Touchirg the Spirit in Oakland:27 Years of Growth with the Prescott Circus TheatreBy Aileen Mo"frtt

i have had the most renarding career that anyone couldhope for. Recently retired frorn my direct rvork withthe vouth circus stars of Prescott Blenentary School inOakland. California. I havebeen reflecting on manyaspects of rny experi-ence. I am grateful toAYCO for inviting me toshare my thoughts at thisJUllCrUre.

I gren' up in Oaklandwith most of the advan-tages of the Americandream. By age twelve, I\4'as pretty sure i wantedto be a teacher in Oak-iand's less privilegedneighborhoods. lroni,cally, my first profes-sional assignment rlras toteach Physical Edr-rcationat a junior high schoolin Oakland's wealthi-est neighborhood. Afterseveral years, I decidedI lvanted to make a moremeaningful irnpact byteaclring kids to read, soI became a classroon-rteacher. When I accepteda primary grade job teachirrg at Prescott in i982, I hadno idea I lvould call tl 'rat place home for the next twenfy-seven years.

I was terrible at it at first. I lvas overwhelmed. But I n'asalso fortunate, because tlrere were a handful of AflicanAmerican rvornen teachers at Prescott r,r'ho lvere ivillingto mentor me along the n'ay. 'Ihese relationships lverethe most iinportant of my professional life, and pavedthe nay for rvhat was to also become m1, youth circuscareer,

Before corning to Prescott, a friend had taught me horvto juggle, and I con-rbined this nervfound hobby r.vith mysurnmer employrnent rvith the Oakland Parks & Recreation Department, creating a sul-nmer progran wecalled the Clownmobile. \4ie visited parks, playgrounds,and local conmunity centers daily turning new batch-es of eager participants into clo*'ns by teaching clownskits, introducing juggling, providing red ping pong ballnoses, and letting thern try on outfits from our boxloadsof thrift store gems. rv\'e repeated the excitement fifteentimes a week! It was exhausting, but i loved it. It gaveme experience with all of Oakland'.s neighborhoods. Inclorvn costume, i could shout, "Buenos Enchiladasl" inthe Latino neighborhoods and give high-fives in the Af-

.$:ramid, The Journal olfAmerican fouth Circas, Ianuary 2011published by The American Youth Circus Organization (AYCO)

rican American neighborhoods. I put clon'n noses ontoddlers in daycare, seniors in rest homes, and groups ofchildren rvith various disabilities, too. Arnazingly, there

was a universal lvillingness to check us outand a high level ofparticipation in all

settings.

By the time I arrived atPrescott , lhadagarage{ i r l l of spinning plates,juggling scarves, andclown coslutnes. l t wasjust a nrat ter of t inre be-lbre I decided to offeran after-schooi series ofclorvn classes. The firstone r{as for nrl' seeondgrat lc ls of 1 984-85. Theyprcscntcd the "First Annual Clown Show" andi l was a to la l success;everyone seened to loveit, and my classroomthrived as a result.

The next year, I decidedto t ry anothcr ser ies ot 'classes, but this time Irvorked r.vith the 5th and6th graders. th inking

I nr ight be able to tcachthem more advanced juggling. Our success was onlymoderate, br.rt again we presented a culminating showthat rvas lr'eli received. I dragged my mentors onstagelor the audience volunteer act. The crorvd went wiid tosee Prescott teachers dancing to "You Must Have Been ABeautiful Batry," rvearing clorvn noses and baby bonnets.We began receiving invitations to bring the clowns tolocal events. f)ur skills were pretty minimal, but the kids\{ere so adorable, and the invifations just kcpt coming.lVe rvere beginning to build a reputation. 'lhanks to JudvFinelli, the Pickle Farniiv Circus got a grant to send usour first teaching artists, and our circus skills grerv alor-rgwith our collection of equipment. I began writing grantsto build on this fbundation, using Friends of OaklandParks & Recreation as a fisca1 sponsor. The kids rvere stil1adorable, but now they had some juggling and acrobatics skills to boot.

Along the u'ay, a cultural consciousness der.elopedwithin me. I was becoming more and more aware ofthe significance of the fact that I was teaching outsideof my culture. I hadn t originally given a whit of thoughtas to whether or not it rvas culturally appropriate to putwhiteface on African American children, nor if 'tlolvn-ing" was even acceptable to the Black community. 'Iorne, it was just fun and seemed good for kids. I thought

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UpcomingEventAmerican Youth CircusFestival 20llPAL Sailor Circus,Sarasota, FloridaAugust 17- 21, 201 I"Children of All Ages"

The PAL Sailor Circus isthrilled to be hosting the6th AYCO Youth Festival!We are planning fouraction-packed, circus-fi lled,relationship-building,totally exhilarating daysunder the BIG TOP! Eat,sleep, and drink rich circuspast, present 4nd futurewith a focus on YouthCircus through engagingworkshops, activities, socialevents and excursions.

