The Flying Fruit Fly Circus
The Flying Fruit Fly Circus is Australia's national youth circus, and the only full-time circus school for young people in Australia. History The Flying Fruit Fly Circus was one of the productions of the Murray River Performing Group, initially an ensemble of nine artists, set up mostly by graduates the Victorian College of the Arts Drama School, including Robert "Bomber" Perrier, the first artistic director, Lloyd Suttor, Mark Shirrefs and Ian Mortimer. The group began full-time operations in 1979, the International Year of the Child. Within four months the group had conducted workshops and performed in over forty venues, written two shows, organised 171 circus training sessions and produced the first Flying Fruit Fly Circus event involving 117 performers. The second annual Flying Fruit Fly Circus event, in 1980, was seen by Chris Brookes, a Canadian playwright who visited at the suggestion of the Community Arts Board of the Australia Council. He suggested taking the Circus to the Vancouver Children's Festival in 1981. Tanya Lester won a Gold Medallion in Le Cirque de Demain Competition in Paris. In 1982 she was the recipient of the Young Australian of the Year title. In 1982 the Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe of China undertook