>>PREVIEW
THE TRICKSTER PROJECT
Runs until May 26
Calgary International Children’s Festival
Olympic Plaza
The Trickster Project
Andrea Campbell
Mythological tricksters take the form of a spirit who defies the order of the natural world and uses prankish antics to communicate a deeper truth. From Loki, the Norse god of mischief, to the pointy-toed court jester of the 15th cCcentury, to Kaggen, an African trickster god, all cultures share the idea of an elvishelfish being whothat brings together two worlds or two ideas through his playful trickery.
At this year’s Calgary International Children’s Festival, artistic director Kate Newby taps into the notion of using play as a method for imparting knowledge. She uses modern-day trickery – --the circus arts – --to combine education and rambunctiousness, bringing together at-risk--youth with professional artists. During a discussion with a Calgary Board of Education Aboriginal lLiaison early last year, Newby brought up her idea for a children’s circus act camp, and the idea for The Trickster Project was born.
After Newby found her target group of at-risk-youth in the community of the K-9 Piitoayis Family School – --an Aboriginal learning community located in Colonel Walker School – --she set out to plan the framework of the camp. In March of 2006, Newby visited Winnipeg, Manitoba for a tour of the Circus and Magic Partnership (C.A.M.P.), a community-based initiative put on by the Winnipeg International Children’s Festival. Newby worked with Dean Bareham and Stacy Clark, two Calgary-based stilts and trapeze artists, respectively, to develop The Trickster Project. Bareham and Clark both work outside of the Children’s Festival as well, travelling underwith the Green Fools Theatre Company to Northern B.C., Nunavut, and the south of Africa to reach "youth-at-risk,", and they both jumped at the chance to bring the program to Alberta. Newby enlisted Bareham and Clark to deliver the elements of cultural diversity, community interaction, and circus atmosphere to the CICF. While the two mostly work with First Nations youth, they focus less specifically on First Nations’ identity and more on encouraging confidence, respect, and trust in the kids with whom they collaborate.
"We let ([the students)] know that the world of circus and theatre is based entirely upon respect: for each other, and for your gear," explains Clark. "Some of these skills are actually dangerous, and it requires teamwork. Tk, and they have to learn to depend upon one another and trust one another. We go in with that motto, which we articulate and repeat a lot during the week, and it’s quite extraordinary how quickly kids learn things when they’re given that sort of dedicated time to it, and attention. The reason this program is so successful is that they come out recognizing in themselves their ability to learn new skills,, and they are very proud of themselves. They get a lot of recognition from the people who watch the shows who are totally impressed. Td, and there’s self-esteem building that goes on."
The Trickster Project encompasses grades five through nine at Piitoayis. On May 14th, this past Monday morning, eight artists came into the school and put on a performance, with the dual purpose of showing off their skills and teaching the students how to be an audience. After watching Lee Zimmerman perform puppetry, Annie Dugan twirl her hoops, Ron Pearson work his magic, Phil LeConte and Colin Franks juggle, Sandy Northrup ride her unicyleunicycle, Randall Fraser walk on his stilts, and Bareham and Judith Mendelsohn clown around, the kids chose their two favourite skills, and have spent the rest of the week learning and developing their abilities. Working with about 100 students, Bareham and Clark expect 100 per cent% participation.
"Usually when the kids know the circus is in town the attendance improves," Clark smiles. "We’ve brought in all of the people we know who are terrific performers, but also terrific instructors who have experience with a diverse group of kids. There’s a palpable difference [in some of the kids at the end of the week] – --it’s just extraordinary. It’d be nice to say that happened for every kid, but that’s never the case. Some absolutely take to it more than others."
Each of the artists views their participation as the gift of opportunity to a kid who otherwise might not have one. Bareham and Clark travel to locales as varied as Beren’s River, Manitoba and Pitseng, Africa, and they maintain that their message is the same, regardless of location. Whether on a reservation where the children are malnourished because a pop and a bag of chips costs less than a sandwich, or in the south of Africa where half the kids have HIV, or in downtown Calgary where their students deal with the mounting social and economic pressures of Calgary’s inner city and the reservations around it, the instructors at the camp teach respect and trust within the community and within the camp, no matter what exterior problems exist. And while they don’t touch every kid every time, they make enough of a difference that they do it all over again in the next town, the next reservation and, the next continent.
"All those other kinds of things are stripped away, and that’s something that’s important to us as well, because we don’t want it to be about the ‘poor me’ syndrome, or the disadvantaged youth," explains Clark. "It’s about all the potential that these kids actually do have, and tapping into that, and making it known that that’s the ingredient that people are seeing on stage, not the fact that they’re Aboriginal. What we want them to see isare kids who developed these terrific skills. These camps are about building a sense of community, a sense of kinship with other people."
The Trickster Project aims not only to bring a connective experience to this community, but to create a performance piece for the Festival that allows the child audience to see kids their own age succeeding at skills they’ve learned in only one week. The teachers and students showcase the outcome of their workshops at the Festival, when each day, a class will come down and give a demonstration performance, variety style, at Olympic Plaza. The Trickster Project, in the eyes of Newby, Clark, and Bareham, is less about any one particular cultural experience and more about kids watching kids, and more importantly, the general public watching circus performers.
"It’s very supportive, it’s all about teamwork," Bareham says. "We’re all working for the same goal, and if one of us fails, we all fail. I acclaim to the notion of respect, this circle of respect – --we always start in a circle, we end in a circle, we set up a notion that this is a sacred thing. You should respect it, but at the same time, enjoy, have fun."
