A New Buffoonery as a Component of Modern Trends in the Development of Circus Art

• Main Author: T. B. Grinie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kharkiv State Academy of Culture 2018-05-01
• Series: Культура України
• Online Access: http://ku-khsac.in.ua/article/view/136612

The aim of the paper is to identify the current trends in the development of the buffoonery genre and study its distinctive model since the mid-twentieth to early twenty-first century. Research methodology. Using the typological and systematic method, the author explores the genre of buffoonery as a whole artistic phenomenon taking into account the conditions of its emergence, the main stages of the development and causes of the crisis of genre in the Soviet period. The chosen method proved to be the most adequate to the material and made it possible to reveal the peculiarities of the “build-in” of the genre in the artistic context of a particular period. Results. The author proves that modern music buffoonery practice refuted the theory of Soviet critics based on ideological interdictions. In due time these researchers declared the genre of buffoonery was not peculiar to the national circus. The article clearly demonstrates the falsity of these conclusions. The analysis of the specific circus performances indicates that nowadays the gap between the western tradition of buffoonery and the development of the genre in Ukraine and the post-Soviet countries is equalized. The author draws attention to the enrichment of the traditional genre schemes by the most essential hallmarks of the time. The summary of the article considers the theoretical legitimization of the achievements of the genre of music buffoonery in the modern circus science. The novelty of the article is to reveal the genre features of the buffoonery in Ukraine and the countries of the former USSR on the basis of the operational practice of the last decades. Practical significance. The establishment of a theoretical connection and artistic continuity between the latest buffoonery performances and classical genre standards will serve as a new creative stimulus for Ukrainian circus, and help to revive the broken European traditions.