The School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts (SANCA) has a robust, audition-based Youth Performance Company, comprised of three troupes, divided by age, that perform year-round. Over the years we have increased the intensity of all three arms of the youth companies and we have, therefore, seen the skill level of the individual performers, and the troupes as a whole, skyrocket. In this way, our performance program has moved farther away from the rest of the youth programs at SANCA, which are recreational in nature. How do young students manage this leap from recreational circus classes to performance-based, intensive, pre-professional circus training? What are the strengths of running a program in this way? What are some of the challenges that come along with this structure? How does a program like this fit within the rest of a school that values a come-as-you-are, recreational approach to learning? SANCA Youth Companies Manager Audrey Spinazola and Alyssa Hellrung, Co-director and Administrative Lead of the Amazing Circus 1-ders and the Magnificent 7, two of the youth companies at SANCA, will answer some of those questions based on their own work and experiences at SANCA and will invite workshop participants, be they parents, coaches, or program directors, to share their experiences as part of youth performance companies (or their hopes for starting or expanding companies) in their home organizations.
