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Circus Embodiments: From Science to Spirituality

Event Type
Conference/Workshop
Sponsor
CASCaDe
Location
Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum
Date
Nov 17, 2024   2:30 pm  
Speaker
Nathalie Yves Gaulthier
Contact
Smitha Vishveshwara
E-Mail
smivish@illinois.edu
Views
17

Circus, in its desire to challenge gravity, to surpass human abilities, and to surprise and deeply connect with audience, paves rich, interconnected ways to reach a multitude of realms that beguile the imagination, that traverse art, science, humanity, spirituality, and more, and that dissolve boundaries. As the director of the remarkable youth circus group, Le PeTiT CiRqUe®, I am challenged every day in bringing these child prodigy acrobats, cirque performers, and Team USA Gold medalists together toward these visions of higher purpose. We summoned the core of our inherent humanitarian work and our spirituality at the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize Concert in honor of ICAN, which works for the prohibition of nuclear weapons, and at the Dalai Lama Global Summit and Birthday Celebration. In productions such as The Journey of You, riddled with gods and spirit guides, we conjure the magic that creates the worlds of dreams. In our collaborative scientific creations, such as Cosmic Tumbles, Quantum Leaps, we immerse into the microscopic world and reach for the stars; we are currently in collaboration with the University of Illinois on the performance Quantum Voyages, set to take flight for UNESCO’s 2025 International Year of the Quantum. In this presentation, I offer a soulful glimpse of our circus journeys through these paths.

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