Aspectos do processo de abertura à participação feminina na palhaçaria brasileira: especificidades da produção carioca nas décadas 1980 e 1990

Abstract

We will present some of the factors that contributed for the constitution and expansion of the opening process for female participation in Brazilian clowning from the 1980s on, focusing on the theatrical production in the city of Rio de Janeiro, as well as some of the cultural and historical circumstances related to the fact that, until the mentioned period, female clowning in Brazil was not usual. We will also approach the specificities of labour division in Brazilian itinerant circuses and the transformations that occurred in their methods of knowledge transmission from the 1950s on, related to the foundation of the first circus schools in thecountry institutions that generated the extension of access to specific knowledge in this area and the subsequent diversification of the profile of the subjects involved in contemporary circus production. Some of the movements that contributed to disseminate knowledge and practicesregarding circus arts and clowning in the city of Rio de Janeiro will also be discussed. These movements influenced the formation of many groups that would later become references in the area, in which from the 1980s on, it is possible to identify the presence of female clowns. Inorder to reach the objectives set out, different methodological procedures were articulated, such as bibliographical research, consulting of commercial periodicals published in the 1980s and 1990s and semi-structured interviews. Based on data gathered by these means we will seek to demonstrate that the opening process for female participation in Brazilian clowning is related, among other factors, to the diversification of lines of work and research on this area in the country.