Showtime Circus, a circus school and party venue, are excited to be able to finally open their doors to the children of Milton Keynes. Jessica Hill (a.k.a. Jolly Mess) has been running the independent business since March 2018, taking it online for the past year.
In the school, the children learn aerial hoop, silks, trapeze, acrobatics, contortion, hula hoop, tightrope, juggling and LOADS more, it is a super inclusive space where children are invited to pick circus names which allow them to be completely themselves whilst they're at circus! Circus skills teach children dexterity, logic and problem solving, give them core strength and flexibility and also heaps of confidence too. All of our teachers are highly experienced with some still performing in the circus alongside teaching.
For birthday parties, children are able to come to our incredible new purpose equipped venue in Bletchley or we can take our fully mobile set up to children's parties, weddings and festivals across Hertfordshire/Bedfordshire and beyond to enable them to try out all of the skills of the circus in a fun and safe environment.
Holiday Camps are always super popular with the Easter camps already filling up very fast after recently finally getting the go ahead from the council.
We also run Family Classes and experiences for children with SEN, as a blended family bonding activity or for those who are a little more anxious. We are a fully inclusive school and everyone is welcome. We pride ourselves on our inclusivity, creating an incredible circus family which the children love being a part of.
Pre COVID, the school had over 150 children enrolled onto our weekly classes and ran birthday parties every single weekend. Part of our school is a performance squad, and they were invited to perform at local events such as Todd in the Hole and Meraki Festival. They have also performed further afield in places such as the very prestigious Magic Circle in London and in Benidorm Palace, as well as being filmed for BGT and Global Motion. They are super excited to show the people of Milton Keynes their talents.
I feel overwhelmed to have finally got a place to call home after many years of renting school halls and it really is an incredible space. After all of this year's tribulations, both personally and professionally, I cannot WAIT to get back to doing what I do best, hanging upside down!
Children have had a rough ride this year and circus is an incredible way to get them to be physically active, without them really realising it as it’s so much fun! It’s also fantastic for their mental health as there is guaranteed to be something the children “click” with and want to practise, when they achieve the circus tricks, the sense of pride and confidence this gives children is really amazing.
We cannot wait to have children in our space and cater to those aged 4months right up to adult. Adult classes will start May 2021. We ran a fundraiser at the end of January to raise money for a defibrillator for ourselves and for the local community to use. We made a whopping £3000 and have used the additional money to twin our two toilets, meaning that 2 families/communities in Mozambique will get 2 toilets.
Each Sunday we run a Circus Associate programme for those who wish to take their training seriously and work hard, and we are starting a BTEC in Circus and Performing Arts in September 2021.
Being all circus performers, naturally this also means that we can provide circus entertainment at local events/parties too and the children in particularly enjoy seeing the stiltwalkers, unicyclists and the incredible aerial performers too!