techniques that are already familiar
to experienced coaches, such as
breaking down tricks into components
and teaching components of a trick
separately, scaling up to the final
trick and utilizing varying forms of
spotting/coaching. For example, a
blind circus participant would require
verbal feedback as they interact with
an apparatus, but a deaf participant
would learn best through modelling
the expected movements. Finally,
having equipment that is able to adjust
to a variety of heights and sizes can
increase the range of people that can
be accommodated within a space.
It is also crucial to examine a circus
educator’s preconceptions as well as
the policies within a circus space to
ensure that a program does not have
structural barriers to accessibility.
To examine preconceptions start by
asking yourself and your educators
who you think of when you envision
participants in a circus program?
Are the barriers you and others
have pointed out legitimate safety
concerns, or could they be addressed
by creative thinking and a different
approach? For example, are disabled
participants able to easily access the
space? This can go beyond physical
accessibility, and include thinking
through things such as if the space
is easily accessible via public transit,
or accessible transportation. Is there
a program to assist participants in
paying fees if they are unable to afford
them? What are the minimum levels of
physical ability that are expected for
students in order to be successful, and
is this bar set too high, or would it be
advantageous to add in a foundational
class for some students? Do students
have access to emotional supports?
Are staff trained to be trauma aware?
Is it possible to work with students
in noise reduced environments? Is
the progression of skills a student is
expected to learn appropriate for that
particular student? These are some
of the questions that are important
to consider when thinking about
how circus programs can be more
responsive to the needs of a much
wider variety of students.
THE THERAPEUTIC ROLE OF CIRCUS
Circus has the ability to be therapeutic
for so many people in a variety of
manners. Circus has profoundly
impacted my (Shay’s) own relationship
with my body in some really powerful
ways.
As a disabled person, you become
accustomed to all of the ways that
your body works against you, and
living in a disabled body can feel like
a big fight a lot of the time. When
I first came to circus, the shift for
me was incredibly profound. I was a
disabled person with a bigger body,
attempting to do something that even
the most able athletes find challenging
and demanding. While progress
for me was slow, especially at first,
recognizing that there were gains, and
having those gains celebrated and
appreciated provided me with the
opportunity to experience my body
in a completely different way than I
ever had before. Instead of having
an experience of my body that was
characterized by pain, and by all of the
things that I wasn’t typically able to
do, I had the opportunity to learn how
to create something with it, and to
experience it as strong.
Being present in my body while
engaged in the act of learning
circus skills gave me an experience
of my body being a source of joy
and confidence, and having that
experience profoundly changed
me. Being engaged in the process
of learning the skill was far more
profound to me than the skills
themselves.
Within the therapeutic world, there
has been a shift to becoming more
trauma aware and trauma focused.
What that means is that there is a
recognition that most people have
likely experienced trauma at some
point in their lives, whether it was a
larger kind of trauma like abuse or
neglect, or the common traumas of
growing up, like bullying. We recognize
that we need to be aware of these
traumas and responsive to them.
Further, the work of Dr. Bruce Perry
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The ACE Social and Adaptive
Circuses Directory, on the ACE
website, provides a contact
point to organizations engaged in
therapeutic and adaptive circus
work who can provide guidance to
other programs on these issues or
who are interested in developing
adaptive programming.
The SANCA Outreach
Program and Social Circus
Program in Seattle works
with students from a wide
range of learning, physical,
and emotional disabilities
as well as students who are
living on the margins.
The National Alliance on
Mental Illness provides
training and education on
becoming a trauma informed
program.
CYC-NET is an online youth
work resource that can
help provide guidance with
issues that young people
are facing such as trauma,
developmental delays, ADHD
etc. There is also an email
based discussion group.
has he lped
us understand
that early trauma
has a significant
impact on brain
development, and
development for people
as a whole, and that
one of the things that
we can do to help
people heal from
these traumas is
to engage with
them on tasks
that involve
their bodies in
particular ways,
especially utilizing
techniques such as
safe touch, or activities
that develop a sense of
rhythm within a person.
