Author Archives: John Tannous

New Classes in Fall Session

For Fall 2021, SANCA is expanding with new classes and some returning favorites that haven’t been around since before the pandemic. Come explore and grow with us!

Intro to Unicycle, Thursdays 5:30pm

Who needs two wheels when you can ride around on one? Unicycle coaches will tailor their instruction to the skill level of each student, ensuring maximum individual progress. This class will help beginners gain the body control and muscle memory they need to ride a unicycle. This class will add to the intermediate/advanced student’s preexisting skills, refine their technique, and provide instruction for more intricate tricks. With Coach Julaine. Click to register.

Dance Improvisation, Wednesdays 7:30pm

Circus is a movement-based art form where, often, music is used to enhance performances and telling stories. To help with the development of an individual’s story and style, we offer a dance class. This class will be based on African diasporic dance forms. As we progress, you will be encouraged to incorporate your own musical taste and individuality with your movement. Ultimately, we hope this class will help with finding how you express yourself with movement and music and how you can use that in group or solo work. With Coach Tania. Click to register.

Jazz Dance, Fridays 7:00pm

Jazz Dance is a performance dance style with roots in African-American styles that arose with Jazz music. It has since been adopted in Western culture to incorporate elements of Ballet and Musical Theatre. In this class, we will investigate the fundamentals of Jazz movement and build sequences based on this classic dance style. This beginner level class is great for beginners to learn new moves and for advanced practitioners to work on technique and precision. This class is designed to be a fun and active way for all dance enthusiasts to get moving! With Coach Laura. Click to register.

Youth Tricking, Sundays 3:00pm or Thursdays 6:30pm

Foundational introduction to tricking takeoffs, set-ups, and shape variations for both vertical (upright) and inverted acrobatic tricks. Students will use the sprung floor, tumble track, and mats to practice the skill appropriate kicking, flipping, and twisting acrobatic tricks and combinations. With Coach Jared. Click to register for Sunday or click to register for Thursday.

Also check out Adult Tricking, Thursdays 7:30pm.

Adult Circus Intensive, Tuesdays 6:00pm

A 2-hour long version of Adult Circus in which we will dive deeper into each circus skill, allowing more opportunity to progress. Instruction will adapt to each student’s skill level to ensure everyone is challenged and learning. With Coach Velibor. Click to register.

Flying Trapeze Conditioning, Fridays 6:00pm

This class is designed to increase the strength of our Flying Trapeze students! Join Coach Lukas for an hour of strength training, combining body-weight and weight-based exercises, to take your flying to higher heights! Click to register.

Flying Trapeze Swing Intensive, Fridays 5:00pm

Are you ready to take your swing to higher heights? Join coaches Lukas and Paul as they break down the mechanics and physics in order to help students understand the ways to increase the efficiency of their flying trapeze swing. Click to register.

Pay Per Flight, Fridays 6:00pm

Kick your weekend off with our Pay-Per-Flight Friday Night! This is a great way to try flying trapeze for the first time or have some additional time each week to practice your skills. The $10 registration fee covers your first turn on the flying trapeze and each additional turn you take is an additional $5. Advanced registration for each participant is required because space is limited each week. Click to register.

Circus Buddies – Classes for Ages 2-3 Years Old

Circus Buddies is for our youngest students and their favorite grownups! Students will participate with an adult in this class to focus on physical, behavioral, and social development. Our Circus Buddies class is designed to help increase sense of balance, coordination, physical awareness and spatial orientation all while acclimating our students to following directions and participating in a group environment.

Click to register: Mondays at 11:00am
Click to register: Wednesdays at 11:00am

Kid Circus – Classes for Ages 4-5 Years Old

Kid Circus 1 is a general circus class that allows those ages 4-5 to try all that circus has to offer! Students will focus on building their sense of balance, coordination, physical awareness, and spatial orientation in conjunction with developing mental acuity and problem-solving skills. SANCA’s general circus classes start with a warm-up and then move on to working on age-appropriate circus skills in a few disciplines per week, including trampoline, tumbling, static trapeze, aerial rope, tightwire, aerial fabric, rolling globe, juggling, and more. Students will develop physical skills, increase confidence, and build self-esteem while having fun.

