Building Dots: Lions, Tigers, and Auditions
Nina Hagen, Berlin Wall, 1981
We’re going to circus school, Jack. Pack your shit. This article explains where and how we can get in. So, let’s talk about where to go. Hint hint: the answer is Europe. We’re looking into western European schools for a couple of reasons. One, Europe generally is a great place to live. Two, the schools tend to be cheaper. Three, you get to layer in all of the fantastic linguistic opportunities along the away. double trempage! And Four, I can only get into the schools that let people in at my age - the ripe old age of 30. To figure this out, I went through the FEDEC schools and then filtered down to the schools that allow these ol’ bones in.
But before we get ahead of ourselves the first question is - can I possibly get into a professional level circus school? If so, what do I have to functionally be able to do to get into the school? The bloody great part about all of this that there is absolutely no way for me to fake this. You can either the thing or you can’t. The question is where am I today and how to I get from here to there over what time frame.
Then there is the second question of what does going to school N actually allow me to be able to do. Circus schools are probably not created equal. So which one would fit best with my personality and admittedly ill defined future.
Luckily, for me, this transition is an emotional one and not quite so strategically focused. And so I wish to enjoy the transition and to like where I am living - while also not running out of money. This is what I’ve come up with:
Italy:
Auditions June 24-27, 2025: Scuola di Circo Vertigo (Torino) - Two-year professional training program for contemporary circus artists. Focus on artistic, technical, and organizational skills for creating and promoting independent performances. Includes acrobatics, aerial disciplines, dance, theater, music, and more. Free (€0). .
Germany:
Auditions May 10, June 14, & July 19: Seneca Intensiv (Berlin) - 10-month "Educational Year Circus" basic training. Focus on aerial, floor, and handstand acrobatics, plus physical preparation, workshops, and theory. Emphasizes artistic expression. €4000. This is in Berlin, German.
Auditions May 31 - June 1, July 19-20, & September 13-14: Cirque Intense - Provides a range of programs, including preparatory and orientational courses, with a focus on contemporary circus techniques. This is in Neuenburg am Rhein, Germany.
Spain:
Auditions May 10-11: Creat - Formación y Creación en Artes Circenses - Offers a 2-year professional training or pre-professional training program. The Preparatory Professional Training Program (Full-Time, 2 to 3 Years, ~1100 Hours/Year) is designed for students with prior experience in circus arts or related fields (dance, theater, sports). It aims to build physical fitness, master core multidisciplinary skills (acrobatics, dance, theater), and develop specialized skills, culminating in essential stage performance tools and a solid foundation in a chosen discipline. Located in Valencia, Spain.
Auditions June 10 (video deadline), June 28 (in-person): CACRR: Centre de les Arts del Circo Rogelio Rivel - Offers a 2-year professional program in circus arts in Barcelona, Spain. The objective is to create autonomous, curious, and imaginative circus performers. The course focuses on creating a show for the professional market, developing technical and artistic capacities, highlighting individual singularity and stage language, all while maintaining a high technical level.
Auditions June 17-19 & September 9-11: Escuela de Circo Carampa - A training program for professional circus artists through an intensive two-year program in Madrid, Spain. This program covers a total of 2,500 hours of training and welcomes a maximum of 40 students per cycle. Their pedagogical approach emphasizes versatility and interdisciplinarity, allowing students to develop skills in aerials, balance, acrobatics, manipulation, and clowning.
From Here to Marvelous
Marvelous seems to have a few phases: the beginners mind phase (I’m here), getting schooled up phase, and then seeing where things end up phase. I am firmly planted in the beginner phase of my circus journey. I’m a strong, unskilled, athlete, who has to learn the entire profession of circus before I become too old to perform at a high level. Personally, I believe that I’ll be able to get 5-10 years out of these old joints before I have to get into the business of creative work.
As you would imagine, circus school has some pre-requisites to get in. Now, there is some variation across the various schools depending on their coming in expectations, pedogological approach, and the like. Looking across from these, I know that NECCA in the USA is a highly rated school.
So, I’m going to base the pre-requisite skills to develop based on the New England School for Circus Arts. It’s comprehensive (at least to me) and should give me a baseline set of skills to aim for June.
Here it is:
Video 1: Personal Introduction and Creativity (Max 6 minutes total):
Part 1: Dance Theme (Max 1-2 minutes): Two natural elements (Air, Water, Earth, Fire) - show contrast in movement (no editing, full body view, still camera).
Part 2: Theater Theme (Max 1-3 minutes): Two opposing characters (e.g., ape/model, heavy/light). Two scenes with the camera as your partner (enter, situation, resolution). Can be verbal (mother tongue) or non-verbal. No equipment/editing.
Video 2: Main Discipline (Max 5 minutes total):
Part 1: Act/Sections of Acts (Max 3 minutes): Recent footage (within 6 months). Clearly identify yourself in group performances.
Part 2: Skills & Technique (Max 2 minutes): Skills not shown in your act.
