2005 Media Releases
Wednesday, 26 October 2005
New book on neglected high-flyers of performing arts
Trapeze is one of the most breath-taking, popular and enduring art forms – and the one most neglected by writers and academics…
So La Trobe University Professor of Theatre and Drama, Peta Tait, has decided to restore trapeze artists to their rightful place in the spotlight, with a new book, ‘Circus Bodies - Cultural Identity in Aerial Performance’.
The book is the largely untold history of the ‘many muscular bodies’ that pioneered and performed in Australia and overseas, and an investigation into socially changing ideas of trapeze acts over the last 150 years. It also examines why spectators enjoy these acts.
From early circuses, Professor Tait says the ‘graceful but athletically strenuous’ artistry on the trapeze has evolved through film – from ‘Tarzan’ in the 1930s to Wim Wenders’ ‘Wings of Desire’ in 1987 – into the acts of Circus Oz and Cirque du Soleil which thrill audiences today.
For example, the book highlights one of the great ironies in the history of the entertainment industry: that the first ‘flyer’ in the history of trapeze – a handsome Frenchman, Jules Leotard, famous and admired for his bravery 150 years ago – is today remembered for only one thing: his pants.
The colourful outfit is still the uniform of choice for dancers and circus performers, but the book reveals a lot more about this pioneer of the flying trapeze and the many men and women who followed him.
Another person featured is the most famous trapeze artist of the 20th century, Alfredo Codonas, who pioneered the triple somersault while working in Australia. He went on to become stuntman for Olympic swimmer and actor, Johnny Weismuller, in two Tarzan movies during the 1930s and married Australian trapeze artist, Vera Bruce, a relationship that ended in tragedy a few years later.
Other popular performers in ‘Circus Bodies’ include the Hanlon Brothers’ scenarios of macabre deaths; female celebrities such as black French aerialist LaLa, made famous by Degas in his painting; the infamous Leona Dare holding a man suspended from a trapeze under a hot air balloon; female human cannonballs as well as ‘gender benders’ including female impersonator Barbette, celebrated by Jean Cocteau in Paris, and the exceptionally muscular Lusitia Leers.
For further information:
Professor Peta Tait, Tel: 03 9479 1712; Email :p.tait@latrobe.edu.au