About us
Bassline Circus
Founded in 2001, and present every year since with a new production at major UK and European festivals.
We Create, Innovate, Educate, Activate - through Circus, Dance, Theatre and Music.
We strive to incorporate equality, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination. We have a vision to provide a platform for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds to take part in creative and educational projects. We have a particular focus currently on bringing about Systems change in Food and Farming through the Arts.
Our regular shows each year include Boomtown Fair and Bristol Pride, running inclusive workshops, producing outdoor community events and creating touring productions such as: CERES, KID_X, [ON AIR] and Liquid Sky. Recent collabs include Bristol Pride, Tramway Theatre, Saffron Records, Feral Arts, Pride Without Borders, Fusion Festival (Germany) and Boomtown Fair.
Current TEAM
Amy Tavner
Company Director / Producer/Production
Amy has over 20 years experience working within the Event circuit, she is also a trained Nutritional Therapist. Her passion for music, performance and logistics began within the Free party and Protest culture, with the early years spent as part of Desert Storm Sound System travelling and living in Europe and the UK.
Amy works within Bassline on its multi pronged approach spanning many different opportunities across all Circus! Amy is now also Theatre Producer at Boomtown Fair.
Saul Baum
Creative Rigger and Technical Production
Saul is a talented creative performance rigger. He has rigged for us in many Bigtops , on outdoor rigs and in intricate street sets, from Boomtown to Glastonbury, to Fusion and Bristol Pride. Saul also regular works with Cirque Bijou and No Fit State.
Our creative Collaborators
Natalia Colville
Company Director / Producer
Natalia is one of the co-founding members of Bassline Circus, with her early years spent as an aerialist, She has gone on to co-produce shows inside and outside the Big Top. Natalia is passionate about Bassline’s outreach projects and is always on the hunt for new ways to engage and collaborate. She spent many years deeply immersed in one of the UKs fastest growing festivals-Boomtown Fair, as programmer and producer for Circus and Street Theatre.
Natalia’s focus now is making work that explores Food and farming, and its effect on climate change and the health of our soil.
Dav Bernard
Visual/Technical Director
Based in Glasgow since 1991, Dav has kept busy with a collection of oddball technological creative projects on the DIY arts and free party scene before joining Bassline on the Advertigo tour of 2007.He designs the video mapping and creates/operates the visuals. Working between the set designers, show directors and venue managers, he devises the visual environment for the circus acts and supervises the integration of the video, lighting, laser, graphic and sculptural elements with a close knit team of artists and technicians.
Dav + Bex also run award winning visual design company MHz scenography
Saul Baum
Head Rigger/ Performer / Production
Saul’s passion for ropes, pulleys and harnesses stems from his youth spent sailing. After finishing a degree in Theatre and FIlm he literally ran away with the Circus (Nofitstatecircus). Touring the Uk and Europe for a number of years he honed his expertise as a circus rigger. One of his main roles now is the safety of performers and structures particularly in the air and smooth running of shows. Having always been a keen member of counter culture music scene he has found a home amongst Bassline Circus unique combination of cutting edge Visuals, music and live circus performance.
Bex Anson
Show Director/Scenographer
Bex started out as the circus nanny on the Advertigo tour of 2007. Hooked on the Bassline vibes she kept coming back, trying her hand at different jobs each year. Since 2015, she’s been most at home devising and directing the performances, working closely with the performers on character and costumes- often inspired by obscure real-world rituals. Whether a skills battle, casual audience interaction or the physical exploration of materials and technology, Bex likes to twist the audience's perception of Circus with visceral, high intensity delivery and unlikely scenarios.
Pemma Ricardo
Tent Master/Circus Artist/ Rigger
Pemma Ricardo, Circus Big Top Tent Master, Rigger and Circus performer extraordinaire. From Zippos, to Fool Hardy, Ricardos and then Bassline Circus, Pemma is also a rigger with Block 9 at Glastonbury. Pemma is Wicked, Yes Love!
Heres a short extract of an Interview we did with This is Cabaret Magazine
Not many other circus troupes have dance as a core element of their productions. Why do you put such an emphasis on it?
In most of its electronic forms, dance music has been co-opted by the mainstream for so long that it’s difficult for most people to imagine that it was once criminal to even play it in public.
Bassline was formed by veteran sound systems from the European free party scene who joined forces with young circus performers who understood the link between traditional outcast travelling art forms and its modern incarnations. Though many from our original crew have moved on to other high profile UK festival projects, Bassline Circus always tries to keep that conscious vibe that links bass music and a spirit of resistance; and this goes far beyond music too!
Our fearless and DIY approach to visual arts that seamlessly includes lush video-mapped sets, creative rigging and full-on venue management is made possible by a crew with deep understanding of The Collective principle that the Criminal Justice Bill was trying to suppress.
And with such a loving and dedicated crew around us, we’re lucky now to attract young artists who want to connect with that core experience and help us keep it real with their own contributions.
Education has historically been an important part of your company mission. Why’s that?
Bassline Circus was born from the ashes of the European and British festival, free party and circus scenes, and despite many changes over the years, still believes in, and functions around a central ethos of Create-Innovate-Educate-Activate.
We have a vision to help people see differently, think outside the box, challenge themselves and create their own realities. We as Bassline Circus believe that our purpose has been to provide opportunities and a platform for people of all backgrounds – especially those with less access to artistic activities – to take part in creative projects with circus, music and visual arts as their vehicle.