Warm-Ups for the Circus Artist, Part One - CircusTalk

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Warm-Ups for the Circus Artist, Part One

Imagine you’re about to start warming up before your circus class. What will it look like? How long will you do it for and does it look the same every time? In this two-part blog post, we’ll be delving into all things circus warm-up.
I’m really excited to be getting this conversation started here on Circus Talk because getting a warm-up right can definitely limit your chances of injury and set you up for a more fruitful training session or performance. In part one, I will lay out the context of what a warm-up is and explain why and when we should do it. In part two, we will look at the main components of the warm-up and how it can be carried out taking age, training status, skill/conditioning level and preferred discipline(s) into consideration. Video content will supplement part two, which will show different circus practitioners (students/recreational participants and professionals) performing warm-ups. Since there are so many ways to do them, differing in their intensity, duration, type and recovery period etc… these articles will attempt to pull together some of the vast array of warm-up styl...
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James Wellington

James Wellington is a physiotherapist specialising in circus arts,and the founder & director of Perform Health Ltd. Born and bred in London, UK. He studied Physiotherapy in Manchester in the late 90s and obtained his MSc in Sports Physiotherapy from University College London in 2006. After visiting the Circus Space in London (now renamed the National Centre for Circus Arts) in 2005 there was no looking back. The Circus Arts was his new focus. He took on the role as Resident Physiotherapist at the National Centre from 2007-2011 and continued to oversee the physiotherapy and athletic therapy provision to the degree students until 2015. From 2012, he has also been working between in Barcelona, Spain where he teaches at the Barcelona Circus School (Centre de les Arts del Circ Rogelio Rivel) and main training space for circus professionals (La Central del Circ). In 2012 he won the contract to provide therapy services to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Ceremonies, a vast, 6-month project in which him and his team were responsible for over 2,000 performers of mixed ages and abilities. In the same year he founded and became Managing Director of Perform Health Ltd, a company dedicated to improving the health and vitality of performing artists. He opened a consulting and treatment studio behind the National Centre for Circus Arts which provides performing artists of all levels easy access to an expert team of clinicians, all with specialist knowledge of performing arts medicine. Currently, he works not only as a practicing performing arts physiotherapist, but also as a researcher and educator in the field of circus medicine. Circus performers from all over the world now choose to work with James and his team of associates because they provide solutions in ways they can relate to. With the knowledge of what a performer requires to enhance their performance ability, they apply sound and simple solutions to match these specific needs. He speaks English, Italian and Spanish.