"Circus Skills Have it All" by Jason Catanzarita

Ask a Physical Education teacher to list the characteristics of a good activity and you might get something like this:

Fun.
Active, but not competitive.
Fun!
Challenging, but engaging.
FUN!!!

Circus skills all of these things with the added bonus of being novel, and teachable at all levels.

While ball and scarf juggling have been mainstays of PE for years, more and more teachers are discovering the value of a wider spectrum of circus skills. Devil sticks, spinning plates, diabolos, nesting cups, feather balancing, unicycling, and stilt walking are all finding places in the modern PE programs.

Teachers are sometimes reluctant to present skills in which they are not proficient. But don’t despair — with just a little preparation you can give your students a great experience. One teacher of my acquaintance has a circus club where her students ride unicycles, juggle with partners, and juggle 4 and 5 balls — but she can’t keep three scarves going herself. She may not be great at the skills herself, but she sure has a way of teaching them!

Teaching juggling is a great way to begin incorporating circus skills in your program. Buy a gross of scarves, and scrounge up a few tennis balls and you’re all set. And since there are many activities to do with scarves and balls besides juggling, the equipment is highly cost effective.

Start your primary-age students on scarves, and explore the possibilities of juggling. There’s no rule saying juggling has to be with three objects, so let them experiment and make up tricks and moves with just one or two scarves. Try juggling in circles to the left and right, or throwing under the leg or behind the back, or catching the scarves on different body parts.

Have kids in grades 4 and up begin juggling with two balls. They should try to throw them in an "X" that reaches about two feet above their heads. Throw one ball up, wait until it reaches the top, and then throw the other so they cross in the air. They don’t need to keep throwing — two throws are all you need, and with some practice they’ll even start catching them! When comfortable with the X, have them try three balls. The secret is to throw all three in the X pattern, one ball at a time, EVEN IF YOU DROP THEM. I always tell my students that if you don’t throw them, you definitely won’t catch them. So you may as well get them all out of your hands and hope for the best.

Once they have had a few days of ball juggling, I then let the older kids try with scarves, using the same techniques. I find that if I start them on scarves, the balls seem very fast and frustrating. But the scarves are a piece o’ cake once they have learned even the bare basics with juggling balls.

While they are getting hooked on juggling (and they will!), kids in grades 4 and up will also enjoy being challenged with other skills. Devil sticks, spinning plates, and feather balancing are excellent options for a first time program. Students will enjoy moving from station to station and finding out which skill is their best. I always insist that they spend at least five minutes at each station without giving up. This is further enforced through the use of a skill checklist. Throughout the unit students get checked off on the various skills by demonstrating proficiency: 10 throws with three scarves or balls, 15 taps with a devil stick, starting a spinning plate three times in a row, or balancing a feather for 10 seconds.

Circus skills come with another bonus — they are great skills to demonstrate for parents and administrators. I have presented everything from a "teach your parents how to juggle" night, to full blown student circuses with ringmasters and a tent! PE needs all the good publicity it can get, and circus skills show off many of our proudest achievements as educators.

For detailed instructions on teaching devils sticks, unicycling and other skills, please visit www.teachcircus.com. Also look for my upcoming book, "Circus Arts: A Teacher’s Guide", due out in November 2000 from Mirror Publishing. In the mean time, grab yourself some juggling scarves, and turn your gym into a real circus!

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