Performance circense na Amazônia: corpo, território e ritual

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the production process of the circus performance Raízes do Céu (Roots of the Sky), developed in the city of Manaus, based on the concepts of body, territory, and ritual. The research proceeds from the premise that the creative process, when systematized and analyzed, constitutes a legitimate methodological procedure, enabling critical reflection on circus creation. The methodology developed in this investigation is based on qualitative research, employing autoethnography and practice-as-research. Accordingly, the methodology is organized into two complementary stages. The first consists of a theoretical analysis of studies on the body, performance, and culture, as well as research on the circus and bodily techniques, emphasizing the relationships between training, artistic production, and research. The second stage involves describing the performance's production process, viewing the body as an epistemological territory and a generator of knowledge. The results demonstrate that the body cannot be dissociated from the space it inhabits or from the cosmologies that constitute it. The interplay between body, territory, and ritual reveals acrobatics as an interpretive key for understanding circus practices as cultural manifestations—as historical and territorial experiences deeply rooted in their contexts of production. The study concludes that circus performance, within the Amazonian context, constitutes a significant artistic and epistemological practice, contributing to the expansion of knowledge production modes across the arts, culture, and society.