The artists involved in The Trickster Project understand the power of learning a skill or a piece of knowledge and then presenting it to the community at large. Integrating discipline with playfulness shows that what appears to be two ends of a spectrum might instead be two sides of the same coin.
"When you accomplish something and you get to show it to your whole community, it’s a life-affirming event that locks with you, that you remember forever," asserts Bareham. "It makes you remember that notion of play and accomplishment."
The Trickster Project
Andrea Campbell
A mythological trickster takes the form of a god or a spirit who defies the order of the natural world and uses prankish antics to communicate a deeper truth. From Loki, the Norse god of mischief, to the court jester of the 15th century, to Kaggen, an African trickster god, all cultures share the idea of a elvish being who brings together two classes, two ideas, two worlds through his playful trickery.
At this year’s Calgary International Children’s Festival, artistic director Kate Newby seeks to combine education and rambunctiousness by bringing together at-risk-youth with teachers of modern-day trickery: the circus arts. Newby enlisted Dean Bareham and Stacy Clark of Green Fools Theatre to bring those elements of cultural diversity, community interaction, and circus atmosphere to the CICF.
During a discussion with a Calgary Board of Education Aboriginal Liaison, Newby brought up her idea for a children’s circus act camp, and the idea for The Trickster Project was born. After Newby found the target group of at-risk-youth in the community of the K-9 Piitoayis Family School, an Aboriginal learning community located in Colonel Walker School, she set out to discover the framework of the camp. In March of 2006, Newby visited Winnipeg, Manitoba for a tour of the Circus and Magic Partnership (C.A.M.P.), a community-based initiative put on by the Winnipeg International Children’s Festival, where Bareham and Clark, both participated as stilts and trapeze artists, respectively. They both jumped at the chance to integrate the program they have seen work so well in Manitoba into Alberta. Bareham and Clark both work outside of the Children’s Festivals as well, traveling to Northern BC, Nunavut, and South Africa to reach "youth-at-risk". While they mostly work with First Nations people, they focus less on First Nations’ identity and more on encouraging confidence, respect, and trust in the kids with whom they collaborate.
"We let them know that the world of circus and theatre is based entirely upon respect, for each other, for your gear," explains Clark. "Some of these skills are actually dangerous, and it requires teamwork, and they have to learn to depend upon one another and trust one another. We go in with that motto, which we articulate and repeat a lot during the week, and it’s quite extraordinary how quickly kids learn things when they’re given that sort of dedicated time to it, and attention. The reason this program is so successful is that they come out recognizing in themselves their ability to learn new skills, and they are very proud of themselves, they get a lot of recognition from the people who watch the shows who are totally impressed, and there’s self-esteem building that goes on."
The Trickster Project encompasses grades five through nine at Piitoayis. On May 14th, this past Monday morning, eight artists came into the school and performed for the kids, both showing off their skills and teaching the students how to be an audience. After watching Lee Zimmerman perform puppetry, Annie Dugan twirl her hoops, Ron Pearson work his magic, Phil LeConte and Colin Franks juggle, Sand Northrup ride her unicyle, Randall Fraser walk on his stilts, and Bareham and Judith Mendelsohn clown around, the kids chose their two favourite skills, and spend the rest of the week learning and developing their abilities. Working with about 100 kids, Bareham and Clark expect 100% participation from the students.
"Usually when the kids know the circus is in town the attendance improves," Clark smiles. "We’ve brought in all of the people we know who are terrific performers, but also terrific instructors who have experience with a diverse group of kids."
Each of the artists sees their contribution as the gift of an opportunity to a kid who otherwise might not have one. Bareham and Clark travel under Green Fools Theatre to locales as varied as Beren’s River, Manitoba and Pitseng, Africa. Whether on a reservation where kids are malnourished because a pop and a bag of chips costs less than a sandwich, or in the south of Africa where half the kids have HIV, or in downtown Calgary where kids deal with the mounting pressures of Calgary’s urban existence, the teachers at the camp maintain that their message is the same. And while they don’t touch every kid every time, they make enough of a difference that they do it all over again in the next town, the next reservation, the next continent.
"All those other kinds of things are stripped away, and that’s something that’s important to us as well, because we don’t want it to be about the ‘poor me’ syndrome, or the disadvantaged youth," explains Bareham. "It’s about all the potential that these kids actually do have, and tapping into that, and making it known that that’s the ingredient that people are seeing on stage, not the fact that they’re Aboriginal. What we want them to see is kids who developed these terrific skills. These camps are about building a sense of community, a sense of kinship with other people."
The Trickster Project aims not only to bring a life-affirming experience to this community, but to create a performance piece for the Festival that allows the audience to see kids their own age succeeding at skills they’ve learned in only one week. The teachers and students showcase the outcome of their workshopping at the Festival, when each day, a class will come down and give a demonstration performance, variety style, at Olympic Plaza. The Trickster Project, in the eyes of Newby, Clark, and Bareham, is less about any one particular cultural experience and more about kids watching kids, and more importantly, the general public watching circus performers.
"Through games, through that kind of work, it’s very supportive, it’s all about teamwork, we’re all working for the same goal, if one of us fails, we all fail. I acclaim to the notion of respect, this circle of respect. We always start in a circle, we end in a circle, we set up a notion that this is a sacred thing. You should respect it, but at the same time, enjoy, have fun." |
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