Berserk for the cirque

(Credit: Suzanne Bernel)

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Remember when running away with the circus was a threat ballsy enough to give your mom a pill habit? It seems these days that the breezy proclamation "Oh yes, I'm in a circus" falls from the lips of hip urbanites at a rate comparable to bridge club attendance of the past: it's something to do, a way to connect with others, a social outlet.

We asked Suzanne Bernel, founder of L.A-based troupe Cirque Bezerk what's up with the growing trend, which includes everything from bars hosting sexy Vaudevillian nights to her own circus rolling into Downtown. Bernel explains that she had a recent epiphany while watching the 1972 film "Cabaret," set in the nightclub underbelly of Nazi Berlin. "Before WWII, Hitler was just coming to power, and people were beginning to feel the threat of a fascist regime. In the states, we're feeling that things are really wrong right now. And I think people go to an extreme version of entertainment." So, the Bush regime and Hitler both produce dark, deviant art? That's one theory.

In the spirit of making contortionist, half-naked lemonade out of political lemons, the cirque scene has never been stronger in L.A. Lucent Dossier—that gaggle of white-faced, limber acrobats who appear everywhere from corporate parties to Coachella—have an ongoing stint in the basementy bowels of the Edison bar on Wednesday nights, stripping off their clothes and prowling about like sexy anachronisms from a bygone era. Bernel's own Cirque Berzerk is launching an annual event this week, erecting a big top in the Los Angeles State Historic Park, complete with adjacent beer gardens and an opening night heralded with an explosion of fireballs into the sky. The four-day run, based loosely on the Greek myth of Orpheus, deals with the struggle between the under/overworld, as told through Siamese twins on stilts, aerialists, trapeze artists and fire eaters. This is no Barnum and Bailey's. As Bernel puts it, "It's a little creepy. A little off." She's got a point when she asks, semi-rhetorically, "What if you went to hell and that’s where the party is?"

Fishnets, bawdy half-naked cabaret, punk rock clowns, fire juggling and swinging from ropes two stories from the ground certainly fits our description of a party. Bernel admits that fans of Cirque Berzerk—which sets up an art camp at the Black Rock Desert’s Burning Man festival every year—sometimes leave the show inspired to dive into the world of circus arts. She recommends anyone feeling a pang of longing for freakish performance take some classes, but maintain "a healthy respect for it and train for a year or so" before setting out to perform in front of others.

With the boom in the cirque, L.A. has plenty of places to watch with mouth agape from the audience, or join the party by taking classes in stiltwalking, aerial arts, juggling and other activities that would leave your Mom reaching for her anxiety meds.

What remains to be seen is if a change in presidential leadership come November will calm the frayed nerves and artistic uproar of this circus trend.

Click here to see where the cirques will be around town this summer »

If you want to join the freaks and learn the flying trapeze, click here for info on circus classes »

Alie Ward is Events editor for Metromix Los Angeles.