To receive the newsletter, register on the main page of the site (on the right bottom corner or email info@enc.qc.ca
Summary
Our graduate shine!
Dynamic recruting efforts
The 2012 Annual Shows: The Directors take the ring
Our graduate make the leap
Headlining in Montreal and Paris
Research and innovation in circus arts
FEDEC internship in Montreal
Foundation Annual Campaign
Benefit-Evening
Annual Report
News Briefs
National Circus School graduates recently took top honours at prestigious festivals. At the 33e Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain on January 29 in Paris, two duos of graduates were awarded gold medals: Ugo Dario and Maxim Laurin (2011) for their Korean board number, and Héloïse Bourgeois and William Underwood (2005) for the Chinese pole act created by the 7 fingers. The winners also garnered a host of other special prizes! (see press release). Several other awards were won last fall by our students at SOLyCIRCO Festival and Festival du Val d’Oise...(more)
Dynamic recruting efforts
Last fall, for the second consecutive year a national Pre-Selection tour was held and attracted 400 aspiring young circus artists from 19 towns and cities across Canada. In this way they were able to begin the process towards the Entrance Examinations and possible admission to the School's programs. The objective is to make the Entrance Examination more accessible to young Canadians in their own communities. For the official Entrance Examination, the School also held European auditions in Paris and, for South America, in Buenos Aires. Registrations for the annual national auditions in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal have reached record numbers for the 2012-2013 school year.
The School would like to thank all the venues that hosted the Entrance Exams in Canada and abroad.
Annual Shows 2012: The Directors take the ring
The School recently announced the names of the creators who will direct the year-end shows presented by advanced students. Circus artist and School graduate Anthony Venisse (2001) will create one of the two shows to be performed at Tohu in Montreal from May 29 to June 10. He will be assisted by Manuel Roque (2000). In charge of the other show is Canadian choreographer Sharon Moore, who in 2007 created a work for the Creation and Exploration Workshop. She will be assisted by Howard Richard, the School’s director of creation. The two shows will be presented in alternating performances, with tickets on sale as of mid-April at the Tohu box office. (more)
All 21 of the young people who completed a higher education at the School in June 2011 have found employment as professional circus artists. The vital Quebec circus scene and its appetite for well-rounded, versatile circus artists that have mastered their respective disciplines means that 86% who left our doors were recruited by Canadian producers. The majority were employed by the three major Montreal circuses: The 7 Fingers, Cirque Éloize and Cirque du Soleil.
Headlining in Montreal and Paris
The end of 2011 and early 2012 saw a rich and varied circus show season in both Montreal and Paris. And a striking number of School graduates appeared on the playbills of these shows. In Montreal, there were Rain by Cirque Éloize, Ha Ha Ha by Okidok, and Dralion from Cirque du Soleil. International tours by four Canadian circus companies were exceptionally well received in Paris: The 7 Fingers presented La Vie and Psy at Parc de la Villette, Cirque du Soleil performed Corteo at Boulogne-Billancourt, ID by Cirque Éloize was onstage at Théâtre National de Chaillot and Jamie Adkins performed Circus Incognitus at the Théâtre de la Cité Internationale.
Reserach and innovation in circus arts
Industry Canada, a federal ministry, on November 25 announced it was awarding the National Circus School an Innovation Enhancement Grant from the College and Community Innovation Program of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. This grant will enable the School to develop new partnerships in applied research and innovation in the circus arts. (more)
From March 19 to 24, the National Circus School will host the next international pedagogical exchange module of the European Federation of Professional Circus Schools (FEDEC), of which the School is an active member. More than 20 masters of the discipline from 11 different professional schools in 8 countries will participate. A true symposium in circus arts education, the module will culminate in the publication of an aerial straps handbook.
-Creation and Exploration Workshop 2011: Close to 1,500 spectators attended three performances of Berceuses tristes et autres monstres (Sad Lullabies and Other Monsters) in October at Tohu. Montreal choreographer Tony Chong directed, while five graduating students and one graduate of the School took part. Both the research workshop and resulting work were made possible with the support of the Banff Centre in Alberta and Tohu.
-Video clips capture the School in action: Video vignettes of the School and its programs were broadcast on the web. They can be found on the School's website and Facebook page. The first clips are part of a video project that will continue throughout the school year.
Benefit-Evening