The Association for the Development of Circus Arts in Israel
END OF YEAR CIRCUS SCHOOL REPORT for 2004 / 2005
- In September 2004 Israel Circus School opened the doors of the newly renovated Old Cinema of Kefar Yehoshua. The new Circus Center has all the +basic facilities of a standard European Circus School and a professional training staff of 8. We work in a 700-meter square space that is fully dedicated to only Circus training related activities. In addition to this the Association that governs the Circus School is a volunteer group that dedicates many hours of free time to support the running of what is fast becoming a large organization.
- 2004-05 has been the most challenging year yet in the 13-year history and development of our work. The financial situation has hung on a very thin thread from the outset of the year. This has continued right up to the end of the year with a budget deficit that will mean we are unable to pay teacher wages at the end of June 2005 with out some sort of unforeseen assistance. If not for the generous support from benefactors both here in Israel and from overseas in England and America we would not have been able to give the high standard of creative training that was the standard of the past twelve months. The management team is looking for creative solutions to resolve this situation for our next year of operation.
- This has meant that student fees in 2004/05 have not been sufficient enough to cover the basic costs of running our organization. As to this a slight increase in fees for our bottom end minimum hourly rates will ensue in September 2005. The minimum one-hour and two-hour classes per week will be increased in price to 110 shekels and 220 shekels respectively per month.
- Our future outlook is far from gloomy however. Many behind the scenes and public successes have continued to mark our ongoing development and positive steps where undertaken through out the year to bring further growth and development to the Circus School. A copy of all our NewsLetters can be viewed at our web site for those interested in detailed documentation of our activities at www.israelcircusschool.com
- July-August Film Production where with us through out the year filming all our ups and downs both here in Kefar Yehoshua and in the Community Center in Margah. Their focuses where on the Children’s Circus, the Arab and Jewish youth group that has been working together for the past few years and in particular the development of the play “Aladdin and the Magic Flute”. This play written and produced by Addnan Tarabashi of the Community Center in Margah was performed to a packed theater in the Haifa Children’s Festival. Future joint projects are planned with our good friends from Margah and the Israel Circus School. And July-August Productions will release their documentary about our joint work in the coming months on Israel television channel 2.
- A feature of the Circus School this year has been that as we approach the end of year more and more children want to join our classes in the afternoons. Instead of a drop off rate at year’s end as in former years, there is a steady increase of students. This is a testimony that the direction the Circus School has taken in training methods is appealing to students and their parents. As the year has advanced we have honed our methods more and more to improve the standard and diversity of all our activities on our main days of activity. Further improvement will come about next year by offering students a choice in the beginning of September 2005 options of training. All class subjects will be given in blocks of one hour in order to focus activity suitable to the individual. A minimum of 2 hours training per week will continue with an encouragement to take a minimum of 4 hours training per week. Students who would like to develop their skills in Circus need to come to the Center a minimum of twice a week for training. However we understand here at the Circus that some students come only for the fun of being here with their friends, which is also fine. A balanced pedagogy between the professional knowledge of the trainers and the students interests is what we constantly strive for and as the understanding of students and trainers increase together we see the whole work of the Center elevated step by step. We understand how important it is to get it right and to develop trust, as very few people here in Israel really understand what Circus Culture is capable of giving to the education of young people. There is no competition at Israel Circus School but rather a slow development towards a healthy rounded education with students setting their own limits according to what they understand from instruction.
- Through out this year professional Circus people from outside Israel have visited us, including Michael Finkel and his wife Sandrin from France who gave free workshops and a show for the Circus School. Mr. Arthur Pedlar from England made his annual visit to us for the opening performance of Aladdin. We are fortunate for the great moral support we receive from people of this high caliber and their efforts to spread the word of our work here. Given that we have operated our first year here in the large hall, we are now in a position to invite all the Circus professionals in Israel to a meeting on the 21st of June 2005. This is to brainstorm on Circus here in the Circus School and in the rest of the Circus Community. Our intention is to deepen relationships in the Circus community and to bring a much richer variety of learning experiences to the Circus student. The future of the Circus movement depends on support from many sides and it starts from education but does not end there. Parents who start to see the benefits of Circus education on their children could help enormously if they lobby their local council members with letters saying how good the education is for their child. Professionals in Circus performing need to remember to give thanks to their teachers by giving young students some of their time and experience. The whole Circus community is involved in a culture of bringing joy into the world as it always has been and it is very easy to get lost in the making of business and rules to fulfill the requirements of insurers. Circus is an affair of the heart and that it why in this time here in Israel, Circus is gaining more and more appeal for students looking for truths of the heart, courage, kindness, patience and genuine healthy fun.
- Israel Circus School’s end of year performance on the 1st of July will show these things to the parents of the students that have been with us this past year and we hope that your continued support will ensue from what will be seen at our end of year party.
David Berry (Artistic Director of I.C.S)
Association for the Development of Circus Arts in Israel
Registered Non-Profit Organization in Israel: Number 58-039-562-2
P.O. Box 216, Kefar Yehoshua, 30063, Israel
Tel: +972 4 9532856 Fax: + 972 4 9833425 E-mail: israelcircusschool@hotmail.com
