What is Summer School?
Summer School is an intensive 10-day course in which students train on a full time schedule. The program is inspired by those of the most renowned circus schools around the world. It includes a range of classes and activities to train technical skills and develop artistry. This is a unique opportunity to gain a ton of new knowledge, get advice and inspiration for creation, and learn more about working in the international industry.
We are excited to be able to offer an incredibly high-quality training to our circus industry, right here, in Wellington. We believe our course will contribute in not only raising the bar of circus arts in Aotearoa, but also offer the opportunity for our artists to create long lasting relationships throughout the country and the world.
These 10 days will be a memorable and exciting experience shared with like-minded and passionate people in a positive learning environment.
Who is the course for?
This course is designed for people who are currently working as performers, or wanting to pursue a career in the circus arts. It can be seen as continuous education for established professionals, or as a complement to the training of pre-professionals.
We will be selecting 30 students based on their training and performing experience, abilities, motivation, and potential. We want to invite students who are as passionate as we are about circus arts, to help them push their own boundaries and those of the NZ circus industry. The course is open to 16+ years old, from anywhere around the world.
What is on the program?
MORNINGS
CIRCUS SKILLS
General circus skills
handbalancing, acrobatics, adagio (hand-to-hand), which all students are required to do.
Fitness
Flexibility, conditioning, injury prevention.
Speciality skills
Applicants will select 2 choices of specialty skills (including aerials, contortion, Chinese pole, and more).
AFTERNOONS
ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT
These afternoons are all about building tools to create original work and improve stage presence in order to give life and meaning to circus skills.
Expect to do a wide range of activities that might include acting, dancing, improvising, clowning, researching acrobatic movement, working on stage presence and group listening skills, offer feedback, and more!
Don’t worry, we know that some of these might sound challenging, and our trainers will make sure to ease you into it and maintain a positive learning environment for everyone.
CREATION
Time to apply your new tools to create! In small groups, trainers will guide students through a creation process. The work-in-progress will be presented to the rest of the group, and our local community. This is the perfect context to try new ideas and ways to work without fear of failing. It’s all about learning, practicing, and sharing your experience without pressure!
There will be plenty of opportunity to ask questions to our guest trainers, and exchange with the other students. We make sure to monitor closely the level of energy of the students throughout the course, and we may adapt the program as we go.
What skills are offered?
You will find on the application form a list of skills you can choose from. We choose carefully our guest trainers in order to offer a wide range of skills. Unfortunately, we may not be able to cater to everybody's prefered skill. If this is the case, please let us know what you would like to see offered so we can consider it for a future edition of the course!
We will provide the equipment for the classes. However, if you have personal equipment you would like to use, such as a dance trapeze or a cyr wheel, let us know on your application form and we will be in touch.
Guest Trainers
Every year, a huge amount of time and effort is spent building an incredible team of trainers to offer the best course possible. Every single Summer School is unique, as all trainers bring their own special skills and energy with them.
We would like to thank our past trainers who have shared so much of their knowledge with our students!
2017 TRAINERS
Joseph Pinzon
Olaf Triebel
Tristan Nielsen
William Thomas
Zebastian Hunter
2019 TRAINERS
Alex Allan
Alex Mizzen
Claudel Doucet
Emile Pineault
Raph Perrenoud
Keep an eye out here or on our Facebook page to be to find out who our next guest trainers are!
Applying to the course
General info
Summer School is an intensive course that is physically and mentally demanding. To ensure the safety of the students and for everyone to get the most out of it, we want to make sure that all participants have a sufficient level of fitness and adequate prior experience that will allow them to fully and safely participate in all activities.
The application process will require you to talk about your training and performance experience, motivation and aspirations. You will have to send a video following specific guidelines to showcase your circus skills, and send us a deposit. We will reimburse any applicants who are not be selected. A maximum of 30 students will be invited to join the course.
Payment info
Cost: NZ$ 980
50% deposit required with application ($490)
Unsuccessful applicants will be refunded.
Full payment due a month before course starting date to secure your spot if invited to join the course.
For international bank transfers, please add the transfer fees to your payment.
We recommend using TransferWise for cheaper fees.
Please send payments by bank transfer to :
Account name: Wellington Circus Trust
Account Number: 38-9004-0580146-00.
We offer payment plans. Please contact us for more info!
