How to train people to be Circus Workshops holders?
brotherhuw
Some of you may or may not know or care but I work for a small charity
called Circus Eruption, which teaches able bodied and disable bodied young
people Circus Skills. Its a great little job. But enough.
I am currently working on a developent plan for the charity to make it
more self sustaining. At the moment 30 volunteers work with up to 50 young
people once a week for 2 hours. it cost a lot and to make us more
attractive to the (insert your favourite nasty word) funding bodies it has
been decided that we expand to engage with more young people. To do so we
have decided that we will need to employ 3 people who will essentially be
Circus Play workers, and they will deliver the sessions supported by the
volunteers.
Here comes the question, and thanks for getting this far.
I want to be able to employ anyone, in a sort of no experience required
way, but obviously this means they will ahve to be trained in the Circus
Arts (not a place for that debate please) and this has got me to wondering.
I'm not planning on training them to the obsessional level that many of us
here have attained, simply a level where they can demonstrate a wide
rainge of skills, and insrtuct and motivate young people in how to do them
safely. Safety is an important factor here. So we are talking the basics,
a three ball cascade, how to start and maybe throw a diabalo, how to use a
walking globe. We do most all skills and therefore need our trainees to be
able to do them.
Any ideas then, how to structure and write such a course? how to deliver
it? How long would it take to become reasonable? any one aware of such
courses existing where i could go for ideas/ help.
Anything else really. I have written a loose program but consider this
some for of consultation...
Thanks in advance for any and all help!
Huw
--
----== posted via www.jugglingdb.com ==----
brotherhuw
Jay Linn
<couldnt...@hotmail.com.nospam.com> wrote:
> No one interested in this one then?
Lots of people are, but a full answer to your questions would take me a
week to construct, and I'm not convinced that you are aware of the scale
of the task you are suggesting.
Anyhow, you need to delve into the Circus Arts Forum -
http://www.circusarts.org.uk - and then start ringing people up and
talking to them.
--
Jay Linn
E pur si muove.
charliejuggler
http://www.jugglingdb.com/compendium/skills/workshops/runningaworkshop.html
Also, I concur with Jay - Circus Arts Forum is a good place to start. At
the last conference they ran there was a lot of discussion about
qualifications, including teaching qualifications.
Cheers
Charlie
brotherhuw
First off, thanks for replying, and I am more than aware that to formulate
a proper reply would take a long long time. Sorry for rushing.
Secondly, I am becoming more aware on a daily basis what a large task this
is, and I have been working on it for over a month, it is part of an
expansion plan for the Circus Chairty that I work for. Its been a tough
task, and the training plan is one part of a long list of things I am
working on, including funding proposals, business plans, cost analysis,
insurance plans, recruitment, consultation to name but a few areas.
Sorry if that came off wrong, not meant to be aggressive, I just wanted
you to know sort of what I am doing. If you would be interested in more
information I would be more than happy to reply off group. In fact it
would be great to have someone to bounce ideas off as the task is not
getting any smaller.
As to your suggestion of where to look for ideas, thank you very much, I
have spent a lot of today going through that website and am now honing my
plans done.
Any more input wpuld be gladly accepted.
Cheers.
Huw
brotherhuw
I read your acticle quite a while ago, when I was starting this project
and found it very helpful, so thank you for the obvious time and effort
you put into it.
It is interesting what you raise about qualifications, I am working on an
NVQ course based around Circus teaching and play work, which is difficult
but I am finding it very satisfying. When I have got further on maybe I
should post my work to the Circus Arts Forum for more feedback.
Thanks for you suggestion, as I wrote to Jay it was a very helpful website.
ultimatewannabe
To simply be proficient in basic skills you mentioned I would guess it
would about a week to teach a person 16-25 years old with slightly above
average coordination. Spin and throw a diabolo, semi solid 3 ball
pattern, walking globe, rola bola. . . . most of that was stuff I learned
in a few minutes so getting all of it down from scratch may take a week.
