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Sunday, 28 Sep tember 2008 - 20:14 UTC I flew through the air with the greatest of ease Disabled people do not have a very good history with the circus. But as part of the Cultural Olympiad malarkey, this weekend saw me head off, with some reservations, to take part in a work shop with Cirque Nova, a kind of Cirque du Soleil for wheelies. I have discussed before how I have never really felt part of the disability community, and as such have avoided such activities targeted at us as a demographic. I am put off by activities that promise to teach me “valuable life skills” – I have had some 33 years practice at life without such help, and I seem to be doing ok, thanks. But as the days get shorter and the shadow of seasonal affective disorder begins to loom I have made it a mission to Get Out More and to Try New Things instead of just hibernating until summer is here again. And so Saturday found me hanging upside down from the roof of Circus Space, with a very patient man trying to persuade me to let go of the rope and hang by one foot, whilst attempting an upside down pirouette-type movement with the other foot. Thanks to the floor to ceiling mirror I can promise you that this looked as undignified as it sounds. I am naturally graceless, disability or no, and I have made a career of using the wheelchair as an excuse to avoid any activities requiring elegance. And yet, it was incredibly good fun. I have always liked heights, and now, it seems, I am also good at being upside down. When your physical control is haywire anyway, being suspended 20 feet up in the air the wrong way up and held in place by fabric and a few bits of metal poses less challenges than it might for someone who can rely on their own body for normal motion. And so I have been invited to work with Cirque Nova on an ongoing project that will culminate in a show somewhere in London next year. I have a few concerns about this, not least the Freak Show aspect, or the dubious underlying philosophy of trying to “empower” me through the medium of circus art, or the fact that this morning my arm muscles feel like they will never recover. But, dagnamit, it was so much fun, I think I’m going to do it… And before anyone asks, I am sad to report that there were no girrafes or unicycles in sight. 17th September 2008 PRESS RELEASE Cirque Nova is offering on the 27th of September 2008 an Open Rehearsal as part of the program of the Mayor of London. This event will be held at the Circus Space's creation studio, entrance on Bowling Green Walk (N1). In this event Cirque Nova Ltd. will display rehearsals of our new Creation: "Stellar" In which a group of 20 disabled youths will be trained to perform Aerial Acrobatics, Stilt Walking, Poi Juggling and other Circus Skills to create a fully integrated performance combining abled bodied and disabled artists for an outdoor extravaganza that will be performed at Festivals Nationwide and Internationally. On the Open Rehearsal the audiences will see us train with disabled artists as well as get the chance to take part in a workshop of circus skills themselves. We will offer 4 sessions at a cost of £5 per person per hour. From 12 - 1 pm; from 1, 15 - 2,15pm; from 2, 30 - 3,30pm; from 3, 45 to 4, 45pm To book please contact us on this Email address: cirquenova@googlemail.com The Mayor of London's office is happy to include us in their program, as one of the only Circus Companies that provides this style of training and performance. We hope that by doing so we will achieve our goal to train a total of 60 young volunteers over the next 4 years, so that they will be able to participate as volunteer performers to the Ceremonies of 2012 Olympics/Paralympics. MAYOR OF LONDON Open Rehearsal gives audiences a unique opportunity to get behind the scenes and experience how London's world-class creative and cultural organisations create everything from performing arts to fashion, from art and film to museum collections. This pan-London season, a Mayor of London's initiative, is in its 4th year and forms the core London element marking the launch of the Cultural Olympiad, the 4-year cultural programme running until London 2012. Open Rehearsal takes place across London's 33 boroughs from 26th-28th September 08 with over 200 organisations taking part. For more information please go to www.openrehearsal.co.uk 16th September 2008 To Whom It May Concern Earlier this year, I saw an advert in a disability magazine, looking for people with disabilities who would like to learn circus skills. When I saw this, I jumped at the chance, and got in contact with Cirque Nova straight away. I was very fortunate to be given a chance to get one to one training with Jean-Marie where we had 4 days of intense training. Within 10 minute of the first session, I was hanging upside down for the first time in my life! I have done quite a lot of adventurous things in my life, but this was definitely by far the best thing I have done. We both learnt a lot from each other during the training session, as we were working out my limits as well as what I could achieve. At times, I was shown a move which I was about to try out, in my head, I had doubts to whether I could do it. However once I was up there, I was proving myself wrong and actually doing it. After the 4 days of training, I did my first performance at the Liberty Festival in Trafalgar Square, London. I do believe at the training session and the performance, we both exceeded our expectations and achieved a lot more than originally planned. Having had a taste of what it is like to perform and train for circus skills, it feels like there has been a fire lit inside me. I am very excited to train with Cirque Nova, and be that person performing, rather than the person looking in, just watching. I believe that Cirque Nova's work will help change so many peoples' perceptions of people with disabilities. After all if you take the "dis" out of disability, you get ability. Penny Clapcott 3rd July 2008 To Whom It May Concern My son Michael is almost 18 years old, he is very active and enjoys many sports