American Circus Educators Magazine Spring 2018 (Issue 1, Volume 12) | Page 14

V i e w :
Point of
TA N YA B U R K A
TANYA BURKA (@thetanyaburka) is currently
on tour with Cirque du Soleil’s TORUK –
The First Flight. A graduate of Canada’s
prestigious national circus school and a
respected professional artist, she has been
an active participant in online discussions
on aerial matters.
RESPECT FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
The circus industry (both traditional and contemporary)
is overwhelmingly white, young, and thin. The
contemporary side of the industry particularly is one
of privilege, as those with access to expensive intensive
training programs are usually the ones who can excel
the fastest in an industry where youth and stereotypical
beauty hold a huge cachet. Many companies still look at
minority performers and think "oh, but if we hired you
we would need to create a specific role for you." This has
been said personally to friends of mine. So minority and
atypical performers (trans, bigger women, performers
of either gender in a discipline less typical) often face a
particular kind of discrimination in casting where they
need to present unique performance material along with
their unique look in order to prompt directors to look
outside the box.
When these performers have their material copied
and disseminated to the broader aerial community,
it has a disproportionately negative effect on their
ability to get hired. Within weeks or months dozens
of other Instagram influencers and aerialists may be
incorporating their moves or sequences into 30-second
video bites, rather than having done the hard work to
develop the moves as part of a coherent 5-6 minute
act—and yet the end result is that the uniqueness is
gone.
So even if it's small transitions or simple moves, the fact
that it's new means it shouldn't be copied without the
artist's permission in general, but especially with artists
who may face any kind of visible discrimination. Although
you may not be a professional, your Instagram following
takes cues from you and your posting another artist's
material effectively declares it part of the common
lexicon, making it available to thousands of aerialists
worldwide. This is why many professional aerialists avoid
posting with commonly researched or reshare hashtags—
and those who do use them still struggle to have
followings equal to those who have time and resources
(as from another job) to enable them to dedicate to
building a following, instead of building an act.
CONCERNING & POSITIVE TRENDS WITHIN SOCIAL
MEDIA & IN THE COMMUNITY
As I said, one of the most concerning trends I see
14
birth to start getting it right, and it's a slow process with
lots of intermediary steps. Crawl first, run later. The
difference is that when a toddler falls the consequences
are relatively minor. The ground is close! So with aerial
work, people—especially teens and young adults—need
to keep in mind that progress is a marathon, not a sprint.
One of the positive things I see in the online community
is that as aerial training/performance opportunities
are spreading, more people are asking questions
and speaking up if they see unsafe or unprofessional
practices happening. I also see a lot of professionals
connected to the community giving back. Performers,
high level coaches, riggers etc are being very generous
in sharing information, advice, anecdotes and in general
trying to contribu