The negative effects of a culture’s ingrained misogyny merge with circus and aerial artistry in Webs Circus, Dragonfly Aerial Arts and Circus Studio with their performance of “Webs: A Circus Confronting Sexualized Violence … with humor, tragedy and empathy.”
Based in the Knoxville region, Webs Circus and Dragonfly Aerial focus on utilizing empathy, compassion and humor within their performance in hopes to create a healing space for the women that have experienced the emotional effects of sexual violence.
The group builds upon metaphors in their physical storytelling performance using stilts, duo trapeze, rope, fabric, cube and aerial spider web. These props are interwoven with spoken word, music and sometimes, the sound of silence to share stories of gender-based violence – from street harassment to assault.
The unique aerial spiderweb apparatus is one of the main components used to address justice and change needed to combat sexual violence.
“We look at it as the web of patriarchy,” said circus and aerial art instructor Lissa McLeod. “It was specifically built for this performance to show how women can become trapped and the ways we can re-balance power within our society.”
“This performance looks at how we have arrived at a place where nearly 80 percent of women and roughly 40% of men report having experienced unwanted sexual touch,” McLeod said. “We want to address the questions: How did we get to this place; what does it mean to have experienced this – as individuals and a culture – and how do we move beyond, heal and change?”
McLeod has hopes that this performance will generate a force of empathy and compassion strong enough to create a catalyst for larger conversations discussing rape culture and patriarchy within our society.
The performance will be held on Oct. 24 at 7:30 p.m. in Bud Frank Theatre in ETSU’s Gilbreath Hall.
Tickets for “Webs: A Circus Confronting Sexualized Violence … with humor, tragedy and empathy” are $20 for general admission, $15 for seniors and $5 for students.
