The Association for the Development of Circus Arts in Israel
February 2005 Newsletter
by David Berry

Dear Friends,

Many exciting things have been buzzing at the Israel Circus School (ICS) over the past few months and it is now time to reveal some of them to you.

Circus Center Action

We have been operating in our new Circus Center for about six months. The twice-weekly “Circus Day” is very popular with the youngsters that get to develop a range of challenging circus skills all in one afternoon of fun activity. The basic class is acrobatics however there is plenty of time to try stilt walking and juggling, not to mention trapeze, trampoline and rope – all guided by professional teachers with experienced assistants on hand. There is an exciting atmosphere in the Center that has three year olds in a one-hour play group, intermediate classes and more serious older students that do a full four-hour afternoon program. Our Circus Center now attracts a lot of curious attention from local residents, serious students from elsewhere in Israel, international supporters and some guest artists from abroad. Another growing activity is our training for young adults, some hoping to become local professionals and some dreaming of joining an advanced European Circus School.

The Children's Circus

Friday afternoons are dedicated to the Children’s Circus activity and the production of “Aladdin”. Rehearsals for this new show have entered a regular working rhythm and we are developing acrobatic, acting and dance sequences with an original associated musical score. Twenty young people from the Israel Circus School and Circus Maghar are strengthening their working relationship and focusing their efforts to create an artistic presentation that will stand at any venue. The Children’s Festival of Haifa will show the production of Aladdin in their main hall for two days at the beginning of the Festival on the 25th and 26th of April 2005. After this, the Children’s Circus will be at the 12th Israeli Juggling Convention and we also plan to present the show to a broader public in Israel.

Special Workshops

The Circus School has given its first professional in-house workshop to a group of young dancers from the Ben-Tzvi High School from Tel-Aviv. The Arts enrichment program gave 45 students workshops in Acrobatics, Dance, Clowning and Juggling over an intensive two days. Students and teachers of the High School where impressed with what they learnt and enjoyed the friendly atmosphere and staff of our Circus Center. We at the Israel Circus School very much enjoy this direction in the work and see it as a way to offer quality assistance to Dance and Drama students studying for their exams in the performing Arts.

The following letter came from Yael Grinwald, who is the head of the Dance Department at the Ben-Tzvi High School, in response to the workshop that the ICS ran for her students.

“Dear David and all staff,

I want to thank you on behalf of all our students and teachers for giving us a wonderful time and wonderful experience during the two days we have stayed with you. The whole program was full and fulfilling, and was organized very well. All of the "madrichim" (Teachers) that work with you extend lots of love and patience.

I'm very glad that I had the opportunity of meeting you and your team.

Thank you again.

Best regards.
Yael” 6/2/05

Development of the Circus Center Building

The Circus Center is in the renovated old Community Hall of the village of Kefar Yehoshua and the village council is continuing to bring the 1940's building back to its former glory.
The recent restoration of the columns surrounding the lawn at the entrance to the Hall and the repair of the outside toilets has gone a long way to improving both the service and appearance of the public building. While the community of Kefar Yehoshua has received grants and donations over the past two years to restore the building, further repairs and public support are needed to finish the work so that it can be used for large public events.

Donations and Development

The Association for the Development of Circus Arts in Israel has received significant donations over the past two years, especially from our friends in England. These donations have been used to equip our Circus Center with essential training equipment for use by students of the Circus School. This year we have acquired a trampoline, trapeze, spring floor and mattresses and the students have shown a significant improvement in their skills as a result of using this equipment. Thanks to the donations we have been able to purchase paint and other materials to restore the training hall and repair the stage area. Unfortunately we are still lacking funds to repair and upgrade the hall and stage lighting. Our sound system for the stage has been patched together and is workable but needs improvement for public events.
We have funds to purchase and install stage curtains, but they must meet public safety standards and therefore be treated with fire retardant – which will be an unexpected expensive job. We apologize to the donors for fulfilling most but not all our promises at this time and hope to find a way in the near future to complete our tasks.

Annual General Meeting, 2005

The next Annual General Meeting of our parent "Association for the Development of Circus Arts in Israel" will be held in a few weeks time, and we invite all interested people to come and join us in creating a Circus School of excellence. The exact date of the meeting will be announced shortly.

All the best to all of you,

David Berry (Artistic Director of I.C.S)
Association for the Development of Circus Arts in Israel
Registered Non-Profit Organization in Israel: Number 58-039-562-2
P.O. Box 216, Kefar Yehoshua, 30063, Israel
Tel: +972 4 9532856 Fax: + 972 4 9833425 E-mail: israelcircusschool@hotmail.com