An unassuming friendship, TED and Kimberly have nothing in common aside from their raging love for badminton. 5 pm every Friday they meet in the court. TED is simply SPORTS, Kimberly lives for ART, and together they make circus cool again.

Fauna and Sisus's new co-production 'TED'  is a 35-minute site adaptive circus performance that intertwines badminton aesthetics and explorations of loneliness. With a focus on engaging teens and international collaborations, TED redefines circus, with a character-based, narrative-rich, costume-focused piece. The project incorporates elements of modern clowning and circus combined with a unique visual aesthetic. 

'We take the game of badminton as a place of commonality and turn it upside down, literally - we play in new ridiculous and acrobatic ways and metaphorically - we explore the beauty of team effort and of course the woes of losing and winning. TED’s a good loser! From exploring the essence of team and individual sports, we found ourselves playing with the concept of loneliness which has been emphasised by our choice of musician, Klaus Nomi, a daring and ahead-of-his-time visionary, whose tragic story was told beautifully in the book ‘A Lonely City’ by Olivia Laing'. 


The project is divided into 3 phases:
- Phase 1: Research phase (autumn 2023-winter 2024)
- Phase 2: Creation (spring 2024- autumn 2024)
- Phase 3: Premiere and tour (from autumn 2024->) 

Co-creation: Fauna circus, Sisus
Artistic concept & artists: Imogen Huzel, Inka Pehkonen
Mentor & dramaturg: Jason Dupree
Editing: Joshua Frazer
Outside eyes: M.P.A.C & Jason Dupree 
Merging of Sound and Circus Outside eye: Vejde Grind
Co-production: Sisus & Fauna
Partners: Chameleon theatre & Pfefferberg theatre 
Duration: approximately 35-minute show 
Premiere: 2024/2025
Disciplines: handstand, acrobatics, Washington on wheels 
Supported by: Nordic Culture Point and Arts Promotion Centre Finland