THROW CATCH COLLECTIVE
ESCALATE
What if you could see music, or hear shapes and patterns?
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Escalate is a creative rebellion — proof of what happens when Australia's best jugglers do away with the rules and make new choices. Virtuosic juggling, innovative lighting and relentless energy collide with classical guitar and electronic music, much of it generated by the juggling itself. It's a smoothly-flowing hour that scrambles your brain, catches your breath and expands your mind.
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SPACES AND VIBES
Black box, proscenium arch. 60 minutes. Suits circus and music programming equally well.MARKET FIT
Festivals and venues wanting genre-crossing circus that appeals to dance and music audiences — proven festival piece.THE DATA
Toured to European Juggling Festival, Netherlands (2025); Zhangjiajie International Acrobatic Arts Festival, China (2024); Bunjil Place, Melbourne (2024); Edinburgh Festival Fringe (2023); Arts Centre Melbourne (2022).
“A very beautiful spectacle…a magnetic ode to the innate musicality of juggling, and the potential of circus to span genre.” — FEST MAG
“There was a kind of awe in the room at the sheer skill of those before us. The intricacy of each movement, at times like a dance, others like a fight.”
— Mish Graham, Theatre Travels
“Circus that aspires to the condition of music” The age
Escalate blends contemporary juggling with classical guitar, percussion and electronic music, with the juggling itself generating part of the score. It’s been credited with doing for juggling what Tap Dogs did for tap dancing — expanding what audiences understand the form can do, and directly influencing collaborations across the contemporary circus and dance sector since its premiere.
BEHIND THE WORK — Throw Catch Collective spent 3 years in development creating the choreographic and musical language that forms the basis for Escalate before they created the show.
They spent extensive time exploring how juggling patterns sound and then collaborated with a composer who integrated juggling as an instrument into the score of the show alongside loop pedals and classical guitar.
This means the score is partly generated by the juggling itself and the intricate visual patterns become illustrations of the music audiences hear.
