Tag Archives: circus arts

Finding Your Authentic Self in Circus [An interview with Fafa]

Faeble Kievman, visited SANCA in 2016, joining la Famiglia Gentile in the Artist in Residency program. After finishing a tour with Lewis and Clark Circus, Faeble returned to Seattle to perform their juggling-clown opera, “Carman,” at this year’s Moisture Festival. Infusing traditional and contemporary clown with Chinese jar juggling and other circus skills, Faeble has a unique clowning style. First introduced to clowning through a social circus and the Circus Center in San Francisco, Faeble has performed internationally as well as co-founded their own circus company, “Cirque en Deroute.” 

 

Faeble Kievman’s love of laughter promo. 

When did you discover you wanted to be a clown?

“As a child, I was by myself a lot, so I found this side of me that was very comedic. My grandfather was a story teller and a very funny character; I learned a lot from him. Really, I’ve been clowning my whole life, it’s not like you have to be a funny person to be a clown. If you lived with me, you’d be like this guy’s boring. He’s always got some deep thought process he’s going through.”

Their decision to truly dedicate their life to the pursuit of clowning came after their mother and sister were in a tragic accident in which it wasn’t clear if they would pull through.

At the time Faeble heard about the accident, they were at a spiritual gathering, with other self-identifying “radical queer faeries”. When Faeble returned from the gathering, they learned of the accident and returned to the space of the gathering to pray for them. Eventually, their mother and sister did make a recovery, but Faeble’s sister was left paraplegic.

I realized at that moment that I had a call to continue to make people laugh; that was my path. I wanted to do something that my sister wouldn’t be able to do again. I wanted to carry on with my path in doing clowning in honor of my sister. So there was a lot of tragedy that happened that brought me into doing it. I do believe that without tragedy there is no comedy.

What did you do after deciding to become a professional clown?

I went to school at the [San Francisco] Circus Center. After graduating I created my own clown trio, Cirque en Deroute. We toured around the world for three and a half years, going to circus festivals all over the world like Melbourne [Australia], France, China, Eastern Europe, Central America, and with Le Cirque Starlight in Switzerland. I ended up getting together with my partner and me and my company split up. Since then I’ve worked with Circus Bella (we went to Japan, but mostly stay in the bay area), worked at Zoppe [Circus] as a strong man, and performed with Acrobatic Conundrum in their shows in Seattle.

You’ve been called a philosophical clown, can you share a little bit more about that?

My philosophy [around clowning] is about acceptance. Acceptance of stupidity, of character defects. Acceptance of nature, of reality of the environment around you. So you can actually recognize the themes that are around you, what is happening in the moment. There is an energy between me and the audience, and that energy can be a magic portal. [I] can do almost anything on stage. If I can feel that energy in the audience, that’s everything.”

“…There is this idea of what you think you are, what people see you as, and then what you actually are. Laughter is produced by what you truly are and by what people see you as, but not by what you see yourself as. Being a clown is about being authentic and true to yourself.”

What does being authentic and true to yourself mean to you? 

When I first went to Circus Center, I identified as a trans woman. There’s a reason a lot of trans and queer people make good clowns. Because you understand what it is like to be invisible to the world and still embrace who we are. Which can enable us to be very good clowns on stage. But at the same time, the queer community, just as in the straight world, has its own social paradigm, which can inhibit us as well from being a great clown.

“There is one exercise in clowning where you adopt some kind of gesture as someone else counts off. The numbers go from 1 to 100, and as the numbers go up, you change your gesture to show more and more who you are”: – Essentially exaggerating the expression you originally adopt.

“So we were doing this exercise and I took on a gesture of what I thought felt really natural to me, this really feminine gesture. My hips are out and I’m snapping my fingers. As the numbers go up, I start snapping like crazy, really snapping waving around my hands around, like a bat outta hell. I thought if you had seen this on TV or something it was so ridiculous it would be hilarious. Well, it was dead silent. No one is laughing. This guy yells ‘STOP! STOP! YOU’RE NOT FUNNY! You do realize that no one is laughing right?’ I thought, yes of course I realize that, it is pretty obvious. And he says ‘Look, I know what that gesture means, I know that maybe you felt like it is a gesture that you feel represents you. And in some certain social context, it may work. But in the world at large, it reads as you playing something that is not you.’

“…I was taken aback from that. And it took me a minute to think, ok, maybe that isn’t really funny. For me, what I realized was that I wasn’t being honest. I wasn’t being me. I was being something I thought I should be, which was a huge breakthrough in my life.

