A Sunshine Coast arts organization is redefining the big top, with circus-style performances due to take place in a soaring evergreen grove instead of a canvas-walled canopy.
The Rainforest Circus — an event that Deer Crossing the Art Farm first produced in 2010 — is returning after a three-year gap. Seven shows are scheduled to take place in early August that will feature artists, acrobats, musicians, storytellers, and dancers.
For the first time in a decade, the performances will occur on the shíshálh Nation’s ancestral village site of klaath in Porpoise Bay.
“Gathering people in the forest, it creates a kind of magic,” said Chad Hershler, executive and artistic director of Deer Crossing the Art Farm. “Ninety per cent of our work is done by just being in a group gathering the forest together.”
The inaugural Rainforest Circus took place on the premises of Deer Crossing the Art Farm in Gibsons. Audience members wandered through the site. In one glade, a violinist serenaded visitors. Nearby, madcap clowns pulled faces. “Metaphorically speaking, it was a kind of Rube Goldberg machine,” recollected Hershler. “You need something that gives that feeling of satisfaction when you come to a conclusion. We started to focus our attention on how we could engage more of the community in this creation.”
After several years of holding the outdoor circus in Shirley Macey Park, Hershler and his collaborators launched a major retooling in 2015. They wanted the event to become sustainable — already, the children of original performers were asking to participate. They wanted to connect the spectacle with stories of the land itself. That led to community outreach and consultation with Indigenous knowledge-holders in coastal communities from Gabriola Island to Malcolm Island.
The result was a reformatted circus in 2018, dubbed “Submerged.” From its launch in Cliff Gilker Park, the event travelled to communities throughout the Salish Sea region.
During last weekend’s Vancouver Folk Festival, an attendee recalled kayaking past Malcolm Island in 2018. She was shocked to discover a plein-air circus under way in such a remote location.
“We thought, okay, this has legs to it,” said Hershler.
The 2021 reprise of “Submerged” took the circus to a higher level by adding aerialists. Rainforest Circus organizers began collaborating with Powell River-based aerialist Keely Sills. “There were these young adults that wanted to learn aerials,” said Hershler. “So for three years, [Sills] worked with them, and we continued to do relationship building with our local [shíshálh] Nation and then with the nation in Powell River, the Tla’amin.”
Candace Campo, the founder of Talaysay Tours who launched her company with guided walks through Porpoise Bay Park itself, introduced Hershler and his team to artists and storytellers within her network.
The theme of the 2024 circus is “Intelligence.” The idea was suggested by Sky, the son of Herschler and art farm co-founder Sandy Buck.
“At the time we laughed,” said Hershler. “But for the 2024 version, everyone felt it was so topical. Artificial intelligence is a dominant theme of our world right now. We were also fascinated by the notion of other intelligences that are around us. The forest is just bursting with intelligence and we’re not always cognizant of it. When we’re telling a story, we’re not only sharing it with other humans, we’re sharing it with all our relations around us.”
This August’s Rainforest Circus is poised to increase its quotient of theatrics, musicians, aerial acrobatics, and installation art. The opening night will be followed by a ticketed gala at Sechelt’s Seaside Centre. Admission for all performances is available for purchase online via deercrossingtheartfarm.org/intelligence.
The group is also seeking volunteers for roles ranging from box office management to props and costumes. A volunteer signup form is available at the same link.
