From the 1st to the 6th of September, S.C.A.O II had hosted and co-organised a 6 days Circus workshop, provided and ran by the Circòsmic Company, a group of jugglers, clowns, acrobats and trapeze artists from Barcelona, Spain.
The company is not new from working with children in developing contexts. They have been travelling quite a lot for the past few years, bringing their show in different countries like Mexico, Palestine, India and now Cambodia, working mostly with schools and no-profit organisations.
It was the first that SCAO had hosted such an event and the whole S.C.A.O’s team was enthusiast and curious about the Circus Project. On one hand the workshops gave the school a great opportunity to organise some extra activities for the students; on the other hand such initiative allowed children to experience something they had never had the opportunity to experience before.
The first day was a little bit chaotic. The kids were curious and impatient to see what was going on at the school and had not clearly understood yet what sort of activities these weird people from such a faraway country like Spain, had in their mind for them. While the kids were gathering in the court something suddenly went down slowly from the second floor of the school. When the kids realized that that swinging thing was a trapeze they literally went crazy with happiness.
After had settled things out and defined some logistics the workshops finally began. Three hours of acrobatics, clown and trapeze activities for kids aged from 10 to 14 years old. In order to better run the activities the kids had been split in three different groups: yellow, red and blue. Each group had to take part in one hour workshop and then swap around with the other groups.
The workshops ran smoothly for the entire week. The kids enjoyed every single moment and although it was fun and playful they trained very hard, improving day by day. In fact they was very thrilled by the idea of learning new tricks and games and they could not wait to show what they had learnt the day of the big final show!
In fact the aim of the Circòsmic Project is to provide children with some basic skills and knowledge in different disciplines, such as acrobatics, clown and trapeze. At the end of the workshops the children will take part in a real show partly set up and run by the themselves.
The workshops were a unique opportunity for SCAO’s students to take part to something completely different from theirs school’s routines. The happiness of the kids during these activities was something that can hardly be described as otherwise and the sound of theirs laughters will always be stick in our mind. The kids will surely keep such an incredible experience in their mind and we are happy to have brought an extra dose of fun to their lives.
