American Circus Educators Magazine Spring 2017 (Issue 1, Vol 9) | Page 30

Left
Photo from Holly Treddenick
Video
Exerpts from Circus Sessions 2016.
Produced by Femmes du Feu in
partnership with Harbourfront Centre.
taking the next step and putting a call out to artists.
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Acrobats!
Aerialists!
Come Explore
the Circus Arts
at NECCA!
COME TO NEW ENGLAND’S
NEWEST CIRCUS FACILITY
AND BUILD YOUR SKILLS WITH
WORLD-CLASS COACHES
Make no mistake, the creation of a residency program
such as Circus Sessions is no small undertaking. “I’ve
been putting on cabarets since I was in my twenties,”
said Treddenick. “Circus Session came together after
all of those years of experience.” There are going to be
hiccups along the way and learning that goes along with
making mistakes. Looking beyond the initial challenges,
the learning opportunities presented by such a program
are invaluable to the community as a whole. Learning
is a lifelong process. The way learning is presented is
constantly evolving in response to how people learn. Are
circus residency programs the future of the genre and a
great development tool? Only time will tell.
Jackie Houghton, in her non-circus life,
is an elementary school teacher. Before
becoming a teacher, she studied journalism
at Ryerson University in Toronto. Outside
of the classroom, she enjoys training aerial
silks. She has been training for the past 9
years and instructing beginner-level aerial
silks for the past year. Since the inception
of Circus Sessions, she has combined her
love of writing and circus to compose a
number of blog posts for the Harbourfront
Centre Blog focusing on various aspects
of the program. Initially, these blogs were
artist spotlights. Now, these pieces focus
more on ideas embedded in the program,
including the history of women in circus,
female entrepreneurs in the circus world,
and how motherhood affects circus
performers. She looks forward to having
more opportunities to write and delve
more deeply into the contemporary circus
community.
YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO CHOOSE HOW MANY
PEOPLE WILL PARTICIPATE AND HOW YOU WILL
CHOOSE THOSE THEM
What will you ask them to submit? Most likely this
will be a CV, a video reel, and some sort of written
statement explaining their interest in the program and
their goals and expected outcomes for the residency.
For youth students is might be a simple audition or
written statement on why they would like to participate.
Choosing will take time and require more than one set
of eyes, so who is going to help you? When producers
choose well, magic happens! After the glitter settled
on last year’s performances, Ball and Vanessa Furlong
continued to meet and create despite living 900 miles
apart. The two wanted to continue exploring a concept
that brought them together during Circus Sessions.
“Basically we have continued working together and we
are working on an entire show. We have discovered
many interesting ways of moving together, many of them
involve legs and attachments, hence our name: LEGacy
Circus. We get together now for 2-3 days at a time to
rehearse and create and we barely come up for air!” says
Ball. The importance of having an exceptional group of
participants that are willing to take risks and be open to
new learning cannot be underestimated. It could mean
the success or failure of the program.
•
New England Center for Circus Arts
New England Center for Circus Arts
WO
RKS
HOP
S • CAMPS • CLAS
SES
•
PE
RF
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RM
A
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802-254-9780
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www.necenterforcircusarts.org Brattleboro