Welcome Back!
Hello Students and Parents, Wow - we are almost half-way through Term one, just a quick update.
Great to see so many students returning this year. Most of our classes have filled up and we've put 2 new ones on and a few minor changes to the timetable.
End of Term Saturday the 12th of April -note: classes are still on this Monday the 3rd of March - public holiday.
New classes- Wednesday and Friday - 4 pm to 5 pm Acro-Aerials for ages 8 to 14 years.
Adult class changes - Adult absolute beginners now on Mondays from 6 pm to 7 pm.
Adult class times:
Monday Adult absolute beginners 6 pm to 7 pm (absolutely no experience needed)
Monday Adults Advanced Aerials 7 pm to 830 pm
Monday Handstands and body control 7 pm (great way to get inverted and fit)
Tuesday Adults Beg to Intermediate Silk and Trapeze 7 pm to 8 pm
Tuesday Adults Lyra open levels 7 pm to 8 pm
Wednesday Adults Intermediate Aerials 7 pm to 830 pm
Check out our Adult Student and Mother of 3, Emma's Blog post below on her Aerial journey. Let us know if you want a class on during school hours!
Performance group
We have two advanced children's classes and a performance group class for our youth.
Last year we had a Spot-light showcase and also a Halloween show outside of the school which students from our advanced classes and performance group participated in.
We will post photos on social media soon. - we hope to have more opportunities for our students to get performing experience and show their skills.
Chris Mayhew - (The owner of the Circus Centre) came back from a 3-month project documenting Children in a circus school in Kyiv Ukraine. - an incredible trip - look out for a short film on his experiences in Ukraine.
Guest Blog post
From audience member to the Air - Mother of 3 tells of her own circus journey
By Emma Basc and daughter Ayvah (photo)
Fringe is almost finished in Perth and it is possibly a time when many people are thinking about aerials and thinking ‘ohhh I’d love to try that’, it is often followed by ‘ohhhh I could never do it though’. The reasons are often: I’m too old, I’m too unfit, I have zero upper body strength’, ‘I’m too busy’ or versions of the above.
I started aerials about 18 months ago with all of these things running through my head. I’m a mother of 3, in my 40s, unfit, I’ve never done anything like this before, I have zero upper body strength, I’m super busy and I am painfully shy. I could give you 100 reasons that it wasn’t a good idea to try aerials. I gave myself all of those excuses for way too long.
So many circus schools have social media filled with ‘inspiring’ photos of aerialists in amazing poses or doing amazing things. Those things didn’t resonate with me at all. The idea of marketing images is that you are supposed to see yourself in the photo and imagine yourself doing that. Yeah, nah. Those photos aren’t me. Where are the photos of people crawling on the floor gasping for breath? I can TOTALLY relate to THOSE photos 😊
Aerials is really hard (for me, my 12 year old daughter doesn’t seem to have half the struggles that I do, I wonder why?), it hurts (sometimes a lot), it is a total mind melt. I don’t know my left from my right when I’m on the ground, but when I’m up in the air, hanging upside down I can’t even work out front from back or inside of my foot from the outside of my foot. I’m not sure if it is more physically demanding or mentally challenging. I call it extreme mindfulness. You can’t worry about an argument you had or the bad day at work when you are trying to work out how on earth you get your leg wrapped the way it needs to be so you don’t fall off and land on your head (although if you do, don’t worry, there are plenty of crash mats and in the words of Yoga by Adrianne, ‘if you fall, the ground will catch you’). On paper aerials is horrendous. In reality, I LOVE it.
The Circus Centre is the fourth place I tried. The first was lovely but closed down, the second was downright dangerous, the third was not at all accepting and inclusive of people who are beginners, and the fourth place was The Circus Centre where it feels like family! They are kind and caring and inclusive and accepting. When I am crawling around on the floor gasping for breath, they will turn the music up louder so you can’t hear my panting. I’m so grateful. When you achieve something, whether on the first try or after months of trying they will celebrate you, they will laugh WITH you and never at you, they will offer guidance and support and will help you achieve. If you follow the Circle of Security you know that the secure base is supposed to celebrate you when you fly and catch you when you fall. My coach has literally put her body on the line trying to catch me when I have been going to fall and there have been times when I have managed to achieve something and I think she has been more excited and proud than I am.
A Facebook memory that came up recently said ‘I’m so proud, I managed to do a new move I’m calling ‘strung ham’ (FYI that is not the actual name of that move but I still don’t know what it is called, something like baby bouncer, it will always be strung ham when I do it). I managed to take my feet off the trapeze bar AND let go with my hands that were gripping on for dear life! I’ll admit that once in this position I was really thinking that I should have paid more attention to how to get back out and get down again….’ I mentioned that circus is hard. It really is, AND (not but) AND it is amazing. When you get the move or the sequence the feeling is wonderful. Such achievement and real pride.
Today’s Facebook memory, which sort of inspired this post, says ‘I do love aerials but I’m not really sure why? It is hard, it hurts and I am always covered in bruises (I was expecting the ones on my elbow creases and hips but the giant one on my shin that is growing and glowing blue is a surprise :p). On paper I should hate it….I don’t!
18 months from starting aerials and I am still unfit and maybe have 1% upper body strength (which is an improvement on zero), I still look at those photos of aerialists in amazing poses and think ‘yeah, nah, that will never be me’ but now, at Fringe I am sat watching shows and occasionally I think ‘oh, I can do that, oh, I can do that too’. It’s still hard, and it still hurts, and on paper I should still hate it, but in reality, I still love it (also the bruises are definitely trophies!).
I was telling a colleague that I am the oldest in my class by a significant number of years (maybe decades) and the most unfit and the least skilled and she asked me if I am embarrassed. No, not even a little bit. You don’t have to be good at something to enjoy it and, I also want to model to my kids that spaces like this aren’t just for those who fit the stereotype. To excel at something, first you must be rubbish. I am nailing the first step and I may never get to being good and I will likely never excel and it is ok to just enjoy it and not be amazing.
If you have been sat at Fringe thinking ‘I’d like to try that but…’, I want to encourage you to change it to ‘I’d like to try that AND in a year maybe I will be sat at Fringe thinking ‘oh I can do that’ instead of I’d like to do that’.
Term has started but there are still spaces in the adult classes and even though it says age 16+, if you are worried (like I was) that you are 16 plus a whole lot and you will be the oldest person in the room or the most unfit etc. So what?! Someone has to be. Come and give it a go. By Emma Basc and daughter Ayvah (photo)
