Throughout our history, we have faced numerous challenges.

The beginning of the pandemic confronted us with some seemingly insurmountable roadblocks. Yet, with your help, our resilient faculty, our creative admin staff, and our resourceful board of directors, we were able to weather almost everything that came our way.

Today we find ourselves at yet another crossroads. And we need your help to get through this Winter.

We have so much in store for 2021. Everything that happened this year has helped us sharpen our focus and rediscover our core values. It is with this new-found sense of purpose that we are laying the groundwork for the coming year.

As we have in the past, we are certain that we will bounce back. We are just asking you to be our trampoline.

Donate now: http://circuscenter.org/donate

By Sara Toby Moore

It’s not funny. Nothing is.

The many Covid deaths and illnesses, the never-ending quarantine, the near-smashing of our American democracy and the long Orwellian presence of Herr Tweetler has made daily life in 2020 nauseatingly anxious and depressing. Now THAT’S comedy, right?! Wasn’t it Mel Brooks who famously said “Tragedy is VERY funny. World War 2? Hilarious!” That kind of paradox is, in my opinion, the root of being human. It’s our base. Funny-Not Funny, Love-Hate, Real-Fake, I-you, Dead-Alive. The dialectical nature of humanity is where our greatest comedies and tragedies, our greatest stories, are born. It’s still not funny, though. Yet the thing is, we are living inside a clown act right now, even an entire sideshow. Everyone, it seems, is part of a massive multicultural pie fight with real consequences. No banana cream here but rather bricks and bullets and bombs and hate and sneak attacks and ugly reveals and nasty magic tricks and bait-n-switch tactics and quick changes.

I admit I winced when Biden called Trump a “clown” at the presidential debate. I just as quickly found myself thinking: well, but he IS. He’s a cruel clown.

I used to vehemently defend the word “clown” as reverential to the art form and hated it being chucked about as an insult to oily, shitheel politicians and other malcontents. But you know what? I’m done with all that, even as protective as I’ve been of myself and my fellow professionals. People are right to use the word, especially in relation to an individual with such amplified, entertainment-level cruelty. And also, not all of us professionals are goody-two-shoes clowns. I do love what the sweet clowns do and I deeply admire any artist who can fully enchant children of all ages with an authentically goofball, kind-hearted persona. I’ve loved doing that myself. But to use a Beatles analogy: while many of my beloved colleagues are fully in the realm of “I Want To Hold Your Hand” I am more “The White Album.” There is a mix! And a dark side and I don’t mean a genre like horror clowns. Granted, the codification of clown forms and types is a pretty passionate thing as I learned from my years as the director of a clown conservatory. There’s a very real and often rigid adherence around the definition of who or what constitutes “clown”, sometimes dogmatically so. I think the best clowns always have pathos, darkness, often eclipsed by hope and levity. If we can leave you laughing through sobs we have done our job. If we leave you sobbing and rageful and laughing yet passionate to love and forgive then we are geniuses.

With all that said, I’m still talking more about a systemic, amplified, childlike darkness inherent in all human beings. I’m remembering the Q train in the evening rush hour, packed with grown humans looking like exhausted, scolded children, sitting pigeon-toed, clutching newspapers, everyone unique, dorky, adorable, grotesque, gorgeous in the twilight of a packed subway train clattering over the Manhattan bridge with our Statue Of Liberty visible out on the water. The poignancy of this was inescapably glorious, a mélange of scowls, dyspepsia and boredom on the faces of many races and skin tones. The commonality was as glaring as the individual eccentricities.

How many people could I easily refer to as “clowns” whether it was my weirdo chemistry teacher in 10th grade who smashed chalk on his desk and reeked of vodka or the current outgoing President of the U.S. who really does remind me of a few predatory guys I did shows with in casino entertainment. I can’t honestly imagine him in higher relief than he already is, with his mane of wig-like faux-blondiness and his orange foundation oozing sweat and his barking litanies and repertoire of broad gestures. There’s no denying a certain charisma that’s irresistible with old fools, whether Uncle Alfred at the seder table or say, the owner of a major league sports team: bigliness & super confidence always seem to get the Koolaid drunk by folks eager to be led and dazzled, not to mention being mother’s milk to those who grew up abused by assholes just like them. There is a clownishness that erupts as much from pomposity, self-aggrandizement and the telling of bold lies as from squirting flowers, big shoes or tiny, packed cars. And seriously, come on, how many of us have family members riddled with grotesqueries but we still love them, even enough to allow them their warped opinions if they’re pushy enough, only to slink away later muttering “shithead” under our breath. We are everywhere, in every guise, we animated humans.

