![\"At](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2013\/03\/E5-Jones_0464.jpg\")
<\/a>At the apogee of an upswing, Jones is poised to catch the next student flying his way at the South Street Seaport location of the Trapeze School New York.
\u00a0Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen<\/p><\/div>\n
Last summer, Travis Jones \u201913 took a flying leap into the process of independent research.<\/p>\n
He arrived in New York City ready to study the High Line, an elevated railway turned public park on Manhattan\u2019s West Side, for his senior thesis in art and visual culture with Whitehouse Professor Erica Rand.<\/p>\n
But his second senior thesis, in theater, had yet to come into focus. Jones wanted to deepen his interest in architecture with an exploration of how different theater spaces affect performance.<\/p>\n
And this is where Jones\u2019 expertise on the flying trapeze entered the scene. Three years ago, Jones, who is a diver for the Bobcat swim team, \u201cgot hooked\u201d on trapeze after taking classes at Manhattan\u2019s Trapeze School New York. A quick study, he was soon invited to become an instructor, an offer he took up last summer.<\/p>\n
While watching the aerial feats of his TSNY colleagues, he realized that the circus would be the perfect genre to help him focus his investigation of space and performance.<\/p>\n
While most Americans have a \u201cbig top\u201d notion of all things circus, Jones explains that today\u2019s circus venues \u201cdon\u2019t really have a stereotypical look.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taking advantage of New York\u2019s status as a mecca for the weird and wonderful, Jones attended a variety of performances, including Cirque du Soleil at Radio City Music Hall and Spiegelworld in Times Square.<\/p>\n
While the acts in each show were similar, Jones discovered that his experience was drastically affected by his proximity to the performers and his viewing angle. \u201cI\u2019m interested in finding out what aspects of the venue influenced my feelings\u201d about the performance, he says.<\/p>\n
Jones\u2019 theater adviser, Charles A. Dana Professor of Theater Martin Andrucki, originally suggested that his advisee look at architecture and performance, but Jones took the idea to new heights.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s exactly the kind of response an adviser likes to see in a student,\u201d says Andrucki, \u201cpicking up a hint and running with it in an inventive and creative direction.\u201d<\/p>\n