Social Circus
Outreach, Every Body's Circus, and Therapeutic Circus Arts
Social Circus Overview
SANCA Social Circus is dedicated to cultivating powerful personal and social transformation through educational programs, performance and the therapeutic process. Founded on the core values of the Social Circus movement–community, empowerment and play–SANCA Social Circus is committed to establishing long-term relationships with individuals and communities.
Circus arts provide non-competitive, individual and team activities with a range of creative, physical, and social experiences for youth. Our programs aim to empower youth by promoting trust and cooperation among peers, increasing self-esteem, improving concentration, and developing physical literacy.
Funding for this program is provided
in part by the following sponsors:
What is Social Circus?
“Social Circus is the application of instructional and cooperative techniques from the world of circus arts to help accelerate desired outcomes in youth development, therapeutic or community development settings.”
– From American Circus Educators Association
“Social Circus is an innovative social intervention approach based on the circus arts. It targets various at-risk groups living in precarious personal and social situations, including street or detained youth and women survivors of violence. In this approach, the primary goal is not to learn the circus arts, but rather to assist with participants’ personal and social development by nurturing their self-esteem and trust in others, as well as by helping them to acquire social skills, become active citizens, express their creativity and realize their potential. Social Circus is a powerful catalyst for creating social change because it helps marginalized individuals assume their place within a community and enrich that community with their talents.”
– From Cirque du Soleil
Every Body's Circus
SANCA’s Every Body’s Circus (EBC) program offers individual lessons, group lessons, classes with inclusion, and camps that benefit children and adults with the following needs from specially trained coaches who are supervised by a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist/Play Therapist. Every Body’s Circus (EBC) provides a flexible, individualized approach to group and one-on instruction that enable youth to develop physical and social interaction skills.
Social Circus Staff
The coaches and administration that work together to bring the joy of circus to everyone, regardless of abilities or financial means.
“In my five years at SYM, I have rarely seen a group return so excited — it made me wish I had been able to join them. The thing that I valued most in observing the group return was the opportunity for staff and youth alike to have such a fun experience together with equal footing. We find that it is these types of opportunities that build relationships, break down walls and provide opportunities to bond. When these relationships are formed, we are better able to provide individualized resource and assistance that can better help young people gain stability. We will definitely be returning with groups to SANCA!”
– Kate Phillips, Program Director, Street Youth Ministries
Ben VanHouten
