Next Door Circus Magazine Next Door Circus Magazine #2

How to make dreams come true By Terje Bernadt In Lithuania and Latvia, we can still only dream about having contemporary circus schools... Founded in Talin 15 years ago, Folie is one of the first contemporary circus schools in Estonia and counts today more than one hundred students. Some of the students have left to continue their studies in professional circus schools abroad; meanwhile, Folie is working hard in hopes to make Estonia a place to return. Producing artists, creating performances, teaching new trainers and performing abroad is what Folie is focuses on today. But it started from something much smaller... “It is not profitable at all to start a circus school” Working in education was not my plan In 1999, I had been working in Japan as an artist for about two years. My Polish colleagues and I discussed how it is not profitable at all to start a circus school. Teaching does not make us rich, that was the decision. My Polish friends, a family actually, had already opened a grocery store in their hometown. So I arrived home, leaving Japan for good, and settled down here in the little city of Tallinn. I knew, of course, there was not enough work for a circus artist, so I wondered how I would continue. Circus school as a necessity After Japan, I created a performance on the theme of Japanese kanji. The process was really fascinating and inspiring. I felt that this was something that I wanted to do. My new dream was to direct circus performances. At that time, my old circus colleagues from Estonia had already quit or were doing different projects. I discovered that there are actually no artists. The only way to get some artists into the country seemed to be by starting a circus school. My new dream was to direct circus performances. The only way to get some artists into the country seemed to be by starting a circus school. I had always loved teaching. I already had experience running my own group Photo from Folie archive (Tallinn Minicircus) for some years. Those were my argu

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