FIND A WORKSHOP

FIND A WORKSHOP

Arts of the Cirkus

Explore the Magic of the Big Top

Register
July 07, 2013 – July 12, 2013
Location:
Rhinebeck, NY
Course:
SM13-2805-531
Teacher:
Stephanie Monseu, Keith Nelson
Tuition:
$425
SM13-2805-531Stephanie Monseu, Keith Nelson,
Description

This workshop is part of our annual Arts Week celebration, a creative experience unlike any other. Immerse yourself in this class each morning, and then choose from among a variety of unique community arts projects in the afternoons. Learn more about Arts Week—and join the fun! 

This Arts Week workshop is eligible for Tiered Pricing.

Run away and join the circus—at Omega! Circus skills are a wonderful tool for expression and can be a powerful metaphor for finding balance in life, strengthening inner reserves, and discovering the beauty and humor in challenges.

Join Bindlestiff Family Cirkus cofounders and workshop leaders, Stephanie Monseu and Keith Nelson, as they guide you through a combination of physical discipline, circus skills development, inventive character acting, and the physicalization of ideas through movement.

You explore creative expression and body awareness through circus skills, clowning, and theater games. You also learn and practice basic disciplines of the big top and the vaudeville stage—including juggling, prop manipulation, stilt walking, tight wire, acro-balance, and clowning techniques—and discover your secret “cirkus self.”

This workshop is designed for people who are fit and active with an intermediate level of strength and flexibility. Some activities are suitable for those with mobility challenges.

Join this Arts Week event on Facebook.


More Information

Required reading: Burgess, Circus Techniques.

Faculty also recommends you read the following books in preparation for the course:

  •  No Applause -Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous by Trav S.D.
  •  The New American Circus by Ernest Albrecht
  •  The Contemporary Circus: Art of the Spectacular by Ernest Albrecht
  •  American Sideshow: An Encyclopedia of History’s Most Wondrous and Curiously Strange Performers by Marc Hartzman

 Additionally, please carefully read the waiver attached and bring a signed copy with you on the first day of the course.

Tiered Pricing

At Omega, we believe that the benefits of a holistic education should be available to everyone. We also recognize that what is affordable for some will not be for all. We are now offering Tiered Pricing* on select programs to help meet the varying financial needs of our community.

On programs where Tiered Pricing is available, select the price that is appropriate for you. This program works on an honor system. Keep in mind that the highest price reflects the cost of the workshop and allows Omega to sustain itself, whereas the lower prices cover only a portion of those costs.

Tier 1: $425 (Register as you normally would for this pricing.)
This is the true cost of your workshop. Choosing this price helps Omega continue to retain world-class teachers and sustain classroom facilities.

Tier 2: $350 (Enter TIER 2 in the Promotional Code Box when you register.)
This is our partially subsidized price for those with temporary or minor financial need.

Tier 3: $275 (Enter TIER 3 in the Promotional Code Box when you register.)
This is our heavily subsidized price for those in need of deeper financial assistance.

*Tiered Pricing is subject to change and cannot be combined with other discounts.

EXAMPLE from a registration page:

Things to Bring:

Bring clothing that facilitates movement and ballet slippers, moccasins with a thin leather sole, clean sneakers with a flat bottom and thin rubber sole, or acrobatics shoes.

Schedule
Sunday
4:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m.Check In (Rooms available after 5:00 p.m.)
8:00 p.m-10:00 p.m.Opening Ceremony 
 
Monday
9:00 a.m.–NoonWorkshop
2:30 p.m.–5:00 p.m.Community Collaborative Arts Project
8:00 p.m-10:00 p.m.Evening Entertainment 
 
Tuesday
9:00 a.m.–NoonWorkshop
2:30 p.m.–5:00 p.m.Community Collaborative Arts Project
8:00 p.m-10:00 p.m.Evening Entertainment 
 
 
Wednesday
9:00 a.m.–NoonWorkshop
2:30 p.m.–5:00 p.m.Community Collaborative Arts Project
8:00 p.m-10:00 p.m.Evening Entertainment 
 
 
Thursday
9:00 a.m.–NoonWorkshop
2:30 p.m.–5:00 p.m.Community Collaborative Arts Project
8:00 p.m-10:00 p.m.Evening Entertainment 
 
 
Friday
9:00 a.m.–11:00 a.m.Workshop
11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.Closing Ceremony
Teachers
Keith Nelson and Stephanie Monseu

Stephanie Monseu is a professional "variety artist" and veteran ringmaster for events and circuses, whose specialties include stilt walking, acrobalance on rolla bolla and globe, and high-wire motorcycle stunts and aerial acts. Over the past 20 years, her Bindlestiff Family Cirkus has come to represent a uniquely hybridized style, weaving threads of American vaudeville, circus, sideshow, and burlesque together with an underground sensibility and sophisticated worldview. bindlestiff.org

Keith Nelson and Stephanie Monseu

Keith Nelson is a professional "variety artist" and veteran ringmaster for events and circuses, who is is widely respected in the international juggling community as a master of manipulative miscellanea, especially in the tradition of the "gentleman juggler." Over the past 20 years, his Bindlestiff Family Cirkus has come to represent a uniquely hybridized style, weaving threads of American vaudeville, circus, sideshow, and burlesque together with an underground sensibility and sophisticated worldview. bindlestiff.org

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