The Academy of Circus Arts was founded in 1993 by Martin Burton, Director of Zippo’s Circus. At first, the Academy toured with Zippo’s, but it is now an entirely separate company, which became a registered Charity in 2003.

The Academy of Circus Arts stands out from all other circus training schools because it isn’t based in a building; the circus tent is the classroom, the training ground and the performance area. The Academy tours England during the summer each year and, for almost the entire tour, the Academy is performing to the public each week. All students can expect to perform from the very first show of the season, alongside professional circus performers who are also their training instructors.

The Directors of the Academy are Martin Burton; Chris Barltrop, a circus consultant and formerly Director of the Moscow State Circus and Dea Birkett, the writer and broadcaster. The Training, Artistic and Performance Directors are Blaze Birge and David Jones, well-known internationally as show directors, and as performers specialising in doubles trapeze. Our tutors are professional circus performers chosen for their skills and their experience in teaching a variety of performance disciplines. Greg Milstein is an Associate Director and Ann Dorwin an Artistic Advisor.

The performances help finance the Academy, which means that we can offer the course at a lower fee: the Course Fee for 2011 will be £3,300.

Students will also pay £100 for costumes and personal equipment, which remain their property at the end of the training, and must have their own public liability insurance providing £5 million cover. We can offer advice on finding appropriate insurance, which currently costs from £75.

Please note that all fees must be paid in full and cleared prior to the course start date.

Students' other costs are largely food and general living expenses such as laundry, cleaning supplies and personal items. We supply a list of recommended items to bring, which range from bedding, tin-openers and saucepans, to workout clothing and steel-toed boots. We recommend that students bring £50 per week for these living expenses.

During the course, students may often decide to buy performance-oriented items like make-up, costuming and equipment specific to their chosen skills; for example, specialised tights for trapeze, specific shoes for tight-wire or distinctive juggling clubs. Students may also wish to budget for these extra costs.

Whilst we can’t offer help with sponsorship, UK students can apply through Arts Council England, and you may contact them and their regional offices via www.artscouncil.org.uk.

For information on financial assistance to support your learning, please visit www.direct.gov.uk/adultlearning or contact 0800 100 900.

Students may provide their own travelling accommodation: a car and caravan, van, or motor-home, for example.

Alternatively, we can offer accommodation in a bunk-room, at a cost of £25 per week. These are either small individual rooms, or larger, shared rooms. Each room has bunk beds, cooker, sink and storage space and portable toilet facilities and offer good, basic accommodation. There is a shared shower-room and a laundry room with washing machine and dryer. We ask for a deposit of £200 against damage to the bunk-rooms, which is refunded when rooms are vacated in good condition at the course end. As with the course fee, accommodation charges must be paid in full before the start date.

INTERVIEWS AND AUDITIONS

Whenever possible, we ask applicants to attend an audition. The Academy generally holds two open auditions during the May – October season, designed to introduce the prospective student to our facilities and staff. Those attending an open audition are asked to participate in a round-robin of general physical skills assessment with our training staff. Applicants are also encouraged to present a sample of skills they are working on, such as juggling, voice or dance, either as a brief demonstration or as a short presentation piece. This is meant to be a skill demonstration only: We do not expect you to present a full circus act!

If you are unable to attend an audition we ask for a video audition. This may be as a tape or DVD, or posted on an online falicity such as YouTube. The video audition can include anything that will introduce you to us; many applicants join us with no circus skills or experience, so there isn’t a minimum standard that you must ‘pass’ in order to be accepted. If we can see you in training or in performance that’s great, but otherwise, a workout and some conversation is fine.

We're confident that we can help anyone achieve a high skill level during the course, even starting with no previous skills. What is most important is that you have the motivation to follow our training schedule, the desire to succeed, and a positive attitude. These are the qualities we consider when looking at applications - we won't turn people down because they don't have skills or strength.

You do not need to have any circus or performing skills to join the course, but we do ask that you are of good health as the course can be very physically demanding. You will be asked to provide confirmation from a qualified person, your family doctor for example, stating that there is no existing condition or reason why you should not undertake circus training. Because you will live with the circus you must be over 18 years of age, but there's no upper age limit - we have had successful students aged up to 40 years old and from all backgrounds.

We don't recommend anyone to come to us to “get fit” or “shape up”. Students will, of course, gain strength and tone as they progress through the season and people with little or no existing circus skills have successfully trained with us. We have taught presentation and development of circus acts using a student’s existing skills in other areas to produce excellent results. Ultimately, individual achievement depends heavily on individual commitment and practice.

You will find that any fitness preparation you can do before the course starts will help greatly when you join us. Strength training is particularly important for aerial work and flexibility training is paramount in developing all skills, from juggling to tumbling to trapeze. Always seek proper advice before undertaking any fitness training.

The course is organized into three distinct sections. For the first month of training we encourage all students to try a wide variety of disciplines, for example trampoline, trapeze, juggling, comedy, acrobatics, etc. Group classes in dance, tumbling, trampoline, juggling, equilibristics and general aerial skills are the norm at this time. Students can begin to discuss their aptitudes and progress with their trainers, designate their preferred skills and continue to develop these skills into acts over the next two months. The final months concentrate on honing performance skills, the preparation of individual acts for the Graduation Show performance and on professional development.

When the academy moves on to a new location, usually each week, everyone helps with building up and pulling down the the Big Top - our circus tent. In this way, you learn a tremendous amount of technical skills, including how the tent, lighting and sound systems are assembled. You also help to rig equipment required for your own act, for example the trapeze or tight-wire, learn how the equipment works and how to make it safe. When you are developing your own act, we help you choose your costume, music and make-up. Open-ring practices and small-scale student showcases are also a part of the training schedule.

There's no such thing as a typical week on the circus! Because the schedule includes a variety of venues and performances, each week can be quite different from the last. The performance venues may include: weekend festivals and county fairs, where we provide four short shows and workshops on each of the event days; school arts-residencies, in which we teach basic circus and performance skills to young people; one-day corporate events or family fun days. We also set up as a normal commercial circus, putting up posters, selling tickets and concessions, and performing full-length circus shows for the paying public.

But to give you a guide to how a week on tour might be....

Monday: Move to new ground. Set up the living quarters.
Tuesday: Build-up the circus tent and take the evening off for shopping or laundry!
Wednesday, Thursday & Friday: full training-days. Set equipment and seating.
Saturday: Public performances. Evening “open-ring” practice.
Sunday: Public performances. Then dismantle the big-top, pack down and get ready to move on.

THE GRADUATION SHOW

At the end of the course we have our Graduation Show. Each student has the opportunity to perform their individual act before an invited audience which can include the Press, circus directors and agents, booking agents and others looking for new performing talent. We can never guarantee that students will be offered work, but our aim is that all students will be capable of obtaining work at the end of the course. We do our best to help graduates find work and we have a high success rate.

APPLYING