Get ready for the 2nd edition of BAM Circus: a three-day (from 26 to 28 May) open-air festival of street theatre and contemporary circus in close connection with the nature of the great botanical garden of BAM – the Milan Library of Trees.
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Created and directed by Francesca Colombo, BAM’s Cultural General Director, BAM Circus is one of the main events of the rich 2023 agenda. It will be an exciting and dreamlike journey to make you dream as you rediscover a much-too-often forgotten feeling: Wonder. An international Festival that pays tribute to the roots and traditions of the area where Portanuova and BAM are located today: a district that – for three decades until 1995 – hosted the legendary ‘Le Varesine’ amusement park, as well as different forms of underground art and culture.
Entrance to the BAM Circus is absolutely free of charge and bookable via app Portanuova Milan, just like all of BAM’s cultural events – a project by the Riccardo Catella Foundation.
The concepts of verticality, air, gravity and balance have inspired the BAM circus programme, finding their greatest expression in the first, unforgettable opening event on 26 May at 8 p.m.: the spectacular and unprecedented tightrope walk between Portanuova’s most iconic buildings, Bosco Verticale and the UniCredit Tower, by Andrea Loreni. A spine-tingling feat – spanning a 205-metre (673-ft) length and at a 140-m (459-m) height – retracing the stunt of the legendary Philippe Petit who walked between the Twin Towers of New York in 1974. The feat will be accompanied by the live performance of pianist Cesare Picco, selected by BAM to wrap the spectators looking up in a blanket of dreams.
The festival will continue with a myriad of marvellous shows promoted daily on the BAM website. They will include Approach 18 stairs/Touch: a show – his second international performance of the year, and his first-ever in Italy – by the French actor, acrobat, dancer, circus performer and acrobat Yoann Bourgeois Art Company, who combines dance and acrobatics as he floats in the air thanks to a special structure placed in the middle of the Park. Yoann Bourgeois Art Company will also perform Democratie, with the direct involvement of the audience.
The topic of balance and defying gravity will also be seen in the aerial silks performances paying tribute to the 80th anniversary of The Little Prince. Lest we forget, BAM will host the première of BAUCI, based on Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino (on the writer’s 100th anniversary) and performed by the theatre company Quattrox4. And for those of you who are saying “there is no circus without clowns”, BAM Circus will answer with the artistic raids of the Milan Clown Festival, a historic international festival for “new clowning” and street drama created and directed by Maurizio Accattato and based in the Isola district. The festival is dedicated to the protagonists of clowning history such as the White Clown, Auguste, and the forefather, Harlequin.
Therefore, a long list of shows that, through the collaboration with Chapitô Danisinni of Palermo – an organization promoting cultural and social awareness through circus art – builds a two-way bridge between BAM and the Sicilian capital (where BAM Circus will travel to next autumn). The partnership was made possible thanks to Fondazione EOS Edison Orizzonte Sociale ETS.
Discover more on BAM website