Circus and its Others (CaiO) is an international, cross-disciplinary research project that explores the ways in which contemporary circus artists and companies relate to concepts such as difference, otherness, and alterity in their practice. Through its activities, which has included four conferences and multiple peer-reviewed publications including special issues of Performance Matters, Corpo-Grafías, and Circus: Arts, Life, and Sciences, CaiO brings together scholars from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds, artists and arts professionals, and the broader community to engage with circus as a vibrant, complex contemporary art form and field of practice. CaiO’s participants share the desire to continue to establish circus studies as an academic field while at the same time resisting its full institutionalization, engaging in an ongoing reflexive inquiry that allows itself to query its own inclusions and exclusions.

Circus and its Others grew out of the Montréal Working Group on Circus Research led by L. Patrick Leroux (Concordia University). Its co-directors from 2014-2025 were Charles R. Batson (Union College) and Karen Fricker (Brock University); in 2025, 11 scholars and scholar-artists joined them to create an extended leadership team (see listing below). Batson, Fricker, and Leroux co-directed the project’s first international conference (Montréal, 2016). Batson and Fricker co-directed the second international conference (Prague, 2018) with Veronika Štefanová (Cirqueon, Czechia); the academic committee for the Prague conference also included Leroux, Michael Eigtved (University of Copenhagen), and Martin Pšenička (Charles University, Prague). 

The third international Circus and its Others conference was hosted by the University of California, Davis and took place online from November 4-7, 2021. Batson and Fricker co-directed this conference with Ante Ursić (East Tennessee State University), and the academic and creative committee also included Veronika Štefanová and Olga Lucia Sorzano (Artemotion, Colombia). The Davis conference was originally planned to happen face to face in 2020, but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Not wanting to wait an extra year to continue the Circus and its Others inquiry, the Davis academic and creative committee organized a series of five digital panels from Fall 2020 to the summer of 2021. These online events involving artists and scholars brought yet more attention worldwide to the CaiO community and its questions. 

The fourth international Circus and its Others conference took place in Bogotá, Colombia from Feb. 28-Mar. 3, 2024, co-organized by Batson, Fricker, and Olga Lucia Sorzano, with an academic and creative committee that also included Marco Antonio Coelho Bortoleto (University of Campinas), Aastha Gandhi (Ambedkar University Delhi), and Julieta Infantino (University of Buenos Aires). 

For more information about Circus and its Others’ past activities and publications, please click here [live click point] to access the CaiO archive. 

Circus and its Others welcomes inquiries and comments – please contact us using the “Contact” form on this website, or by emailing circusanditsothers@gmail.com.

Circus and its Others leadership team:
Charles R. Batson, Union College, USA || Ilaria Bessone, AltroCirco, Italy || Marco Antonio Coelho Bortoleto, University of Campinas, Brazil || Karen Fricker, Brock University, Canada || Aastha Gandhi, Ambedkar University Delhi, India || Julieta Infantino, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina || Jennifer Miller, Circus Amok and Pratt Institute, USA || Mathilde Perahia, En Piste, Québec, Canada || Olga Lucia Sorzano, Artemotion, Colombia || Veronika Štefanová, Cirqueon, Czechia || Ante Ursić, East Tennessee State University, USA || Gaia Vimercati, Quattrox4, Italy || Tracy Zhang, York University, Canada