OUR MISSION
The San Francisco School of Circus Arts is a project of Circus Center, the Pickle Circus And the San Francisco Circus. The Mission of Circus Center is to inspire passion for circus arts through training, performance, and community outreach programs.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF CIRCUS ART
Phillip Astley invented the performance structure that we call a circus around 1773 outside London. However, the techniques that comprise a circus are ancient. These techniques are acrobatics, tumbling, contortion, balancing,
juggling, aerial work, and physical comedy. They date back at least 4,000 years and are found in virtually every era and civilization on Earth.

Beginning classes incorporate warm-up exercises into the class structure. Students in intermediate and advanced classes are required to warm-up before beginning each class. Warming-up before every class is mandatory for the safety of each student. Admission into intermediate and advanced classes requires the permission of the instructor.

The Circus Center reserves the right to insist on prerequisites for admission into some classes to further insure the safety of the students.

HISTORY
• In 1974 Peggy Snider and Larry Pisoni founded the Pickle Family Circus.
• In 1984 Wendy Parkman and Judy Finelli founded the SF School for Circus Arts as a special project of the Pickle Family Circus, then housed on Potrero Hill. The first class contained 16 children.
• In 1986 Hannah Kahn took reigns of the school, directing it over the next 10 years.
• In 1990 Ms. Finelli hired master trainer Lu Yi from the Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe in the People’s Republic of China
as well as other Chinese artists from Lu Yi’s troupe.
• In 1993 the school incorporated and moved to the former Polytech HS gymnasium in the Haight.
• In 1996 Lu Yi founded the SF Youth Circus in order to provide students with performing opportunities. These young people have performed at the Cowell Theatre at Fort Mason, Theatre Artaud, and at the Julia Morgan Theatre.
• The Clown Conservatory was started in the fall of 2000 with a grant from the NEA It is the only year-long circus clown training program in the United States.
• In 2000 the school purchased the New Pickle Circus using funding from contributions alone.
• The New Pickle Circus stages a professional show mounted annually in San Francisco and participates in several special productions throughout the year.
• Since 2001 both the professional Pickle Circus and the School have been administered by the Circus Center.

CLASSES
We offer classes in tumbling, contortion, balancing, juggling, aerial work and physical comedy/clowning as well as special workshops. We have classes available to children and adults. Whether your goals are recreational or professional, Circus Center provides students with the finest instruction available in circus techniques. We offer training based n multicultural traditions and new advanced techniques.