SPECIALITY WORKSHOPS & EVENTS

BIPOC Circus Workshops
BIPOC: Black, Indigenous & People of Color

Join us for a fun afternoon of aerial arts, acrobatics, juggling and more at this workshop led by Cirque School’s BIPOC circus coaches! From beginners who have never touched a trapeze to experienced students this event is open to BIPOC members of all levels with the intention of holding space for those who have not always been given room to explore circus arts. It's a chance to learn new, exciting skills in a supportive community with other BIPOC folk.

This workshop is a beautiful opportunity to work on strength, flexibility and try things you’ve never done. It will include warming up our bodies in community together, followed by rotating circus arts stations and ending with a group trick you won’t want to miss.It’s never too late to run away with the circus – and it’s even better to do it in the company of your beautiful community. Come with a friend or meet new ones.

LQBTQ+ Cirque Fun 101 Workshop

Since originally opening in West Hollywood, Cirque School has been closely tied to the Los Angeles LGBTQ+ community. To celebrate, we're offering a one-day workshop for LGBTQ+ students and allies.

Acro Partner Yoga 101- with Coach Ed York

Come join this playful workshop as you learn partnering skills of balance and strength, where each duo works together to leverage themselves into stunning poses that both challenge and celebrate each body. In this fun community class, students will learn to base, fly, and spot one another and while it is ideal for absolute beginners various progressions will be offered to allow more challenge for those who are ready. Class will consist of movements that are close to the ground that are referred to as 'L-basing', creating a safe yet exhilarating environment to learn new skills. Class culminates in a flow series sequence by learning transitions from one move to the other. Students of all sizes and body types are welcome to attend.

Come with a friend or meet new ones.*Class is ideal for those with beginning inversion experience or are enrolled in our Handstand or Acro Fit classes. Workshop is $30, Class Packages apply.

Nutrition & Injury Prevention for Aerialists
Sunday April 30th 1:00-5:30pm

Aerial Ground Crew is a team of aerialists with professional backgrounds who aim to educate our fellow aerialists on proper health and injury prevention measures, with an emphasis on nutrition and physio-circus education.
Pilates Informational and Movement will give a general overview of the practice, how it is used and how it can benefit athletes (particularly circus athletes).
Nutrition for Athletes will cover current research about food health. Both preparing the body for optimal performance as well as nurturing the body after sustaining an injury.
Physio Workshop will cover anatomy and common injuries of the upper and lower extremities. We will discuss safety with flexibility training and the importance of stability.
Circus Practicum will use a model to demonstrate skills such as a pull up, meat hook, skin the cat, pull over, etc. We will break down the movement and discuss muscles used as well as proper and improper form when in the air.

Winter Intensive Performance Workshop

About: Our winter intensive performance workshop is designed for students looking to take their technical circus skills to the next level. This workshop will focus on stage presence, intention and musicality while learning to work as an ensemble team. Our work will culminate in a public showing. CS Founding Director, Aloysia Gavre, will lead the workshop along with other guest instructors.

For whom: Any students currently enrolled in any of our 102 level classes and beyond who are looking and ready to play, create & perform. Additionally any Acro Fit students who have handstand forward rolls, front or back handsprings & dive rolls are welcome to attend.

Cirque Life Drawing

This in-person & virtual workshop offers the unique opportunity to draw circus artists as your models. The event functions like a traditional life-drawing class, with one-minute warm-up poses, a series of three to ten minute poses, and ends with gesture-drawing sections where the models flow through various trick sequences multiple times. Visual artists of all levels are welcome to attend.

Come twist your imagination and stretch your drawing skills as you sketch these models holding unimaginable positions of strength, flexibility, and dexterity.

LGBTQ+ Cirque Youth Workshop

Open to all levels ages 10-16

This 90-minute workshop is for LGBTQ+ students and allies, ages 10-16 who are interested in circus arts. Students will be taught by Cirque School’s trained circus professionals in a safe, supportive, and fun environment. Class curriculum will feature a variety of skills, some may include the following: acrobatics, aerial, juggling, partner balancing, and wire walking. Have fun building strength and confidence while being upside down!

