How the values and structures of circus make it a significant developmental experience for young people. I declare that this thesis is my own account of my research and contains, as its main content, work which has not previously been submitted for a degree at any tertiary education institution. Sincere thanks go to my excellent supervisor, Dr.
Jennifer de Reuck, and to the Murdoch University librarian, Grant Stone, both of whom cheerfully and provocatively urged me on throughout this three and a half year project. My colleagues in corridor TP3, Georgina Wright and Cheryl Miller in the Division of Arts administration and the helpful staff at the Murdoch library and cafeteria have made this a pleasurable experience not the wearisome journey that is often associated with PhD research. Cherree Innes has been the fearless and efficient interface between me and the computer, and without her, you would not be able to read this now.
Twenty-two institutions and two hundred and nineteen individuals are acknowledged in appendix 1 for their interviews. I wish to thank them and many others who have spared time to help my enquiry. Ho Wing Wah Loretta has been pursuing a course parallel with mine, and besides her kind translating of some Chinese texts, her friendship and encouragement have been inspirational. Abstract Why Circus Works How the values and structures of circus make it a significant developmental experience for young people Circus is increasingly being used as a developmental and remedial activity for children.
However, it is in the paradoxical nature of circus that it operates in a way both mysterious and easily accessible. This thesis proposes that circus as education is more effective when both teacher and student have a better understanding of circus as an art form. To explain this I first introduce six elements of childhood, whose absence often seems to result in an incomplete personal maturity. I then conduct a wide exploration of both the real and the imagined circus, showing how these elements occur or are evoked there, and I establish a correspondence or homology between the two entities childhood and circus.
The discoveries shed light on the aesthetic code of circus itself, leading to the conclusion that circus works as an artform because its essential composition recalls profound experiences of childhood. I argue that contemporary Western childhood presents unexpected hazards, mostly involving passivity and over-protection. In other parts of the world, and in some Western populations, childhood has other problems, linked to deprivation, exploitation and physical danger.
