#cloud swing

She’s been a fashion model, a palaeontologist and everything in between. Through his daring cloud swing performance, BA circus arts degree student Lennin McClure finally reveals the true identity of ‘Barbie’.

Lennin graduated last week and was a third year BA student at the National Centre for Circus Arts specialising in Cloud Swing.  Last month he starred as part of our cohort of final year students in ensemble show ‘Even The Stones’ at Jackson’s Lane.

How was your experience of working on and performing in ‘Even The Stones’?

The overall experience was really useful for understanding how a professional company and show works. It was definitely a challenge to create a show in three weeks but working with a great team made me feel confident that the show was going to be different and interesting. The performances went really well, we had great audiences that really understood the theme and ideas of our piece. I was really appreciative of how well my piece came across, since it wasn’t the expected circus act.

The Ensemble show venue wasn’t suitable for your main discipline so you had to think a bit more out of the box. How did you adapt?

I was told early on in the rehearsal process that due to space constraints it wasn’t possible to do my main discipline Cloud Swing. Thankfully I have a wide range of other skills which I’ve been training in from a young age such as dance, acro and other aerial arts. Although I offered my skills in silks or trapeze, the directors were keen for me to return to my roots in dance, both traditional and some slightly more unique styles to create a light-hearted moment in the show. From the end product I’m thankful that they pushed me in this direction.

What did you enjoy the most about the ensemble show experience?

I really enjoyed performing in Jacksons Lane. Since working with Ockham’s Razor for our second year ensemble piece at the National Centre in 2017, it was a great experience to work in a different environment with new challenges. Working from a professional venue as a company, it was great to be treated like a professional artist when it came to being disciplined. I’m very grateful to Adrian Berry for coming to the rescue in offering us Jackson’s Lane as a performance venue. 

Can you give us three words that sum up your time on the degree?

Different, family and Barbie.

What’s next - do you have any plans?

I aim to start a children’s company called LittleBig Theatre company. With this company I want to use multi-art forms such as circus, dance, theatre and visual arts to start a conversation between guardians/parents and the younger generations. This conversation will help discuss issues that parents and guardian find difficult to talk about such as; death, divorce, birth, illness and emotions. In the near future I want to create a bedside theatre in children’s hospitals and hospices. I also have a couple of upcoming teaching and performance gigs in Belfast over the summer, but look forward to coming back to London in the Autumn to create new exciting projects and audition for any opportunities that may come about, as well as hopefully continue teaching for the Outreach team here at the National Centre for Circus Arts..

‘Scatter’ - BA Devised Pieces Show 2018

Oh man, I have like twenty. Varekai triple trapeze. O aerial hoops. Alegria IANL swinging trapeze. Amaluna uneven bars. La Nouba powertrack. Ka batons.

But the one that outshines them all is Quidam’s cloud swing. Music: perfect. Every single background detail, from the women hanging themselves to the incredibly thoughtful and creative highlighting of the bassist: perfect. Boum Boum trapped under the net: perfect. Rare, dangerous, pristinely executed aerial act: perfect. That kind of intensity, careful blocking, and energy is a gold standard all acts should aspire to imo. To this day I can’t fathom why it was cut.