People

CEO/Artistic Director: Yaron Lifschitz

Executive Producer: Lewis Jones

Senior Producer: Faye Stevens

Production Manager: Charles Wiles

Company Administrator: Marina Couchman

Training Centre Coordinator: Dan Gorski

Head Rigger/ Production:

Associate Director: Chelsea McGuffin

Performers : David Carberry, Darcy Grant, Chelsea McGuffin, James Kingsford-Smith

BOARD

Chair: Allan Welsh

Deputy Chair:

Secretary: Peta Perring

Treasurer: Ric Roach

Members: Lawrence English, Amanda Fergusson, Amelia Gundelach,

Phillippa Mowle

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Artistic Director Yaron Lifschitz is a graduate of NIDA and UNSW. He has directed over 50 productions spanning from mainstage theatre to physical theatre, large scale events and opera. He was foundation artistic director of the Museum Australian's Theatre Unit - a position he held for five years, before he joined Circa in 1999. With Circa, Yaron has created shows involving SMS interaction, collaboration with leading pianist Tamara Cislowska, jazz improvisation techniques and large-scale site-specific events. With Circa, Yaron developed 4 Space Theory – a framework for developing and exploring circus performance in new and unexpected ways. Yaron’s vision is of a philosophically challenging, poetic contemporary artform born out of the traditional languages of circus.

Circa Ensemble is a multi-skilled group of circus artists who each have an average of 12 years of skills training. They are selected on the basis of their potential as artists and work throughout the year to develop techniques for extending the artistic possibilities of circus.  

Performer David Carberry joined the Flying Fruit Fly Circus at age 11, graduating in 2001. With the Circus he has trained extensively with Russian and Chinese master trainers and has performed in Hawaii, New Zealand, and throughout Australia. He undertook 5 months of teaching in Sweden and works as an acrobatics teacher for many youth circus companies, community groups and local dance schools. David is also a champion skateboarder and an emerging Brisbane DJ. David brings exceptional contortion, tumbling and acrobatic skills to his work as well as a refined movement vocabulary.  

Performer Darcy Grant joined the Flying Fruit Fly Circus at age 13. After touring Australia and overseas for six years, Darcy went on to teach at the Little Big Tops in Melbourne. Darcy is an acrobat, tumbler, unicycle rider, diabloist and hand balancer. Darcy is also a highly skilled circus trainer and regularly leads Circa’s community training programs. In addition to this he also has a strong partnership with the Blackrobats the Indigenous youth circus from northern Australia. Recently he ran a weeks training intensive for the troupe and performed with them at the Byron Bay Blues Festival.

Performer Chelsea McGuffin has worked for over 7 years within the circus/physical theatre industry and has performed with Circa since 2001. Chelsea originally trained at the Centre for Performing Arts as a dancer before working with companies including Circus Monoxide, Queensland Theatre Company and as Aritistic Director with Vulcana Woment's Circus. In 2002 received funding from the Foundation for Young Australians to train at The Moscow State Circus School, with international clown Angela Decastro, Kate Denborough, Barbara Mullin and Donna Jackson. Chelsea’s primary interests are aerials, tight wire, hula-hoops, physical movement and the collaboration of these skills and art forms. With Circa she has focussed her training on the integration of circus and movement to continue to explore, create and develop a physical language for the space between different artforms.

Performer James Kingsford-Smith is a circus performer, an acrobat, an aerialist, a gymnast, a teacher, a stunt man and an absolute machine. James has spent his entire life performing. He began with gymnastics in Scotland at age five, progressing through to NSW state champion and silver medalist at the Australian National Championships. James joined Circa in 2006 after graduating from N.I.C.A. James performance credits include the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in 2000 and the Closing Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in 2006. James also returned from China in October 2006 with a bronze medal for his Straps act at an international Circus competition. 

BOARD MEMBERS 

Chair Allan Welsh

Deputy Chair

Treasurer Ric Roach is a partner with Ernst & Young and brings significant financial expertise to the Circa Board. Ric acts as the Treasurer of Circa and is a member of of the Board Risk Sub-Committee.

Secretary Peta Perring is a Brisbane-based lawyer and currently the Registrar at the Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland. Peta also provides legal advice to Arts Law Queensland. Peta previously was on the Board of the Practical Theatre Company in Sydney. Peta has also worked at the Queensland Performing Arts Trust. Peta has completed a Bachelor of Arts - Music from the University of Queensland before completing postgraduate qualifications in education and law. Peta is currently completing her Masters of Business Administration.

Member Phillippa Mowle is currently Marketing Manager for CS Energy, responsible for positioning this new company in its chosen markets through the integrated use of all marketing tools including advertising, direct mail, public relations and sponsorship. Her speciality is business to business marketing, a field that relies upon the development of ongoing relationships with clients. A Bachelor degree in Marketing and a Masters in Communication supplement this experience.
 

Member Lawrence English is the director of room40, a multi-arts organisation and record imprint focused on publishing an eclectic range of sound and media projects and documents. Outside this role English remains one of the busiest sound artists and avant-composers in Australia Q-Music Queensland’s peak body for the music industry, touring internationally and curating a variety of exhibitions such as Melatonin shown at Next Wave04 and Maap04 and the video screening program Treatment at IMA, English also serves as a board member with Circa.

Member Amanda Ferguson is a freelance Producer and Consultant to the entertainment industry, specialising in large scale events. Having produced 2 segments of the Sydney 2000 Opening Ceremony, Deep Sea Dreaming and Tin Symphony, Amanda then went to the UK to produce the Opening Ceremony of the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games. Most recently she has been consulting to the Producers of Doha 2006 Asian Games Ceremonies in Qatar as well as consulting with a number of Australian based Festivals on various production matters.

Member Sandra Fields has over 15 years experience working in youth affairs for the state government, local government and community organisations in leadership, management and service delivery roles. Her work has included community engagement, community capacity building, needs analysis, social policy development, evaluation, community grants administration and strategic planning. Sandra left as the Director of the Office of Youth Affairs in 2003 to establish her own consultancy business, FIELDWORX. Through FIELDWORX, Sandra has developed research and evaluation methodologies for local governments, community organisations and state government. She is passionate about bringing together community, government and business to build happier places to live.

 Member Amelia Gundelach has worked as Media Coordinator for the Queensland Art Gallery since 2002. Prior to that, she coordinated Craft Queensland's marketing and retail operations and was Independent Program Coordinator for Smith+Stoneley Gallery, Newstead. Amelia has a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Fine Art) and a post graduate diploma in Art Curatorship & Museum Management. She is a passionate advocate of the visual and performing arts and one of her most recent projects was curating, 'Barbara Heath: Jeweller to the Lost', an exhibition of work by one of Australia's most innovative jewelers.