I first came to circus through university research. In 2012, I was in my last year at the Latvian Academy of Culture, doing my final research on contemporary circus trends in the Baltic states, when I heard about the FRESH CIR- CUS#2 event in Paris. At that time, I actually hadn’t seen any circus shows live – I’d only seen videos and read books about circus, but I was completely in love with it. So I went to FRESH CIRCUS, and in the end I didn’t have any money to buy tickets, so I didn’t see any circus there either, but I found a community instead – one that was incredibly welcoming and accepting, and passionate about collaboration. Sitting at the Cité de la Musique cafe, in front of La Villette, I decided that this was the community I wanted to work in, and that I was going to take my 200 Euros in savings and start a life in Paris to dig into the circus world. Weirdly, it worked out. Circus then was something that didn’t exist in Latvia, but seeing that in France it was a real sector gave me something to strive for — and something to bring back to Latvia.
Maybe it’s only once in a hundred years that a national theatre experiences a revolution, but that’s kind of what happened here.
At the end of 2015, I moved back there as I’d been working on and off with the outdoor festival Re Riga!. One day I was in a car with the festival director, Mārtiņš Ķibers, when we passed by the old Rīgas cirks building in the city centre — a 19th century neoclassical circus which housed the traditional programme of Latvia’s national circus. I said that one day I would like to work there and Mārtiņš said it would never happen. Then in early 2016, the Ministry of Culture called us for advice asking what to do with Rīgas cirks. They’d realised they that they had to change something, because they’d taken back ownership of the historical building and there were many protests against the use of animals in performances there. Together with international partners, notably Yohann Floch, we spent almost a year working to create a proposal strategy for how we would reimagine this institution and building, and to be honest, it was largely based on the French system. In 2016 we also joined Circostrada, and support from network members definitely helped us in creating the strategy. We were not the only ones to submit a proposal, but finally it was the one selected. Later on, in 2017, we started working in the circus itself and launched an international competition for architects to renovate the building. These last five years have been completely life-changing. Maybe it’s only once in a hundred years that a national theatre experiences a revolution, but that’s kind of what happened here. Now, we are around 25 people working in the building. We are still at the start, where every project or every decision is still very important because it’s laying the groundwork for the future. We have to really think about how we are creating an infrastructure. Our connection with Circostrada has been very important for that. Working in your own country can feel quite lonely. At home, maybe you have one or two people you can talk to, but in Circostrada there are a hundred friendly faces that have the same issues as you. I think one of the reasons people stay in the network so long is they need this kind of peer-to- peer support – in difficult times it is a necessity. Looking back, FRESH CIRCUS was a turning point for me, and the moment when I made the decision to choose circus as a path for my life. And looking forward, we are now planning to organise a general meeting at last — in Latvia.
General Director. Rīgas cirks, Latvia