Circus Tricks: The Animated Series!
‘Circus Tricks!’ is a Circus Inspired Music & Drama Project created by DIY Theatre Company’s Passing the Baton Groups.
Supported by The National Lottery Community Fund, Passing the Baton* is for young people with learning disabilities aged 10 – 30 years. Thanks to original funding from Salford CVS, we were able to visit The Lowry to watch Circus 1903 in November 2019. This really inspired us and the Young Leaders became busy learning all about the Circus! This helped us to develop our ideas, and thanks to additional funding from Youth Music, we have worked with a range of professional circus artists and musicians to develop our skills.
Thinking back to the day when we had the idea and had to do the presentation to Salford CVS for the Circus Tricks! funding, I never ever thought the project would be so amazing!” (Charlotte, Young Leader)
Originally created as a piece of promenade theatre aimed at children and young people with learning disabilities ‘Circus Tricks!’ has had to adapt to suit the needs of Lockdown. We stayed connected and creative through Zoom, telephone calls and postal packs. We continued to work with musicians Sarah Atter and Andrea Vogler and animators Rachel McMahon & Sam Walters to adapt Circus Tricks into . . .
. . . Circus Tricks: The Animated Series!
This series of short, animated films is based on the original characters, music activities and scenes created by our Young Leaders. Alongside our Activity Pack and Supporting Videos, there are hours of music, drama and craft activities to keep you busy. You can join in the circus fun and make some noise with objects you can find around the house!
To enjoy Circus Tricks, please head to our Circus Tricks Resource Page
I am just so overwhelmed! I’m really happy with how it’s turned out” (Scott, Young Leader)
In November 2020 Circus Tricks! was launched at our two partner schools; Chatsworth High School & Springwood Primary School where it was shared with over 50 young people. Participating schools also had the opportunity to offer students a Discover Arts Award, achievable through the Circus Tricks Project. For more information on Discover Arts Award please visit our Arts Award Section.
Circus Tricks! has changed a lot since our original plan, and although we were all really disappointed when our performance was cancelled in March 2020 due to Covid-19, we are thrilled with what has been created instead! The use of animation has opened up lots of new ways for us to be creative, explore voice and audio recordings and think about connecting with audiences in lots of different ways.
*Passing the Baton was DIY’s dedicated youth arts programme that worked with children and young people with learning disabilities from 2019-22. It was funded by the National Lottery Community Fund.
DIY Theatre continues to work with children and young people with a learning disability. Learning from the Passing the Baton Project has been fed into other work such as Gamechangers and Leading Edge. Have a look around this website to see what we are currently offering or email us at diytheatre@gmail.com