Video 3: Physical Capacities (Max 14 minutes total):
Part 1: Strength (Max 7 minutes):
Pull-ups (pronated grip, full range of motion): aiming for 20, current 14
Push-ups (45-degree elbow angle): aiming for 60+, current 50+
V-ups (30 reps): can do
Toe touches to bar: can do
Rope climb (L or straddle legs): aiming for 3+, can do 1-2
Pistol squats (modified if needed): aiming for 30+
Box jump (max height, 1 rep): aiming for 50 inches+
Hollow on back (2 minutes): can’t do, yet
Long arch on belly (2 minutes): can’t do yet
L-sit (30 seconds): can’t do, yet
Part 2: Stability (Max 2 minutes):
Diagonal plank (30 seconds each side): can’t do, yet
Swiss ball bridge (one leg, 20 seconds each side): can’t do, yet
Part 3: Flexibility (Max 2 minutes):
Splits (right, center, left - 10 seconds each; oversplits elevated): can’t do, yet
Forward pike fold (10 seconds): can’t do, yet
Forward fold (legs apart, 10 seconds)
Back bridge (from standing, 10 seconds; shoulder shift, 10 seconds; tight bridge, 10 seconds; rise to standing)
Slow squat (4 count down, hold, 4 count up): can do
Slow relevé (4 count down, hold, 4 count up)
Part 4: Handstands (Max 3 minutes):
Kick-up, tuck-up, straddle-up, pike-up (3 reps each, hands don't leave floor): can’t do, yet
Freestanding handstand (0-60 seconds) or wall handstand (10 seconds): can do
Belly-to-wall handstand (90 seconds): can do
Part 5: Ground Acrobatics (Max 5 minutes):
Rebounding tuck jumps (10 reps): can do
Standing jumps (half, full, 1.5 turns): can do
Forward rolls (3 consecutive):
Handstand forward rolls (tuck, straddle, pike)
Dive roll (2 reps)
Cartwheels (3 consecutive, both sides): can do
Walkovers (1 each direction): can’t do yet
Front handspring (step out): can’t do yet
Round-off (2 each side): can’t do yet
Back handspring (step out): can’t do yet
Acro lines (2 different passes): not sure what this is
Flow phrase (Max 1 minute, non-percussive): not sure what this is
Optional: 3 best skills, personality (connected or not): not sure sure what this is
Part 6: Partnering: Thigh stand (base & fly): can do
Part 7: Coordination (Max 5 minutes):
Juggling (3 balls/clubs, 15+ catches): can do
Stick balance (10 seconds): can do
Swiss ball balance (30 seconds, modified if needed): can do
Hula hooping (60 seconds): can do (beat a 10 year old in a competition at a music festival once)
Whew! Lots of stuff to learn huh? Well nobody said becoming a sparkly ninja was going to be easy now did they?! That’s the task I have ahead of me. Pass one of these school entry requirements so I can spend the next two to three years learning how to put on a massive spectacle at the limits of the human body. If this sound like a wild idea, it is. And I’m fucking terrified of trying to pull it off. So let me talk a minute about why.
Why the hell are you doing this, Huckle?
Ever notice how in movies the main characters have to always make faith based decisions before they are off? I think there’s something fundamental to that. They have to answer a call to adventure that is fundamentally different from their prior lives. More often than not it’s because they have to; their prior lives are burned to the ground (Luke); Frodo inherits the ring, Gollum gives up the Baggins’ name, and Frodo has to leave the Shire. In film, they call this the inciting incident: the point at which the plot is propelled forward and the protagonist is forced to make a change.
In real life, a lot of the times this never happens. You get your bachelors in business and you get a job. You become stabilized and forget how much potential exists within you. Or maybe something bad happens along the way and you find yourself living in a reality that you never wanted in the first place.
In my case, I tore my rectus abdominus (the both labrums in my hips). Then it went undiagnosed for a collective six years. That was my mid-twenties. Pain and the ceaseless battle against it. Along the way, I started to fall in love with a person who I knew I could never be with. She had to move out of Alaska due to immigration laws. So I decided to send her off by joining an amateur night at a local burlesque theater. A close friend and I made a number we called 50 Shades of Ron Weasley. From that moment on, everything was different. I was different. That’s where I begun my foray into (adult) theater and dance over the next two years.
Now I’m 30 - a man by all legal and financial regards with the ability to make whatever choice I so choose. And I see two paths ahead of me. One is the goddess of possibility and her circus. This is the path of adventure, of risk, and international living. The other is the path of the physician. The heart that wants to be there for others who have experienced the lows as I have. See health is about possibility. The more you have the more future possibilities you have. So I find myself envisioning my own or being able to help others realizes theirs.
This place is where I find myself. A man of two hearts, both beating in the direction of a full-life of complexity, difficulty, trials, and titillations. One heart takes me to the purple curtains; to schools all over the world, travel, and touring with some of the most interesting people you can think of. The other heart wishes to give back and become a physical therapist. My reconciliation of this divide is to live as fully as possible in one world while squirrelling away the lessons from it into another. Really, this way of living is the way of transmutation.
So, if you’re also pondering a path like this please, dear god do it. If you’re on the fence about it, allow me to leave you with a little poem that I recite to myself.
To the goddess of possibility, I give everything.
My heart, my mind, my body, and my soul.
Yours.
