London- based Belfast acrobat told David Hennessy about The Genesis, the new show from Copenhagen Collective, the international collective he is part of.
Copenhagen Collective bring their new show The Genesis to Peacock Theatre, Sadler’s Wells this week for its London premiere.
It has just shown at Edinburgh Fringe.
The Genesis is an acrobatic journey as 16 international artists from Denmark, Australia, Peru, Canada, UK, Uruguay, Chile, Portugal, USA, Germany, Ireland and France unite to celebrate the joys of human connection and impressive physical skill.
Exploring themes of group strength, community, and conflict, the world-class acrobats join together to shape an hour-long performance that meshes heartfelt storytelling performance with jaw-dropping acrobatic feats and movement.
Among the cast is Belfast acrobat Ronan Jenkinson who is based in London.
From East Belfast, Ronan discovered circus at the age of 8 after his parents decided that it was a safer option for him than climbing trees unsupervised.
He fell in love with the art form almost instantly.
20 years later, these skills have guided him around the world performing, training and collaborating with many of the world’s top artists and companies.
Ronan Jenkinson chatted to the Irish World ahead of the London dates, he was in Edinburgh at the time of our conversation.
How are you looking forward to bringing the show to London?
“I’m super excited.
“Obviously London is a super big city so it’s really nice to be actually tackling the UK.
“We’ve done quite a lot of Europe already but coming to Edinburgh has obviously been a big step for us because it’s such a big market.
“We’re hoping that it’s going to get a good audience and it’s going to pack a punch.
“I think it’s going to be great in the Peacock Theatre.
“It’s such a nice venue and it’s such a good audience for it.
“We’ve got some stunts planned and we’re trying to bump up the marketing so that we can kind of get the word out there for the new kids on the block.
“I’m really excited.
“I’ve been living in London for quite a long time.
“I went to the circus school there so for me personally, it’s kind of home turf since leaving Belfast and Ireland.
“There’s going to be a lot of friends there and I can bring some family members.
“It’s going to be nice.”
How would you describe the show?
“I would start by saying we’re 17 acrobats, we’re from 14 different countries and we’re bringing it together like the spirit of humanity essentially.
“We’re really testing the trust and how we go through life from an everyday point of view.
“We’re starting in this space where we’re all very similar and throughout the show, we find our dynamic and find our spirit of humanity and how we work together.
“But you can really see the cultures on stage and how we kind of connect and create our own world to be able to then do all of the crazy skills that we do as a result of that connection and how we’re there for each other.
“And because we’re so fresh within the company as well, I think we’re learning what our style is and where we fit within ourselves but also within the world of the industry too and what our sort of stamp is.
“I think we are still exploring and bringing composition to the table of, ‘What if we did a little bit more of this here and a little bit less of that there?’
“It’s really an exploration for us.”
How were the reactions in Edinburgh?
“It’s been really nice.
“Obviously we’re such a new company so not a lot of people know who we are and it’s our first show so we’re still getting the name out there, but we’ve had pretty consistent audiences.
“They’ve been so amazed.
“Even at the Fringe, there’s so much competition but I would say it’s been going really well, it’s been going super good.”
How did you come to get involved with the Copenhagen Collective?
“It is a wild story.
“I’ve been an acrobat now for quite a few years.
“There was some guys in Denmark who wanted to create this collective and the way we all got together was through word of mouth and through invitation, through friends in the community of acrobats.
“We were all invited to Copenhagen to take part in a jam, not quite a workshop per se but more what we do a lot is just get together and we all train together and jam together and meet each other and sort of have a bit of a play time which I think was the essence of the project, to get to know people on face value without the idea of it being an audition.
“And from that, acrobats were selected to be a part of this new company and create a new show and a new company.
“We had people from all over the world like Brazil and Peru and Australia, Germany, Ireland, and a few from the UK so it was super wild, super International which kind of brought this excitement as well of bringing all these different cultures together.”
How does a lad from Belfast become an acrobat?
“That’s the million dollar question right there, isn’t it?
“I started when I was eight years old in a youth circus.
“Belfast Community Circus School It was called at the time.
