Review by Daisy Coleman; all photos by David Pinto – @lenseful
Brown University of Providence, Rhode Island, has its very own circus club: Brown Aerial Acrobatics! The club is student-run and offers training and student lessons in a variety of aerial disciplines, including silks, rope, straps, dance/static trapeze, and lyra. They perform twice a year, once during the fall semester and once in the spring semester. In the spring of 2023, they performed the student-written and directed show “Chronos,” with a cast of over 30 members.
Brown Aerial Acrobatics offers the chance for students interested in circus and aerials to try it at a beginner level, but they also offer intermediate training and open gym time, as well as a Performance Team program, an apparatus specific-group that trains more rigorously and is part of creating the spring show.
The organization has existed for eleven years, and the students at Brown Aerial Acrobatics train two-three times a week, and offer opportunities as “apparatus heads” to lead lessons on specific aerial disciplines. In April of 2022, they performed their first show with a theme, “Asteria,” tying together each students piece with a story about landing on a starry island after a spaceship crash. In April of 2023, “Chronos” focused on the theme of time, and details the story of a mad scientist stealing a magic pocket watch to become an evil villain, who the protagonists must stop. Along the way they meet various friends, who appear on lyras, ropes, trapezes, and silks.
The 2022-2023 co-presidents Autumn Jade-Stoner (senior) and Abbey Alderman (junior) were a huge part of developing the spring show “Chronos,” and keeping the circus community spirit high at Brown. Brown University is one of few colleges that offers a circus club, but is certainly doing its part to keep circus alive and open to everyone!
circus is my life 