Balance Masterclass
January 2016 - Strasburg (France)Program
This is the masterclass program outline
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 Workshop on Theory of learning and teaching
14:00-16:00 Building up series of lessons
Excercise on setting up lesson material: what if you were to do a workshop on one balance technique, either for: – two hours – 10 weeks – one year, building-up to performing group
16:30 -18:30 Practical session
First exchange session by participants: inventory of what people want to learn and have to offer, and how to organize exchange on one of the following days.
20:00 -22:00 Free exchange time
Session on supporting the learners identity in circus training.
HAVE A LOOK AT: HOW TO HELP EVERY CHILD FULFIL THEIR POTENTIAL
09:00 – 10:00 Warming-up by Participants
CHECK: GAMES for more input
10:00 – 12:00 Workshop on the Theory of Learning and Teaching – Follow up of Day 1
READ: SUPPORTING THE LEARNER’S IDENTITY IN CIRCUS TRAINING
Cooling-down by participants
14:00-16:00 Exchange session – input by participants
- Presentation video education project by Marco van Zanten (NL) – CHECK OUT: CIRCUS ELLEBOOGS PILOT
- Exchange lesson material and network building: show lesson material and exchaning contact details
- Start setting up the Balance Bibliography
- Exchange workshop – CHECK OUR WEBPAGE GAMES FOR MORE INPUT
16:00 – 17:00 Workshop on Inclusion and social application of circus arts
- Working with refugees by Tobias – READ: ICEBERG WORKSHOP
17:00 – 18:00 Prepare workshops for Day 4
20:00 -22:00 Free exchange time
- Globe-Workshop by Joan from Grain de Cirque – HAVE A LOOK AT: ROCK PAPER SCISSORS – the movie
{VIDEO GLOBE WORKSHOP in foto’s en videos – zie serie}
09:00 -18:30 Workshops on Creativity with youth and in youth work by Philippe Brasseur
20:00 -22:00 Free exchange time
Possibility to work with a youth group of host and preparing for exchange workshops Day 4
09:00 -15:30 Teaching the visiting trainers
Exchange workshops on different balance techniques by participants – topics:
- unicycle
- rope skipping
- ladders
- rolabola video
- tight wire/tricks & creation
- stilts
- hoola hoop
- board games for balance
16:00 -18:00 – Social activity to learn about hosting country, visiting the city
20:00 -22:00 Free exchange time for masterclass participants
9:30 – 14.00 Evaluation
Topics were:
- How to build a network
- Working with and understanding the European network/projects
- What do you want to take home?
- How can we share this experience in our own countries
- What do we need in a resource centre.
and
- Evaluation on logistics and content of masterclass
13:30 – 14.00 Lunch with the board of EYCO and Participants’ presentation on the masterclass
14:00 – 16:00 Free exchange time
16:00 -18:00 Departure time – Cleaning up and goodbyes
Meet Marjolein and read her Tips on how to build a Masterclass Balance.
Here you find the Form for building the program of your Masterclass Balance
Teaching
Find inspiration for your lessons
READ EVERYTHING ON
Teaching creativity:
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 the Group
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
Also check GAMES EXCHANGE on FACEBOOK.
1. Fingergrab - warming up in circle
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
2. Jellyfish - warming up
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.
3. Ants Hospital - tagging game
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
4. Rubber Chicken
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.
5. Magic Paint
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.
6. Falling and flying
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
7. Core stability
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.
8. Getting to the island
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’.
9. Beam swap
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.
10. Chicken tag
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.
11. Human surfing
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
12. Human bridge
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.
13. Human Sausage roll or sofa game
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.
14. Obstacle course
Balance obstacles on the floor. Climb over the obstacles in interesting or inventive ways.
Variation: Floor is ”lava”, so do not touch it.
15. Bus Swan Monkey
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
Create this shape as quickly as possible with a partner from the other circle. The couple finishing last is out of the game.
ALSO CHECK THIS VIDEO.
16. Rope wrestle
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.
17. Off-ground tag
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.
18. Prop tag
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.
19. Board games for conditioning or creativity
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 
- 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:
Globe
Introducing walking globe quickly and with loads of fun: try this!
Laying down
Standing and walking
Mounting and Jumping
Lifting
Passing
Other
Ladder
Introducing ladder quickly and with loads of fun: try this!
