he annual visit brought together students from the Animation, 3D Animation and Immersive Media Production programmes, who headed to the Big Top at the old ferry terminal in Dún Laoghaire for a unique opportunity to capture circus performers at work.

Animation students put their observational and life-drawing skills into practice, sketching acrobats, trapeze artists and other performers during rehearsals and throughout the evening’s show. The resulting drawings captured the movement, energy and spectacle of live performance, with the Duffy’s Circus performers delighted to see the students’ work.

Duffy’s Circus once again gave the group a warm welcome and also shared a selection of scholarly and illustrated books exploring the history of the circus and its long relationship with the visual arts.

Students from Immersive Media Production took a different approach to documenting the evening, recording 360-degree footage of the performance. Further collaborations are also being explored, including opportunities involving motion capture and 3D scanning.

The visit offered students an exciting range of subjects to observe, draw and record, while continuing a longstanding connection between IADT and Duffy’s Circus.