Balance Masterclass
13:30 – 18:00
Arrival and welcome
In order not to loose valuable time of the masterclass program we advise to plan extra time for getting everyone together at the venue.
19.30 – 22.00
First session. Explanation of project and program – getting to know each other
This is where the masterclass coordinator presents the preliminary program and together with the masterclass participants fills in the open spaces with the input and wishlists of the participants.
09:00 – 12:00
Physical safety with balance
Workshop awareness of physical preparation – warming-up and cooling-down
13:30-15:30
Exchange
Exchange participants on
- long term / short term
- working with different age groups
16:00 -18:00
Practical session
Practical session by participants on balance games. Personal project presentation participant on impulse and emotion into motion.
20:00 -22:00
Free exchange time
Free exchange in the program is essential for informal learning.Provide a safe and well equipped space and a clear time slot.
09:00 – 10:00
Warming-up by Participants
Check GAMES for more input
10:00 – 12:00
Workshop on spotting
Read: SPOTTING
Cooling-down by participants
13:30-15:30
Workshop on social/emotional safety
Read: TEACHING RAND AND POWER and MAINSTREAMS AND MARGINS IN GROUPS
16:00 -18:00
Workshop on social and emotional safety
Read: CREATING A SAFE GROUP, STIMULATING LEARNING AND TRANSFORMING CONFLICT
20:00 -22:00
Free exchange time
09:00 – 10:00
Warming-up by Participants
10:00 – 12:00
Skill-based masterclass
13:30-15:30
Exchange Teaching Creativity on balance
CHECK: our webpage TECHNIQUE – Circus Mash Teaching Cards on balance
CHECK: our webpage GAMES- No.10: Warming-up game for kids with autism and their families
16:00 -18:00
Free exchange time and Preparation teaching Day 4
20:00 -22:00
Technical safety: rigging and approaches to risk
READ:
- CIRCUS RIGGING by Noé Robert
- RIGGING EQUIPMENT AND RIGGING CHECKS by Vicky Adume
09:00 -15:30
Teaching the visiting trainers
Four aerial workshops in three rounds plus information on the PEYC project.
Topics of workshops:
Free /exchange time and cooling down for everyone – end of program visiting teachers and trainers
Free exchange time for masterclass participants
09:30-12:00
Evaluation
13:30-15:30
Free exchange time on balance technique
16:00 -18:00
Departure time – cleaning up and goodbyes
Teaching
Find inspiration for your lessons

Read everything on:
Teaching creativity
Can you teach Creativity by Philippe Brasseur
Working with groups:
- Supporting the Learning Identity by Stephen Desanghere – Learn more about creating a safe group, stimulating learning and transforming conflict.
- How to Develop your own Learner’s Identity
- Teaching Rank and Power: Learn more about earning or inheriting rank
- Mainstreams and Margins in Groups
Games
Fun games for warming up for balance techniques
Check out these balance games – they help you with
- warming up.
- creating the group.
- stimulating creativity and focus.
- practice your balance.
- Form circle, with everybody having the index finger of the right hand to the right and the left hand ready to grab the index finger of your neighbour.
First round in the count of three
Second round with other fingers
Third round with crossed arms
Fourth round with everybody turning their backs to the circle
Jellyfish I
Start in a circle, Choose someone in the group -without telling them. Run around this person three times and then come back to the place where you were standing before.
Jellyfish II
Second round, you have to run around two persons at the same time.
Tag game – ants hospital
When you are tagged, lay down on your back with arms and legs in the air: you’re an ant in need of a hospital.
The others can help you by taking you to the hospital by lifting you at your arms and legs and bringing you to a large crash mat (hospital) somewhere on the floor. They cannot be tagged, while helping you. Once you are in hospital you are ready to start over.
You can add a nurse to the hospital who can
give you a massage
if you are playing frosen, nurse is able to warm you up
You can add a clock-mechanism:
the person who is tagged stands straight, legs spread and moves arms around the body like the hands of a clock, counting til eight. You can be saved when somebody crawls under your legs.
CHECK
Form a circle. Start counting together, while everyone shakes his arms and legs one by one. First 8 counts, then 4, 2, 1 and jump and shout together ”rubber chicken”.
Use this a warming-up with your group right before starting a performance.
Start in a circle. Leader tells a story about an imaginary painting and imaginary paint: you use both arms and legs to reach for the paint in huge buckets and start putting on enormous canvases and make your own imaginary masterpiece.
Everybody starts walking through the room; when the teacher calls your name you start falling down real slow and the rest of the group catches you. Instead of using names, you can use for instance numbers or animals.
* variation: the group lets you to go down to the floor
* variation: the group lifts you up
Tag game: one is the catcher and if he catches you, you lay down on the floor on your back.
How to save: someone who is free will came to you and lifts you up by lifting both your legs so that your lower body is no longer touching the floor (you need to stay as a stick).
