CIRCUS BODIES

EDUCATION AND THE POWER OF BECOMING

Abstract

The circus language is a cultural manifestation whose main artist is the body. From the understanding of the body as the human existence materiality and an instrument of communication, historically conditioned, we conceive that circus bodies express a set of signs representative of the founding contradictions of class societies. The aim of this paper is to analyze and discuss the ideological signs present in circus bodies and their role in education in different historical contexts. To illustrate our discussions, we selected three sections: the grotesque of popular culture in the Middle Ages; the circus language and gymnastic methods of 19th century Industrial Europe; and the interlocutions between the Soviet circus and theater in the period of the Socialist Revolution.