“So, I’m thinking of something else to do and for some reason the first song I ever wrote comes to mind. I started choking up as I’m trying to sing it and the guy starts yelling ‘SAY THE SONG!’ I am crying at this point, and he goes ‘you can cry, but say the song! Now do the same thing again, but this time say the song and laugh’. Meanwhile, I’m still crying, in tears. So I start saying the song, and I’m crying.

“…and everyone starts DYING of laughter!

“It was funny, because of the depth, and the emotion was real. It was authentic. It was who I was, and I couldn’t be anything else but that.

“People start laughing, and I get excited and start to perform the song.

“So he yells ‘STOP! STOP! You had it! And then you started PERFORMING.’

“In that moment, I just realized that I wasn’t a woman. It was the first time I realized that and at the same time I was not a man. I was not a man. I am both. I am all of the things…. So I started discovering that when I start accepting who I am, when I can actually accept who I am…THEN I can start to be funny. THEN I can start clowning.”

How did that discovery influence your persona on stage? 

Eventually you want to get to a place that you want to accept the parts that are ridiculous about yourself. Me as a man, I feel uncomfortable in my skin, which made me feel like I was a woman. But that uncomfortability is the very thing we need. In some countries, ego is funny. But for me, when I embarrass myself on stage, that is when I can get to the good clowning; when I am vulnerable.

Any advice to share for beginning clowns?

“I always recommend to people who want to do clowning, go out and street-perform. Once you can get people to stop on the street as a clown, you can do that anywhere. On the street, anything can happen, whereas on stage people are stuck in their seat. But when you’re on the street you have the magic of chaos. A pelican can swoop the hat off your head, or someone could throw something at you, someone can come and start picking a fight with you. Anything can happen. You learn to embrace chaos. You learn to embrace the unknown, the unexpected.”

Thank you Faeble! Have a great drive back to the bay area!

Faeble will soon be leaving their home in Pacifica, CA to perform their one-person clown show in China, and they will also perform with the YiKamen Bros in the Gong Show this May. This Summer they will be featured in Comedy and Common Thread for a show at the Krystallpalast Varieté Leipzig.

Good luck Faeble! We look forward to your next visit at SANCA!

When You Know You’re Strong – Circus Strong!

Make your End-of-Year Gift for SANCA’s Youth Scholarship Fund today!

One of the most amazing things about circus is that it empowers Every Body.

Julaine in the middle! Performing a 3-high during “Acro-Biographies: Flipping the Page.” (2017) – photo by John Cornicello

Whether building confidence, overcoming fears, or becoming stronger in mind and body, it’s that moment of “I DID IT!” that circus provides which can transform a life.

Julaine Hall knows this better than most. You’ve probably seen Julaine on stage in a Cirrus Circus show – maybe as recently as this fall for “Acro-Biographies: Flipping the Page.” At 13 years old, she’s one of the stars of Cirrus Circus, and was invited to perform at Teatro ZinZanni’s fall 2016 family matinee shows. When she’s not on stage, then she’s working hard, practicing and rehearsing at SANCA at least five days a week on her Chinese Pole act and other circus skills.

Some of her other favorite apparatus include corde lisse, static trapeze, and aerial straps. If you know circus, then you know these all require a lot of strength! Julaine enjoys the challenges these circus apparatus give her and she says, “I may not have been born the most flexible, but I feel like my body is built for more strength based skills and acts.”

Being circus strong is a great foundation for fitness, for performance, and for life. As Julaine looks toward her future, she hopes to one day attend École de cirque de Québec – the circus training center in Quebec City and to launch a professional career in circus performance.

Julaine hangs out during “Acro-Biographies: Flipping the Page.” (2017) – photo by John Cornicello

“I think about circus all the time. It’s a lot of my life.”

Performing on Chinese Pole during “Up, with a Twist.” (2017) – photo by John Cornicello.

But that’s not all! Julaine is also thinking about what comes after performance, and she’s inspired by SANCA’s resident doctor of physical therapy, Emily Scherb – who was also a circus artist. Like Emily, Julaine wants to balance her performing career with the knowledge and skill to carry forward in the circus community as a caretaker and physical therapist. With a unique understanding of the challenges and demands that circus and performance place upon the body, she’ll be able to give back to the circus community even after she retires from performance.

Julaine’s success in circus and her ambitions for her future career might not have been possible without the support of SANCA’s Youth Scholarship Fund. Julaine was able to access the fund at a time when her family was dealing with expensive medical costs, and she didn’t have to give up on her passion for circus. Her commitment and achievements speak to how vital SANCA’s scholarship fund is to providing access to all youth in our community.

You can support our Youth Scholarship Fund by making a gift during our end-of-year campaign. No amount is too small, every contribution will make a difference for youth like Julaine who are discovering through circus that they are strong!

Social Circus: Community, Empowerment, & Play

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Article by Ian Jagel,
Social Circus Director

 

There is power in circus.

