New circus

Contemporary circus, or nouveau cirque (as it was originally 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. Animals are rarely used in this type of circus, 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, 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 English translation of nouveau cirque is "new circus", the term contemporary circus is generally preferred.

The nouveau cirque movement originated in the 1970s in France, Australia, the West Coast of the United States and the United Kingdom.

Early examples of 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.

More recent examples include: Cirque Éloize, founded in Quebec (1993); Arizona's Flam Chen (1994); New York's Bindlestiff Family Cirkus (1995); Sweden's Cirkus Cirkör (1995); Teatro ZinZanni, founded in Seattle (1998); the West African Circus Baobab (late 1990s); Montreal's Les 7 doigts de la main founded in 2002, San Francisco's Vau De Vire Society;Wanderlust Circus from Portland, Oregon; Australia's Circa (2004); Asheville's Fox & Beggar Theater and American cirque noir companies Lucent Dossier Experience, Cirque Mechanics (2004),PURE Cirkus (2004), and the Red Light Variety Show of Boise, Idaho (2008).

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