Click to register: Mondays at 11:00am
Click to register: Wednesdays at 11:00am

And that’s not all! There are so many other new and exciting classes at SANCA this fall. A new Lyra Jam, Trampoline Jam, Juggling, and much more. Check out our full listing of classes here.

After School Circus Club

After School Circus Club is a fantastic opportunity for children aged 6 to 12 to get their social interaction & physical activity immediately after school. Every weekday afternoon, Monday through Thursday, starts with some group games and activities. Students will then explore a rotation of different circus activities, including: tumbling, trampoline, aerial arts, juggling, tightwire, and more!

It’s like camp for the afternoon!

Circus Club is scheduled 3:30pm-5:00pm Monday through Thursday each week. If you can’t get here right at 3:30, don’t worry! Your student will be welcome when you can arrive.

Here are the links to register for each of the Circus Club days:

Mondays
Tuesdays
Wednesdays
Thursdays

Anti-Racism Work at SANCA

Tania Nambo-Escobar

In April 2020, SANCA formally created the IDEA (Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism) Committee to establish and implement strategies to ensure that SANCA reflects its community and serves all people regardless of background, identity, and socioeconomic status.

This page, and the plan listed below, serves that effort by providing transparency about SANCA’s IDEA efforts with supporters, staff, and students, as well as with the larger Seattle and King County communities it represents. SANCA recognizes that we are just beginning this work. There is a considerable amount of work to do to unseat policies, practices, and systems that uphold white supremacy.

Manjit Golden

Further, this page is not meant to applaud SANCA for tackling this work or exist as a performative gesture. Instead, the effort is meant to point to the fact that SANCA is behind the curve in addressing systemic racism in its operations and needs to take appropriate action. That work cannot be taken on rapidly and needs careful consideration and planning. This page expresses our beginning effort so that SANCA is transparent and open with its constituents about the journey we are undertaking.

Check out the Anti-Racist Book Club! This (online) space is set up for education for white people by white people to relieve Black and Brown community members (often femmes) of the exhaustive labor of education. However, all are welcome to join! We will meet monthly to learn from readings, think critically about our actions in our own lives, and find ways to start or continue to support Black people in the circus community and in all aspects of life. This is a space for learning, come as you are and with a mindset of growth. Register here.

The IDEA Committee is co-Chaired by Manjit Golden and Tania Nambo-Escobar. Other Team members include Lily Baumgart, Alyssa Hellrung, Megan Strawn, Emma Cady, Octavia Graham, Trevor Asbury, Jasmine Manuel, John Tannous, Amber Parker, and Sam Vasquez.

If you would like to provide input on this plan or if you are interested in joining the IDEA Committee, please contact co-Chairs, Manjit Golden and Tania Nambo-Escobar.

This plan has been approved by the SANCA Board of Directors as of October 2020.

Governor Inslee Orders Gyms to Close

Dear SANCA Community:

Last night, Governor Inslee announced that he will order all restaurants, bars and entertainment and recreational facilities to close until March 31, 2020. The order states: “Restaurants, bars, dance halls, clubs, theaters, health and fitness clubs, and other similar indoor social or recreational venues must cease operations until March 31, 2020.” Obviously, this includes SANCA.

The order will be signed Monday, March 16.

Unfortunately, SANCA will go dark for the remainder of the month. No private lessons or training will be allowed in the facility, beginning immediately. If you had plans to train this week or next, I’m sorry but you will not be able to train at SANCA until April.

We will have an update and announcement later this week in regards to Spring session. Check our Spring Session class schedule.

Obviously, this closure will impact SANCA’s ability to support itself and its staff and artists. If you wish to make a donation to support SANCA at this time, please visit our website to donate online. Thank you!

Amazon Smile is another great way to support SANCA! If you are ordering items for delivery during this outbreak, you can help SANCA by using this link: Amazon Smile

Thank you for your support of SANCA and please stay safe!

Cheers,
John Tannous
Executive Director