ithaca circus school founders wire walk while talking to reporter
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'Lovely, bright and open:' A look at Ithaca's new circus schoolNEWS (HTTP:// ITHACAVOICE.COM/CATEGORY/NEWS/), TOP(HTTP:// ITHACAVOICE.COM/CATEGORY/TOP/) / SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 / BY BENEDETTA LUCIANA SARACARNAGHI (HTTP:// ITHACAVOICE.COM/AUTHOR/BENEDETTA-LUCIANA-SARA-CARNAGHI/)
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ITHACA, N.Y. – Amy Cohen believes circus can change the world.
Cohen is the founder of Circus Culture, a school located in Press Bay Alley on
West Green Street. The new program, which launched in July with a youth
summer camp, will offer its first full complement of classes for all ages this
fall.
Beginning on Sept. 20, the school will provide instruction in disciplines like
juggling and trapeze for students from a wide range of skill levels and ages,
from infants to teenagers and the elderly.
Cohen, an Ithaca
College alumna,
established Circus
Culture following her
belief that “circus is for
everyone” and is a
“powerful tool for
building life skills.”
(http://ithacavoice.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/11904734_901930449855683_4091718144002763396_n.jpg)Photos in story courtesy of Circus Culture
She discovered her
passion for teaching
circus arts at a very
young age, trying out a
circus camp because
she was “just not quite
perfect enough” for
gymnastics as a child.
As Cohen moved from
camper to mentor at
age 16, she discovered
how much she loves
helping people learn to
trust their bodies and
master tasks they
never before thought
possible, like juggling.
Cohen deepened her
engagement with circus pedagogy as a theatre student at Ithaca College and
as a Fulbright fellow in the United Kingdom, where she worked with elderly
and very young students. She went on to explore “circus as a tool for social
change, education, and creative expression” at NYU's Gallatin School of
Individualized Study, and trained with Chinese acrobats at San Francisco’s
Circus Center.
Susan Monagan, an Ithaca College staff member who mentored Cohen,
described her as “a force of nature.”
“I’ve known her for ten years and she has been completely focused on this
idea that circus is transformative... that anybody can do it. I think we are so
lucky to have her here in Ithaca,” Monagan said.
Today, Cohen specializes in group acrobatics, and enjoys balancing large
objects on her face, such as tables and ladders. In addition to her work for the
school, Cohen serves as the executive director of the American Youth Circus
Organization, an Ithaca-based national network of circus schools.
To launch the school and renovate the Press Bay Alley facility -- the former
home of the Ithaca Journal printing press -- Cohen turned to her personal
network, and to the crowdfunding website Indiegogo in June. She raised
$25,000 from the contributions of more than 200 supporters.
(http://ithacavoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Screen-Shot-2015-
09-16-at-5.45.13-PM.png)
“I always knew that this would be the one project in my life that I would want
to crowdfund for,” Cohen said. “For 10 years I’ve been telling people that
‘someday I am going to start a circus school in Ithaca’. I reached out to all of
those people, and encouraged them to reach out to someone else who either
loves Ithaca, loves circus, or happens to love both.”
CONTENT CONTINUED BELOW
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ANNOUNCEMENT
While Cohen is the owner of Circus Culture, she emphasized that “there is an
inner circle of circus artists, contributors, and volunteers who have been
critical to making it happen,” including Sam Boyles, whom she met through
the Ithaca College Circus Club in 2005.
(http://ithacavoice.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/11760194_878629655519096_4309915072452085064_n.jpg)
a performer and juggling teacher, has also handled administrative and
fundraising for Circus Culture. During a recent interview with the Ithaca
Voice, Boyles responded to a reporter’s questions while also practicing some
wire-walking, an exercise he said improves balance, a key skill for jugglers.
In addition to a roster of regular instructors, the school has begun to host
visiting teachers and performers, several of whom were practicing during a
reporter’s recent visit to the Circus Culture space.
Chloe Walier, a trapeze artist visiting from Brattleboro, VT, said that “the
space is amazing and the people are very friendly.”
Gretchen Ernst, a professional handbalancer who used to live in Ithaca and
returns regularly to teach at Circus Culture, echoed such positive feelings:
“I’ve been to a lot of circus schools and this one is so lovely, bright and open.
There is a great energy; it’s very friendly and inclusive.”
Cohen’s next goal is to design specific activities for people who are
differently abled. She has already participated in workshops with the Racker
Centers — a nonprofit dedicated to creating opportunities for people with
special needs — and has adapted juggling props for people who cannot toss,
but can push and pull. In the future she would also like to do outreach with
rural youth, who do not have access to Ithaca.
(http://ithacavoice.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/11010628_877638942284834_7073964406934950066_n.jpg)Ithaca's Press Bay Alley, home to the new circus school
In the meantime, Cohen looks forward to adapting and building the school
based on the needs of the students who join her this fall.
“I don’t just want to stick a circus school down in Ithaca and say that this is
what circus schools look like. I want it to be created by the people who show
up here and say yes to it.”
Classes range in price from $16 to $18 each, and drop-in practice sessions
are priced on a sliding scale from $5 to $15.
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