In the professional realm, there is a certain benign cruelty in a lot of comedy, too, as amply employed by the likes of Sasha Baron Cohen. He’s one example of a brilliant setting-up and punching-out of hapless ignoramuses and man, he does it SO well. The greatest clown acts or characters have some measure of malevolent mischief in them, soaked in bludgeoning silliness and rocketed by love, real love. A longing to expose, face it all, smack down and then check a mirror on the way out. Outside of Cohen, I’ve definitely seen some very mean bouffons & comics and watched with queasy glee the machinations of dragging folks onstage for “audience participation.” I vividly remember Don Rickles, a highly physical stand-up who humiliated his audiences. There are so many examples.

I guess I’m finally coming to this: if all the world is a stage then each one of us is some kind of clown. I think we first become clowns in darkest childhood. As kids we are at our most real. Kids are part monster, part imagination machine, part silly fool and I think most of us never really travel that far from our childhood to become the weird hodgepodge of scars and longings we are as adults. We just learn to manage it all better.

But we never fully grow out of ourselves, do we?

Some of us decide to put a string of lights and a loud horn on all that and travel the land as professionals on stages and screens, but that doesn’t mean we can deny there are others who channel their own civilian foolishness into ignorance and cruelty, parading their boorishness to grab power. Or on the flip side to amplify all that is joyful, kind and eccentric to create buoyancy and laughter. As professional clowns the realness of everyday humanity’s clowns is truly a treasure trove, a stockpiled casting office of “types” to study and take on. Let’s face it, the profession of clowning depends on the humanity of clowning to fuel and provide the characters and stories we take on.

My first impulse has always been to defend my chosen art form and profession by screaming “We’re here to bring jooooy!” But this is only partially true. The truth is that all clowns aren’t joyful. We are also here to stoke awareness, to invoke danger in order to avoid or overcome it, to tell stories of grace and survival, and also to take a crap on the bed of the self-righteous and run away screeching. Funny stuff, not always comfortably so.

Real life’s clowns are a lot more dangerous.
A moron with power is hysterically funny onstage, in pretend-land.
But in the real world there are real stakes and they are terrifying. I’ll laugh at them anyway and vote them out.

But it’s not funny. Not yet.

On Sunday night at 10pm, San Francisco County joined the state's Regional Stay-At-Home order.

All Circus Center's in-person indoor programming for adults has ceased until at least January 4, 2021. Private lessons, supervised solo and staff training, and supervised flying trapeze are cancelled.

Our Out-of-School Time programs for youth (both recreational and pre-professional) are permitted to continue for now, following the same safety protocols as before.

Over the coming days, our team will be cancelling adult in-person programs and reservations. Please be patient as we process this administrative load, and feel free to reach out with any questions. Contact us at info@circuscenter.org.

You CAN stay in shape and stay connected to your community while you stay at home.

Our adult programs may be closed for now, but we are STILL doing everything we can to serve you. Our fantastic teachers offer over 50 online classes a week, and right now we are offering a Class Pack Sale with our best prices. You can...

• Maintain your conditioning
• Improve your flexibility
• Learn a new skill like juggling or handstands
• And maybe most importantly
• See and stay connected to your friends and coaches

TAKE A CLASS 

Your support of Circus Center helps us keep providing access to the best-possible circus training during these difficult times. We are grateful for your support, and we look forward to seeing you again soon, whether online or in person.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Over the weekend, San Francisco moved into the "Purple Tier," the state's most restrictive tier for COVID-19, and as a result, the Mayor and Department of Public Health announced a new set of restrictions that impact Circus Center. Fortunately, most of our current activities are still permitted, and the Board has given us authorization to continue while we monitor the situation daily.

Our activities for youth under 18 are considered Out of School Time programs, which are permitted on page 18 of the current Health Order.

Our activities for adults 18 and over are governed by the rules for gyms. We are currently offering private lessons, solo training, and supervised flying trapeze, and these are still permitted according to page 33 of Appendix C-1 to the current Health Order.

The health and safety of our teachers and students is our highest priority, and we will continue our adherence to all city and state public health and safety recommendations. We will also keep offering over 50 online classes per week for adults, and we'll be introducing online versions of our youth programming in 2021.

EXPLORE ONLINE ADULT CLASSES

SEE OUR YOUTH OFFERINGS

Your support of Circus Center helps us keep providing access to the best-possible circus training during these difficult times. We are grateful for your support, and we look forward to seeing you again soon, whether online or in person.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Ends on 12/15 at 10pm
 
All class packs have new 4-month expirations! 

