Circo Zero

Instigated by Keith Hennessy in 2001, Circo Zero makes live performances responding to political crises, while centering queer bodies and ideas. Producing in San Francisco and the broader Bay Area since the mid-1980s, our performances are interdisciplinary and experimental, motivated by anti-racist and decolonial practices. Hennessy is an internationally recognized teacher, performer, and innovator of queer performance.Deeply rooted in dance, LGBTQ, and activist communities, Circo Zero participates in local and global justice movements, functioning as an artistic laboratory of civic engagement. Instigated by a white queer artist engaged in social justice movements for over 30 years, Circo Zero creates performances that offer a meeting ground for investigations of identity, history, and power.Circo Zero is one of the more prolific and widely touring of West Coast dance-performance companies. During our 18 year lifespan, we have presented work in more than 70 cities and 23 countries producing more than 15 full-length performances and countless shorter works in spaces ranging from punk anarchist squats to European state theaters to San Francisco beaches. In San Francisco, we have produced performances at YBCA, Dance Mission, CounterPulse, Joe Goode Annex. Circo Zero’s performances have been awarded the Guggenheim, USA Fellowship, Bessie, multiple Isadora Duncan Dance Awards, a Bay Area Goldie, and a San Francisco Award for Performing Arts.