Ivy Emms with the man she married, Jack Bent, on a music catalogue for the song Just a Ray of Sunlight. After performing patriotic songs as a child in popular pantomimes, Emms later worked as a choreographer at Melbourne’s Tivoli Theatre. NLA

From child stars to lost theatres: capturing our ephemeral history of live performance

More than 100,000 records of live performance are on a database of our theatre history. They tell of corroborees, the first play staged by white settlers, and long-gone gracious theatres.
Circus posters. flickr

Circus and politics: a very Australian mix

Contemporary circus and circus-infused physical theatre are amongst Australia’s most innovative and in-demand cultural exports. It’s a performance craft with a proud history behind it.
The Ninja Circus from Mutitjulu shows the benefits social circus can deliver. Ninja Circus

Circus training instead of school sports? Now there’s an idea

What if social policy-makers knew how beneficial circuses were to the community? This was the provocation pitched to circus producers, trainers, performers and academics who met in the Melba Spiegeltent…
A renewal of the circus arts has been underway since the 1970s. Cirkopolis/Melbourne Festival

The big top’s evolution: Cirkopolis by Cirque Eloize

Elegance, elite athleticism, light-handed humour and a gentle narrative about the value of individuality are the principal elements of Cirkopolis, which opens this week at the Melbourne International Arts…

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