Life lessons you can't buy - the circus comes to town
It has become annoyingly commonplace to hear about cuts to arts funding, especially in schools, as if arts-training is a quaint luxury that is fun and everything but bears no relationship to the real world and has no bearing on either culture or education. It certainly has nothing to do with our aspirations for the future of our society.
Over the weekend, I had the privilege of attending a performance of Circus West – a local circus troupe in Vancouver for young circus performers, including kids, teenagers and young adults. It was a fantastic experience: riveting, engaging and beautiful. It had the full theatricality and magnificence of a professional circus performance, with just enough mistakes and gaffes to remind us that what the performers are doing is REALLY difficult and shouldn’t be taken for granted.
And although I happily allowed myself to be in awe of the many (and there were many) examples of brilliant athleticism and magical beauty, I was also interested in watching the performers' discipline, the “rules” that were governing the performance and that even the youngest performers had mastered. Here are some of the rules of engagement I noticed:
Keep your body warmed up, and your brain turned on.
Practice, practice and practice and then be ready to improvise.
Be willing to trust, but only with people who are trustworthy.
When you know you’re going to fall, figure out where to land so that you don’t bring everyone else down with you.
Know that sometimes you’ll be in the spotlight and sometimes you’ll just sit on the edge of the mat and respectfully witness someone else’s brilliance.
On the rare occasions when you fall completely flat on your face, have the courage and good sense to abort the attempt and get the hell out of there…and then get ready for your next entrance.
When someone throws something into your act that you weren’t prepared for, either incorporate it or calmly put it to one side without a fuss.
Respect what you can do; work on what you can’t.
Don’t let your mistake upstage someone else’s fantastic moment.
When you lose your balance, make small adjustments until you find it again (you may have to dismount and start again).
It may not work the first time….or the fifth. Stay calm and be persistent.
Know when to catch someone as they fall and know when to just get out of their way.
Extend yourself – literally – further than you thought possible.
When you do something spectacular, take a moment to stop and receive the applause you have earned.
Don’t expect applause when you fall…but know that the applause you receive when you get back up again and finish will be worth the wait.
Know when to work in a team and when to step forward for your solo.
If it doesn’t work, figure out a different way to do it.
You may not be able to see them, but chances are good that there’s someone in the wings waiting to help you if you need it.
When you fall, wait patiently at the side until you see an opportunity to join back in.
Be safe, but take risks. Take risks, but be safe.
Pay attention.
Embrace possibility.
Have fun.
There are probably many others.
If you had to come up with a list of “life lessons” we as a society might want to teach our teenagers before they become fully fledged adults, this list would be a pretty good start, don’t you think? I dunno about you, but I'd be pretty reluctant to try to put a dollar amount on this kind of education. Which bits would you cut?