I am confused by your mention of safety. Correct me if I'm wrong but I
didn't see anything about tumbling, unicycle, low or high wire, anything
aerial, fire, or anything else in circus I've managed to hurt myself with.
You can eat shit sometimes on a rola bola but as long as first timers are
properly spotted (some is grabbing their waist) I can't see how anyone
would get hurt here. So my question is basically what safety concerns,
why would you need to mention safety at all?
This next point is purely a pet peeve of mine but I feel you should expect
your coaches/teachers/instructors or whatever to CONTINUE TO IMPROVE.
They don't need to make leaps and bounds or juggle 7 balls after a few
years but it has always been discouraging for me to see coaches who don't
work on new things at all. I was with the Great Y Circus in Redlands CA
for 3 years and in that time I was very obsessive but most of the other
people weren't at all. It was as if 7 club 2 count passing made a person
a juggler and once you became a juggler you stopped ever learning new
things. The same applies to nearly every act, you learn all the drops,
climbs, and poses and then you are an aerialist, you stay in shape do your
conditioning and you stay and aerialist. They didn't have any desire to
improve. Guess what? When the students came through they adopted the
same mindset and they'd learn the basics and stop improving. It always
pissed me off when people would look confused if I asked questions about
how to improve more. They had this look like "Why would you want to learn
that trick? It's very hard and you wont have it ready in time for the
performances this year so there's no point in learning it." Please don't
let this happen in your program if you can help it.
Mike
Jay Linn
<couldnt...@hotmail.com.nospam.com> wrote:
> Jay,
>
> First off, thanks for replying, and I am more than aware that to
> formulate
> a proper reply would take a long long time. Sorry for rushing.
>
> Secondly, I am becoming more aware on a daily basis what a large task
> this
> is, and I have been working on it for over a month, it is part of an
> expansion plan for the Circus Chairty that I work for. Its been a tough
> task, and the training plan is one part of a long list of things I am
> working on, including funding proposals, business plans, cost analysis,
> insurance plans, recruitment, consultation to name but a few areas.
All good. Well done for beginning to grasp the scale of the thing you are
taking on.
> Sorry if that came off wrong, not meant to be aggressive, I just wanted
> you to know sort of what I am doing.
Not at all. My reply was brief to the point of terseness because I had 90
seconds in which to make it, not because any more sinister reason.
> If you would be interested in more
> information I would be more than happy to reply off group. In fact it
> would be great to have someone to bounce ideas off as the task is not
> getting any smaller.
>
> As to your suggestion of where to look for ideas, thank you very much, I
> have spent a lot of today going through that website and am now honing my
> plans done.
>
> Any more input wpuld be gladly accepted.
>
> Cheers.
> Huw
Get in touch. I suffer chronically from over-pressured time resources, so
I can't always give people the time they deserve straight away, but if you
talk to me I'll try to help in due course, and I can probably point you at
all sorts of people and resources that might be useful to you.
http://jay-linn.co.uk/jlca/contact.shtml has the magick you require.
Ryan.Bradburn
>
>
> To simply be proficient in basic skills you mentioned I would guess it
> would about a week to teach a person 16-25 years old with slightly above
> average coordination. Spin and throw a diabolo, semi solid 3 ball
> pattern, walking globe, rola bola. . . . most of that was stuff I learned
> in a few minutes so getting all of it down from scratch may take a week.
>
I agree, especially if the week is full-time. Even if only part-time, one
can learn enough to be safe and teach these basic skills.
> I am confused by your mention of safety. Correct me if I'm wrong but I
> didn't see anything about tumbling, unicycle, low or high wire, anything
> aerial, fire, or anything else in circus I've managed to hurt myself with.
> You can eat shit sometimes on a rola bola but as long as first timers are
> properly spotted (some is grabbing their waist) I can't see how anyone
> would get hurt here. So my question is basically what safety concerns,
> why would you need to mention safety at all?
>
I'm no expert, but from my experience the greatest key to not breaking
oneself on the rola bola is to have the stops/brakes in place and ensure
the feet are to the edges (as wide as possible) on the board. For kids,
this may mean having a shorter board (we used a 24" set-up for the 5th and
6th graders we taught). Also (obviously), a spotter.
