‘We’re losing our identity’: The impact of COVID on circus performers

These circus performers have been unable to work for most of the last 18 months. Many say their mental health has deteriorated as they battle financial hardship with the loss of performing.

James Bustar feels his identity is gone without performing Source: Ollie Griffiths

For juggler and performer James Bustar, 2020 was the busiest year he’s ever had booked.

The 34 year old from Sydney had a diary full of headlining cruise ships bookings but overnight in March 2020 it disappeared.

“Being performers, we’ve got very touchy souls already, we go onstage, expose our vulnerabilities, and with that missing the mental health impacts are immense,” he said.

Circus performer James Bustar Source: Supplied

James told The Feed the hardest thing is dealing with the mental health impacts of being away from the stage for a long period of time.

“I’ve had so many friends call me in tears wondering what we’re supposed to do,” he said.

“It feels like we’re the forgotten industry in this pandemic, yet we’re the first people called on to donate our services for charitable causes, like the bushfire concert in 2020.”

James has been able to find work as a manager at a trampoline centre, but the recent Sydney outbreak meant the centre had to be closed.

Source: Supplied

“I’ve had to get financial support from my parents, which at 34 is the last thing you want to do, having worked all my life.”

Sydney on Thursday recorded 124 Covid cases - with 87 of them active in the community while infectious. 

With the current restrictions in place, Sydney could be in lockdown until September, according to modelling developed by the Populations Intervention Unit at the University of Melbourne.

South Australia is currently in the grips of a seven day lockdown, that Adelaide-based acrobat Felicia Lannan hopes won’t be extended.

Felicia Lannan Source: Supplied

“If it were two weeks or a month I'd panic,” the 27 year old told The Feed. 

Felicia runs and performs in an all-female acrobatic show called BOSS SQUAD.

She acknowledges that she’s one of the lucky few performers who met the criteria for JobKeeper, saying many of her friends have struggled to get financial support. 

“It’s a gig-to-gig and sole trader economy. It is very difficult to prove that gigs are not coming back and that you’ve lost work,” she said.

BOSS SQUAD performing Source: Supplied

With no gigs on the horizon, Felicia says she’s lost the motivation to train and stay in shape.

“I’m not the kind of person who trains at the gym, I only train in the circus so I’ve lost that motivation to do it without a goal,” she said.

“Most of us live for that interaction we have while performing and feeding off the audience’s energy and without that life becomes a bit pointless.”

Federal Arts Minister Paul Fletcher said the government was committed to supporting performing arts. 

“In 2020-21, the Morrison Government provided $3.53 million under the Arts and Cultural Development Program for the Flying Fruit Fly Circus and the National Institute of Circus Arts,” a spokesperson told The Feed.

“This investment supports specialised training for careers in the performing arts.”

Marcela Scheuner, 26, is an acrobatic performer based in Henty in regional NSW, who also performs in BOSS SQUAD.

Hula-hoop performer Marcela Scheuner Source: Supplied

The uncertainty of the pandemic and the long break she’s had from performing has made her reassess her future in the industry.

“I don’t know when I’m going to be back on stage,” she told The Feed. 

“It's hard to recreate the feeling of having three people stand on your shoulders and the mental focus that’s required to do that too.”