 
60 & 90 MINUTE CLASSES

Online 3-Pack: $54 ($18/class)
Online 5-Pack: $85 ($17/class)
Online 8-Pack: $128 ($16/class)
Online 10-Pack: $150 ($15/class)
Online 15-Pack: $210 ($14/class)

BUY 60/90-MINUTE CLASS PACKS

 

2 HOUR CLASSES 

Online 3-Pack: $81 ($27/class)
Online 5-Pack: $125 ($25/class)
Online 8-Pack: $176 ($22/class)
Online 10-Pack: $200 ($20/class)

BUY 2-HOUR CLASS PACKS

ALL SERVICES

A SPECIAL INVITATION

Dear friends,

I hope this message finds each of you and your loved ones healthy and safe, and that today is a good day. I am excited to be reaching out with an invitation to be part of something special: a virtual performance, led by members of our SF Youth Circus troupe, to celebrate, in their words, “the community we have created through our collective passion for circus arts.”

Not long ago, Rachel Ostrow, Mia Raneri, and Ayden Wisney-Leonard approached me offering to play a leadership role in organizing a virtual circus show as a fundraiser for Circus Center. I was moved by their generosity, and it’s been so inspiring to watch them develop their idea. 

Circus Center is slowly reopening right now, and we are keeping our eyes on the horizon. We will continue to bring the joy of circus to all – especially to children and those who can’t afford it. We can and will make it through this, setbacks and all, because our extraordinary community has come together and will keep coming together to make it happen. If you would like to be part of this effort to lift Circus Center up, I encourage you to read their message and attend the first organizing meeting next Sunday night. I’ll be there! Read on...

Onwards and upwards,

Barry Kendall

Executive Director

******

Hello Circus Center Community!

We are very pleased to introduce Circus Center’s 2021 Virtual Winter Fundraiser! Though so much has changed since last year, we hope to continue our tradition of a winter production that will bring the Circus Center community together, though virtually, to celebrate the season. With this year’s Winter Fundraiser, we hope to replicate the authenticity of in-person performances to the greatest of our abilities by hosting a live-view compilation of pre-recorded acts from a variety of members of the Circus Center community. 

We want this production to celebrate the community we have created through our collective passion for circus arts, and are hoping to fundraise in order to give back to Circus Center. In order to reach our goals and make this winter production the best it can be, we need your help! 

If you are interested in participating, have any questions, or would like to know more, please email wintershow@circuscenter.org and we will get back to you ASAP. We are excited to work with everyone who wants to contribute: performers, costume, makeup, filming, editing, you name it. If you would like to perform, you do not immediately need a fully formed idea or act, we are happy to hear your initial thoughts and collaborate with you in the process.

We are hoping to premiere in late January or early February, but we know that we are not entirely in control of our timeline these days, so we’ll be flexible if necessary. Still, we’re excited to get to work, and we invite you to join us for a first organizing/production meeting on Sunday, November 8, at 5:30pm: ZOOM LINK.  We’ll introduce some of our initial ideas, and we can talk together about ideas and the production process. If you plan to come, please RSVP to wintershow@circuscenter.org. 

Thanks to everyone willing to go through this unique process with us!

Rachel, Mia, and Ayden

NOW through 10pm on Wednesday, October 21

All class packs are on sale, with our new 3-month expirations! 

 60 & 90 MINUTE CLASSES

Online 3-Pack $54 ($18/class)
Online 5-Pack $85 ($17/class)
Online 8-Pack $128 ($16/class)
Online 10-Pack $150 ($15/class)
Online 15-Pack $210 ($14/class)

ALL 6O-90 MIN CLASS PACKS

 
2 HOUR CLASSES

Online 3-Pack: $81 ($27/class)
Online 5-Pack: $125 ($25/class)
Online 8-Pack: $176 ($22/class)
Online 10-Pack: $200 ($20/class)

ALL 2-HOUR CLASS PACKS

Buy now, register and save!

Dear Circus Center community,

San Francisco has allowed gyms to open for indoor services on extremely limited terms. The current health order allows for students ages 18 and up to train in gyms at 10% capacity or less in either private lessons or solo training. Circus Center will start offering private lessons on October 5. Soon, we will also roll out a plan for students to do supervised solo training. 

Whether for private lessons or solo training, some fundamentals will be true:

• Everyone will undergo a health screening upon arrival.
• Everyone will be required to wear a mask the entire time they are in the building.
• Everyone must remain at least 6ft from everyone in the building and at least 12ft from anyone breathing heavily (i.e. there can be no hands-on spotting).
• Per the health order, we are only able to use equipment that can be easily cleaned or allowed to "rest" for 3 days between individual uses. This means that, for now, there can be no access to trampoline or flying trapeze.
• Students and Instructors will be permitted to bring their own equipment

At this time, we will only be offering 60-minute solo private lessons for students ages 18 and up. If a student wants a 2-hour lesson, they can book two lessons back to back, with the instructor's consent.

