Cirque nouveau

New or Contemporary Circus, or nouveau cirque (as it is known in French-speaking countries), is a genre of performing arts developed in the later 20th century in which a story or a theme is conveyed through traditional circus skills. Confusion has reigned over the terminology as it the genre could more properly be define as a form of modern Variety Show or in the USA, Vaudevile as New or Contempory Circus practitioners seldon use a central performing circular ring, which to an extent is synonymous with the tradition 'Circus' of the mid 1700s onwards.

Animals are rarely used in this type of performance, and traditional circus skills are blended with a more character-driven approach. Compared with the traditional circuses of the past, the contemporary approach tends to focus more attention on the overall aesthetic impact, sometimes on character and story development, and on the use of lighting design, original music, and costume design to convey thematic or narrative content.

Although the literal French translation of New Circus is nouveau cirque , the term contemporary circus is also often used.

The 'new circus' or 'nouveau cirque' movement originated in the 1970s in France, Australia, the West Coast of the United States and the United Kingdom at much the same time.

Early examples of 'new circus' or 'nouveau cirque' companies include: Royal Lichtenstein Circus, founded in San Jose, CA in 1970; Circus Oz, forged in Australia in 1977 from SoapBox Circus and New Circus, both founded in the early 1970s; the Pickle Family Circus, founded in San Francisco in 1975; Ra-Ra Zoo in 1984 in London; Nofit State Circus in 1984 from Wales; Cirque du Soleil, founded in Quebec in 1984; Cirque Plume and Archaos from France in 1984 and 1986 respectively. Some of the impetus came from a political theatre movement and some from a growing street theatre and renaisance fair asthetic. Two very different but notable companies, Archaos and Cirque du Soliel, can be traced to small groups of theatre peoole taking to the road in horse drawn caravans and creating 'circus' shows on the road.

...
Wikipedia