It is an invaluable experience for the children in our shelter and transitional housing program to have a fun, active, invigorating field trip. The moms in our program are extremely stressed out and overwhelmed with court dates, housing appointments, food banks, parenting plans … the list seemingly never ends. As much as they wish they could provide fun activities for their children, it often isn’t realistic in times of crisis. The field trips to SANCA provide an extremely necessary outlet for the kids’ energy, [and their] desire to connect with safe adults and to try new things. [The] kids had such a sense of pride and accomplishment after they went on the flying trapeze. While a sense of accomplishment is important for every child, it is especially important for kids in our program who have been severely traumatized. Oftentimes, they were around violent or unsupportive parental figures who made them feel like nothing they did was good enough, severely impacting their sense of worth and autonomy. This active, supportive, positive environment was extremely impactful on our community’s most vulnerable children. Thank you so much for your skilled instructor’s support, encouragement, and above all for this opportunity. We cannot thank you enough!
—Kayla Blau, Children’s Advocate, Broadview Shelter & Transitional Housing Program

Ian Jagel works with a group of teens from Refugee Women's Alliance (ReWA).

Ian Jagel works with a group of teens from Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA).

Yesterday’s class was AWESOME! The kids were really into it, and they all seem excited to move forward … The physical aspect of circus is what appeals to most of the kids. The [performance] aspect is much more scary, and it’s the part that I really hope we can get them excited about, since that’s where this program has the potential to be truly transformative … The great thing about this program is that words are supplementary and the body is the primary site of expression, which puts these kids on a different footing than they’re used to.
      — Deepa Bhandaru, Lead Teacher and Program Coordinator, Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA)

The feedback from Kayla Blau and Deepa Bhandaru illustrates the transformative power of circus. It is an honor to work with the youth from the Broadview Shelter and ReWA here at SANCA — the circus school with the most regularly enrolled students in the United States. At SANCA we have a unique and exciting opportunity to be leader in the world of circus arts education and part of the Social Circus movement.

Social Circus is an innovative social intervention approach that uses circus arts to assist with participants’ personal and social development by nurturing their self-esteem, and help them to build trust in others, 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. In nearly every country in the world, Social Circus programs are developing innovative, multi-disciplinary approaches to positively impact those most at-risk in their communities. Initially a grassroots movement, Social Circus is now a global network.

At SANCA we’re looking to circus programs across the world for connection with the global circus community and asking, “What is the most compelling work being done in circus education? What approaches are most effective in manifesting personal and collective transformation through circus arts? Who can benefit?”

Youth from ReWA learn to juggle and pass rings.

Youth from ReWA learn to juggle and pass rings.

The more we ask, the more we realize that SANCA is already a leader. We are exploring new approaches to the Social Circus movement. Recently, the American Circus Educators (ACE) organization recognized SANCA in their new network of national Social Circus programs that meet the needs of at-risk populations and address social issues such as social isolation, the impact of trauma and violence, and the lack of access to arts and cultural activity.

As we connect with the broader world community of Social Circus, we’re busy cultivating relationships locally. You don’t need to go across the world to find refugees, trauma survivors, or homeless youth — they are all right here in Seattle. We know because SANCA works with hundreds of these kids every year. You’ll see SANCA coaches teaching regular circus classes in community centers and public schools in the Delridge, South Park, Rainier Valley, and Beacon Hill neighborhoods. In these community programs, we’re emphasizing youth development, social inclusion, and physical play. This spring, we’re expanding our ongoing partnerships with more classes and adding Garfield Community Center as a new partner.

Teens from the Refugee Women's Alliance learn to work together balancing and sharing body weight in preparation for acrobatics.

Teens from ReWA learn to work together balancing and sharing body weight in preparation for acrobatics.

Another new partner, the Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA), is nearing the end of their first session and the participants are collectively developing a culminating performance to share with family and friends. We’re already looking forward to more classes with them this summer.

SANCA’s Every Body’s Circus program is also growing with several new students enrolled. Guided by SANCA coach and licensed Social Worker Alex Daves, we now offer individual and group therapy using circus as a therapeutic medium. To give you an idea of the extraordinary level of commitment to this work, every SANCA employee — about 70 of us — have become certified under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). That’s a $5,000 investment to ensure the privacy and security of individuals participating in the EBC program. SANCA is united behind this work.

This is only the beginning — there are countless unexplored avenues of circus transformation. Looking forward, we will expand our therapeutic and outreach work with adults, strengthen our connections with current students, and discover new communities interested in the benefits of circus arts.

SANCA is more than a school — it’s a community made rich by our broad cross-section of students. Thank you for making SANCA the wonderful community that it is!