Rolabola Solo
Introducing rolabola solo quickly and with loads of fun: try this handy to use drawings and also watch and use these wonderful videos:
Rolabola in pairs
Introducing rolabola in pairs quickly and with loads of fun: try this
People
These people were involved
Isabel van Maele
teacher Cirkus in Beweging multi and aerials
This is Isabel van Maele. Steady force, member of the educational team of Cirkus in Beweging and coordinator of the BIC training of Circuscentrum Vlaanderen. Specialized in multi circus and aerials, co-author of Circus in School.
Contact Isabel at: isabel.vanmaele@edpnet.be.
Petra Mäki-Neuvonen
youth circus trainer
This is Petra Mäki-Neuvonen; she is a youth circus teacher in Finland, passionate about circus since the age of ten. Teaches circus skills since 1992. First as a hobby with groups of children, and after four years circus studies in Turku University of Applied Sciences (Art Academy) as a circus trainer, director and educator.
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 Andreas Hecker
youth circus trainer
This is Valentin Andreas Hecker, born in Germany (1961), nowliving in Orvieto, Italy.
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
Tobias Lippek
youth circus teacher
This isTobias Lippek.
Contact Tobias at: tobias.lippek@cabuwazi.de.
Nathan White
youth circus trainer
This is Nathan White from the UK.
Contact Nathan at: lunatrics@gmail.com.
Guro Falck Olsen
youth circus trainer
This is Guro Falck Olsen, she is a performer at Compagnie with Balls and a multidiciplinary circus teacher mainly at Circuswerkplaats Boost in Amsterdam (Holland). She completed the Formation Pedagogique at Ecole du Cirque de Bruxelles (2008).
She is initiator of Circus Welkom, an outreach project for refugee kids.
Contact Guro at: gfalckolsen@gmail.com.
Ben Hyde
tutor of inclusive and social circus
This is Ben Hyde, he is a tutor of inclusive and social circus at Circus Eruption and NoFitState Circus in the UK, and has been working with youth circuses since 2001. He is also a trainer and director of Dynamix, a workers cooperative that focuses on children’s rights, youth participation and creative learning methods.
Ben’s approach is to put the learner at the centre of the experience and adapt the circus skill and teaching style around the learner’s abilities and needs.
Contact Ben at: feel_da_force@hotmail.com or ben@dynamix.coop
Websites:
Marjolein Wagter
youth circus trainer and artist
Marjolein Wagter is a youth circus teacher with over 23 years of experience. She travels the world as an artist with Compagnie with Balls, and has delivered considerable input tot the CATE Handbook.
She is also designer and coordinator of the PEYC Masterclasses.
Contact Marjolein at: peyc.masterclasses@gmail.com
Novella Morellini
youth circus trainer
This is Novella Morellini of Catapulta Teatro Circo, Italy. She works a an actress, stilt dancer artist and teacher of peadagogical circus.
In 2001 she founded with other 11 artists the company “Pies Negros”, which makes physical theater, and started working with the street theater company “Abraxa teatro”. She started teaching in 2004 to children in nursery, primary and high schools in Rome and Civitavecchia, and a few years later as a circus teacher with Circomix. In 2012 she founded “CATAPULTA Teatro Circo” focussing on circus pedagogy and education.
Contact Novella: novella.morellini@gmail.com
Mira Sirkka
teacher
This is Mira Sirkka, is a recently graduated circus artist from Finland. She specializes in hula hoop manipulation and aerial chains. Sirkka is teaching in two circusses in Helsinki called Sirkus Woltti and Hakasirkus. She teaches all disciplines for beginners and aerial acrobatics for advanced level.
”For me circus, besides it is a exciting way to do sports, is a tool to learn and teach about human beings and good values in the life.” she says.
Contact Mira at: mira.sirkka@gmail.com
Websites of the circus and projects:
http://www.woltti.com
http://www.hakasirkus.fi
https://www.facebook.com/recoverlaboratory/?fref=ts
http://www.circas.fi/en/
Maiju-Saarimaa
teacher
This is Maiju-Saarimaa. She started her circus hobby at the age of fifteen. The spark of circus has lead her to professional circus school, University of Applied Sciences – Arts Academy.
Maiju graduated in Spring 2015 as a circus artist and circus teacher. Her main disciplines are tight wire, hula hoops and fire art.
At present she is teaching circus in Hämeenlinna, Finland. Her pupils ages are between four and fifty years old so variation is quite big. Maiju is teaching basics from acrobatic, juggling, balance and hand standing. In addition Maiju has a couple circus projects in the works so teaching and artistic work go side by side.
