So what is YOUTH circus anyway?
Circus is changing! The youth involved with learning circus arts are growing in numbers and ability.
Peek at the American Youth Circus Organization (AYCO) clip to gain a big picture view!
AYCO is holding the 2014 Educator’s Conference in Montreal, Canada this year. Kazoo staff is thrilled to attend!
(Click on this image to link directly to the AYCO site for the mini documentary or the logo for ED Conference info.)
Wise Fool at TEDx
View an inspiring presentation by Amy Christian, Wise Fool’s Artistic Director,
about how circus and theatre has the power to ignite social change.
(Click directly on this poster to link directly to the TEDx presentation)
The National Circus School in Montreal has a concise circus history written by renowned Circus Historian, Pascal Jacob.
Circus arts promotes physical and mental health and wellness:
Students of circus learn a multitude of physically expressive skills: juggling promotes cross-body and hand-eye coordination; unicycling and wire walking promote core strength and balancing skills; acrobatics and aerials foster strength and motor control. Children who train in the circus become physically confident, healthy, capable adults who understand the capabilities and limits of their bodies.
Circus arts fosters human connection and belonging:
Circus performers must rely on connections with both trusted adults and their peers (colleagues) to keep them safe and physically and emotionally supported through scary, difficult skills. Children who train in the circus learn to ask for and give help, developing positive relationships and communication skills. Children learn to feel safe and to recognize and help create safe environments.
Circus encourages civic engagement, citizenship, cultural & socioeconomic integration:
Circus calls for humans to work in a circle, where everyone has a voice, diversity is affirmed, and everyone has an important job to do. The work of creating circus mirrors constructive engagement in community.Children who study circus learn how to effect change in their lives and the world around them.
Circus builds tenacity and resilience :
Circus provides a safe container for the repeated practice of risk taking, failure and recovery. By supporting ongoing creativity, invention, and effort, rather than “winning”, circus teaches children to reach beyond what they thought possible. Circus presents the student with difficult physical and expressive challenges that can only be mastered through repeated practice. Children experience the rewards of focused work towards a personal goal. Children in the circus learn tenacity, enabling them to transcend their own and society’s assumptions.
– See more at: https://www.arts.gov/50th/stories/zoe-brookes#sthash.wd0wHPit.dpuf