The Sound of Circus for Other Species

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For the Circosonic research project with Cirkus Syd, Morgan Anderson partnered with Jacky Sawatzky to ask how llamas might listen to juggling. Morgan and Jacky are both PhD candidates in Theatre and Performance Studies at York University in Toronto, ON. Morgan's research focuses on the relationship between hobbyist jugglers and their props. Jacky's research observes llama behaviour to ask, "How are we to listen to you, llama?" For her research, Jacky commissioned an electroacoustic musical composition made from recordings of llama vocalizations. She then played back that music for the llamas themselves to see how they would react. In this project, Morgan instead juggles for llamas while Jacky observes their behaviours. The first video in this research documentation series introduces Jacky, the llamas, and their current habitat. The second and final video in a series investigating how llamas might listen to a juggling performance takes the viewer along to the Serendipity Farm and Sanctuary where Morgan juggled for the llamas. Jacky reflects on llama behaviour, and Morgan reflects on her experience while juggling.

Morgan Anderson is a PhD Candidate in Theatre and Performance Studies at York University. She is a hobbyist juggler and co-founded the Limestone City Juggling Festival in Kingston, ON. Her research investigates the relationships between jugglers and their props and what those relationships might teach us about humanity’s relationship to the nonhuman at large. She loves juggling at events, for her friends, and now… for llamas!

Jacky Sawatzky has a history developing participatory creative projects. Currently her research involves the creation of encounters where non-human, mainly llamas, and human animals meet. These encounters, which are mutually enriching and evoke curiosity, aim to be safe spaces where species come together. These projects manifest through a process of stumbling, learning, listening, caring and a lot of failure. Jacky is currently finishing her PhD research, "How are we to Listen to you llama?" at York University, in Toronto, Canada. As part of her research she is involved in the daily care of 65 llamas and alpacas at Serendipity Llamas and Alpacas Sanctuary in Lanark, Ontario, Canada. Learn more about her and her work on her blog Dusty Toes Llama Drama

This project started with an initial interview between Morgan and Jacky. Morgan (as the circus expert) asked Jacky (as the llama expert) questions to make sense of what llamas might be like as a circus audience. These were the initial interview questions Morgan drafted:

Traditionally, circuses happened in large tents. Today they often happen in theatres. Street performers perform on roads and sidewalks. Each location suggests a different audience experience of the show. How might the setting of the space (time of day/year, location – ex. Familiar/new, indoor/outdoor) impact how llamas view a circus show?
A staple of the traditional circus was the trained animal act. Audiences loved seeing exotic and dangerous animals like tigers and elephants on stage. How would llamas respond to unfamiliar animals performing for them?
Circus skills are often performed to musical tracks, which keep the audience engaged and communicate the emotions they should be feeling in the moment. What kind of sounds would keep llamas captivated (or what patterns have emerged concerning llamas reactions to sound)?
Typically after a circus act or a particularly spectacular circus trick, audiences will applaud. What might llamas do to show their interest in/appreciation of something presented to entertain them?
Traditionally a circus act is about 5-7 minutes. Today, single disciplines might be presented over the course of 60-90 minutes. How long is a llama’s attention span?
Risk is often thought of as an important element of circus, what do llamas consider risky?
When I recorded juggling with sound only, another member of our team thought it sounded like rain. Do you think a llama might interpret the sound of juggling as rain?
Food and cooking are sometimes themes in juggling shows; for example, the “eat the apple” trick or 7 Fingers show Cuisine and Confessions. Those are entertaining because the audience has intimate, everyday experience with the object juggled. How would a llama respond to a circus made with the food they eat? Would they recognize it?

