Course offerings: Click here to return to the current schedule. Acro-Balance In the acro-balance class we will partner up and learn how to balance on each other in fun, impressive ways. This will cultivate trust, connection, and playfulness with your partner. We will teach how to base and fly depending on what each student feels most comfortable with. We will also experiment with a few group balance patterns. Open to children 8+. Acro-Yoga Stretch, strengthen and have fun in acro yoga with long time yoga teacher, educator and parent, Tonya Salerno. This class will focus on communication and connection through partner and acrobatic yoga postures. Open to children 5-12 years old with a parent(s) and/or caregiver(s) but some acrobatic postures will be more easily performed with lighter children. Baton Twirling In the baton twirling class, students will learn the basics of twirling the baton and marching as a coordinated team. Open to children ages 5+. Clowning Trio In this class, students learn the basics of face painting, balloon animals, and clowning. Open to children 8+. Commedia Dell'Arte Commedia Dell'Arte is a form of improvised masked slapstick clowning that originated in Italy during the renaissance. This class is for students with theatre experience who want to combine acting with circus skills. We will meet such characters as the foolish Harlequin, th greedy Pantalone, the blustering Captain, the crafty Franceschina, and the absent minded Doctor while learning improvisation and collaboration. Open to children 9+. Devil Sticks (beginner and intermediate) An exploration of techniques related to flower sticks, a prop whereby a baton (with tassles) is manipulated using two hand sticks and/or the body. The classes focus will depend upon understanding of the students. The students will become proficient in basic idle and tik tok patterns but it is possible to develop into full contact body and all around the body motions. Open to ages 8+, see schedule for specific age ranges per class period. Diabolo (beginner and intermediate) The Diabolo is a prop that originated in China and was first called the Chinese Yo-Yo. It consists of two sticks with a string tying them together and a gyroscopic top looking thingy. (That is a technical term.) We will teach students basic control, tosses, wraps and such. Those who have an aptitude will be able to learn knots, whips, climbs, and possibly even how to play with two simultaneously on the same string. Open to children 6+ for beginner and 7+ for intermediate. Hat Manipulation This class features learning how to manipulate and dance with bowler hats, (although many tricks are directly applicable to Top hats as well). We will learn flips, rolls, tosses, flourishes, comic gestures/stunts and more. We will explore beginning multi-hat juggling, patterns and poses as well. For the enthusiasts we will also give tips on which hats to buy to fit you and which hats we find to be the best. Open to children 8+. Hip Hop Dance Introduces students to the art of Hip Hop dancing. Open to children 10+. Hula Hoops Hooping is taking an old classic hula-hoop and making it bigger and heavier then the small hula-hoops you can get at a toy store. The size and weight make hooping on your legs, arms, neck, and other body parts much easier. In a hoop class you'll learn how to hoop on different body parts, and veriest movements with the hoop on each part. Off body hooping, and double hooping. Open to children 6+, see schedule for specific age ranges per class period Juggling Students will learn the basics of 3-ball juggling, or for our more experienced juggling students, various tricks. Open to children 8+. Juggling, Intermediate In this club-style class, we will work together to explore partner juggling and some slightly more complex patterns. Open to children 8+ Kalari Kalari is an ancient traditional system of physical, cultural, self-defence and martial techniques from South West India. The class is offered twice, once for 6-8 year olds and once for 9 year olds and up. Magic In Magic, students will learn close-up tricks involving coins, cards, scarves and other props. This form of magic is great for up close and personal trick performing in street fairs or even just to show off to a few friends over lunch. Open to children 8+. Mime Create invisible objects and tell fun and creative stories using only your hands, face, and body—no words needed—in this introduction to the art of mime! Learn to throw and catch an invisible ball, play tug of war with an invisible rope, escape from an invisible box, and more. Explore performing on your own, with a partner, and in a group. The instructor for this class has 20 years of experience as a professional mime and has taught students of all ages. Open to children 8+. Musical Theare Dance Musical Theatre Dance combines the jazz style of dance with character and showtunes. This class will be a fun introduction to the type of movement. Open to children 10+. Poi Modern poi is rooted with the traditional poi dance of the Maori people of New Zealand. It has drawn additional inspiration from club swinging, glow stringing, fire performance, geometry, martial arts and dance, and in its current form more closely resembles a beautiful combination of these elements than the Maori tradition. Modern poi is the exploration of how ones body relates with 2 spinning weighted tethers, one spun in each hand. This is often done with glow lights or fire wicks at the end of the tethers. Even without glow or fire, the poi artist's dance involves a myriad of spinning patterns that both look and feel wonderful. In this playshop we will learn the different directions of spin, different spin timings, different ways to orient your spinning, and present the visual appeal of your patterns to an audience. All of this will be explored using a model for body movement that turns your patterns into an entire form that opens up freedom of movement and expression, instead of just learning separate tricks. We will also explore a repetiore of tricks and patterns that can flow together seamlessly using our poi movement form. Open to ages 6+, see schedule for specific age ranges per class period Shaker Cups This form of juggling involves holding a large steel cup in each hand and tossing a third cup (and sometimes one of the two in your hand) and catching it using a cup. Students will learn both how to do tricks on their own and with partners. Slackline Slackline walking is similar to slack rope walking but has some significant differences. The easiest to spot is that instead of walking on a rope, a line is used, a strong, thin, flat material similar to a bungee cord. Students ages 4-6 will need to be spotted by a parent/guardian. Students 7 and up will be taught to jump off the line if they start to lose their balance (the line is only a couple feet off the ground). Stage Combat, Beginner This is the subsection of acting which deals with the illusion of combat. Stage Combat, Beginner teaches safety, the fundamentals of stage combat illusion, and several moves and stances. Open to children 10+. Adult class open to adults 18+. Stage Combat, Intermediate Stage Combat, Intermediate focuses on improving the illusion created. Open to children 11+ with experience with Stage Combat. Stilting, Beginner Stilting, Beginning introduces students to stilt walking. Open to children 6+, adult presence requested. Adult version open to adults 18+. Stilting, Intermediate Students will develop more advanced stilt walking skills. Open to children 7+, children must be able to walk confidently and unaided for at least 5 minutes on a variety of surfaces and must be able to do a basic forward kick with each leg and be able to hop on one foot - see instructor for permission. Stilting, Advanced Advanced stilters will develop more advanced stilt walking skills. Open to children 8+. Children must qualify for intermediate stilting and must be able to perform a side kick, back side kick, and spin 180 degrees on one foot - see instructor for permission. Story Time During Story Time, one of our volunteers will read or tell a story to the audience. We're still working on developing the library. We'll provide guidance regarding for what age range each story is appropriate. Tiny Tots In this class, our youngest members are introduced to Balance Beam, Tumbling and the managed chaos that is the OPENAIR Circus. These classic classes have been merged to give kids the optimal experience. Open to chidlren 3-6. Tumbling for Two In this class, our youngest members team up with adult counterparts to perform acrobatic feats. Open to children 3-7. Unicycling This class is based on the unicycle, very similar to a bicycle, but the unicycle only has one wheel so there is a two dimensional plane of movement to compensate for. The basics of unicycling will be covered and for prepared students, we will work on idles, hops, backward and other various riding techniques. Open to children 7+ who know how to ride a bicycle.