Contact Maiju at: maiju.saarimaa@gmail.com
Laura Montaldo
youth circus trainer
This is Laura Montaldo of Carampa-Circodromo in Spain.
Contact Laura at laura.montaldo@yahoo.it or http://lauramontaldo.blogspot.com
Johan Wuyts
youth circus teacher
This is Johan Wuyts of Cirkus in Beweging, Belgium
Contact Johan at: johan-wuyts@hotmail.com.
Fréderic Klink
This is Fréderic Klink, from Morges, the French speaking part of Switzerland.
He is the director of the Coquino Circus School since 1998. Specialized in trampo-wall.
His goal for his 300 students: Raise your head into the stars with a really well balanced body, so that everyone can shine his personality and joyfulness.
Coquino circus school will be glad to invite foreigner teenagers for workshops exchanges during vacations.
Contact Fréderic at: info@coquino.ch
Daniel Patschovsky
youth circus trainer
This is Daniel Patschovsky of ZAK in Cologne, Germany. Daniel is a teacher of circus arts, specialized in balance and acrobatic skills and special education teacher (Diplom Heilpädagoge). Since 2010 he is the coordinator of the circus-pedagogic formation-ship at ZAK Zirkus- und Artistikzentrum Köln. He has been working as a partner- acrobat for several years (Cie. Kontrapass, Atemzug e.V., Traumtrapez). As a circus teacher he works since 2001 with children, youth and adults in several youth circuses, Social-circus projects, schools and universities in Cologne and abroad.
In his work he is trying to create an each one teach one learning atmosphere.
Contact Daniel at: dpatschovsky@zak-koeln.com
Websites:
Caroline Therond
teacher
This is Caroline Therond of Graine de cirque, in Straatsburg, France.
Contact Caroline at ventsdecirque@orange.fr.
Anna Fussler
This is Anna Fussler. She has been teaching circus for almost three years at the circus school Graine de Cirque in Strasbourg, France. She works along with schools, preschools and kindergartens and gives weekly multidisciplinary classes to children, teenagers and grown-ups. She is currently completing her B.I.A.C. (Brevet d’Initiateur aux Arts du Cirque – certificate for circus arts instructor). She also teaches, practices and performs aerials (vertical rope, static trapeze, silks and hoop) as her speciality, but keeps exploring various discplines in and out of the field of circus arts.
Contact Anna at: anna.fussler@gmail.com.
Philippe Brasseur
This is Philippe Brasseur (1964, Belgium) is author and illustrator of several books on creativity, some of them children’s books.
As a teacher and consultant he promotes ‘creative thinking’, in both schools and businesses.
Philippe is passionate about pedagogy and ‘thinking in images’ voor pedagogie.
More information on Philippe: www.philippebrasseur.be
Bibliography
Useful reading material
DVD
- Basic techniques in circus arts – Fondation Cirque Du Soleil
BOOKS
- Le Monocycle by Barlomiej Soroczynski (Les Èditions LOGIQUES)
- Petit Traité d’équilibre sur boule by Ludovic Lauriere (Collection savoir faire)
- Multiple intelligences, by Howard Gardner
- Encyclopedia of Ball Juggling by Charlie Dancey
- Social Circus Handbook for Teachers by Cirque du Monde
WEBSITES
- www.badscience.net
- www.circusgames.net
- www.zirkuspaedagogik.de/
- www.zak-koeln.com/fachstelle-nrw/circbib
- www.circusarchiv.de
CARDS
- The Partner Acrobatics & Pyramid Cards – Tips and Instructions for Using the Cards (Finnish Youth Circus Association, www.snsl.fi)
OTHER INTERESTING STUFF TO READ AND WATCH
- SOCIAL CIRCUS TRAINER’S GUIDE – Version April 2013
- SUPPORTING THE LEARNING IDENTITY by Stephen Desanghere
- HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR OWN LEARNER’S IDENTITY DEF
- CAN YOU TEACH CREATIVITY – PHILIPPE BRASSEUR
YOUTUBE
- Why circus works – Mike Finch
- Ben Hyde talking about play
- Ben Hyde – Playfulness and the Art of Getting Stuff Wrong – IgniteCardiff
- RSA Sir Ken Robinson education stimulating/killing creativity
- RSA Carol Duek on learning identity
Newspaper article DNA on Balance Masterclass January 2016
For participants
Only available for people who participated
For participants to enter the masterclass detailed information, click here.