These activities need
to be repeated
thousands of
times, but
can have a
profound
impact on how
a person is able
to recover from
trauma, without
even needing to
directly speak about
what has happened to
them. Circus is an
ideal setting for this
to occur, there are
opportunities
to have the
repetition that
is necessary,
a supportive
environment that
fosters someone’s
growth, coupled with
an artistic outlet for
people to express their
feelings in an embodied
way. Plus, all of the wonderful benefits
of safe risk taking, developing trust,
physical activity etc. It’s hard to
imagine a more ideal setting for this
kind of healing to happen in.
Anecdotally, I (Amber) see this reality
reflected in the work I am doing
with my students. I work primarily
PHOTOS BY XANDRIA BARBER
with adult women in recovery from
addiction, homelessness, domestic
violence and trauma related mood
disorders. We work around themes
of empowerment, fat positivity, and
radical self acceptance. An issue I
see consistently with my students is
a disconnection from their bodies,
shame about their size, discomfort
with physical activity, and a need for
creativity and community in their lives.
Sweating, stretching, being out
of breath, and physically exerting
themselves are all things that can lead
to a trauma response, and thus, a
negative relationship with exercise and
embodiment.
By making space to stop, slow down,
talk, cry, or otherwise process their
experience of embodiment, my
students are able to heal, grow, and
redefine their relationship with their
body.
Through circus, students can
learn a new story about their
body—that it is strong, it is capable,
it is beautiful. Creating that new
narrative is impactful for anyone
who comes to circus, and can be
especially transformative for those in
recovery from traumas that left them
estranged from their physical bodies
and triggered by the experience of
embodiment.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS/IMPLICATIONS
One of the most effective ways
we can become more inclusive,
adaptive, and trauma informed is by
assessing our goals and expectations
as educators and by increasing our
awareness around the universality of
trauma. Common coach complaints
are, “My student doesn’t want to try
this skill” and “My student can’t yet
perform this skill and I’m frustrated
that I don’t know how to get them
there.” If your student isn’t ready or
able, and is otherwise happy with
their practice, what is the problem?
To be inclusive and respect our
student’s physical and emotional
process we must separate our goals
from their goals. We can do this by
both assessing our own biases and
making room for our students to
define their own experience of circus
arts. In this way, we are providing
person-centered, compassionate
care to our students. Alternatively, if
your student is genuinely struggling
with how hard it is to reach their
goals, emotionally supporting
your student by acknowledging
their struggle and validating that
experience is just as imperative as
recommending a new conditioning
skill to advance their practice.
While working to make circus
programming accessible and
adaptable can certainly provide
challenges to traditional conceptions
of circus education, it’s important
to recognize the hope and
opportunities that this can present
as well. If you’re feeling overwhelmed
at the prospect of making some of
the changes, recognize that you
are not alone and feel free to reach
out, either to the two of us, or to
other circus organizations that are
undertaking this work. This article
isn’t meant to provide concrete
answers, but rather to create a
starting point to working towards this
together. Seeing such a willingness
to discuss these issues at EdCon
(through multiple panels on the
therapeutic applications of circus
and accessibility and adaptability
within circus), provided hope that we
can increase the number of tools in
our circus tool bags to ensure that
circus is truly for every body.
SHAY ERLICH is currently completing their Master’s in
Child and Youth Care at Ryerson University. They are
multiply disabled and genderqueer. Shay first came to
circus in 2014, and is currently working on developing
performances that reflect Shay’s identity and lived
experience as disabled. They hope to use circus
therapeutically in their work with children and youth
after their graduation.
AMBER PARKER is a coach with EveryBody’s Circus,
a therapeutic circus program, at the School of
Acrobatics and New Circus Arts (SANCA) and a
Master’s Degree candidate at Antioch University
in family systems therapy with a specialization in
drama therapy. She discovered circus in 2014, when
she began training recreationally in aerial arts and
contortion. Since that time Amber has become
increasingly curious about therapeutic circus and have
devoted both her career at SANCA and her acad
emic study to the development of that field.
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