Then saver will let go one of your feet while you still need to keep your body very straight. Counts to three.
After that he lets your feet down again and you are back in the game..
You try as a group to cross the space to get to the ‘island’ without touching the ‘water’.
Use two hoops or mats to build the ‘bridges’.
The whole group stands on the balance beam and people swap places without touching the ground.
Variation: put yourself in line according to age, height, etcetera.
Everybody inside in closed area and everyone is a chicken on one leg.
There is one blind chicken on 2 legs walking around.
Chickens on 1 leg can only hop 10 times and are aloud to avoid and dodge.
The blind chicken has to find and touch all other chickens.
Every chicken that is touched is out of the game.
ALSO CHECK THIS VIDEO.
Standing on somebody in box-postion (hands and knees), who is moving around.
Variations:
* race
* parcours
* soft-prop-combat
* flyers try to debalance the other flyers
* bases try to debalance other bases
Bases (on hands and knees) form a bridge with different heights – like stairs. One flyer crosses the bridge with the help of an assistent.
ALSO CHECK THIS VIDEO.
Base lies on the floor. Flyer stands on top. Base starts rolling and flyer tries to stay on top.
Variation: use a prop instead of a base, like a barrel or a foam-assistent-block.
Balance obstacles on the floor. Climb over the obstacles in interesting or inventive ways.
Variation: Floor is ”lava”, so do not touch it.
Form two circles. Inside circle runs in the other direction that the outside circle. Leader calls a shape (see picture for examples)
* London bus
* Swan
* Monkey in the tree
ALSO CHECK THIS VIDEO.
Work in pairs: facing each other both holding a short piece of rope.
Try to debalance the other by pulling the rope.
If you move a foot you will lose the game.
Variation: instead of rope, put hands together and try to push the other out of balance.
ALSO CHECK THIS VIDEO.
Tag game: you are safe while standing on the balance obstacles on the floor.
You are only allowed to stay on this obstacle for 3 seconds.
Later on only 2 seconds, or even 1 sec.
The game-leader can replace or take out obstacles.
ALSO CHECK THIS VIDEO.
Use several taggers with each one holding a different prop. There is a movement for each prop.
Try to choose very different movements so you cannot combine the movements.
You can avoid being tagged by doing this specific movement. You can only do one movement at the time.
If the tagger touches you, you are the next tagger.
ALSO CHECK THIS VIDEO.
WHAT YOU NEED
Any old board game with different coloured spaces, e.g. Pictionary
Lots of dice (one per particpant/team)
Lots of tokens or player pieces (one per participant/team)
HOW TO USE IT boardgame explanation picture
Assign a different activity/exercise to each colour. E.g. Blue = Press up, Green = Sit up. Red = Star jump. etc.
All player roll dice at at the same time (or whenever they are ready)
Whatever colour their piece lands on is the exercise they must do, the number on the dice is how many reps of that exercise they have to complete. e.g. I roll a 4 and land on a blue square so i must do 4 pressups before i can roll again.
The game continues until everyone has made one (or two) circuits of the board. Or until a certain amount of time has passed.
Players are not competing against each other. But those that finish first can have a longer rest!
ADAPTATION
Use it for specific equipment training e.g. colours represent different static trapeze moves.
Use it for creativity in juggling e.g. colours represent an emotion and the number represents the intensity.
Techniques
These techniques will improve your teaching balance and performing
Unicycle
Introducing the unicycle quickly and with loads of fun: try UNICYCLE MINI WORKSHOP! Also watch and use all these wonderful videos:
People
These people were involved
Petra has been working as a full time circus trainer since 2000 and nowadays her main job is to be a main circus trainer in Art School Estradi (Taidekoulu Estradi), which has three parts: circus, theatre and popular music. She did her advanced degree on Theatre Academy in Helsinki and graduated with Master of Arts (Theatre and Drama) in 2010.
She has been part of pedagogical team of EYCO (CATE-project 2012-2014) and also one of our pedagogical team in Finnish Youth Circus Association in Finland.
Petra took part on Balance Masterclass within PEYC-project (Strasbourg, 2016) and was one of the trainers on CATE II within PEYC-project (March, 2016).
Contact Petra at: makineuvonen@gmail.com
Valentin started his carreer in circus in 1986, as autodidatta and attending Fooltime Circus School in Bristol (GB). Years of street performing followed, focusing on juggling, slackrope and unicycle .
From 1997 the tightwire became the most important aspect of the performance. From 2007 Valentin has been performing with “Los Filonautas” as “tight rope-theatre” company all over Europe. Since 2003 he is teaching circus to children, at Orvieto Circusschool, “Sul Filo e Dintorni”, and trains trainers in tight rope since 2006.
He is a Functional Psycomotrist since 2008.
Contact Valentin at: info@lastronauta.com