Cirque-It – A Wearable Tech Fashion Circus

Wearable-tech thinker and advocate Tom Emrich (Editor and Chief at “Designers of Things” and founder of “We are Wearables”), was the emcee for Cirque-It, a wearable tech fashion circus produced by Noble Sky, An Interactive Production Company, held in the Distillery District on May 21, 2015.

The goal of Cirque-It was to bring together the three industries of fashion designers, circus performers and makers of technology.
The underlying mission of the festival is to pursue new frontiers of creative exploration in art, performance, technology, and circus.

The presentation started with “Spectacle Dance”, performed by Rhonda Lucy, fashion by Wendy Ng and technology by Martin Labreque. Rhonda wore a custom mask and special Exo-gloves that tracked the motion of her hands in this native inspired dance representing Raven the Trickster. As her hands move through the air, they conducted live music via special composition soft wave by WaveDNA.

Spectacle Dance by Rhonda Lucy

Tom Emrich

The custom designed latex suit by James Hagerty of Ego Assassin worn by trapeze artist Mary Margaret in the piece “Static Trapeze” was embedded with a sound motion device called SoMo by Leif Bloomquist. As Mary moved around, different movements triggered sounds on top of one another to create the soundtrack for the performance.

Mary Margaret trapeze (photo credit: Shawn Goldberg)

Mary Margaret trapeze (photo credit: Shawn Goldberg)

Liona Davies pole dance (photo credit: Shawn Goldberg)

In addition to the performances, this industry event held developmental workshops, panels, and discussions and showcased the work of technology and art based companies. For example, “Muse” a brain sensing headband, a Proto3000, 3D engineering solutions and the work of Ricky Sosa who crusts natural elements such as skulls with intricate beadwork.

Ricky Sosa’s Hand-Beaded Skulls

(photos by O.S.)