Circus Schools

[Rachel Shaw]

Hi, I'd like to know how good you'd need to be to join a circus or go to a circus school.

I can only juggle four clubs, do a range of three and four ball tricks and am currently learning five balls. I also do rola-bola.

But I really want to go to circus school. Do you think I'd be good enough to get in?

[Mark Wessels]

What if you throw in swell unicycling skills, a pretty decent five ball pattern, various other tricks, clowning experience and a little bit of street performing experience? Can I go? Also, where should I go?

Jumping on the bandwagon,

Mark

[martin ewen]

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS...   » RESOURCES/EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL  
» Possible youth circus/skills training

is a place to start,
You could google circus schools.
Alan Clay whose a clown and master clown teacher who specialises in teaching street theatre has closed up his sydney studio and will be touring the US next year and will be teaching a couple of workshops.
E-mail me if you need more info on that.
But thats clown and street not circus .
Circus is very close to a real job, be careful

[ 10-17-2002: Message edited by: martin ewen ]</p>

[Lee Nelson]

hey there, it all depends upon which school you want to go to. The exclusive schools wont touch you unless you where a child 10th level gymnast as they can pick the best of the best however their is plenty of circus schools around the world that you can attend if you just have the right attitude.
Granted that these schools wont make Cirque du Soleil acts every year because they are generally under resourced in regards to tutors and the amount of tutor time that they can supply students but in the world of circus skills (especially juggling) It really does come down to you, no one can wave a magic wand and give you a trick unless your a magician then you just have to read the packet.
What I am saying is that yes you can go to any number of schools and you will be accepted at the level that is appropriate for you but you will have to work hard to get the most out of it.
Personally, we went to CircoArts in New Zealand, 3 years it took and we are acrobats now and work as such, if we went to Ecole National du Cirque in Montreal or another high profile school we probably due to the resources at those schools desposal would have achieved the same level in two years and have spent our third year magically shrinking to the average Chinese Acrobat size so achieve greater stunts.
Good Luck
Derek

[Mr.Taxi Trix]

Daisy and Derek are also hotties, by the way, so they should know. Click this: http://www.circomedia.com/html/main.html
Haggis, one of the lead teachers there, was just awarded People's Choice at the Lodi Juggling Fest in, well, Lodi, California. I went, and we kidnapped him up to San Fran, where, in a friend's garden, he showed me, in five minutes or less, things about arm position and stance which were getting in the way of my five club work. It lead to one whopper long run, for me, and generally to more strength under the clubs.
He's got the gift as a teacher, and if you can get in there or in London, you would benefit quickly, when working with him.

[Evan Young]

The schools in England arn't too hard to get in to. I hear that Ecole National du Cirque isn't too hard to get into if you have natural acrobatic talent and a strong body (you might be suprised), but I also hear they don't care much about juggling in terms of admissions.
One thing that I havn't heard mentioned latley is the Dell' Arte school in northern california. They don't train you in skills hardly at all, but they have one of the best physical theatre programs in the world. You will learn how to devise really cool original stuff nobody has ever seen before, and it's not hard to get in to. I got rejected because I was too young coming strait out of high school, but it's somthing to think about if your into more theatrical stuff. they also have great summer workshops that double as a nice little vacation in a beutifull part of the country. www.dellarte.com
there is a nice space to practice your juggling there; and you will be located in Humbolt county, "where the 60's meet the sea", home of the best weed in the continental US.

[scot]

San Francisco School of Circus Arts accepts anyone who pays and some that don't.
Info line: (415) 759-8123.