Providing a Safe Environment--Response from a Circus Educator at ENC - CircusTalk

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Providing a Safe Environment–Response from a Circus Educator at ENC

Sarah Poole, a circus educator at ENC, asked us to publish this response letter about the climate of support at ENC and the media attention that ENC is receiving in response to the charges against Marcelo Beri Marques.

My name is Sarah Poole, and I am an aerial teacher at the National Circus School in Montréal.  I have been a part of our community of learners, teachers, parents, creators, administrators, riggers, staffers, researchers and supporters for the past decade.

 Our school was devastated to learn of the sex-related charges against one of our teachers last week, and further pained to learn that a former student was the alleged victim.   No child – no one – should ever have to live this kind of experience.

Regrettably, this situation opened the door for the media to make unfortunate comments about our school.   

I have the honor of representing the 80 teachers of the National Circus School on the Board of Directors, and as such, I wanted to communicate on behalf of our teaching community.

Successfully applying to the school for any of our programs is a formidable process. There are on average more than 300 applications annually for about 30 available spots in the college program. The drive demonstrated by our students in the audition process is present every day as they work to innovate within their disciplines, using their creativity and skills to develop as performers and creators.  A central tenet of circus education is cooperation, collective collaboration. It is a privilege to watch these students work together daily to develop their ideas and to discover their strengths.

Our school and community have come together this past week in unprecedented ways.  We want our students to feel safe, supported and respected at all times. Our job is to provide them with a safe, positive, respectful environment in which to learn and grow as persons through circus arts.  Our work is to help them further become the resilient, extraordinary performers and people they already are when they arrive here.

As one of the leading circus training schools in Canada, the National Circus School continuously works to improve itself – not only pedagogically, but also in terms of its internal environment and facilities.  In addition to the school’s strictly enforced policy against intimidation, harassment and violence, the school created the Center for Circus Arts Research Innovation and Knowledge Transfer (CRITAC), dedicated to advancing the well-being of circus artists. Under its auspices, the school has set up a specialized medical clinic, made a social worker available for its students, and implemented workshops to address issues of sleep, nutrition, and stress management. The School continues to advance its research in holistic assessment of physical and psycho-emotional risks associated with the practice of circus arts.

Our entire school community has responded powerfully to last week’s news. We continue to work together, diligently, vigilantly, to provide a safe learning environment, with respect and care for all our students.

–Sarah Poole

Main Image:  ENC website
Sarah performed for many years as a contemporary dancer based in NYC before participation in a 2001 workshop in MontrĂ©al introduced her to the phenomenal Canadian city and the profound circus cultural knowledge in training and performance to be found there.  Nowadays, when she is not teaching aerial disciplines at École nationale de cirque in MontrĂ©al, she often coaches and works with artists to create and develop their acts in projects for several MontrĂ©al companies, or works as a creative-choreographic mentor for independent circus artists in Canada. She has taught at the European Aerial Dance Festival, Les Rencontres de la danse aĂ©rienne, the Irish Aerial Dance Festival, the ADF in Boulder, CO, and the Contemporary Circus Arts Festival of Toronto.  She has spoken on pedagogy, risk, and cross-border circus on panels for the MontrĂ©al Working Group in Circus Research, as well as in workshops for ACE. Sarah remains in awe of the creative process in its aerial permutations; as reflected in the myriad of innovative, personal solutions found by learners to technical and compositional problems. She loves the body’s capacity to communicate our shared humanity in the air and on the ground. And she really likes to ride her bicycle.

 

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