Rachel Hipszer is a third-year marine science student by day and a circus performer by night.
Imagine if Barnum and Bailey went through a steam punk phase, and you’ll have a good idea for what Columbia’s own Soda City Cirque is like. The group brings circus performance to a whole new level of intensity.
Their performances include everything from fire tricks and stilt walking to belly dancing and hula hooping. While the group is diverse, all its members call Columbia home.
“They are just a strange group of people, and all of them have normal day jobs,” Hipszer said. “It’s hard to describe us because we’re so different but so similar.”
Hipszer started off in competitive gymnastics for 10 years, and after performing in a few plays, she started learning aerial arts. Now, she rides a unicycle, climbs aerial silk, juggles and performs acrobalance.
“I love performing because you can see the joy on other people’s faces,” Hipszer said.
Soda City Cirque has been together under that name for nearly a year, but they were previously known as Alternacirque, a name for several years. The crew performs all over town, and you may have seen one of their performances at Dance Marathon or First Thursdays on Main Street.
“We take gigs where ever they come,” Hipszer said. “Whoever wants to pay us, we go there.”
The Soda City Cirque is now taking a weekend off from wedding performances to come out with their first full-length show, “The Last Machine.”
The show portrays a “post-apocalyptic circus world,” and the performance is loosely based off of the 1979 action film “Mad Max.”
“The Last Machine” will be performed outdoors at the Conundrum Music Hall Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. So bring a blanket, and watch the cirque put out the fires of an apocalypse while setting a few of their own.
Although Hipszer is the youngest of the group and the only one still making time after practices for lab reports, many of the other members are USC alumni. Even though the members all come from different backgrounds, the group is a big, eccentric, talented family.
“We mostly just love what we do and love performing, and we’re really happy where we are,” She said. “We love being able to share our talents.”
More Like This
