens as Columbia Circus Collective's vice president. Her discovery of her own talent and love for hula-hooping attests to Owens' sentiments on the inclusive nature of circus arts. "Circus has always celebrated the bizarre and the eccentric, whatever that might be," she said. "While I might not be able to do a chest down or juggle, I can do a six-hoop split … and that's what creates this whole spectacle: a celebration of everyone's individual talent." Although there have historically been circus arts enthusiasts at Columbia—most notably the founder of the Big Apple Circus, Paul Binder, MBA '67—a student-led circus arts club has never existed. As the first circus arts club, Columbia Circus Collective needed to jump through many hoops, including figuring out which theater on campus could accommodate aerial silk and trapeze work. Apart from deciding the best place to rig for circus performance, the club also had to plan how training for the various skills would be organized. "We can't just say, 'Oh, we're having a circus workshop,' because what does that mean? There's so many things that that can be. For example, we've had a juggling workshop, we're having a wire workshop, … we're going to have a contortion workshop," Landa said. " It's all over the place, which is something I love about it, but in terms of running a club and organizing, it's quite the task." Along with these challenges, the group has to navigate how to train members from all levels and backgrounds. "We have people who have never done any circus arts before and just learned how to juggle. And they're going to be on our show. … We told everyone, no matter what your experience is, if you want to be in the show, we'll make it happen," Owens said. The show will be the first opportunity for student circus artists to show Columbia what circus arts is all about. "The thing that I have always enjoyed about being a circus performer is just how foundational joy is to it. When you're performing in a circus, you see the faces of the people that you're performing for. … There's no feeling like that, of just making people experience that excitement and enjoyment," Castro-Santos said. "I'm really excited to be able to get back up on stage and share that with the Columbia community." The group hopes that its first production will further cement the organization's place in the performing arts community. Beyond merely impressing the audience with skillful acts, members hope that their performance will show that circus can be for everyone. "I think that circus has such a unique way of showing people that they're almost more capable than they think they are … and you don't have to fulfill some molds to do it. Circus really taught me that," Landa said. Staff writer Laura Jiang can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow Spectator on Twitter @ColumbiaSpec. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.