social circus

Social Circus Yangon 2015-16

An exciting initiative is underway to create a sustainable social circus project in Yangon. The Serious Fun Committee has launched this initiative following the positive response to the International Juggling Festival which we staged in Yangon in February 2015 in partnership with the Smile Education & Development Foundation.

Social Circus Yangon uses circus skills training to engage and empower at-risk youth and people living in marginalized circumstances by improving self-worth, confidence, cooperation, hope and leadership potential.

Circus skills workshops

Serious Fun trainer Mr Jules is back in Yangon from December 2015 to  March 2016 to train the children’s juggling teams and work with new groups, as well as build the skills of local trainers in order to increase capacity for a sustainable locally-led social circus organization.

Regular circus skills workshops are held with teams from:

Thanlyin Boys Training Centre

Karen Hostel Insein

S4SK (Scholarships for Street Kids) this time in Mingaladon

Eden Centre for Disabled Children

Helping Hands, Yangon

Circus4All

Jules is helping Serious Fun volunteer Julien Ariza with training for Circus4All which was created by participants in our 2015 training of trainers week with adaptive circus specialist Thomas Hinz for people working with children and adults living with a disability.

circus4all

 

Social Circus Yangon 2015-2016 highlights:

December 3, 2015 – A performance by Circus4All to celebrate the UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

February 13, 2016 – Day of Fun workshops and presentations bringing the Yangon circus teams together for the first time.

day of fun 2016

 

April 2, 2016 – International Social Circus day event. Public workshops and demonstration. ASCA_Logos

 

Get involved

Thanks to all the people who are supporting the project.  Visit the Get Involved page if you would like to help make this happen.

Follow the action

Photos and updates are on Facebook  Serious Fun in Yangon and Circus4all

Twitter: @circusyangon

 

About Social Circus

Social circus groups have developed in many countries over the past 10 years. Well-established groups in the region include Red Nose Foundation (Indonesia) and Phare Ponleu Selpak (Cambodia), whose young teams amazed crowds with their inspiring performances during the juggling festival in Yangon. The world-renowned Cirque du Soleil has developed a social circus arm, Cirque du Monde, which supports and encourages social circus activities internationally.  Serious Fun Yangon is taking part in global activities for  Social Circus Day on April 2.

 

 

Social Circus Yangon

Our project in Myanmar

We’ve just launched a campaign in support of our Social Circus project in Yangon 2015-2016, with Serious Fun trainer Jules Howarth back in Myanmar to take the circus teams there to the next level.

Jules has been running weekly workshops in communities around the city since December. He’s reporting impressive progress from our keen and talented young circus teams at Thanlyin Boys’ Training Center, the kids at the Karen hostel in Taung Thu Gone, Scholarships For Streetkids in Mingaladon, Helping Hands, and the kids at Eden Center for Disabled Children in Insein.

Jules is doing shows with Circus4All Yangon which developed from a training of trainers project we set up for people working with disabled children and adults last May. After a week’s training with adaptive circus specialist Thomas Hinz, the participants decided to form their own circus. The troupe has continued training with Julian Ariza, a Serious Fun volunteer and genius with the buu-geng amongst other props.

Why Social Circus?

These activities are part of a social circus project tailored to the unique conditions in Yangon.  Social Circus makes the skills of circus accessible and inspires and develops the personal skills of those taking part. There’s a growing international social circus network, using circus to engage and empower people, particularly children and youth from marginalized and vulnerable communities, across the globe.

Get Involved

We believe the Yangon circus teams are doing something special and are worth supporting. The next step is to bring them all together on Children’s Day, February 13, for workshops, rehearsals and presentations. We can’t wait to see what they do when they all get together.

Our crowdfunding campaign has just launched to raise funds for prop-making, transport, translators, food and drinks for the circum teams and crew. Please support our project by sharing this with your friends and liking us on Serious Fun in Yangon

Social Circus Yangon
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Jude Smith Burma Myanmar