Aerial Dynamics & Act Creation

May 13th-15th with Guest Instructors Mariana & Jade from Mexico

Act Creation: Tools for Sequencing

This 2-hour workshop is for circus students & performers of all disciplines who want to expand the possibilities of their technique and use them to develop their own scenic language. During the workshop students will learn a method of composition that allows artists to create complex and varied choreographic combinations, which can then be reversed, sectioned, or intended to work as small puzzle pieces. Through variations of rhythm, texture and dimension, each artist will begin to generate their own vocabulary of movement, regardless of the technique or style they decide to use.

About the instructor, Jade Zeron: I'm a multidisciplinary artist, currently focusing my work on creation, experimentation and scenic fusion in the circus arts. I'm co-creator of the Zarawato Bus creative platform and have participated as an artist in performing art projects around the world. Graduated in Fine Arts from the University of Barcelona; I was trained in the field of performing arts independently, in schools, workshops and laboratories in Spain, Belgium, France, India, Italy, Brazil and Mexico I currently collaborate as artistic director and performer in several projects related to circus and performing arts creation.

Trapeze & Aerial Hoop Dynamics

This 2-hour workshop will focus on learning dynamic and acrobatic technical tools which will be adapted to each student's body possibilities. We will delve on biomechanical concepts such as posture, use of body weight, falling, suspension, explosion, and direction changes. There will be space to explore movement qualities and create sequences with the aim of expanding our personal language on the Trapeze and Hoop.

About the instructor, Mariana Fernandez: Mariana began her professional circus training at Cirko de Mente in Mexico graduating with a Diploma in the Circus Arts. She continued her training in Europe studying at Cirko Vertigo in Italy and Center Régionale des Arts du Cirque de Chambéry Arc in France, specializing in static fixed trapeze. She has since performed in circus and dance companies such as Inside the Body, Cirko de Mente and Hebra and Construction in Motion where contemporary dance has been the engine of her artistic aerial research. In collaboration with the NonGratos Teatro company, she has co-directed creative processes with young people in vulnerable situations. As an independent artist, she has participated in festivals in Europe, Mexico, Central America, USA, and Canada. She is the co-director of the collective 9 Gramos and stage director of Mujer Barbuda, Las Mujeres en el Circo Actual. Coming full circle she now teaches in the Bachelor of Circus Arts program where she began her career at Cirko de Mente in Mexico (LACC), along with Casa de Artes y Circo and the LaKafe Formacion. Instagram @mari.anadelas

World Circus Day & Cirque School’s 13th Anniversary Celebration Community Event- Saturday April 16th

Join us as we gather our community together to celebrate our history with video montages of past shows and unite with circus artists, professionals, students and enthusiasts worldwide to celebrate the circus arts! We are thrilled to take part in this internationally recogognized day to share the positive impacts and reach of circus! World Circus Day was founded by the Federation Mondiale du Cirque and is celebrated around the world.

Thanks for helping us raise over $300 to support displaced Ukrainian circus students.

Cirque School Together FREE Community Event

Mindful Meditation with Lisa Christensen

Saturday February 26th 5:00-6:00pm

This virtual 60-minute workshop focuses on mindfulness, an approach to meditation that emphasizes non-judgmental awareness of the here and now. Similar to our previous meditation workshop, this class will include an overview of mindfulness, and participants will be led through a variety of different exercises. However, during this workshop, there will be a greater emphasis on strategies to build acceptance, increase compassion and connect with one’s values, with the goal of improving overall mental and physical wellbeing.

COST -- FREE!

ABOUT LISA CHRISTENSEN

Lisa Christensen, Ph.D. received her doctorate in clinical psychology from UCLA in 2012. Since then she has worked with children, adolescents and young adults, as a staff psychologist at UCLA Counseling & Psychological Services, and later, at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Since August 2021, Lisa has worked as an Assistant Professor in the PsyD program at the California School of Professional Psychology/Alliant International University, Los Angeles. Lisa has training in a variety of therapy approaches, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (both of which involve mindfulness meditation). She has taught mindfulness techniques for over a decade, and has her own meditation practice. This helps ground her in the reality of developing these skills against the backdrop of daily life and, more recently, in the midst of a global pandemic.

