By Jess DrummondMonday 6 Jan 2025SportReading Time: 2 minutes
An internationally popular show that puts an urban spin (pardon the pun!) on circus artistry is coming back to where it all started, preparing to wow Brisbane audiences and start off 2025 with a bang.
360 ALLSTARS has toured around the world, bringing its mix of BMX, basketball, breakdancing, drumming, acrobatics, and more to over a million people across sellout crowds, in places including the Sydney Opera House, Broadway, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Creator and director Gene Peterson has told 96five’s Jess Drummond, the concept is reinventing a traditional circus to incorporate contemporary street styles in the place of stereotypical circus artforms.
“Instead of acrobats, we have breakdancers. Instead of a juggler we have a basketball freestyler. Instead of a unicyclist there’s a BMX flatlander, to create this supercharged urban circus,” Gene said.
While the show has grown over the years, Gene’s vision was always to “go big”, both with the artforms involved and the recruitment of performers.
“We did start with that vision of, ‘What is the most awesome thing we can create?’… When we were casting, it was dreaming big again.
“It was, ‘Who’s the best in the world? Who’s the world champion? Who’s the world record holder? What country do they come from? Do they speak English? Let’s find them.’
“That’s why the show’s called ‘360 ALLSTARS’: 360 because all of these artforms feature rotation, but ALLSTARS because [we’ve] headhunted the best of the best in each of these disciplines right around the world, and it is this dream team cast – all stars.”
Gene is looking forward to bringing the show back to Brisbane audiences in January 2025.
“It’s been a few years since we’ve had a home season, so that is very exciting for us – and particularly that each time we play at home, it’s a level up” Gene said.
“Every time, we’re adding more production value. This is the latest, greatest version of the show – to be able to present that to our friends, families, and home audiences that have followed the journey over the last 11, 12 years, it’s a beautiful opportunity to come home and share with Brisbane audiences what this Brisbane company is doing worldwide.
Gene says there are also workshops on offer, where people of all abilities can learn skills from these world-class performers. He also says people of all ages and can enjoy the show.
“[We have] grandparents coming up to us saying, ‘We’re not really into the hippity-hoppity [hip-hop music] but this is wonderful!’ It happens so regularly, I love it!”
360 Allstars is performing at QPAC from January 10 to 19, 2025.
Listen to the full interview in the player above.
Feature Image: Photo by Matt Loncar, supplied and used with permission.