> This next point is purely a pet peeve of mine but I feel you should expect
> your coaches/teachers/instructors or whatever to CONTINUE TO IMPROVE.
> They don't need to make leaps and bounds or juggle 7 balls after a few
> years but it has always been discouraging for me to see coaches who don't
> work on new things at all. I was with the Great Y Circus in Redlands CA
> for 3 years and in that time I was very obsessive but most of the other
> people weren't at all. It was as if 7 club 2 count passing made a person
> a juggler and once you became a juggler you stopped ever learning new
> things. The same applies to nearly every act, you learn all the drops,
> climbs, and poses and then you are an aerialist, you stay in shape do your
> conditioning and you stay and aerialist. They didn't have any desire to
> improve. Guess what? When the students came through they adopted the
> same mindset and they'd learn the basics and stop improving. It always
> pissed me off when people would look confused if I asked questions about
> how to improve more. They had this look like "Why would you want to learn
> that trick? It's very hard and you wont have it ready in time for the
> performances this year so there's no point in learning it." Please don't
> let this happen in your program if you can help it.
>
> Mike
>
I like the last paragraph, too. Just making them do some form of
continuing education to keep their skills honed...something to show a
continual effort toward progress.
All that being said, I look forward to hearing more about this. I've
always really enjoyed teaching the circus arts I know (I reckon I'm not
alone in this regard), so would love to hear of your experiences!
--R
Terry
> ultimatewannabe wrote:
>>
>> I am confused by your mention of safety. Correct me if I'm wrong but I
>> didn't see anything about tumbling, unicycle, low or high wire, anything
>> aerial, fire, or anything else in circus I've managed to hurt myself with.
>> You can eat shit sometimes on a rola bola but as long as first timers are
>> properly spotted (some is grabbing their waist) I can't see how anyone
>> would get hurt here. So my question is basically what safety concerns,
>> why would you need to mention safety at all?
>>
> I'm no expert, but from my experience the greatest key to not breaking
> oneself on the rola bola is to have the stops/brakes in place and ensure
> the feet are to the edges (as wide as possible) on the board. For kids,
> this may mean having a shorter board (we used a 24" set-up for the 5th and
> 6th graders we taught). Also (obviously), a spotter.
>
saving the rider. Picture the relative angles these two boards will
form with earth when stopped. The more severe angle will be going
faster and triggering the fear of falling. The stops effectively make
the board perform like it is longer.
----------------
O
vs
--------
O
You might want to look at http://www.wejuggle2.com/rolabola.php (thanks
to a lot of critiques from this group). It will give you a different
perspective - not necessarily the "correct" way.
This board has no stops - http://www.wejuggle2.com/images/dangerous.jpg
hth
--
TK
http://www.wejuggle2.com/
Still Having a Ball
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Terry
> Get in touch. I suffer chronically from over-pressured time
> resources, so I can't always give people the time they deserve straight
> away, but if you talk to me I'll try to help in due course, and I can
> probably point you at all sorts of people and resources that might be
> useful to you. http://jay-linn.co.uk/jlca/contact.shtml has the magick
> you require.
>
stepped into a friend's home.
It's Him
> To simply be proficient in basic skills you mentioned I would guess it
> would about a week to teach a person 16-25 years old with slightly above
> average coordination. Spin and throw a diabolo, semi solid 3 ball
> pattern, walking globe, rola bola. . . . most of that was stuff I learned
> in a few minutes so getting all of it down from scratch may take a week.
>
Learning the skill is not really a good gauge towards being able to teach
it. Way too many of the circus skills instructors I have seen have learnt
the simple skills in a short time but do not have the depth of experience
in the skills or in teaching to be able to then pass the skills on
properly. By not knowing the best ways to teach people they either put
people off of juggling (or related skills) by making life too difficult
too early, or alternatively, teach using poor methods which hamper later
progress.