including climbing. He also enjoys performing in front of people and likes an audience! He would thrive being part of a performing arts group that was more active than just a drama group. The reason why he does not currently belong to such a performing group is because he has Down's Syndrome, a severe learning disability and communication difficulties. There are no such opportunities for people like my son. Without such an opportunity his future adult life will be spent in a Day Centre alongside other people with severe learning disabilities. With an opportunity like the one Cirque Nova are trying so hard to establish, my son's life path could be completely different. His life could have a purpose, he could have a reason to get out of bed each day. Cirque Nova have experience of training people with Down's syndrome and other disabilities to become performers. So with the right training my son could become a 'performer' and his life could have real meaning. He could experience self satisfaction and feel good about himself, something that you and I as non disabled people take for granted. Michelle Oates 13th March 2008 Looking at the face of Hope I met Laurence (not his real name) for the first time in Trafalgar Square, where he was taking part in a performance as part of the Liberty disability arts festival in September 2004, in one of many groups of disabled artists. Laurence's group were Amphitheatre of the Arts (Cirque Nova), a small group of HIV positive and negative men who do an aerial circus performance, depicting a story of HIV infection and its consequences, through aerial circus, on ropes and silks. The company gives every appearance of health and strength, as well as mutual support and strong interpersonal bonds. But Laurence was rather different from the others. He is, like them, gay and HIV positive; but he is also Black, severely disabled with cerebral palsy, and spends most of his time in a wheelchair. He is 42 years old. On the day that I met him, his part in the performance was the expression of Hope. At the end of the show, he stood up from his wheelchair and spoke a poem that he had written, ending with the lines, 'Ladies and gentlemen, you are looking at the face of Hope'. Afterwards, as we sat in the sun on the north terrace of the square outside the National Gallery, watching the other performers and waiting to take down the aerial rig, I learned that, although he was born and brought up in Tottenham, just a bus ride from the West End, this was Laurence's first visit to Trafalgar Square. I also learned that until very recently he had had only a basic wheelchair, in which he had struggled to get himself about. His friends in Cirque Nova had helped him to get the electric one which he now has. In spite of this, he had insisted on leaving his parental home and having his own flat. He lives alone. Do not conclude from this that he cannot, after all, be so badly disabled. He is severely affected by cerebral palsy, could not, for instance, wipe away the sweat that poured into his eyes on that hot September afternoon, smokes with a special crooked pipe, struggles to stand and can take only a few steps unaided. His voice is also affected, and it takes patience and care to understand him. This, of course, was exactly what he was granted in Trafalgar Square, where the day was dedicated to performers with disabilities and he was heard with respect, and applauded with appreciation. Since that time, he has worked with his circus friends a lot more. They all work together to maintain their health and fitness. One man, who has hepatitis C, and became, when first diagnosed, skeletal and close to death, now has a strong physique, and takes a role as a roller-skating clown. Another began training on the ropes at the age of 40, and now plays the part of the virus in the show, climbing the silks, hanging from them, and interacting with his fellow performers with great skill. Anyone would assume that he had learned these skills as a youth and had been performing ever since, not that he had learned them in the last couple of years and become proficient as part of a self-prescribed programme to help combat a debilitating disease. Laurence decided that he wanted to take a more active part in the show, and asked to go on the ropes too. The others worked together to help him. They enabled him to hang from the ropes as they did. For the first time in his life, he hung upside down. As a result of regular working out on ropes and silks with his friends in Cirque Nova, Laurence has grown (or, more accurately, stretched out) to add 12 centimeters to his height. He had no idea he was a tall man. In addition, the activity has given him more control over his limbs, and he is increasingly able to operate his electric wheelchair himself. The circus work has increased his strength, reversed his increasing spasticity, and given him greater mobility and autonomy. For Cirque Nova and their director – who is from the 4th generation of a circus family and the inspirational leader and teacher of the group – this is all an exciting extension of what they are aiming to do. Their main purpose in creating and putting on their performance is to show the message about HIV/AIDS and safe sex in an accessible and entertaining manner. In addition to the aerial acts, the performance also includes Kathak dance and floor-based clowning and tumbling. It depicts two relationships – one straight, one gay – infection with the virus, anxiety, ostracism, acceptance, and hope. The message is clearly portrayed with no speech, other than Laurence's poem. In Trafalgar Square, an African who watched it said afterwards, 'If you did that show in Africa, the people would understand. They are used to interpreting non-literary information. They would get the message, and they would wear condoms'. That, of course, is exactly what Cirque Nova would like to do, but they lack funds. |
