Reach or Real Connection — What Actually Matters on Stage?
As a circus artist, I perform on very different stages. Two of them this week made me think.
Last week: Italian television. Beautifully lit studio, professional crew, everything running on schedule. Millions of people watching — somewhere out there, behind a camera lens. No eye contact. No reaction. No connection.
This week: Fete Magique in Belgium. Beautiful chaos. Sweat, laughter, artists sleeping next to their props, audience close enough that you can watch their faces change mid-act. Exhausting, alive, intimate.
Two worlds, one profession
A television appearance as a circus artist is a different discipline. The camera replaces the audience. You perform into a room without feedback, without energy coming back. What counts is the image — precision, timing, visual impact. The rest is editing.
A festival like Fete Magique is the opposite. The act starts before you reach the stage. Guests are standing a metre away. When a child in the front row stops blinking, you feel it. When someone comes backstage afterwards just to say thank you, that isn’t a comment on social media — that is a moment.
What stays with you
Reach has real value. A TV appearance finds people who would never walk into a variety theatre. That matters. But depth is something else. The question isn’t which format is better — both are part of the work of a professional performing artist. The question is what you take home with you afterwards.
I think longer about the moments when something actually happened. They were rarely on the biggest stages.
Oscar Kaufmann is a circus artist and Cyr Wheel performer based in Berlin. He performs internationally — on television, at festivals, in variety theatres, and at corporate events. Booking enquiries: info@oscar-kaufmann.de
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