London Youth Circus rehearsals - tightwire

Circus Space’s London Youth Circus students will be performing ‘Got It’, an ensemble piece choreographed by Tim Casson from the Jasmin Vardimon company, as part of UDance 2012 at the Southbank Centre, London on 14 and 15 July.

The London Youth Circus is a Centre for Advanced Training (CAT) run in partnership with The Place

Monday and Tuesday - rehearsing for the London Youth Circus show this weekend.

Circus Space’s London Youth Circus students will be performing ‘Got It’, an ensemble piece choreographed by Tim Casson from the Jasmin Vardimon company, as part of UDance 2012 at the Southbank Centre, London on 14 and 15 July.

The London Youth Circus is a Centre for Advanced Training (CAT) run in partnership with The Place

Find out more about the performances

Intensive training for the London Youth Circus show this weekend.

Circus Space’s London Youth Circus students will be performing ‘Got It’ as part of UDance 2012 at the Southbank Centre, London on 14 and 15 July. The London Youth Circus is a Centre for Advanced Training (CAT) run in partnership with The Place

Find out more about the performances

Circus Space’s London Youth Circus students will be performing ‘Got It’ as part of UDance 2012 at the Southbank Centre, London on 14 and 15 July. The London Youth Circus is a Centre for Advanced Training (CAT) run in partnership with The Place. Find out more about the performances on our website.

London Youth Circus and CAT students are selected by an audition process and receive structured training in circus and supporting skills such as movement and flexibility.  In addition to skill-specific training, students have the opportunity to work with a range of directors, choreographers and circus educators.

This week the students have been doing intensive workshops in static trapeze and aerial hoop.

CAT students from Circus Space’s London Youth Circus and The Place worked with choreographer Yael Flexer and circus company Long Spoon last week to create some wonderful performance incorporating dance and circus.

Footage from this year’s National Youth Circus Event at Circus Space, Feb 2012

On Saturday night Maya performed in front of 200 people at ‘Fresh’, The Place’s night of outstanding dance with and for young people.

Maya

London Youth Circus and Centre for Advanced Training student

First thing I knew, I was summoned into the upstairs office. My premature thoughts weren’t full of optimism; ‘oh god, have I missed a drop-in class?’ and ‘are they going to chuck me out of London Youth Circus?’.

I was told by Eira and Melanie that the static trapeze routine in the London Youth Circus summer production impressed visitors from ‘The Place’ and they requested a solo piece inspired by it to be part of the annual ‘Fresh’ performance. I could anticipate something coming, just by the tone in Eira’s voice;

‘We were wondering if you wanted to perform the solo piece. We know that it is only in two weeks so we understand if it’s too soon’.

 Immediately, a satisfied smile crept onto my face. I was so chuffed to be asked – I have never performed a solo piece on stage before!! I thought that I didn’t really deserve it and I felt bad about my peers in my classes. But they were really happy for me, only amplified my excitement, filling my stomach with butterflies.

For the two weeks of rehearsals, I dashed from school onto the tube to Circus Space as quickly as possible to brainstorm ideas for moves, music and costume. Layla and I came up with two songs that we both loved but in the end, we agreed on ‘Birds in the Mist’ by John Zorn, which has a slightly reflective vibe to it. It was new having one to one sessions and it was a complex process, piecing together a routine – I compare it to a jigsaw, moves have to fit together, to create a fluid piece. Not to mention, coming to Circus Space on days that I hadn’t ever been to before for 4 years. Surprisingly; it had a completely different mood. Typically, on a Sunday there are children running around, playing games and eating their packed lunches. In contrast, the week days are calm and sophisticated, with professionals working through routines in a focused manner. This was one of my favourite things about the experience – sharing the space with professionals; I was able to spy on them, admiring their skill and dedication towards their art. The professionals were very inspiring, providing a standard that I might aspire to in the future.

The dress rehearsal was greatly nerve-racking, performing in front of all the other performers, not only were they all dancers but they were my age and were in large group/companies so I felt particularly on the spot. I’ve never felt my heart beat so fast, before I had gotten on the trapeze I could already feel heart palpitations diffusing through my body. It was a significant barrier to cross and I felt great afterwards. I looked forward to the real thing!

When the music began, I closed my eyes and imagined myself practicing at Circus Space on my own; I didn’t even notice the 200 eyes glaring at me. The realisation came when I heard the eager applause; it was a moment to be cherished.

Performing on Saturday evening was a fantastic experience that I will never forget; it was exhilarating, frightening and satisfying, all in one.

Layla Rosa

Teacher and aerial artist

When Eira first approached me to help make this piece for the festival of youth dance at the Place I felt vindicated! It was something I had been hoping would happen for a long time. Finally one of my brilliant and hard working students would have an opportunity to explore their creative potential and platform their work as part of a very prestigious event.  This talented bunch need an audience.

I am always amazed and enthused by the work we generate in our Sunday youth circus classes, and it is so exciting and so right to be taking that out of the classroom, and placing it in front of the eyes of an unsuspecting audience. We hoped Maya would take up the opportunity of creating this solo piece inspired by the quartet performance we created with Ockham’s Razor for the London Youth Circus summer show, I knew that if she did she would bring to it her great sense of adventure, immense skill and incredible maturity.

Maya has been a pleasure to work with, she has shown great courage, taken on ideas and tried things that are outside of her comfort zone, she has worked with integrity to find the best and most honest performance we could have made in this moment of moving away from the quartet and into this solo territory. There has been an enormous amount of trust built and we both agree that what we have made is ’ a delicate balance of presence, strength and beauty’ which reflects where we are right now. and now exists as a solo in its own right. I believe this process has developed Maya’s understanding of a creative process and herself as an artist who now has her own solo performance piece.

I know Maya must be extremely nervous as this is her first solo performance and what a brilliant first gig! I hope she will enjoy it and want to do it all again. 

Rehearsing

Costume fitting

Trying out the costume’s all-important, static-trapeze-appropriateness

Review of Maya’s performance 

Find out more about the London Youth Circus and the Centre for Advanced Training

National CAT scheme students performing after their week with Mimbre acrobats.

This half term Mimbre has been teaching an intensive course focused on partner acrobatics and choreography, with young people from the Circus Space Youth Programme CAT scheme. The week finished with an informal performance to families and friends inside the combustion chamber. Everyone worked really hard, it all came together brilliantly and we got some very positive feedback from the audience.

The young people were of different ages and had different backgrounds in terms of training, and although it was sometimes difficult to make sure everyone was challenged in terms of physical skill, it was hugely enjoyable to see how they each used the material we gave them to work with in their own unique way, adding their own skills, their own style of movement and supporting each other to create some really beautiful pieces of acrobatic work. 

by Emma Norin

Joint Artistic Director of Mimbre

I really enjoyed the course last week, as I like to learn new skills that can help me improve.
I like to make new friends amd everyone was very friendly and we all worked great as a team.  My favourite part was making the routines and putting it all together.  I am looking forward to hearing what the next workshop will be.

Molly Dean

CAT Student

Centres for Advanced Training (CAT) is a government initiative funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and managed by the Music and Dance Scheme (MDS). The MDS provides targeted means-tested fee support and grants to designated centres of excellence for the education and vocational training of young musicians and dancers. Circus Space has been hosting the CAT Scheme since September 2010, in partnership with The Place.

Find out more about the Circus Space CAT scheme