That's because there are so many ways to be involved. No matter what your interests are, what your skill level is, or how much time you have to contribute, there's a great way for you to become a part of OCircus!. Here's a sampling:
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SKILLSHARE/PLAYTIME
Every Friday afternoon, OCircus! has a time to practice, learn, and teach skills. We have an ever-growing library of props to use, if you don't
have your own (and if you're serious about learning to use them, you can even borrow them for extended periods of time). Skillshare takes place Fridays from 4:30 p.m. until dinner time — on Wilder Bowl at TGIF if weather permits, or in Hales Gym otherwise. And if once a week isn't enough for you, we are hosting a new second skillshare time — Sundays from 4 to 6 p.m. in Hales Gym.
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FALL AND SPRING SHOWS
The biggest, baddest, boldest aspect of OCircus! is of course our free fall and spring shows. The fall show is a tight-knit, intimate, sexy, raunchy, risqué performance that takes place the weekend before Thanksgiving each year in the Cat in the Cream coffeehouse. The spring show is a larger-than-life, bring-the-whole-family, spectacular production in Philips Gym the first weekend in May. Big shows need big numbers of people, from all walks of talent. An OCircus! show can't go from dream to reality without the assistance of:
• Director/assistant directors — our shows are entirely student-run
Performers — this includes tap dance, puppetry, burlesque, step, swing dance, taiko drumming... in addition to the more traditionally "circus" arts
• Actors — our shows have plots and characters in addition to acrobatics and juggling
• Techies — we need folks who can build sets, gather props, stage-manage, set up or run lights, sound, or projection...
• Musicians and composers — our shows feature student-composed, student-performed live music
• Costumers and make-up artists — we have frequent call for performers to look like lions or mermaids or death-robots
• Photographers and videographers — we're proud of our shows and would like them recorded
• Artists and graphic designers — design our posters and t-shirts for the show!
• House managers and ushers — a great way to be involved with just a small commitment
• Bakers — we'd love to sell your culinary creations at our shows to help us fundraise
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EXCOS AND CLUBS
In the past, OCircus! has sponsored or endorsed excos in a variety of circus arts — such as juggling, hula-hoop, poi, acrobalance, clowning, and general circus skill-share — but our offerings differ every semester. We also are affiliated with several other student organizations. The Oberlin Tumbling Club, who rejoice in all things acrobatic, and the OC Aerialists, who revel in the thrills of vertigo, both meet twice a week in Hales gym to teach, learn, and practice. (Oberlin's insurance policy requires aerialists to have 30 hours of prior aerials experience before touching our rig, but if you don't have that, see the Winter Term section below!)
The Tumbling Club, the OC Aerialists, the OCircus!-sponsored excos, and a variety of other performance groups and excos not officially related to OCircus! (such as OSwing, Taiko drumming, Aikido, and many others) all frequently perform in OCircus!'s big spring show.
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WINTER TERM
Each January, OCircus! sponsors a Winter Term project that sends interested Oberlin students to SANCA (School for Acrobatics and New Circus Arts) in Seattle for an intensive 3-week program. In addition to learning circus skills (such as juggling, aerials, unicycle, tightwire, trampoline, partner acrobatics, and tumbling), participants also shadow SANCA instructors so as to learn another difficult skill, — namely, how to effectively teach circus arts to students of all ages. The program costs $360. Participants are responsible for finding their own housing in Seattle. You can visit SANCA's website at sancaseattle.org. Applications are due in mid-October. Students leave SANCA with (well more than) the 30 hours of aerial experience required to participate in the OC Aerialists' antics here on campus. In past years, OCircus! has also sponsored an on-campus project creating a Winter Term show. Whether this happens each year depends entirely on student interest, both in participating and in directing. So let us know if this is something that sounds up your alley.