When she isn’t meditating, Lisa loves to take fabric, hoop and trapeze classes at Cirque School Los Angeles, although as the mom of a toddler, she has less time than she would like to be in the air.

Aerial Fabric/Silks Beginning Choreography with James MacDonald

Saturdays 1:00-3:00pm from January 22nd- February 12th-

This beginning level workshop will begin as an exploration of how music can influence our quality of movement, as performers. Students will learn an achievable brief piece of choreography, with accompanying music. This choreography will provide a basic structure to begin our exploration and learn how music can inhabit physical movement. There will be time for informal exploration, and opportunity for performance for the group. Then we'll switch things up! Students will be asked to bring a piece of music with them. Then utilizing the same choreography, they will explore what changes by changing the music. Workshop Goals: Providing an opportunity to examine habitual patterns of movement. Cultivating a willingness to break out of those habits.Willingness to create within a confined structure. Gain some insight into musical choices as a performer.

Single Point Dance Trapeze with Aloysia Gavre

2 Weekend Intensive: January 8th & 9th / 15th & 16th

This 2-weekend intensive will cover both the technical and artistic elements of the body and apparatus working seamlessly together in motion. A ground movement warm up begins each class offering participants to gain confidence with how their body both absorbs and rebounds from the floor. That knowledge will then be transferred to various moving aerial elements including swinging, orbiting, and spinning. Aerial sequences will make use of each student’s creativity as they begin to link elements together by using the ground to connect their combinations. The workshop will culminate in presentations for the group.

Aerial Rope with Lindsey Covarrubias

Saturday, October 30, 2-4PM
Sunday, October 31, 12-2PM

Coach Lindsey is back from Paris and ready to get you flying!

This 2-Day workshop delves into various momentum skills on aerial rope. Learn to skillfully manipulate this simple apparatus and create moves that are seamless, powerful, and dynamic. Students will incorporate this vocabulary info larger phrases of choreography.

CS TOGETHER

FREE INJURY PREVENTION WORKSHOP

“Top 5 Injury Prevention Strategies to keep Circus Bodies Functioning at the Highest Level”

In-Person and Online Workshop - Friday October 8th 7:00-8:00pm pacific time

Presented by HealthFit Physical Therapists Dr. Jason Han & Dr. Shaina Ung, two experts in the field of physical therapy for performing artists. They will offer their professional wisdom on how to help mitigate potential common injuries for active bodies such as yours before they appear. The workshop will cover both theory and active drills allowing each participant to learn each injury prevention exercise with direct feedback. The workshop will culminate with time for questions & answers.

About: Jason is the founder of HealthFit Pasadena a comprehensive Physical Therapy and Chiropractor wellness facility and was on the on-site physical therapist for Cirque du Soleil’s show Iris. Shaina has provided on-site physical therapy for numerous Broadway productions including Pippin, Kinky Boots and Matilda – ensuring that the performers can navigate their way back on stage safely through injury.

Aerial Straps Workshop with Caitlin Quinn & Ernesto Lea Place

This combo skills workshop will delve into learning unique pathways of wrapping and prepping for skills along with aerial partnering.

Part 1: After warming up students will be taught a range of straps conditioning exercises where each drill is targeted towards building up to executing specific tricks.

Part 2: Students will learn diverse styles of wrapping their wrists in order the make the wraps an integral part of any sequence.

Part 3: Aerial Partnering, have fun as you learn to fly together as part of a team. Duo Synchronized and basic base/flyer movements will be covered.

Check out Caitlin & Ernesto on Instagram at @pasdedeuxstraps

Aerial Rope Workshop with Deon Fox

For Rope or Fabric 102 level students and beyond

This speciality workshop has been designed to give participants a new perspective on contemporary rope work.

Part 1: Students will learn a vocabulary of momentum-based skills in a safe environment by breaking down each specific beat swing technique.

Part 2: Learn to create a quality of movement that is fluid, seamless and powerful. Find transitions and as a means of moving efficiently up and down the rope in diverse pathways of movement.

