We sat down with Mish, the mastermind behind Waiting Song at Certain Blacks Ensemble Festival 26 and 27 July in Docklands.
Waiting Song is a lyrical duet performed mid-air – how did the idea of blending trapeze with live music and dialogue about hope and anticipation come to you?
The duet emerged from improvisation between two trapeze performers who can sing. They played with asking each other what kind of things they might be waiting for. When we decided to make it a stand-alone piece, we wanted to make sure that we depicted waiting for good things, instead of a song that dreaded what might come. Arial actions offer great metaphors for what is being said.
You’ve worked across roles as director, designer, and aerialist. How does your past as a performer inform how you direct circus work now, especially in open-air festivals like Ensemble?
I direct how I would have liked to have been directed. I seek to empower performers to give their very best and surprise themselves. Performing outdoors can be difficult, and also, liberating. I work with performers to enable them to be big and visible, while remaining approachable and human.
You’ve long been outspoken about the links between climate breakdown and mental health. How do those concerns filter into your artistic practice – do they shape the tone or form of your work even when they’re not the overt theme?
I am uncomfortable with artist preaching to their audiences. I do not think our role is to inform about climate breakdown anymore. I want to hold spaces for people to think about how they feel. I hope to initiate conversations that wouldn’t ordinarily happen. My work is always about mental health, even if it is not overt.
What excites you about presenting work like Waiting Song in a public, outdoor setting where audiences might encounter it unexpectedly?
I love working outdoors. I love that performance can be free and audiences diverse. The outdoors can make so many images accessible. I love that a show transforms in relation to the weather, the time of day, the setting, the mood, the disturbances that the outdoors throws at you. I love the fact that someone walking home one day might catch an image that stays with them.
You’ve led initiatives like the Serious Circus Symposiums and often speak to the future of the form – what possibilities do you see for circus to engage with political or emotional urgency in ways other art forms can’t?
Because circus offers real movement and real action it can deliver visceral images. Live performance has an urgent responsibility to be honest and brave in an age where protest is being censored so brutally. Art must support the important conversations and also contribute to people’s well-being. People deserve some joy.