Well… that was one very exciting week! Here is Director Katie’s Blog as well as a video that you can all get your teeth into! Apologies for the shaky hands.
Hello circus squad! Katie here, I directed this years summer school, where we created a show based on the Ancient Greek epic poem “The Odyssey”. A story about Odysseus and his long, arduous journey home. Now, we here at CircusMASH don’t simply read out the story from a book to the audience. Oh no, we included puppetry, solo and doubles trapeze, silks, hammock, straps, tight wire, Lyra, hula hoop, poi, juggling, dancing, physical theatre, jump rope, Rola bola, globe and for the first time, acting and script learning!
At the beginning of our 5 day rehearsal progress, I was very excited but very nervous. This was going to be one of the most demanding children’s shows to be created at CircusMASH, with difficult skills to master and with a very short amount of time for rehearsals. As they all rushed in, ready to start the week, I began by handing out scripts. This was quickly greeted by, “What? A script? We have to learn lines!?”
Despite the first shock, they took to the show like circus ducks to water! Everyone came with a brilliant energy everyday and tackled anything I threw at them, they were ready to try anything new. They worked so hard and it really paid off, all of them gave it 100% and performed their hearts out.
During this summer school, we as instructors have been pleasantly surprised and blown away by these young performers. From day one they have been determined to perfect their aerial and ground routines and having the right balance of taking it seriously and having lots of fun, two important parts of circus.
So a big round of applause to our summer schoolers and their parents coming to watch the show and having a go on the aerial circus equipment at the end! We hope to see you next term, or if not, in a year for the next summer school!
Lots of love, Katie x