For more information about private lessons, please keep an eye on our private lesson page, which is currently being updated on a daily basis with new information from instructors as we receive it. We will be coming out with more information about our hours of operation and more in the coming days, and we will begin processing booking requests on Wednesday, September 30.

Meanwhile, we are very grateful for everyone's support, and we ask your patience as we all work together to adapt, get your questions answered, and do everything we can to serve our community and stay safe during these tough times. We are very excited to be able to welcome students back to the building, but we are also sober and serious about the need to keep everyone safe. As a community we are lucky in so many ways, but we have certainly not escaped the terrible toll the current crisis has exacted on the entire world. The current team running Circus Center is lean and working our butts off. The next couple weeks may be a slow or rocky start, but we can and will come together to learn, adapt, and thrive once again. 

Thank you,

Barry, Tracey, and the Circus Center Team

Starts today!

Ends September 22
 
You can purchase these packs yourself on MindBody so make sure you have an updated method of payment on file. The October Class Schedule will be available for enrollment and purchase at 12:01am on Sept 22 so stock up now!

60 & 90 MINUTE CLASSES

$20 single credit, and during pack sale, it's:
Online 3-Pack $54 ($18/class)
Online 5-Pack $85 ($17/class)
Online 8-Pack $128 ($16/class)
Online 10-Pack $150 ($15/class)
Online 15-Pack $210 ($14/class)

ALL 6O-90 MIN CLASS PACKS

 
2 HOUR CLASSES

Online 3-Pack: $81 ($27/class)
Online 5-Pack: $125 ($25/class)
Online 8-Pack: $176 ($22/class)
Online 10-Pack: $200 ($20/class)

ALL 2-HOUR CLASS PACKS

All class credits expire 30 days after purchase, but during pack sales the expiration date of the credit is a bit longer. These packs will expire October 31 regardless of your date of purchase!

When we first released online classes, we had hoped to exist in the “Zoom world” for a few weeks or a month. We were working quickly to bring Circus Center to your living room and figuring out entirely new platforms and financial models in the meantime. As you know, we are now working towards the slow process of getting back to in-person training, but we certainly will be in a livestreaming class world for the foreseeable future as well. 

With that in mind, we would like to let you know about two upcoming changes. First, we will likely be changing our method of streaming classes to you in the next month. There will be more details about that coming when we know them. We don't anticipate this will be a very noticeable change on your end. 

Second, on October 1, our 2 hour online classes will have a price change to $30. There has long been some frustration that our 1 hour and 2 hour classes cost the same and this came entirely out of the initial rush to get online classes up and running, but now that we know we will be in this world for some time, we need to make this change to properly reflect the cost of running classes. If you take 2 hour classes and wonder how this might affect your existing class credits or have other questions, please read more here....(jump to a link on our website with instructions about exchanging existing credits, copy below).

And to make that price change for 2 hour classes a little easier, and to help all of our Circus Center family during what has been an especially tough couple weeks, we will have a PACK SALE coming from Sept 18-22 so get ready! You will be able to purchase these packs yourself on MindBody so make sure you have an updated method of payment on file.  The October Class Schedule will be available for enrollment and purchase at 12:01am on Sept 22 so stock up now.  

60 and 90 minute Classes

$20 single credit, and during pack sale, it's:
Online 3-Pack $54 ($18/class)
Online 5-Pack $85 ($17/class)
Online 8-Pack $128 ($16/class)
Online 10-Pack $150 ($15/class)
Online 15-Pack $210 ($14/class)

2 hour Classes

Online 3-Pack: $81 ($27/class)
Online 5-Pack: $125 ($25/class)
Online 8-Pack: $176 ($22/class)
Online 10-Pack: $200 ($20/class)

ALL CLASS CREDITS EXPIRE 30 DAYS AFTER PURCHASE, BUT DURING PACK SALES THE EXPIRATION DATE OF THE CREDIT IS A BIT LONGER- THESE PACKS WILL EXPIRE OCT 31 REGARDLESS OF YOUR DATE OF PURCHASE!

If you have existing online class credits on your account that you purchased prior to this eblast being sent (Sept 15, 2020) that you would like to have turned into 2 hour class credits, please email info@circuscenter.org with a request specifying which credits you would like changed over, and we will handle this within 48hours of your request.  Your credits will retain their original expiration dates. The final day to process changes is Oct 1. If you don’t opt to change your credits to 2 hour class credits, they will still be eligible for use on our other offerings until their expiration date.  

If you have other questions about the change in price for 2 hour classes, please contact info@circuscenter.org.