Check out Deon on Instagram at @foxontherope

Summer Intensive Workshop

Creativity IN Action —2 Weekends — 12 Hours

Develop both your physical muscles and improvisation skills with our first post-pandemic intensive. The two-weekend workshop will be spent both in the air and on the ground exploring movement and choreography as we organically add new circus skills and performance techniques to your existing toolbox of tricks. This intensive will help develop newfound confidence and a freedom of physical expression by reintroducing your body to performing -- both as an individual artist and within a group ensemble.

The second weekend culminates with in a “work in progress” showing, allowing students to get back on stage in a supportive environment.

When: Saturday July 31st 4-7pm, Sunday August 1st 3-6pm , Saturday August 7th 4-7pm & Sunday August 8th 3 -6pm & 5:30pm “Work in Progress” Showing

Circus Artists Returning to Work - Panel Discussion

The pandemic hit everyone hard, particularly those in the performing arts. Join our roundtable of professional circus performers -- and former Cirque School coaches -- as they discuss how they mentally and physically kept themselves healthy over the past year, and the challenges they're now facing as they return to work and shows reopening. The event will be moderated by CS Founder Aloysia Gavre and will include artists Sasha Harrington, Erin Cervantes, Mark Keahi, Kerren McKeeman & Gana Oyunchimeg.

Friday May 21st 6:00-7:00pm pst

Join Cirque School for a FREE Virtual Showcase on Friday, April 16th from 6-7pm pacific in honor of World Circus Day. Featuring students from all over the world who have been taking our virtual classes during the pandemic, this short program is a celebration of how the circus community has stayed connected.

Mindful Movement With HealthFit Founder Dr. Jason Han

We are honored to have physical therapist and strength & conditioning specialist, Dr. Jason Han share his expertise with our community. He aims to keep bodies mobile and active to restore a belief in your health's potential. Jason is the co-creator of HealthFit located in Pasadena where many of our coaches and students have utilized his approach for injury recovery.

Following up on our last workshop he will speak on including a mindfulness approach to physical training along with vital information on understanding how muscles grow and repair and how we mitigate common injuries by being acutely aware of our form while executing movements of both circus drills and skills.

His time spent with Cirque du Soleil's show Iris as the Performance Medicine Therapist allowed him to build a unique approach into the needs of circus bodies.

To learn more about Dr. Jason and HEALTHFIT http://healthfitinc.com

Wellness Meditation with Lisa Christensen

Join us for this unique event as we learn to quiet and focus our mind. This 60-minute workshop focuses on mindfulness, an approach to meditation that emphasizes non-judgmental awareness of the here and now. The workshop will include an overview of this approach, and how mindfulness can inform the mind-body connection (particularly during circus and other physical activities). Participants will then be led through a variety of meditation exercises, with time for reflection after each. All that is needed is a comfortable, quiet space, an enjoyable food and/or non-alcoholic beverage, and a journal if desired.

Gratitude Friday Open House Workout

Friday, January 15, 6-7pm pst

Join coaches Rick, Lindsey, Brittni, and Aloysia for an hour of fun, laughter, and SWEAT as they coach a virtual group fitness class for the full Cirque School community. You only need some space to work out, comfortable clothes, and a willingness to have a great time. The class will be followed by a virtual "Happy Hour" to hang out, reunite with old friends, and meet some new ones.

Community Coalition Fundraiser People Power* Progress *

Cirque School, in support and partnership with Community Coalition of South LA, presented Wellness Wednesdays. It's a series of online fundraising circus and dance classes for Anybody with Any Body! Each Wednesday in July, CS offered fun and unique online class to raise funds for this empowered organization.

Community Coalition (CoCo) was built to help transform the social and economic conditions of South LA residents. CoCo members work tirelessly to shift power to the community, and tackle the root causes of poverty, crime, and violence in our own neighborhoods. For 30 years they have been creating a more prosperous, safer, and healthier South LA by building a community institution that involves thousands in creating, influencing, and changing public policy. To learn more about Community Coalition visit their website HERE.