Conversation with Ariele Ebacher

As I work on editing the interviews for the eventual book, I'm going to continue to share some short snippets from interviews with you all. Like a trailer or an appetizer. But much more substantive!

Back in the fall of 2014, I talked with Ariele Ebacher, who is the best wire walker/wire dancer I've ever seen. I asked her what she felt about wire walking and her philosophy of it. 

She told me: "When I came to the circus, I was a dancer and I was feeling a bit frustrated with the modern dance world because it seemed quite insular. I felt that I was becoming very disconnected from the general public. So at that time, right at the end of my time in college, where I was studying dance and also some other performing arts, doing a primarily design your own major, I found circus and was taken by it. Not just as a performative experience, although that was instantly captivating, but particularly because of the joy, the connection, and the community feeling that was so palpable to me just sitting in the audience. My first experience with circus was in a tent, a small tent. People have written about it and studied it; people who are more versed in the actual philosophies behind sitting in a circle around the ring and watching a performance. You aren’t only just watching what you see in the ring, but you are also watching your fellow audience members watch it. So there becomes this almost a tribal connection that’s happening between the audience and the performance."

You'll have to read the rest of the interview to find out more!

That's all for now!