Summer 2005

Our Mission:
Circus Day Foundation/Circus Harmony
teaches the art of life through circus education. We work to build character and expand community for youth of all ages, cultures, abilities and backgrounds. Through the teaching and performance of circus arts, we help people defy gravity, soar with confidence, and leap over social barriers, all at the same time. We also help make circus an accessible and lively performing art form for the whole St. Louis metro area.

Circus Day Foundation/Circus Harmony is an organization focused on Social Circus programs. We use circus arts to inspire individuals and connect communities. We are the only organization in St. Louis active and dedicated to circus arts year 'round. Circus Day has received local and national recognition for its work using circus arts to build bridges between communities. Learning circus skills improves one’s strength, coordination and flexibility. Learning circus builds character in the individual participants as they develop life skills like goal setting, persistence and focus. Learning circus with others teaches trust, responsibility and teamwork. When the others are from different backgrounds, everyone’s sense of community is expanded.

You can donate online via the secure server.

News from the Circus Day Foundation / Circus Harmony

GET OUR HEARTS TO SAN FRANCISCO

Arches The St. Louis Arches have been invited to appear at the Third Bi-annual American Youth Circus Festival.

This year, the Festival runs from August 24-28 in San Francisco. BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP TO GET THERE! The trip (with plane fare, food, lodging and Festival costs) is about $750 per child. YOU can sponsor a young circus performer for the trip of a lifetime! While they are in San Francisco, the Arches will meet youth circus performers from around the world. They will be able to take circus skills workshops with some of the best teachers in the country. And they will perform in the gala American Youth Circus Festival Show. For more information on the Festival, visit: www.americanyouthcircus.org.

Why not consider joining us? The Festival is truly inspirational for participants and audience alike. Flying the Flying Children!

If you would like to sponsor a child (or even part of a child!), please make your check payable to Circus Day Foundation, write AYCO Festival in the memo portion of the check and send it a.s.a.p. to:

Circus Day Foundation

3340 Oxford Avenue

St. Louis, MO 63143

SPREAD THE WORD!

Circus Day Foundation is very much a grass roots organization. Please help us by telling others about us. Let people know they can join the circus and still be home in time for dinner by taking circus classes, buying the CD, becoming a donor, sponsoring an Arch to go to AYCO, recommending us for a corporate or Foundation grant, coming to see a show or letting Oprah know she should come and cover us!

Flying the Flying Children

We are also looking for an airline that would be willing to fly our flying children to San Francisco.

If you have any friends at an airline, please let us know—and tell them what a great commercial the Arches could make!

Letter from the Artistic / Executive Director:

Jessica and students.

Ladeez and Gentlemen,

We are now, in the center and only ring, presenting amazing acts of athletic ability and captivatingly courageous creativity! It’s working! The young people who are learning circus skills are becoming true artists. They are taking the skills we teach and present these acts in Youth Circus Showcases, almost every day of the week, at City Museum You MUST come see them. They will knock your socks off, even if you’re not wearing socks! Our Social Circus work is multifold here. collaborating in dazzling duos, tremendous trios and quality quartets to create wonderful acts in a variety of circus genres. They are choosing costumes, music and choreographing the acts themselves. We

We are inspiring individuals and connecting communities. In addition, we are creating a community amongst our youth circus performers. The kids are from very different backgrounds and have varying abilities. The circus has brought them together.

The impact they have on each other and the audience is remarkable. And it is YOU who make this possible. These children are really FLYING! Thank you for giving them wings. Come see them soar!

Circusfully,
Jessica Hentoff

WELCOME WIESE!

We’re not joshin’ when we say we welcome Wiese— Josh Wiese that is!

Josh is our new Development Manager. He comes to us after honing his management skills at St. Louis University and Center of Creative Arts.

Josh is also a marathon runner and a gourmet chef. If you have any leads on foundations, corporations or individuals who would like to support us teaching the art of life through circus education, please call Josh at 314436-7676 and let him know!

St. Louis Arches

The St. Louis Arches, our advanced youth circus performers, continue to grow as artists, and many are creating their own acts for our Youth Circus Showcases.

