Join this panel for a discussion around how to identify sexism, why it’s detrimental to the juggling community, and ways to stop sexism when it happens within the juggling community.
Unsure of what issues could exist, how to identify them, and what you can do to stop problematic behaviors; or just looking to hear some new perspectives on how to keep being a great ally? Then this panel is for you!
Florence Huet – Moderator
Flo is a hoop juggler, and the founder and editor-in-chief of YANA, an art magazine dedicated to juggling.
There are 179 countries they haven’t performed in yet and 1084849 siteswaps their brain hasn’t figured out.
Ariane Oechsner
Ariane Oechsner has been on stage for 30 years, started juggling over 20 years ago and has been doing both as a profession for 15 years. 2013 she graduated from the professional circus school DIE ETAGE e.V. in Berlin and went on to do her master‘s in choreography at the Codarts in Rotterdam and Fontys in Tilburg (Joint-Degree COMMA – Co-Creation of Movement Master of Arts). Last winter she finished the course „Formalisation de Projet“ at ESACTO‘Lido in Toulouse. After several years between Berlin and Paris, early in 2020 Ariane returned to Vienna, where she engages as an active member in several local collectives (TRAP, SchloR, Töchter der Kunst etc.). For the past nine years, Ariane successfully toured the world (Europe, Asia, Africa, USA, South America) in various artistic contexts (Cirque Romanès, CriticalMess by Stefan Sing, Jérôme Thomas etc.). Recently she focused on writing and realising her own projects (notably: „play nice“ with Roxana Küwen). Ariane works as a choreographer, director and performer – focused on the non-verbal, aesthetic expression of movement and object manipulation. She understands her artistic practice as inter- (sectional) disciplinary: her current research interest explores the intersection of performative art and political activism.
Her artistic practices and creation methods involve approaches from meditation, dance, clown and political philosophy. She engages various divers ideas to form her very own methodology of improvisation and writing with movement. In this masterclass she will focus on creating movement vocabulary with objects through guided physical improvisation as well as extracting material for performative purposes: she will share her approach on practice and theory of creation.
Afton Benson
Afton Benson is an Artist and Nonprofit Manager who works with a variety of organizations and artists including Benjamin Domask-Ruh, Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, and Richard Kennison. They are an active member of the juggling community in the United States. Currently acting as the Treasurer of the International Jugglers’ Association (IJA) since 2015, as the Show Producer for the MONDO Juggling & Unicycle Festival in St. Paul, Minnesota, and will be the IJA Festival Director for 2022.
Juliette Muller
Juliette Muller discovered and practiced juggling at the circus school Lido in Toulouse. She is currently studying dramaturgy at ENS in Lyon, after having completed a master’s degree in social sciences at the same school. In her research, she analyses the circus through the prism of gender studies and post-colonial studies.