Student Spotlight: Le Vorris and Vox Circus

UChicago Arts is committed to the health and safety of everyone at UChicago. Student activity such as that of the Registered Student Organization (RSO) explored below has been put on hold for the academic Spring Quarter, and events have been canceled as a preventative action against the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). However, we will still seek to honor the work of our arts faculty, students, and staff during this time through our work on In Practice. We hope you enjoy the article below.

by Alexandra Fiorentino-Swinton

If you need more proof of the vast diversity of artistic interests at UChicago, look no further. In addition to singing, dancing, and visual arts, students take physical performance to the next level in the Le Vorris and Vox Circus. 

Third-year student Ashby DeButts didn’t see herself as athletic before joining the circus. In her first year, she attended the Arts Open House at the Logan Center, talked to students involved in Le Vorris and Vox, and the rest is history. Le Vorris and Vox hosts weekly open gyms where students of all levels are welcome. “We’re used to seeing intramural soccer players and don’t care that they’re not professional, but most people only have exposure to circus at the professional level,” Ashby mused. “Even those professionals were once beginners! We host open gyms and classes for beginners, and our focus isn’t strictly on performance. At any open gym, there will most likely be a board member that really wants to teach you. Le Vorris and Vox is mostly a cool place to try new things.”

“Cirus is such a diverse art form. Poeple think circus is just aerials, but we do acrobatics, juggling, staff-spinning, hand balancing, and hula-hoop.” —Ashby

One such professional is first-year Cassidy Wilson, who has been doing circus performance since she was 12. She has performed at shows and venues including PrideFest in Colorado and the Ronald McDonald Storybook Ball, written a show performed in front of hundreds, and now teaches a trapeze class on Mondays through Le Vorris and Vox. “Being involved in circus has made my world bigger than what was happening in school. It exposed me to different people and ways of life.”

Being involved in such a dynamic mode of expression comes with a wide variety of skills and virtues. Ashby credits circus with “making me more confident as a performer and as someone in my body, and being able to try, fail, and grow. I’ve also become better about communicating —it’s always crucial to ask my fellow performers if they feel safe with what they’re doing, and I’ve learned how to establish a comfortable, open dialogue with others.”

“Doing circus has made my world bigger than what was happening in school. It exposed me to different people and ways of life.” —cASSIDY

All photos courtesy of Alexandra Nisenoff.