Circus has been an inherent part of the Czech cultural milieu since the nineteenth century when emerging circus arts were closely associated with folk puppetry. From humble beginnings as street acts, Czech circuses developed into large-scale business operations that were nationalised in the 1950s during the Communist regime and then transformed into freely functioning communities and enterprises after the Velvet Revolution of 1989. A distinct Czech variant of contemporary circus has emerged recently, born of and significantly influenced by the world of theatre. In the Czech Republic one may observe, side by side, traditional circus, which has largely continued to adhere to its original artistic code, and contemporary circus, which is currently attempting to create an innovative code well-suited to the twenty-first century. This chapter focuses on the origin and transformation of traditional and contemporary circus forms, their characteristics, and their status (both artistic and economic) in the current Czech sociopolitical milieu. There are overlaps with Polish, Slovak, and Hungarian circus environments because, as with the present-day Czech Republic, all of these countries have undergone significant cultural and political transformations since the fall of Communism in 1989. It is precisely this shared history which provides the authors with a unique perspective upon Central European circus.

New circus/nouveau cirque is an artistic movement that circus historian Martine Maléval locates between 1968 and the 1990s. It can be described as both an aesthetic and a political revolution that was rooted in the dynamics of the social and cultural revolutions of the 1970s. For numerous reasons this period can be identified as the source of a renewed institutionalisation of the circus that is still ongoing. Commencing with the professional careers of circus artists who were active in the 1970s and the 1980s, this chapter examines how these artists progressively defined themselves as ‘circus authors’, how they promoted innovation in the aesthetics and practices of the circus, and how they generated a long-term impact on local cultural policies and the social status of contemporary circus artists in Europe. The process through which new circus emerged and evolved can be understood using the concept of ‘artification’ (becoming an art form), a term used by the French sociologist Nathalie Heinich and subsequently applied to circus studies by Magali Sizorn. Using Maléval’s foundational research on the French nouveau cirque as its point of departure, this chapter adopts a European-wide perspective to examine the influence of new circus from the 1990s until today.