Acrobatic Conundrum, Seattle’s premier contemporary circus arts company, creates performances that amaze and inspire audiences. Founded in 2012 by Artistic Director Terry Crane, the company blends virtuosic circus skill, dance and physical theater to create work that is poetic, a little absurd, and deeply relatable. Acrobatic Conundrum has appeared nationally and internationally at such venues as New York City’s SummerStage, the Chicago Contemporary Circus Festival, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Vancouver CircusFest, TEDxRainier, and The Backstreet Festival in Alexandria, Egypt. The company is a 2015 and 2017 recipient of the City of Seattle’s CityArtist Projects Award.
Since inception, Acrobatic Conundrum has produced four evening-length works: The Way Out, The Language of Chance, Love and Gravity and The Fig Tree Waltzes. Acrobatic Conundrum’s shows are developed through a collaborative creation process. Each work blends impressive physical feats and delicate storytelling to create performance experiences that are simultaneously transcendent and relatable.
Over the past six years, through self-produced and programmed performances across the U.S., Acrobatic Conundrum has built a strong and passionate following.
Terry Crane (performer, creation team, Artistic Director and co-founder) surrendered to restless urges that led him to walk calmly away with the circus at the tender age of 20. With a degree in dance from Oberlin College, his circus journey led him to the San Francisco Circus Center, the Montreal National Circus School, and the Beijing International Acrobatics School. A veteran of the big top and the stage, he has performed in countless countries for various companies, including Teatro Zinzanni, les 7 Doigts de la Main and Circus Monti. Terry is delighted to share his love of rope technique, circus creation and collaboration via workshops across the globe. As a director, Terry is on a relentless quest to tell true fictions, contradict human isolation and portray paradox.
Xochitl Sosa (performer, creation team) is an Oakland based aerial performer and instructor. She is a graduate of the New England Center for Circus Arts’ (NECCA) Pro-Track Program, with a concentration in dance and duo trapeze. In addition to NECCA, she has trained in Montreal with renowned coaches from Cirque du Soleil and the National Circus School. She performs her unique style of dance trapeze around the US and Mexico in festivals, cabarets, and with Acrobatic Conundrum. Xochitl has contributed to the evolution of American circus by helping to establish Sky Candy, an aerial school in Austin, Texas. She is an enthusiastic teacher; selected teaching experiences include: Kinetic Arts (Oakland, CA); San Francisco Circus Center (San Francisco, CA); the North American Circus Educators Conference; and Camp Winnarainbow, where she first fell in love with circus.
A towering performer, Ty Vennewitz grew up (and up) in Washington state. He discovered dance in higher education and graduated from Western Washington at the “top” of his class. He has danced in the Portland Opera, the A-Wol Dance Collective and in a dental commercial as a ballet-dancing molar. Ty’s obsession with circus lured him across the continent to the National Circus School in Montreal, where he put on the world’s smallest mask, a red nose, and seriously studied clowning. He has performed his original material throughout the United States, Quebec, China, and Dubai. Content to be back in the Northwest, he is currently a member of Acrobatic Conundrum and teaches circus at Le Cirque Centre in Ashland, Oregon.
Maureen Elizabeth began her skyward exploration in 2012 when she moved to Ashland, OR and became captivated by the beauty and athleticism of aerial circus arts. With a background in rock climbing and a passion for movement she found herself at home on aerial corde lisse. Maureen is the director of Levity performance troupe and co-founder of LEVITY Circus Collective where she coaches and performs. She has toured with the New Old Time Chautauqua and annually graces the stages of the Oregon Country Fair. Maureen is also a Pilates instructor and runs her own studio, Ashland Authentic Pilates.
