Viva La Gong: topless performance controversy

By Ben Langford
Updated November 6 2012 - 1:16am, first published November 7 2010 - 9:57am
A circus clown entertains children during the festival. Pictures: ANDY ZAKELI
A circus clown entertains children during the festival. Pictures: ANDY ZAKELI
Danijela Petkovic, 17, and Dijana Kovacevic, 15, wore traditional Serbian costumes.
Danijela Petkovic, 17, and Dijana Kovacevic, 15, wore traditional Serbian costumes.
Characters Nero Von Fassbinder and Safe Sex Fairy spread the good word among festivalgoers.
Characters Nero Von Fassbinder and Safe Sex Fairy spread the good word among festivalgoers.
Isaac Holder-Keeping, 3, of Mt St Thomas, gets down for a fun time at Viva La Gong.
Isaac Holder-Keeping, 3, of Mt St Thomas, gets down for a fun time at Viva La Gong.
Viva La Gong: topless performance controversy
Viva La Gong: topless performance controversy

Circus Monoxide has had a mixed response to one of its performances at Viva La Gong on Saturday which featured topless performers.The aerialists visiting from Melbourne performed on a trapeze at McCabe Park on Saturday in front of an audience of families.Towards the end of the performance both women took their tops off, however only one faced the audience while she performed without a shirt.

  • COMMENT: Did you see the performance? Tell us below what you thought of it.
  • See Tuesday’s Mercury for Circus Monoxide’s response Viva La Gong artistic director Frank Madrid, said some audience members were surprised by the performance but he said he had received no complaints."There would have been very few people surprised by topless women," he said.Mr Madrid said Saturday's festival - his first as artistic director - was a roaring success with about 10,000 people braving the rain at MacCabe Park.He said his first festival was "a conversation with the people of Wollongong about the future direction of the festival" - and the message was to head in the direction of quality."No matter where you do it, people recognise quality," he said."They recognise when there [is] an extraordinary artist in front of them."Mr Madrid said the festival was improved this year by having non-stop entertainment for 12 hours at various stages around the park."There were no periods of nothingness," he said.Mr Madrid named hip-hop outfit D'Opus and Roshambo, Mercury BlueScope band comp winners Atticus and the calypso music of Errol Renaud as highlights.And he said Circus Monoxide was excellent."Wollongong is a circus town," he said.Mr Madrid defended the decision to ban comedians from swearing on stage, and said he enjoyed watching them try and behave themselves."It was intelligent comedy - because they couldn't swear they had to be creative."But he was not amused by one of the comedians, who demanded to be paid on the spot."I thought it was a joke," Mr Madrid said."I had to escort him to the ATM machine as if he was in a pub."Mr Madrid said people even came to Wollongong from Sydney and Canberra for the festival, with three buses charted from Sydney to bring festivalgoers.
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