Forums > Events, Performances and Gatherings > London area: free circus school (cirque du monde)

hmmm. don't know if the heading is exactly right, but at least I will get people to read this.

there is a world-wide project called "cirque du monde", it got schools as far as brazil and is sponsored by a.o. cirque du soleil and usually the government of the participatingng country, whose aim it is to teach those with hardly any oportunities theatre/circus skills.
I have been going to this project in the previous year in amsterdam, which was originally set up for borderline youth, those with no prospects and drop-outs, but in holland those kids are hard to get into activities, because we have coffeeshops, so the group grew to host street performers and squatter-type persons.
what we had was an open training twice a week, and twice a year a performance. we got trained in all kinds of different stuff: tightrope, stillts, juggling, clowning, acrobatics, poi, etc. all optional really, and got lesson in performance.
on our end of the year performance this year, I spoke to 2 ladies from the london team, and I promised to put their project on this website.

now as far as I can see from their web page (<- website link) , the london project is for homeless and ex-homeless people mainly. I don't know how strict these guidelines are and if say, squatters are considered (ex-)homeless, but it is worth the try, isn't it?
I learned a lot there, met new poi, staff and devil-stick spinners and got to work on a performance that incorporated poi and acrobatics.

so, if anybody gets curious and goes there, or if anybody already went there, please use this thread to explain how open these training sessions are to the londoners... (in amsterdam basically anybody could walk in and do whatever they wanted and, oh yeah, did I mention "free lunch"?).

I hope that this London project will work out as good for some of you londeners as it did for me. I will live through your stories...
I can't go anymore: they found out I'm not a "youth" anymore (nor am I borderline or troubled).

eRic.

I'm not normally a religious man, but if you're up there, save me, Superman!