Several of the Arches can now juggle 5 balls, quite a few have perfected twisting somersaults, and two are working on double somersaults! They are looking forward to going to San Francisco for the American Youth Circus Festival in August and in July will be travelling to Atlanta, Georgia for a special engagement.

Casa Volando Circus

Casa Volando literally translates as “Home Flying.” This troupe consists entirely of homeschoolers. They are chosen from the talented students who come and take our Circus Arts for Homeschoolers. Our Homeschool Circus Class is scheduled to meet on Wednesdays from 1:30-3:00 PM.
3 kids with unicycles

Circus Sublime

Circus Sublime is our troupe dedicated to juggling and object manipulation. They are currently seeking new members: How about you?

Circus Sublime practices Saturdays from 5-6 at City Museum. If you can already juggle and are interested in performing, please contact us at 314-436-7676 to see about becoming part of this delightful and dexterous ensemble.

Patchwork Circus

The Patchwork Circus grew out of our first Circus Partnership Project, Circus Salaam Shalom, which connected Muslim and Jewish children. This group now includes kids from a variety of backgrounds.

The Patchwork Circus are our beginner and intermediate Performers and this Spring they performed every Saturday at City Museum for enthusiastic crowds.

Some Patchworkers have become regulars in our Youth Circus Showcases and several are part of our big Circus Harmony show.

Passing The Torch

We do handsprings for Harmony. Others promote it in a different way. May 12, members of the World Harmony Run came to visit Circus Harmony! The World Harmony Run is a global relay, seeking to strengthen international friendship and understanding. As a symbol of harmony, runners carry a flaming torch, passing it from hand to hand amongst members of thousands of local communities, on a route spanning 70 nations, 7 continents and 40,000 miles. pass the torch

The international team of runners who visited City Museum watched our young circus performers juggle, tumble and fly through the air. In their honor, we did a special torch juggling routine! We also did a mini-relay with them where we they passed their torch to us outside of City Museum. Then we all went out for a delicious dinner at Cummell’s Café, which is owned and operated by Janese Henry, one of our circus teachers.

The World Harmony Run is organized by the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team, the world’s largest organizer of ultra- distance races. Sri Chinmoy, founder of the World Harmony Run, is an athlete, philosopher and humanitarian who believes that sport is a powerful instrument for promoting global harmony.

YOUR PLACE OR OURS?

Bring a circus teacher to your location! This year, we’ve taught circus arts for: Center of Creative Arts, Epworth Children’s Center, Viva Vox Arts Mentoring Program, PAKT Community Center, Old Bonhomme Elementary School, Circus Flora’s Community Circus Camp, Jewish Community Center and others. We have also done juggling as a team-building activity for different companies.

Some schools and organizations, like the College School and the Girl Scouts, prefer to come take classes with us at our City Museum location. Even Boeing came to City Museum and had some of their employees learn to juggle! Rent the circus ring at City Museum for your next gathering and let us entertain or teach you and we promise to make your day a Circus Day! The circus ring makes a great dance floor, too!

PURCHASE A CIRCUS HARMONY CD!
Enjoy marvelous, multi-cultural music that is used in Circus Harmony performances

We are proud to have some of the best musicians in St. Louis as our Circus Harmony musical partners:
Farshid Soltanshahi, Sandy Weltman, St. Louis Osuwa Taiko, Xiaoyu Yan and the St. Louis Community Circus Band all grace our Circus Harmony CD. It is great music to dance to, meditate to, clean house to and, well, just about anything you an think of! It is an excitingly eclectic collection of music. When you buy this CD, you not only get fantastic music only available here, your purchase also supports our youth circus programs! Downlaod and print out the order form in the pdf version of this newsletter, or order online on our secure server.
Please, tell your friends about this unique CD. It also makes a great gift for anyone for any occasion! Why not stock up early this year for the Holidays and Give the Gift of Harmony! Just $15 each with $4 postage and handling.
WISH LIST

