Conversation about contemporary circus with Aaron Marquise from La TOHU, Montréal
Welcome to talk about contemporary circus with Aaron Marquise, Deputy Director of Circus Arts Programming and Development La Tohu in Montréal, Canad
The Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s international program for circus and Cirkus Cirkör invites you to a conversation with Aron Marquise, Deputy Director of Circus Arts Programming and Development at La Tohu, Montréal, Canada.
Aaron Marquise will be in conversation with Åsa Edgren from Cirkus Cirkör, presenting La Tohu’s mission and program, the Montréal Complètement Cirque Festival and the International Market of Contemporary Circus with a focus on contemporary circus in North America.
Aaron Marquise has a background as a circus performer and producer in the USA and Canada, and is now invited as one of three international experts by the international program for circus in collaboration with Cirkus Cirkör and Dansens Hus in connection with the Tipping Point circus performance in Stockholm.
The conversation is led by Åsa Edgren, responsible for Strategy and Development at Cirkus Cirkör.
Aaron Marquise.
Åsa Edgren.
Aaron Marquise
Deputy Director of Circus Arts Programming and Development at La Tohu from Montreal, Canada
Aaron has a background as circus artist and independent producer both in USA and Canada.
He will present the missions and programs at La Tohu, Montréal Complètement Cirque Festival and the International Market of Contemporary Circus (MICC) with a focus on what does contemporary circus in North America want today and what drives it.
After discovering the circus world, Aaron auditioned at the prestigious National Circus School in Montréal, Canada where he graduated in 2015. Since joining the circus world Aaron has had the opportunity to perform in Quebec, France, Switzerland, and Germany for companies such as Circus Monti, GOP Variéte, and Le Monastère. In the fall of 2019, Aaron served as a Production Assistant to the Creative Team on the North American tour of Disney’s Frozen The Musical. Aaron served as assistant director/circus consultant for Pippin and assistant director for Les Misérables for the School of the Performing Arts at Proctors where he previously served as the Arts Education Manager. In 2019, Aaron founded the Contemporary Circus & Immersive Arts Center in Troy, NY. Aaron is currently the Deputy Director of Circus Arts Programming and Development at La Tohu, Montréal and the Coordinator of the International Market for Contemporary Circus (MICC) at the TOHU in Montréal.
La TOHU is a laboratory for sustainable development through culture and a performing arts venue. As the only presenter specializing in contemporary circus in North America, it supports the development of the discipline by offering the best of circus from here and elsewhere around the world, in season and through its MONTRÉAL COMPLÈTEMENTEMENT CiRQUE Festival (MICC), while supporting training, research, creation and circulation within an international network. It also supports the education of audiences and the building of a memory of circus through mediation, exhibitions and the development of the Jacob William Fund). It thus contributes to positioning Montreal as the international capital of the circus arts.
MICC
Produced by La TOHU (Montréal, Québec, Canada), the International Market of Contemporary Circus (MICC, for its French acronym) convenes a global community of professionals dedicated to the creation, presentation, and touring of contemporary circus in North America and around the world, both online year-round and in-person each July in Montréal.
By accelerating the impact of our Annual Market through regular contact, the MICC Network is now playing a key role in moving contemporary circus into the spotlight.
Cirkus Cirkör
Cirkus Cirkör was started in 1995 and is the most prominent circus company in the Nordics today. Our umbrella covers performances on tour in Sweden and the world, courses and educational programs for all ages, an upper secondary school for circus, business events and many, many collaboration projects. Cirkus Cirkör is an idea of how to use the arts to influence, develop and change the world. With curiosity, humour and courage, we explore the diversity and borders of the circus arts. Cirkus Cirkör is a platform where different artistic practices flourish and surprise. We collaborate with many and use the circus as a method to uplift and inspire humans. We bring contemporary circus into the future.
Åsa Edgren
Åsa has solid experience with around forty innovative productions and hundreds of completed national and international tours behind her. She has invited some of the world’s strongest names in dance, performance, circus and theatre and introduced them to the Swedish and Nordic audiences. The whole world has been her field of work. Åsa is an International Sales Strategist at Cirkus Cirkör. She comes most recently from the role of CEO of her own business Loco World, which she founded in 2004, Sweden’s first resource office for the internationalization and professionalization of the Swedish performing arts. She has worked successfully to put Sweden on the map internationally and with the development of the international cross-genre performing arts in Sweden. She co-founded Nordics Combined and MADEIN-THEWEB is a window for independent artists, institutions and projects to present themselves to the international world of international practitioners and organizers. She has also been the Nordic agent for the Canadian companies Machine de Cirque and La Compagnie Marie Chouinard.