Cirkus Cirkör: Knitting Peace

Ilona Jäntti in Knitting Peace by Cirkus Cirkör. Photo: Mats Bäcker

Yesterday I saw the show or rather the performance Knitting Peace (originally premiering in Marseille this January) by widely famous Swedish based contemporary circus company Cirkus Cirkör. I went with my dad (82 years) and my son (soon 7). My expectations were really high! This was actually the first time I saw Cirkus Cirkör live. And after the performance we all celebrated by standing ovations! This post is my very small attempt at thanking Cirkus Cirkör for their endless work.

Aino Ihanainen in Knitting Peace by Cirkus Cirkör. Photo: Mats Bäcker 

This post will be very celebrating… because I am overwhelmed in a great way and also my dad and son also found it astonishing. Cirkör says it is “A performance that asks the question: is it possible to knit peace?” This starting point and their questions of “Can the desire for change create change? Can a worldwide knitting for peace movement make a difference? It is easy to give up when confronted with one´s own insignificance in comparison to the world´s greatness and complexity” makes this performance complex but not complicated. For me, the answer is yes and is given in the creative force that resulted in Knitting Peace. 

The director, also head of Cirkus Cirkör, Tilde Björfors, the performers and musicians (and composer Looptok) gives the audience a show that, in my opinion, is about life itself. It is, for me, about human life´s fragility, evanescence, tenderness, connection, power and strength, courage, frustration, fears, the thin line between sensitivity and brutality, love and playfulness. It is above all poetic and very, very beautiful. Although I could describe the knitted set design in words (white yarns in many forms, as skeins, threads and as knits), I cannot of course mediate the feeling and the ingenious usage of the set design, as an extremely essential part of the show that is in use all the time, as the performers are using it in many ways. As the five performers are well-educated circus artists, they excel in various circus arts (bicycle on a rope playing a white violin, aerial acrobatics etc.) although for the first hour I could not really applause this as I was so taken by the feelings the show evoked in me.

Alexander Weibel Weibel in Knitting Peace by Cirkus Cirkör. Photo: Mats Bäcker

Sometimes when I see something evocative and excellent like this, I wish every young person could see it, like it should be mandatory, and I think so this time, too, but also that Knitting peace should be mandatory for the leaders of the world. 

I can only recommend it and am happy for you who haven´t seen it yet (it is said to tour outside Sweden, but so far I can´t see any tour plan). I think if we all could keep in mind and be aware of the vulnerability of human life, it would be easier to make a change towards a more peaceful world. And for me, as well as for many others, when I knit or crochet, my pace is slowing down, making me more relaxed and hopefully in the end maybe a little more loving!

slow creations attempt at A call for knitting. Wool, linnen.

You can make your contribution to the call for knitting here and as far as I understood it, no deadline is set yet. Good for me who is a slow knitter….

Search for #knittingpeace at Instagram (image from Facebook page of Knitting Peace):

#knittingpeace on Instagram

Before and during the tour of the show, people are encouraged to send in their white knits (and crochets) and some of them were used in the show as well as exhibited in the foyer and auditorium of Dansens hus in Stockholm. Also, children were given the opportunity to try circus arts under good educators from Cirkör during the performance days, something my son enjoyed.

Photo: slow creations