We are looking for Circus Angels to donate or to help us purchase:
Triangle Trapeze ($500)
Rigging Hardware (cables, shackles, a gift certificate to Home Depot would be great)
Circus costumes (old dance recital costumes would work)
Circus props (where’s that old unicycle you gave up trying to ride?)
Lockers (for circus students to put their belongings in)
Trunks (to store and transport equipment)
Graphics help (for flyers and brochures)
Video editing help (to make a promotional dvd)
Office supplies like ink, paper, pens and stamps (for all the paperwork!)
Printing Gift Certificates (we make a lot of copies!)
A Trailer (if you happen to have a travel or utility trailer hanging around that you don’t need, we’d be happy to take it off your hands: the ones we have are old and falling apart)
A good video camera, video cassettes and blank video tapes
Snacks (if you are coming to see us at City Museum, feel free to feed the Arches—they are always hungry!)
Carpenter(s) willing to lend their time and expertise to some projects in our circus school at City Museum

Call us at 314.436.7676 to donate anything!

WHO YA GONNA CALL?

Numerous groups called upon the Arches this year to add joy and excitement to their special events. The Arches appeared at The Blanche Touhill Center of the Performing Arts for Citibank, America’s Convention Center for Charter Cable, the Omni Hilton for Junior Achievement, the Ram’s Dome for the Angel Tree Project, Sheldon Concert Hall for Viva Vox and at Union Station for the Final Four’s March to the Arch, to name just a few of their engagements this year. You can have the Arches come and make your event special by calling 314-436-7676. They are certainly St. Louis’ bounciest ambassadors and are a joy to watch for people of all ages and backgrounds.

Campin’ Out

3 trapeze We’re campin’ all over town! Circus Day Foundation is spending the summer doing summer camps for the Jewish Community Center, Circus Flora, Center of Creative Arts’ main, Visitation and Urban Arts sites. We are also holding our own prestigious Circus Performance Camps at City Museum. At our Circus in the City camps, students not only learn circus arts but also get to perform them in our circus ring for a real audience. We offer Circus Performance Camps in Basic Circus Skills, Aerial Artistry and Just Juggling.

You can see the schedule at www.circusday.org or all 314-436-7676 for more information.

IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO SIGN UP FOR CIRCUS CAMP!

You can run away and join the circus—and still be home in time for dinner!

ARCHES BLOOM AT CIRCUS FLORA

Once again, the St. Louis Arches were a big hit as they performed with St. Louis’ own Circus Flora, “the magical theater in a sawdust ring.”
It is an honor and a tremendous privilege for the Arches to perform alongside of professional circus stars like the world- famous Flying Wallendas, Sacha Pavlata and Katja Schumann.
Even in such illustrious company, St. Louis Post-Dispatch reviewer, Bob Wilcox, said: “My favorites, though, remain the St. Louis Arches, the troupe of 5-to 14 year-old children whose fast-paced gymnastics, tightly organized by Jessica Hentoff, amaze and delight.”
KWMU’s Joe Pollack said “the Arches are to be cheered for”.
The Circus Flora audience is always very vocal in its admiration of its hometown heroes. Hope you got a chance to see the Arches shine in that ring.

Two-High Club Passing at Laumeier Sculpture Park CLASSES! NEWS! ORDER CDs! DONATE!
VISIT WWW.CIRCUSDAY.ORG
Visit circusday.org to view our
FALL CLASS SCHEDULE
All levels, all ages, even adults! Maybe you’ll be our next star?
Times don’t work for you?
Call for a custom-class for 5 or more.
Classes run just $15 for 1 1/2 hours!
Classes Start Sept. 5th

CIRCUS IN THE CITY ON-GOING CLASSES

We also have ongoing circus classes for ages 4 through adult, on the weekends at City Museum. Our Beginner Children’s Class meets Saturdays from 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM, Intermediate Children’s Class is 2- 3:30 PM and our new circus skills for adults class is 3:30 - 5:00 PM. On Sundays, we offer Family Juggling from 11:30 - 1:00 PM. The family that juggles together overcomes struggles together—or something like that! It’s a great hobby for the whole family.

City Circus Cabaret

We are very proud of our talented teachers. In addition to teaching, they are also all performers of circus arts. It is their turn in the spotlight, after dark! Come see them practice what they preach and teach, on Saturday nights at 8 and 10 PM.

Though the City Circus Cabaret shows are geared to adults (and alcohol is served), it is also rated acceptable for all audiences.

