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May Day performs at PoleCon 2025 in the Experimental Showcase

What is Circus Pagan?

Circus Pagan is the intersection of neo-Pagan and circus arts.

Why am I doing this?

Over the years, as I have described the feeling I get when practicing my art, people repeatedly tell me it sounds like a zen experience. When I am in the fabric, the rest of the world melts away and it’s just me and my apparatus moving through time and space and the troubles of life disappear for a bit. In talking to many artists, I’m not alone in this feeling.

Will it really work?

Circus aligns well with the framework provided by Pagan traditions. The elements have numerous representations: Air-aerials; Earth-tumbling, partner acro, handstands, dance; Water: mermaiding, any movement that evokes fluidity; Fire: fire flow, fire juggling. And these are just the disciplines with which I am familiar. There are plenty of other disciplines that apply, and many that can cover multiple elements like veil fans which could be air, water, or earth; pole dance which could be air, earth or water, juggling which could fit any element depending on what you’re juggling; and the list goes on.

Additionally, both classes and performance are an exchange of energy. Coaches hold space for their students and guide them through new movements. In turn, the students can then use those movements to express themselves and give energy back. Performers gather energy and send it to the crowd and crowds show their appreciation by sending energy back.

Pole-centric Celebrations

Since this is the PoleCon blog, I’d like to add some pole-specific elements. The first and most obvious, the May Pole for Beltane celebrations. A perfect example of this is May Day’s (@maydaypole on instagram) performance for PoleCon’s 2024 Experimental Showcase. She perfectly blended the traditional pagan ritual of winding ribbons around the Maypole as one would do in a traditional Maypole dance, symbolizing the union of dichotomies like the god and goddess, the earth and the sky, and representing the spiral of life. May Day had assistance from pagan maidens to wrap the May Pole and she freestyle on the PoleCon stage. And it was pure magick, y’all.

Low flow pole is also a wonderful way to celebrate Mabon, the autumn equinox, one of the 8 major Sabbats of traditional Pagan. Mabon is a harvest festival and we can celebrate the earth by grounding ourselves spiritually, while staying low to the ground with our pole-ing. This also means a poler of any level can join us in celebrating this particular Sabbat with pole.

As someone who is not as familiar with pole compared to other disciplines, I’m sure there are countless other ways pole can be included in our Pagan celebrations.

These are just the seeds of our movement. We can only grow from here. Eventually, we will become the Orchard.

I invite you to explore the orchard,  pick the fruit, and enjoy the spoils of your journey.

If you’d like to read more about Circus Pagan as it develops, visit www.circuscoracreations.com/circus-pagan

Cora
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