A group of young people from Unity Toy Box Circus went down to the National Youth Circus Event last weekend (Feb 12). Take a look at the video to see the sorts of things they were getting up to.
Workshops:
The group took part in a wide range of activities these included; balloon modelling, watching several performances by professional circus artistes, hula hoop, tightrope, wall running, flying trapeze, juggling, tumbling, and acro balance workshops, a ballet class and watching a show performed by other youth circus performers. In addition to this the group got to watch the film Trapeze with Bert Lancaster and Tony Curtis, which was made into an interactive experience by the staff at The Circus Space.
Experience:
The young people got to take part in a wide range of circus skills some of which there is no opportunity to do at all in Manchester. They got to meet and talk to other youth circus members from across the UK and as staff we got to know the young people better than we had done before. Our group was the youngest and stuck together when doing the workshops. However we knew quite a lot of the other youth circus practitioners and as soon as they young people saw us chatting to other group leaders and their young people they dived right in and got chatting to lots of the other young people.
What they Learnt:
All of the young people came away with a renewed sense of commitment to their skills which has been evidenced by their attitude to training on their return to Toy Box. They gave some really positive feedback to the rest of the group about the event and have started asking many more questions about where they can take their skills in the long run. They also learnt a bit about travelling and how to handle themselves in new situations, one of the lads was particularly nervous about visiting London and I genuinely think that the visit has made a positive impact on his world view. Another of the lads who despite usually appearing outwardly confident but actually hides his lack of confidence by talking a lot, found himself in a couple of situations where he really wanted to back out of taking part in activities but with our support and some really positively delivered encouragement from The Circus Space trainers really pushed himself and achieved some challenging physical tasks. He later commented that one of the activities he had been scared of taking part in had actually been his favourite. In addition to this one of the young men learnt that espresso is a small but strong coffee that probably won't agree with the usual regiment of crisps and sweets!
Youth Arts Workers
Owen & Martin
Unity Toy-Box Circus
Link Below
Unity ToyBox Circus February at Circus Space London
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