AERIAL ARTIST COMES TO ROOST

Carrie Heller, author of the The Aerial Circus Training and Safety Manual, is spending her summer with us in St. Louis.

She will be leading our Aerial Artistry Performance camps the month of July, at City Museum. There are still openings in the camps for aspiring aerialists of any age. The camps meet for one week sessions, each week in July. The cost is $300 per week or $250 if you take all four weeks. The cost of the camp includes a copy of Carrie’s comprehensive manual. The only requirement is a sincere interest in Aerial Arts. Other Performance Camps include Just Juggling and Basic Circus Arts.

Come let your spirit and your body fly with us!

OUR STUDENTS CARDED!

lift el-aire Our students are being carded—but not because of their age, because they are inspirational!

Photographer Jeane Vogel has designed a series of note cards with photos of the Arches accompanied by the art of life their actions represent: like ‘Harmony’, ‘Balance’, ‘Focus’ and ‘Courage’. handstand

The cards are available at individually $5 for one or $52 for the full set of lucky 13. These beautiful, bountiful balancing and full color, high quality, all-occasion cards are a great way to other sensational circus send a smile and support our work at the same time.

YOUTH CIRCUS SHOWCASES

All summer long, we will be featuring Youth Circus Showcases in the circus area on the third floor of City Museum.

Members from our different circus camps and classes will amaze and amuse you with their fabulous flying, marvelous manual manipulations, bountiful balancing and other sensational circus skills.

In most of July and August, weekday shows are at 12, 1 and 2:00 PM and weekend shows are at 2 and 3:00 PM. We hope you will come and see the astounding achievements of our astute students.

When school starts, you can catch our flying children Saturdays at 1, 2 & 3:00 PM and Sundays at 2 & 3:00 PM.
CIRCUS HARMONY: Fortissimo!

The next edition of Circus Harmony will take place at City Museum on Sat., Nov. 19th, with shows at 2 and 7 p.m. If you are not on our mailing list (check the mailing panel above to see if there is label with your name on it), call 314-436-7676 or email circusday@everydaycircus.net to be put on the list.
Our supporters will get first chance at purchasing tickets for this wondrous confluence of music and circus arts. This year’s edition is titled Fortissimo—loud and strong— and adds African drumming and tap dancing to the show! If you saw our first production, you know how magical it is. If you missed it, you won’t believe how powerful it is to watch children fly to music from other cultures. Between the afternoon and evening performances, there will be an awesome auction to help raise funds to support our social circus programs. We are currently accepting donations of auction items.
Admission to the auction is free with your ticket to see
Circus Harmony: Fortissimo!
Our biggest, best show of the year!
DON'T MISS IT!

Thanks to You!

Circus Day Foundation/ Circus Harmony is a 501(c)3 organization. We rely on community support in addition to the revenue we get from teaching circus arts. We would like to thank our donors—Regional Arts Commission, Dana Brown Charitable Trust, Missouri Arts Council, Cardinals Care, DCA Family Foundation, American Youth Circus Organization, Cirque Du Soleil, Ameren UE, May Company Foundation, Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus, Alan Slifka Foundation, City Museum, everydaycircus and the many individual donors who help make our work possible! Don�ɬɈǬɈɬǈǬ��ɬɈǬǈɬǈǬĈɬɈǬǈɬǈǬ�t forget, now you can donate online at www.circusday.org. We truly value and need your support!

We Live in the City

Although our mailing address is 3340 Oxford Ave, St. Louis, MO. 63143, we really live in the City— the City Museum, our headquarters since our inception. City Museum is our home and we are very grateful to Bob Cassilly, Elizabeth Parker, Carol Laciny and everyone at City Museum. This is a remarkable venue for us. City Museum gives us a built-in audience. It’s the perfect home for us and City Museum patrons show their appreciation by their enthusiastic response to our shows there. Come visit City Museum, where we make every day a Circus Day!

Circus Day Foundation / Circus Harmony

3340 Oxford Avenue
St. Louis, Missouri 63143

Phone: 314.436.7676
Email: circusday@everydaycircus.net

2005 Donors
Regional Arts Commission
Dana Brown Charitable Trust

		Alan Slifka Foundation
American Youth Circus Organization