The New York Times dubbed human circus act David Dimitri “Lord of the Wire.” The Cirque du Soleil veteran performs a show, One-Man Circus (L’homme Cirque), where he lives up to the moniker by doing a circus act solo.
When Dimitri was a child, his father performed a one-man show as a clown. With the up and coming contemporary circus movement (nouveau cirque, a narrative driven performance instead of the more traditional traveling circus performance involving lion taming and big-tops), David decided to follow in his dad’s footsteps after years in the traditional circus. He was motivated to do something new after being unsatisfied with creative barriers in orthodox circus performances, and while his parents supported him, many colleagues and friends advised him to not begin doing the One-Man Circus because of the creative and financial risk. To this day, he loves that he made the decision to do something new.
“Doing the performance itself, that’s what motivates me,” Dimitri said. “To prove myself every day that I can reproduce what I had done the night before. If some day my tent stays empty, I would search for a new thing to do.”
All set in a tent on the Burns Park grounds, Dimitri will do feats like high wire flips, a play on a human cannon launch and songs on the accordion. It will make audiences laugh, lose their breath and look on in awe.
“I don’t know if shooting myself out of a cannon or catapulting myself through the air makes me different from others,” Dimitri said. “I do this show all alone and that might have certain aspects that moves people in a different way as they are used to. The fact that they are sitting closely around me and see me perform so closely might make them feel at home. Best if they come see my show for themselves.”
Along with the performances, there are invitation-only dinners with Dimitri to benefit Ann Arbor Summer Festival, which is sponsoring the One-Man Circus. Festival director Amy Nesbitt and other donors will be in attendance to raise funds for the week-long set by Dimitri and future endeavors.
One-Man Circus will be at Burns Park from Wednesday, Aug. 24 through Sunday, Aug. 28
Each show begins at 6:30pm and admission is $20 for kids and $30 for adults
The fundraiser dinner is on Aug. 23 and tickets are $100
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