Part 1: Valladolid, Spain
September, 2015
I was fortunate enough to be accepted onto a basic circus teacher trainer course run by the European Youth Circus Organisation (EYCO). The first part consisted of 5 days taking around 40 Hrs of workshops with experienced multi-disciplinary teachers from Italy and Belgium. There were 16 of us participating in the project as teacher trainees, 7 job shadows, and 2 main teachers. The aim was to demonstrate many different tools that can be used to structure and create a safe environment for learning.
We were expected to have a basic technical and artistic level of all four of the main circus disciplines; Juggling (Manipulation); Aerial; Acrobatics; & Equilibristics (eg. Unicycle, rola-bola etc…). This was the first time I had taken a class in aerials, but it was inspiring and filled me with belief that stimulating creativity or inspiring technical development can be done without being familiar with the materials being used. Most of the emphasis was placed on understanding how to structure a class to make it safe (emotionally and physically) for the participants. We also looked at different learning styles such as visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic (through feeling) and adapted games and exercises to target these different needs. We bonded well as a group, and created some material together; we split up into 3 groups and used different disciplines to illustrate themes given to us by other groups. We incorporated music, several cues from the workshop leaders, group feedback discussions, and self-analysis to improve the pieces and share them with the whole group.
It was a truly fantastic week, I came away full of ideas and plans to develop new games and methods of using circus disciplines to engage young people and inspire them to challenge themselves and learn new skills. Our homework was to teach at least 20 hours of classes to youth groups implementing some of the methods we’d encountered over this first week of training before our next meeting in Edinburgh in March.
Part 2: Practice
September 2015 – March, 2016
Circus Alba Youth Circus (CAYC): 5-10 Yrs. (15 Hrs) & 11-16 Yrs. (18 Hrs)
ArtCore Circus: 16-24 Yrs. (25 Hrs)
Over these 6 moths the participants of the CATE project were asked to lead at least 20 hours of workshops, making planning and evaluation a priority. My teaching focused on 3 groups, teaching 4 classes a week. All of the groups created and performed shows to audiences of friends and family. The main objectives throughout my classes was to develop technical skills, stimulate creativity, develop stage presence and character, and teamwork. The main skills we worked on were juggling and acrobalance, with some elements of dance and theatre to enhance to performance. Overall, the workshops were very successful, over 50 pupils benefited from the training and because close friends as a result of having worked and performed together.
Part 3: Edinburgh, Scotland
March, 2016
The final part of the project was very similar to the first part, only instead of participating in the various workshops and games, we spent more time analysing the needs of a group, and the reasons behind why we use certain tactics. Over the course of the week we all shared our own experiences, looking at other aspects of the teaching process such as conflict and managing failures or accidents. In groups, we also devised our own workshops guided towards specific objects such as self-confidence, creativity, or rhythm, through the use of different materials or disciplines.
It was an intense week, we were working together from 9am-7pm every day, covering a huge amount of theory whilst also being involved in lots of physical activity. We shared tricks, tools for teaching, and problems we’d encountered over Part 2. This allowed us to dissect the problem from multiple perspectives and brainstorm solutions together as a team. We bonded really well as a group, all trusting each other and allowing ourselves to be playful and creative; this allowed us several opportunities to create performance pieces out of thin air, and have the confidence to share them with each other, to great success!
Overall the project has been fantastic! I have made friends I will keep for life, and learnt lessons and skills that I am excited to experiment and develop to keep sharing circus far and wide. My colleague Rob Thorburn from Circus Alba was also on the course, but as a job shadow, with the aim of understanding how to replicate and deliver this course again in the future… so keep your eyes open if this sounds like something you would benefit from!
Catch you soon,
Will Be