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There are many messages here, to be taken from this small group of caring individuals: about inclusivity in our own society, here in London, where a disabled child can still grow up deprived of the culture that his able-bodied fellows take for granted; about using physical activities, such as stretching and extending, to prevent physical deterioration and increase mobility and stamina in people who are living with disabling conditions such as cerebral palsy; about the careful use of physical activity to maintain strength and stamina in people living with life-threatening illness; about the possibilities of educating our own young people about safe sex and drug use, using a medium that is accessible and fun; about educating our society to be more open and accepting of people from various minority communities; and, not least, about taking safe sex education to societies in Africa which have a huge burden of HIV/AIDS, using a medium that does not depend either on literacy or the spoken word. The practice of medicine in our society still depends too much on medication alone, tending to keep people in the sick role. Of course these people who are living with life-threatening viruses need to take their drugs, which have transformed their expectations; but drugs alone are not enough. Doctors are playing their part, but they cannot provide everything that people need to make the most of life with a disability. What Cirque Nova shows is that stimulating, imaginative activity is health-giving and life enhancing; and health promotion materials do not always have to be in printed form, either on paper or on a website; for some communities these media are inaccessible, while a story told in circus and dance can speak volumes. By Katherine Darton 12th March 2008 Testimonial Quote: I was very saddened by the recent decision of Arts Council to cut Cirque Nova's funding and feel impelled to write a statement of support for an organisation whose work has affected me. They have enthralled and delighted audiences at the Liberty Festival as well as a host of venues across London and abroad for many years now. I first came across Cirque Nova in some work I did promoting the Arts Council London's Innovate programme a few years ago and was very impressed by the quality of the work from the perspective of the performance and concept behind the work. I felt very strongly that the programme of work relating the subject of AIDs to circus performance was a unique and interesting way of breaking down barriers and reaching new audiences. Jean Marie Akkermann's commitment to building the profile of the company and creating opportunities in an inclusive way, has been unassailable. I hope that the work of this company will emerge in the future. Yours faithfully Colin Hambrook (editor) 29th February 2008 Cirque Nova had a bad result with its application from to Arts Council England, which made also the grant from Awards for All from the Lottery not be paid either, which made us think that all was over, but thankfully some organisations have reached out to help us, all the volunteers have come back to us asking us to keep on going, and so we are. On the 28th of Febraury Jean-Marie was invited to go to the BFI Southbank Cultural Olympiad presentation organisaed by Shape Arts and London Councils, where we were able to confront keith Khan with his word unkpet about helping us, as well as finding many ways of saving our projec economically and get us moving forwards. JM has been asked to write an article about our situation on the Art Disability Culture Magazine, which will hopefully raise our profile. After the event at the Southbank, he had to go to another event, thsi time at the Inner Temple in the city, invited by CRUSAID to find out the new programmes that this organisation is aiming to work at in Africa, at which his Excelleny Prince Seeiso Bereng Seeiso of Lesotho was present to talk about the HIV situation in his country. it gave us a chance to meet Crusaid funders, to which I lost no time in giving our details, to ask to dig into their pockets to help Cirque Nova, so its now a matter to wait and see. We want to Thank the circus Space London for their help by providing us the training space for free over the next few months, also Patricia Calahane 2012 North London co-ordinator and in charge of the Lee Valley Festival, who still in spite of all our worries continues to support us, as well as Colin Hambrook (editor) - Dada South (Disability Arts Development Agency) and Disability Arts. and a special thank you to Bradely Hemmings director of the Greenwich Festival for his support and guidance. Also thank you to our volunteer Maria Oshodi director of Extant visually impaired artists organisation for pushing me to continue and getting me to put my act together and for getting me invited me to the BFI Southbank Cultural Olympiad event, which has lead to many new solutions. We are currently re-aplying to Arts Council England, Awards for All and appealing our application to London Councils, as well as applying to the new programme of funding from Shape Arts, that has a fund of £5k for Street Arts projects. The programme of training may be able to start shortly with the same group of volunteers. We have also been approached by HIV/AIDS Orphans charity foundation (HAOCF) in Kenya, who would like us to provide a project of circus skills education to their orphans, so that they can perform around keny and internationally to raise awareness of the difficulties of Stigmatisation when living with HIV or from beeing an HIV orphan. We will seek ideas for funding and visit the orphanage to try and see what can be achieved, once the p[olitical situation has calmed down in that country. 20th November 2007 Cirque Nova arranged a first meeting with the volunteers of the project and with the Executive Producer of Done and Dusted TV production company, to see if our project is interesting enough for them to film a TV report about it, to seel to some of the larger British channels. This meeting was at the South Bank Centre in London, where we were invited by Kinetika to see what their work is like and to see what the nature of our collaboration will be in the future The group at the moment is these people:
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