There’s something going on in the Collingwood Arts Center. They aren’t ghosts— but they do leap and fly through the air. They aren’t here to scare you— but you might gasp and hold your breath. They’re circus performers— but elephants need not apply.
For the past five years, Erin-Garber Pearson has invited awestruck audiences and eager novices to enter her enchanting space, tucked in the Old West End. Locals have learned how to gracefully wind themselves in silks 15 feet in the air, walk on stilts, balance on beams and attempt astonishing aerial acrobatic acts.
Today, Pearson and her growing troupe are getting ready to set sail with the newest major production, Nautica. Before performances begin on Friday, March 31, we caught up with Pearson to hear more about what it’s like under the big top.
How has Bird’s Eye View Circus (BEVC) developed since you opened it in 2012?
Erin-Garber Pearson: When BEVC first opened I was the only instructor. I taught in the theater at the Collingwood Art Center and in my smaller studio on the first floor. We have expanded, doubling the studio size to accommodate all the circus students. We also have anywhere from five to eight incredibly talented, hard-working instructors (from Toledo, Detroit and Ann Arbor) teaching at all times. One of our trapeze instructors traveled here from Lansing to teach for eight months straight. Every show we do is a higher level of skill and concept development then the last. I’m really happy to see the progress we are making as a community!
Most people think of the circus with a big top tent, clowns and elephants. How do you do it differently?
We do not use animals and are not in a tent. We are a contemporary circus, which typically merges with performance art, using acrobatics to tell stories mixed with spectacle.
How many major productions like Nautica has BEVC put on?
This is the third full narrative-style show that we have done. Our previous shows were Baba Yaga (February, 2015) and Neverland (October, 2016). We have hosted many other variety style shows as well, including Lucid, Toy Chest, and Stripes and Bloomers. Nautica will feature a live storyteller who provides small narration from backstage.
What’s the story behind Nautica?
Nautica is the journey of a brave and adventurous orphan who finds herself on a ship searching for abandoned treasure with a gang of rowdy sailors. Along the way, they meet carnivorous giants, ship sirens, and celestial forces that tell Nautica where she comes from, and of the balance of the earth and stars. The original story was conceived by Chloe Whiting-Stevenson, an instructor at Bird’s Eye View Circus, and has been reworked for circus through a production and writing team, myself, Matthew Miller and Morgan Sopko.
Does BEVC perform a lot of original work?
Each show is different, so some of the acts are written by the performer, and some are choreographed by someone else. Often times a group act is choreographed by one of the instructors and performed by a mix of students.
When did you get involved with the circus?
I started working on acrobatic storytelling as a set and prop builder in Minneapolis with Infiammati Fire Circus in 2007. The director brought me on because I am a sculptor and many of my wearable sculptures were used in the show. My partner, Erik Bang, was in the show and he told them I could roller skate and breathe fire, which I ended up also being cast to do in that first year. I never looked back.
How do you stay inspired?
Circus performing is exhilarating on many levels. To see what the human body can do with enough work and commitment, and to innovate techniques for applying these skills to an idea, is what fuels me to keep going. I also love working with other people and circus is definitely a group activity.
What makes Toledo a great place to be a circus performer?
The Collingwood Art Center has worked with me from the beginning to bring in qualified riggers to make what we do happen in a safe and affordable way. Often, you don’t see shows like this in midsize cities because of the high costs of rigging, equipment and high level knowledge. Toledo is a really inexpensive place to live, so I’ve taken any excess income I’ve had, and been able to put it back into this studio and my own training.
Toledo is also in a great location for me to build relationships with artists in other cities. Last year, I did an intensive circus training program in Chicago for nine months (8-12 hours a day!) to both continue my own training and be able to bring back home some of what I learned. It was a tough year, going back and forth weekly between Chicago and Toledo, but luckily it’s only four hours away. I still go back to Chicago to train and see shows, and I continue to connect with my friends from other studios in Detroit and Ann Arbor every week. Bird’s Eye View Circus is very much on the map for contemporary circus studios in the nation.
7:30pm/doors and 8pm/show.
Friday, March 31 and Saturday, April 1.
2:30pm//doors and 3pm/show. Sunday, April 2.
Single adult: $12/presale, $15/at the door.
Couples: $20/presale. Age 10 and under: $6.
Collingwood Arts Center Lois Nelson Theater
2413 Collingwood Blvd. | 567-694-6628
birdseyeviewcircus.com
