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This week we talked to award-winning circus duo and long-time friends of Jacksons Lane: Nikki Rummer and JD Broussé.

How did you meet and when did you start working together?

JD & Nikki: We met in 2014 and instantly started something new.  If you want to know how, come see Knot!  We spill everything.

Tell us about what inspired Knot and what should audiences expect from it?

JD & Nikki: It’s inspired by a misplaced kiss we experienced during a cabaret. You can expect some ridiculous monologues on commitment, reflections on the odd intensity of acrobatic partnerships, and some great circus too.

Tell us about Nikki’s solo show?

Nikki: My solo, Unbroken, is inspired by a particularly strange family get-together that I experienced in Christmas 2001, and the ramifications of knowing a dark secret within my family heritage.  It’s a bold step into the shadows of my lineage, sometimes funny and distinctly curious and hard hitting.

Tell us about JD’s solo show?

JD: In January 2021 my dad sold the family bakery. I lost the building were I grew up but I felt I also turned the page of my youth, a whole chapter of my family’s history as well as an era in our collective story. My dad inherited the bakery from his dad who inherited it from his dad who inherited it from his dad, every generation living and working under the same roof. The patriarchal roots were strong but they were not match for the changing of our time. I came out and I ran away with the circus. My sister’s left. Soon only my dad and my gran remained. My granny died a few months before the bakery got sold. I really  believe that her heart couldn’t take the idea of leaving the building she spent most of her life in. She was the last native speaker of Occitan in my family, our regional language. My dad the last baker and I felt like I wanted to take part in this end story in my own way which is with a weird goodbye cabaret. If it all sounds quite sentimental it’s because it is but the show is a lot lot lighter than that.

What can audiences expect from your festival and why should they come see it?

JD & Nikki: Audiences will get a feast of emotionally ambitious, humorous and unflinching work that spins acrobatics into finely crafted narratives.  We use our bodies to share what cannot be said and we use story-telling to invite our audiences in.