“It’s been super great to be a part of that.
“It was initially started up after the Troubles for cross community work.
“There was this amazing man Mike Moloney, who was from Australia and had a lot of circus skills.
“He felt the community could use some circus influence just because it’s such a great tool to bring people together, not necessarily needing language per se and you can just learn skills all together.
“That was basically my welcome to the circus world.
“I was really an energetic kid.
“I was doing a lot of sports and running around and playing rugby and generally just chaotic, as young children often are.
“I think my parents were just like, ‘Wow, this looks amazing. This would be great. This would be great for him to occupy the mind with so many physical and different kinds of skills going on’.
“I just loved it.
“I really wanted to continue doing it and learning more about what was out there.
“And at the time, it was a bit hard because there’s not so much formal education in Ireland.
“I really had to, through my own curiosity, find my own inspiration.
“There was something about it that really sparked a flair and I found that you could go to school.
“The school I chose to go to just so happened to be in London.
“I had a family member that lived in London and I felt like it was close enough to home yet it was still a big enough move for me to move from Belfast to London to the big city.
“I studied there for three years on a BA honors degree studying circus arts and I graduated in 2018.
“That’s sort of a brief history on my up and coming through Belfast and to London, and then now into the international world, traveling all over the world, working with various different companies.
“It’s been amazing.
“It’s a rollercoaster.
“It’s not always easy, it’s hard work, tiring.
“You’re unsettled a lot of the time because you don’t know where home is sometimes but it really is worth it for the most part and I love it.”
What do you as the Irish member bring to the collective?
“I reckon the answer to that is craic.
“It’s funny because we have so many people who have no idea what the craic is, and it’s nice to be able to bring that.
“We just performed in Galway actually so it was sort of a home audience for me.
“I have this moment in the show where I kind of get thrown out of the group, I’m really isolated and I just have a moment to play with the audience there and I think that’s where I really try and find a bit of playfulness and a bit of banter between the audience and myself.
“I think everybody brings their own little flair from where they’re from and it also helps you to realise who you are and where you come from and what you have to offer.
“I see the Irish circus community grow and develop over time and ultimately one day what I can then bring back to it, to add my own flair to the Irish circus scene.
“I think that’s something that I have on my agenda in the years to come, ‘What have I learned from living the life that I’ve been able to live and people that I’ve learned from? How can I bring that back to Ireland?’
“I think growing up, I wanted to also have that influence, which I struggled to find.
“As I said earlier, I really wanted to know what was out there and I had this deep curiosity because I felt like I had to search for it.
“I know how much I would have appreciated someone like me to come home and be able to say, ‘I’ve done this and I’ve done that. There’s this company over here and this place is great for doing this thing..’
“I want to bring that back and I want to bring those skills and that experience and that knowledge that I’m lucky to have found.”
You said you performed in Galway not so long ago but have you actually got to do anything in Belfast?
“Actually, no and it’s really sad.
“I would love to.
“Whenever the time comes for me to spend a bit more time back in Belfast, I would like to really reach out to these different venues, these different theatres and speak to those places that can bring international work over.
“The more circus there is in Ireland, regardless of where it’s from, it is going to open up the eyes of the people there too, to be able to see what’s out there and for people to realise that it’s actually a thing that you can do with your life, that you can make a living of it, that you get to meet amazing people and travel the world and have all of these great experiences.
“A lot of people that live in Ireland would maybe try and gravitate away from that sort of lifestyle because of what they see or because of what they hear.
“There’s a lot of stereotypes in circus as well.
“People think, ‘Oh, you want to go away and run to the circus? Do you make any money? Is it a real job?’
“And I’m always like, ‘Yeah, and it’s great. I’m doing it and I’m making money and I’m having a great time’.
“I think it’s just about helping people see that that’s a thing that you can do and to bring strong enough work over that people can believe that and go, ‘Wow, actually, that was insane. I would love to do something like that. I would love my kids to do something like that’.
“That would just be amazing.”
The Genesis by Copenhagen Collective is at Peacock Theare, London 3- 6 September.
For more information and to book, click here.