> I am confused by your mention of safety. Correct me if I'm wrong but I
> didn't see anything about tumbling, unicycle, low or high wire, anything
> aerial, fire, or anything else in circus I've managed to hurt myself with.
> You can eat shit sometimes on a rola bola but as long as first timers are
> properly spotted (some is grabbing their waist) I can't see how anyone
> would get hurt here. So my question is basically what safety concerns,
> why would you need to mention safety at all?
If you have never taught a group of 20 7-year olds how to do diabolo then
you might not understand about safety. Safety is important for almost all
of the circus skills. E.g. scarves, these when left on the floor become a
hazard because they are then extremely slippery and I know of someone who
broke a wrist because they hadn't realised this. Apart from anythig else,
if you haven't considered the safety aspect of your work then you will not
be able to work for any council that requires a risk assessment.
Nigel
ultimatewannabe
>
> ultimatewannabe wrote:
> > To simply be proficient in basic skills you mentioned I would guess it
> > would about a week to teach a person 16-25 years old with slightly above
> > average coordination. Spin and throw a diabolo, semi solid 3 ball
> > pattern, walking globe, rola bola. . . . most of that was stuff I learned
> > in a few minutes so getting all of it down from scratch may take a week.
> >
>
> Learning the skill is not really a good gauge towards being able to teach
> it. Way too many of the circus skills instructors I have seen have learnt
> the simple skills in a short time but do not have the depth of experience
> in the skills or in teaching to be able to then pass the skills on
> properly. By not knowing the best ways to teach people they either put
> people off of juggling (or related skills) by making life too difficult
> too early, or alternatively, teach using poor methods which hamper later
> progress.
I agree with you but it seems to me that giving them the proper experience
to be true coaches is out of the scope of this program. That was just the
gist I got from the original post so if I'm wrong, call it out.
Being a good coach requires experience but being an adequate coach for
little kids is not that difficult. We aren't training them to join the
Moscow state circus or win WJF medals so adequate will do in this case.
> > I am confused by your mention of safety. Correct me if I'm wrong but I
> > didn't see anything about tumbling, unicycle, low or high wire, anything
> > aerial, fire, or anything else in circus I've managed to hurt myself with.
> > You can eat shit sometimes on a rola bola but as long as first timers are
> > properly spotted (some is grabbing their waist) I can't see how anyone
> > would get hurt here. So my question is basically what safety concerns,
> > why would you need to mention safety at all?
>
> If you have never taught a group of 20 7-year olds how to do diabolo then
> you might not understand about safety. Safety is important for almost all
> of the circus skills. E.g. scarves, these when left on the floor become a
> hazard because they are then extremely slippery and I know of someone who
> broke a wrist because they hadn't realised this. Apart from anythig else,
> if you haven't considered the safety aspect of your work then you will not
> be able to work for any council that requires a risk assessment.
>
> Nigel
>
>
I've been a summer camp counselor circus instructor the last 3 summers
where I taught basic aerial, juggling, fire manipulation, and diabolo
stuff. Accidents can always happen but if the activity is no more
dangerous than any other daily activity I would say it's completely safe
despite the freak accidents which are possible.
My sister broke her wrist calming walking down a sidewalk but I still
wouldn't use that as evidence to support an extremely cautious approach to
walking.
Mike
Jay Linn
<ni...@itshim.co.uk.nospam.com> wrote:
<a gold-plated reply full of good stuff that you dismiss at your peril>
Nigel's (It's Him) remarks are right on the money, at least as far as he
went - there is so much more to consider that could not possibly be
compressed into two paragraphs. It's a big subject, for which there is
currently little substitute other than extensive experience.
In particular his comments about the difference between knowledge of a
skill and the ability to teach cannot be underestimated.
And ultimatewannabe's comments about safety are just plain reckless -
dude, either get someone to teach you about the issues, or never ever run
a workshop unless you actively want to lose the shirt off your back/your
house/your liberty. Seriously. You're American right? The UK is
disgustingly litigious, but from where I sit we don't even seem to be in
the same league as the US. Don't start dishing out opportunities for
someone to sue you.
