Circus tutor juggles Covid balancing act
Christchurch contortionist Mim Conyers, who can fire a bow and arrow over her head using just her toes, should be in Europe right now, tumbling around cobbled streets alongside countless other travelling carnies.
Instead Christchurch people from all walks of life are running away to Waltham to join her circus.
Conyers runs Circotica Circus School, a centre for circus arts excellence and education in O¯ tautahi Christchurch.
Her day job is juggling everything to keep the community circus school running during a tough ‘‘Covid-19 balancing act’’.
Global giant Cirque de Soleil has shut its silk curtains. Circuses around the world, often small family businesses based on centuries-old traditions, are struggling to survive the pandemic.
‘‘The circus industry globally has nearly been decimated by Covid-19. All the major companies have shut up shop indefinitely,’’ Conyers said.
Alongside many other international carnies, Conyers moved to Christchurch from Australia before the 2011 earthquakes, lured by the city’s ‘‘strong circus education programme’’.
Christchurch’s circus arts community was badly affected by the quakes, and the Circo-Arts programme at the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (now called Ara) was shut down.
Circotica was granted funding by the Christchurch City Council in 2016 to open an all-ages circus school in Waltham.
It has been a community-run organisation since 2018.
‘‘People register for 10-week courses with us. It can be anything from one hour to 10 hours a week. We have 5-year-olds right through to older adults,’’ Conyers said.
‘‘We have got everything from aerial silks right down to your ground-based circus acts, juggling, hula-hooping.’’
O¯ tautahi residents are running away to join the circus after work and school and on weekends – discovering hip-shaking hulahooping, taking a handstand class, balancing on a trapeze, or juggling merrily after a hard day in the office.
Circotica has eight tutors, three of whom, including Conyers, are full-time staff, while attendees span the age gamut from five to ‘‘people in their 70s and 80s’’.
‘‘Teenagers, specifically teenage girls who train quite seriously. Quite a few of them are looking at becoming professional performers in the future.’’
Although disappointed to not be in Europe, Conyers said she was happy to still be performing. ‘‘I am really grateful we have a community of people here still doing fun things.’’
Circotica is hosting the Serious Circus Cabaret tomorrow, starring the school’s students and hosted by Conyers and fire-juggling Mulletman.
‘‘There’s everything from 10-year-old girls on trapeze to a guy who works full time as a tradesperson, who enjoys lifting his wife up in the air after work,’’ Conyers said. ‘‘We have a large range of students, all with different skills and abilities, who will be performing. They have had about five weeks to put together their own acts.’’
Conyers discovered a love for contortion while at high school. In one of her favourite games, her friends would lock her in a tiny cupboard and time how long it took her to change into a bikini in a confined space.
Contortion has uses off-stage, too. Conyers said she found it really easy to shave her legs or to reach something in an odd space on a supermarket shelf.
‘‘Like everyone else, because of Covid-19, Circotica has had a couple of months which meant we couldn’t function. We are just making sure we can stay open.’’