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The origin of the contemporary circus company
Since 2008 the originally small group of enthusiasts who wanted to create a single performance has grown into a grouping of almost one hundred actors, dancers, acrobats, musicians, producers, technicians, doctors, make-up artists and other professionals.
Following the unexpected success of the debut show La Putyka the brothers Rosťa and Vítek Novák founded Cirk La Putyka. The first as the artistic director and the second as the executive director have since then set the direction and speed of travel for our theatre and contemporary circus wagon.
Over the first ten years of our existence we created more than 20 projects, we cooperated with more than 300 people of 25 nationalities, we gave more than 1,500 performances and visited more than 21 countries.
“I don’t want our company to stagnate and pander to the expectations of the general or professional public. I want to create freely and with the energy that allowed the company to come into being and live.”
– Rostislav Novák Jr.
Firm theatre foundations
Our company started with nothing, with no experience in the contemporary theatre genre. We know what it’s like to rehearse under unsuitable conditions and only in your free time, what it’s like to teach yourself and how long it takes to reach a proper level, not only in terms of the show but also in terms of production and creative facilities. We know what it’s like to improvise and how important it is to be sure that you have taken the right path. And how fundamental it is to persist. This makes our company strong and viable.
Our roots are in theatre, and when we were starting to create our work we replaced virtuosity and acrobatics with theatricality until we gradually started to create our own contemporary circus and theatre style. The central point of each project is always a theme. We attempted to express this using various expressive means, multi-genreism and multi-culturalism. We have never enjoyed doing the same thing twice, every project is different, we are constantly searching to find where the boundaries of this genre are (not).
We aim higher and further
We want to continue. We want to search, to create, but we also want to break down prejudices and barriers and reinforce our own poetry that depends on the people who make up the company and the individual projects and put their all into it.
In the years to come we want to bring interesting themes to the Czech scene, to develop the next generation, and to offer space to renowned visiting foreign theatre directors who have never created a contemporary circus production and for whom such projects will be a great challenge.
Our Own Space
Jatka78, our home stage, is a place with ideal conditions for contemporary circus, dance, non-verbal, alternative and puppet theatre. In the Prague Market complex, in halls 7 and 8, you will find a multifunctional theatre hall, a small theatre, training hall, rehearsal room, gallery, bar and bistro. The Holešovice cultural zone is in the wider centre of Prague and is accessible both by public transport and car (parking in the market complex).
Having our own space where we could rehearse, practice and perform under a single roof was a long-term dream of our principle, Rosťa Novák Jr. Thanks to the support of our artistic friends, several months of work on the part of volunteers, and financial contributions from firms and individuals, we managed to turn it into reality. On 5 November 2014 we could start a two-month trial operation that would show us the way forward.
Between February and April 2015 we organised a crowdfunding campaign aimed at getting the money for partial construction alterations and the purchase of basic technical equipment allowing year-round operation.
Public resources and professional performance
Cirk La Putyka has been more than just a theatre company for a long time now. With each year of existence we develop our performance in both the artistic and educational field.
But constantly increasing demands for financial securing are associated with the professionalisation of the whole team. However, one can say that in spite of the fact that without the support of many private sponsors and public grant providers our activity could not be extensive, every year we manage to reduce our dependence on public grants. For example, in 2018 our self-sufficiency level exceeded 80 %. Economic management with healthily structured budgets allows us to maintain a balance between freedom and education and culturally-socially publicly beneficial activity.
But it must be emphasised that our foreign activities in particular, via which we represent the Czech Republic and the Czech contemporary circus scene, constitute an extraordinary burden in terms of production and finance that we could not manage without grant support.
The company operates on the principle of multi-source financing. Over the long-term it operates with funds from own resources (sales of tickets, additional economic activity), with revenues from the grant systems of the Prague City Council, grant systems of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, and with other public resources and income from private business subjects. Over the long term revenues from own activity constitute approximately three-quarters of the overall income of the company, which shows financial stability, solid potential of projects and the organisational ability of the implementation team.
Education
Cirk La Putyka Studio is an educational project of our company in which we organise sporting and leisure activities for children and youth, coaching and artistic development of young acrobats, senior circus with Elpida and, last but not least, regular education of instructors.
Courses for the public
Acrobatics courses for the public are held regularly once a week in the Jatka78 training hall. The programme is divided into several classes according to the age of participants (3-5, 5-8, 9-12, 13+), and the last lesson is open space, where there is space for everyone, and there is an assumption of a certain specialisation and at least a slightly advanced level in the specific discipline. The courses are held from September to June and are divided into two terms, winter and summer. The lessons are taught by experienced tutors, more than half of whom perform actively in productions of the company.
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