I'm not trying to be nasty to ultimatewannabe, but you stand to lose so
much more than you stand to gain that it had to be said. And I say that
having just written a site-specific risk assessment which was unbelievably
anal in it's attention to detail, since a risk acknowledged is not far
from being the same as a liability avoided. Cynical as feck, but also dead
true.
Ryan.Bradburn
> The longer the board, the safer it is. One end will quickly touch down
> saving the rider. Picture the relative angles these two boards will
> form with earth when stopped. The more severe angle will be going
> faster and triggering the fear of falling. The stops effectively make
> the board perform like it is longer.
>
> ----------------
> O
> vs
> --------
> O
> You might want to look at http://www.wejuggle2.com/rolabola.php (thanks
> to a lot of critiques from this group). It will give you a different
> perspective - not necessarily the "correct" way.
>
> This board has no stops - http://www.wejuggle2.com/images/dangerous.jpg
>
> hth
Thanks for the link. I'm actually really new to the rola bola, so the
advice is really helpful.
The times I've seen folks fall really hard seems to be because both feet
ended up on the same side of the PVC, which I remedied for the younger
and/or shorter folks by giving then a shorter board to fit their stance
width. I can see what you mean about the longer board saving the "rider",
though. Perhaps I should consider longer boards with brakes/stops attached
at the shorter stance rather than necessarily all the way at the ends.
Tried the smaller PVC to keep the kids closer to the floor, too, but most
of them found it much more difficult...requires quicker reactions.
Terry
> Thanks for the link. I'm actually really new to the rola bola, so the
> advice is really helpful.
Good to hear.
> The times I've seen folks fall really hard seems to be because both feet
> ended up on the same side of the PVC, which I remedied for the younger
> and/or shorter folks by giving then a shorter board to fit their stance
> width. I can see what you mean about the longer board saving the "rider",
> though. Perhaps I should consider longer boards with brakes/stops attached
> at the shorter stance rather than necessarily all the way at the ends.
>
I tried the stops inset and found they did not perform (for me) as
anticipated. IMHO, the only thing that provides safety is proper
technique. Drill the student until stopping is automatic - i.e. if you
drift too far to the right, you slam all your weight on the right foot
and stop safely.
In one regard, a really short is safer. A beginner can not free mount a
very short board. This prevents a passerby from seeing the board set
up, saying "That looks easy!" and getting a really rude wake up call.
> Tried the smaller PVC to keep the kids closer to the floor, too, but most
> of them found it much more difficult...requires quicker reactions.
My experience exactly. Although the smaller tube can be a valuable
advanced trainer for jumping. Jump mounts as well as 180/360 jumps
while on the board are relatively safe. I used 2"x4" blocks for the
stops so as to have a tiny window that the board is up off the ground.
ultimatewannabe
>
> And ultimatewannabe's comments about safety are just plain reckless -
> dude, either get someone to teach you about the issues, or never ever run
> a workshop unless you actively want to lose the shirt off your back/your
> house/your liberty. Seriously. You're American right? The UK is
> disgustingly litigious, but from where I sit we don't even seem to be in
> the same league as the US. Don't start dishing out opportunities for
> someone to sue you.
>
The issues which can create liability and dealing with something that is
actually dangerous are completely different things. I may not have been
specific enough but I was not talking about about liability at all. I
agree completely that if you want the program to survive a week you need
to be paranoid about covering your own ass by getting everyone to sign
waivers, tell them that what they are doing is dangerous (regardless of
whether it actually is) and do as much as possible to distance yourself
from the program so that someone suing the program will be less able to
attack your personal assets.
If a particular activity is not noticably more dangerous than walking down
a sidewalk or cooking in a kitchen then I would be confused as to why
someone asked about safety concerns. From my perspective there aren't
any. It is always possible to get hurt but I consider a safety concern to
be directly connected to an activity likely to hurt someone.
I hope that clarifies my position a little regardless of how much you are
likely to disagree with it.
Mike
PS Yes I am an American and I live in the land of extremely frivolous
lawsuits.