While we have left behind the traditional animal circus other collective displays are gaining in popularity and may even have an important role to play in the education of our young people.
The social circus is a form of art therapy used "as mediums for social justice and social good. It uses alternative pedagogical tools to work with youth who are marginalized or at social or personal risk."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Circus For example in the Australian Indigenous community of Uluru local youth workers have been using the social circus to address substance abuse by local youth. Not only has it helped with their substance use but has created a sense of pride within the group, as well as the acquisition of important life skills.
"According to youth worker Ludo Dumas, who also teaches circus skills at the local Nyangatjatjara College, circus training requires practice, constant repetition of the same tricks, and focus. In an interview with me he observed that staff at the college have noticed a significant improvement in the children’s attention span in classes.
Prior to the start of the circus training, students’ attention span was just 10 minutes. Now, students are able to sustain their concentration for up to two hours in English sessions and up to one-and-a-half hours in maths lessons.
Improved self-esteem, respect for one another, and the ability to work together as a team are other results staff at the college attribute to the playful yet focused training in juggling and acrobatic tumbling.
Performing for communities and at arts events in the Central Desert and at festivals further afield has also developed the young performers’ social skills and ability to confidently engage with strangers. This is a skill set that Dumas suggests will positively support their future paths.
Social circus combines an interventionist approach to social ills with the sharing and learning of circus skills. More than simply a recreational pursuit of the circus arts, the term designates the co-opting of circus skills for social change.
What’s little known about community circus in Australia is the broad range of social and personal benefits that accrue from prolonged participation.
Parents have explained to me that they have turned to recreational circus to assist their children with the management of a broad spectrum of medical conditions including: scoliosis, ADHD, Autism spectrum disorders, OCD, executive function problems, nervous conditions, learning difficulties, shyness, introversion, borderline intellectual disabilities, and depression.
They explain that the circus environment enables children who are social outsiders (as a result of social, intellectual or medical disorders) to feel they belong to a community. They observe that their children’s new sense of belonging leads in turn to improved self-esteem from which other, positive social and wellbeing changes flow.
So if, after more than three decades of pioneering progress in the field of community circus, Australian parents, young participants, and creative workers in the field staunchly advocate for its capacity to effect positive personal and social change, isn’t it high time for research initiatives and cultural policy to catch up with community experience?
How about circus training, funded as an element of physical and personal development in schools, and as an alternative to sport? Now that’s a provocation for our country’s cultural policy-makers."
theconversation.com/circus-training-instead-of-school-sports-now-theres-an-idea-31979 Could the community circus add real value to school life? Could it potentially help address behavioural issues as well as facilitating positive individual and collective life skills? Could the circus offer more benefits than current school sports which are often associated with high injury rates and can be overly competitive in nature?
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