After our initial interview, I (Morgan) had even more questions. These are some of the further questions and themes that emerged for me after my initial interview with Jacky:

I feel a strong urge to anthropomorphize the llamas because being human is all I know.
- For instance, when a group of llamas run towards a sound, it is my impulse to call that “excitement.” But it’s possible what is happening for the llamas is nothing like the human emotion of excitement.
What are the ethics of performing for an audience whose responses you don’t understand?
- There is a lot we don’t know about llamas, particularly about what positive emotions/responses might look like. So, even if they don’t spit or run away, is it appropriate to perform for them when we don’t know whether they “like” the performance, or if it is in their best interest?
How do we create an enjoyable performance for an audience whose senses are different from ours?
- Llamas can hear a wider range of frequencies than humans. How can we know what we’re performing if we can’t hear everything they hear? We don’t know what kind of colour vision llamas have. How can we make costuming and lighting decisions when we don’t know what our audience’s eyes will register?
The creation of a circus show lies heavily in understanding the context of your audience, but most often our audience is fellow humans, so we take this for granted.
- As an audience member, I respond differently to circus with everyday objects (as in a show like Cuisine and Confessions) than I do to circus with very unusual, unique objects (apparatuses like the German wheel, for instance, or anything Cirque du Soleil uses). What is an everyday object for a llama? How might they respond differently to something familiar vs. something unusual?
For llamas, humans are not that different from each other.
- So, how does imagining circus from the llama’s perspective challenge our understanding of what is “normal”? A bearded lady, or a very flexible person, or a very short person might not be surprising to a llama in the same way it is for a human.
We cannot make a generic circus for llamas, because each llama’s experience is unique.
- The llamas Jacky works with came to the sanctuary from a public zoo where they became very familiar with all kinds of human behaviour. They are probably more comfortable with more things than other llamas who are not used to performing for strangers. So, just like scholars suggest that we don’t try to define circus in general (as in the introduction to the book Thinking Through Circus), we also can’t define llama circus in general.

After visiting the llama sanctuary I (Morgan) had many questions, ideas, and reflections about what had happened. Here are some of my immediate reactions to juggling for llamas:

Where do we put attention during juggling – the performer’s body or the pattern?
- I often felt like the llamas were watching me, not what I was doing, or were interested in the objects, rather than how they were being manipulated. For instance, when I dropped a ball, they were just as curious about the ball (or more) as when I was juggling them. And sometimes they would walk up to me and try to stick their head directly into my pattern as if the pattern itself wasn’t important.
What role does virtuosity of technique play when juggling for an audience that doesn’t have cultural knowledge of that technique?
- Do llamas understand the risks and difficulty of juggling? Can they read my level of comfort with a pattern and would that make my juggling more approachable? It’s interesting how juggling for another species changes my relationship to mastery of my discipline. Now, I want to be good at juggling not to impress, but so that I can maintain a connection with my audience, make them comfortable, and keep myself safe.
Do llamas understand juggling performance FOR them vs playing with balls between humans?
- I felt like the llamas understood what I was doing was for them, maybe because I was looking at them and not interacting with the other people around. But I think if Esteban, Jacky, and I were just playing catch together, I don’t think they would have been as interested – that’s just humans doing human things. Do we call that performance? Or is it no different than someone just preparing food FOR them? Does the preparation of food become a performance when the eater is observing it?
Different audiences require different considerations in act creation.
- This is obvious even in performance for human audiences (ex. Children vs adults), but with a new species a lot changes. Since llamas are prey, they do not respond well to surprising, accelerating movements in the corner of their vision. But in circus, a lot of creation takes into consideration the element of surprise.
Certain shapes, sounds, and movements might be more familiar and less threatening to the llamas.
- Balls look like food perhaps. Whereas clubs and boxes are quite loud and boxes in particular require a much jerkier movement quality. Balls can be juggled quite close to your body, whereas boxes and clubs are farther away and less intimate. Clubs also have a more unique and strange weight distribution to them which makes them more alien.
Audience expectations and norms change.
- The llamas, for instance, had no qualms about coming up and trying to eat the apple out of my hand WHILE I juggled. And when I dropped a ball, they would wander over and sniff at it.

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