Circus Skills

Outline:
Have you ever had a dream as a kid of running away with the circus? While you cannot run away now, you can at least sample what life is like under the big top! Consider a team building day at a circus training facility where you can experience the trapeze, acrobatics and even juggling. Your group of members would be split into small teams to ensure maximum participation and maximum fun!

Juggling Fun - Tossing some items in the air and keeping them airborne may look easy but it is anything but easy! Juggling takes practice and it is all about the timing. You and your team will learn the art of juggling and participate in both individual and group juggling shows.

Taming the Trapeze - The most difficult and exciting of all circus acts, the trapeze is a wonder. There are two types of trapeze - the flying trapeze and the static trapeze. The flying trapeze is what most people think of in the circus - being high upon a platform and jumping off into the unknown and being caught by another trapeze performer. With the static trapeze, this contains elaborate movements on equipment that appears to be an extension of your body.

You and your team are harnessed for safety as you learn some of the basics of both types of trapeze. Can you handle flying high?

Acrobatic Art - Have you ever wondered how those circus performers support each other’s weight when they build different structures like pyramids and boxes using human bodies? Strength and trust are two major factors in the field of acrobatics. With the support of real circus acrobatics and some safety gear and instructions, you too can become a human balancing act.

Walking a Fine Line - Tightrope walking is a fine art that requires performers have superior focus, excellent balance and attuned body rhythms. For your exercise, your tightrope efforts will be just a short distance from the ground. It takes some practice and you will need the help of your team mates to stay atop the rope but eventually you will find your balance and pace.

Body Band - Quite an introduction to any team building event or business conference, using your body as a percussion instrument can be quite fun. If you have any rhythms whatsoever, playing body bongos, clapping, stomping your feet and other noise methods should be a breeze. Your entire team will work together to coordinate the rhythms and sounds until you all come up with a cool routine that wows the audience.

Top of the World to Ya - Do you think that stilt walkers feel as if they are on top of the world? How do those stilt-walking circus performers walk so gracefully? In a word - practice! While you may not become proficient, you and your team members will learn the fine art of walking on stilts. Each of you will support one another literally as you all stumble on the stilts until you find your balance. This is a fun team building activity that will keep you laughing.

One Wheeled Fun - Unicycling looks theatrical when it is done right. After all, how do you balance on just one wheel and seat? This is a great class to find out! You will develop better control of your body in addition to coordination and balance. While not a team activity, if is quite fun and a change of pace during your circus day.

Diabolical Diabolo - A relative of juggling, diabolo requires a top, string and two sticks. A piece of string is tied between two sticks and you must toss the top and capture and balance it on the string held by the two sticks you must hold. This is a great entertaining game that will hone your efforts in coordination, concentration and time management.

Spin Master - Originally an old art in Asia, the practice of plate spinning found its way into circuses many years ago. Once you develop a workable technique as well as rhythm and focus, you can graduate from plastic plates to the breakable kind. You will learn individually first but gradually will segue into team participation, passing spinning plates from one person to another. Keep your nerves in check for this one!

Hat Trick - Can you manipulate a hat around your body in cool and interesting ways? This type of circus entertainment is the easiest to learn and results come quickly. You will learn how to juggle hats around your body in addition to passing, tossing and rolling them. As you develop your skills, you can create basic movements and segue into new tricks such as hat passing with your team mates. You will learn some great team building skills such as concentration, team work and time management.

Hula Me This - You remember playing with hula hoops as a kid. You likely challenged friends to see who could keep their hula hoop in action the longest. Well, with this class, you will start with basic hula hoop movements and build upon that skill. If you make it to the round where you can hula with different parts of your body or hula with multiple hoops, then it is safe to say your concentration and physical conditioning is pretty good.

Show-Off - This circus day would not be complete without the teams and individuals performing their respective moves for each other and marveling how well some of them do.