Step with Care and Great Tact, and Remember That Life’s a Great Balancing Act ~ Dr. Seuss

BY Richard Gonet | North Forty News

There were no elephants or lion tamers at the Student Showcase of the Fort Collins Circus Center, which was held at the Embassy Suites in Loveland on March 23, 2024.

The performances were more akin to what one would see at the Cirque du Soleil, combining gymnastic, dance, and acrobatic skills into a program of artistic stunts that were enhanced by dramatic lighting and colorful choreography. This year’s show was titled A Seussical Earth and it portrayed the beauties of our planet and its environmental issues through the whimsical and colorful style of Dr.

Seuss. Performers displayed their talents on the floor and on aerial silks and hoops suspended from the ceiling.

This show was a production of the Fort Collins Circus Center, a school for circus arts and skills. Begun in a small studio in a quiet office park near the Larimer County government complex, the Circus Center has grown to occupy an entire building. Colorful floor mats, wall art, padded gymnastic equipment, poles, silks, mirrors, hoops, and unicycles fill the clean and neat training spaces, and youth of all ages are engaged in learning gymnastic circus skills.

Activities taught at the center include gymnastics, strength training, dance, tumbling, and acrobatics, with motion on the floor and in the air on poles, silks, and hoops. Performers include jugglers and fire performers, hula hoopers, stilt walkers, acrobats, face painters, and twisters. Students create themes and scripts for their shows and design their costumes, props, and lighting.

Some students will eventually move on to careers in the circus world, perhaps to a circus academy like the New England Center for Circus Arts, and eventually to a performing troupe like Cirque du Soleil. Others will perform at events, private parties, special events, weddings, birthdays, commercial events, and cruise ships. Performers have done stage shows, entertained at outdoor shows at places such as the Lyric Theater, and at one event, members poured champagne for guests while hanging in large hoops suspended from the ceiling.

Students not only learn specialized circus skills but gain strength, balance, coordination, endurance. The creation of shows gives them an outlet for artistic creativity and a means of self expression. Working together teaches them the value of teamwork, while mastering individual skills fosters a sense of self confidence and individuality. And on top of it all, they are having a ball.

Recently the Center hosted a week’s intensive program for students from the Polaris Expeditionary Learning School. Working six hours a day for one week, students created a four-scene program. Students wrote the script, designed the choreography, made the costumes and props, mastered the circus apparatus and skills, and performed the show at the end of the week.

The co-owners of the Circus Center, Jessica Schultz and Lindy Zuroski, each have long resumes of performing, training, and teaching experience in circus skills. One is immediately struck by their energy and enthusiasm, so it is no wonder that they are able to inspire the young people who come to the Center. Also on hand to instruct students in particular skills is a roster of accomplished professional performers and teachers.

Performers at the Circus Center are available for entertainment at all kinds of events and occasions. Contact the Circus Center for aerialists, LED & fire performers, stilt walkers, jugglers, hula hoopers, acrobats, face painters, and twisters.

You can learn more about the Fort Collins Circus Center by going to fortcollinscircus.com on the internet.