Study Guide | Theater

The internationally acclaimed Australian circus company Circa—known for its highly inventive physical theater works that combine dance, acrobatics, gymnastics, and tumbling—bring the joy of the animal kingdom to BAM in Carnival of the Animals. Using French composer Camille Saint-Saëns’s classical composition The Carnival of the Animals as the jumping off point, Circa blends music, movement, and multimedia projections into one magical theatrical experience that will stimulate children’s musical appreciation and creative imaginations.

Beginning with a bare stage, Circa’s performers emerge and transform the space into a circus tent. Next, they take the audience on a magical safari to meet creatures from land, sea, and sky—like the tortoise, the elephant, the kangaroo, the swan, and the beautiful creatures that live under the sea. Throughout this magical safari, young viewers develop an appreciation for classical music, the power and possibility of the human body, and the wonder of life on earth.