Workshops in the areasofaerial acrobatics,equilibristics, clo'rvning andobject manipulation willbe offered at different skilllevels for all participants.Showcase opportunities willbe available for all YouthPrograms bringing studentperformers. Trips to thehistorical Ringling CircusMuseum and other localattractions will be includedin the festil,al ticket.

Festival admission (2 mealslday included) for AYCOmembers is $225, non-members, $300. Reducedrates for non-participatingchaperones. Sponsoringhotels range from $69l nightto $i25l night. Based on 4people/room, total festivalticket, roorn, and foodshould cost around $325 perperson. State park campingis also available. Registrationbegins March l, 201I onthe AYCO website at www.americanyouthcircus.org.

A limited number of fulland partial scholarships areavailable. Application detailsare available on the AYCOwebsite from lanuary 1, 201 t.Scholarship applications aredue by February 28, 201 l.

ofclowning (and circus) as "universal" without reallzingI was coming from my own Eurocentric background.This lack of thought, I later learned, is tlpical of whitepriviiege. As a white person I didnt think to address cul-tural issues, because they didnt really cross my mind.

The 1990's were a period ofunprecedented questioning.At Prescott, this translated to a deeper awakening andexamination of the profound significance of the Africanroots of our students. My Prescott mentors were takingtheir passion about the importance of Black History to adeeper level. Prescott became the center ofthe Ebonicscontroversy. As staff, we steadfastly stood our ground onthe premise that the home language of our students hadto be respected as their first language and recognizedas the l inguist ic continua-tion of African languagesin America. The press(and othcrs) rnis-represented the \ 6Nsi tuat ion, im- \ . .

t ; tplying that we , Sg rwere throwing ',,. , 'lout "standard" , ,!;;!English. In ,. :t,fact, we were ::..,.ij-:i

ica, the African influence is overwhelmingly denied.We have researched this influence, in the tradition ofPrescott School,'lvhere Afro-centric curriculum becamea primary focus and brought our greatest success withchildren.

Here are some examples: Derique McGee has beenworking with us for 14 years. He is a role model andhas performed professionally as a circus artist. His par-ticular specialty is hambone, an African American formof body percussion. He has shared this with us, and weshare it with our audiences. We offer it as an exan-rple ofthe creativity that demonstrates the resilience r:fAfricansenslaved in America who created hambone in responseto being denied their African drums by white slave mas-

art of stilt dancing, along within Africa and the Diaspora.

ters r,r.ho feared theirpo\4rer. With ourstudents, we discussthe history and havethe students practicetelling the historythemseives.

in the area of stilt-ing, we have learnedabout the Africanroots of stilting andn'e honor that in allof our big shows. Wehave worked exten-sively with masterstilter Shaka Zulufrom Nelv Orleans,who uses the oraltradition to share the

its history and evolution

Our juggling act has a backdrop of the first recordedjuggling: the Medu Neter of Kemet, or as the Greekscalled it, the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt. Our stu-dents have worked with hip hop choreographer CarlaService, Yoruba priestess and storyteller l,uisah Teish,and step dance instructor Antonia ]ackson. When i re-tired from teaching in 2A09,I was replaced by |amarrWoodruff, who had most recently toured for three yearsas Ringling's Clorn n of Crunk, the only African Ameri-can clown on the blne unit at tlre time. In a group studyretreat, our students learned about the history ofblack-face minstrelsy. Mr. Woodruffshared the poignant storyofhis first time in whiteface that evoked ancestral pain,and how he had vowed to turn his clowning into a posi-tive representation of his culture.

We also changed our name from "Prescott Clou'nTroupe" to "Prescott Circus Theatrd'when my favoriternentor linaily helped me understand that 'tlowning"has a negative connotation in the African Americancommunity. Becoming the Prescott Circus Theatre wasa subtle but significant nod to that sensitivity.

'lhe Prescott Circus Theatre became an institution inOakland. We were known for our high level of circusskills and the quality of our productions only improved.

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pro-act ively Iteaching the I"language of dthe govern- ::dmentl' butin a context ffithat honored r',:the validity ;f

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their first lan-guage, too. We lvere also protesting the fact that resourc-es, like time, money and stafing, were being allocatedfor the special language needs of our Mexican, Vietnam-ese, and Cambodian students, rvhile the language needsof our African American students were being ignored.The African American Task Force of the Oakland Uni-fied School District worked tirelessly to insist that thelanguage, history, and culture of our African Americanstudents be utilized to support them. African Americanstudents were being assigned to special ed classes, sus-pended, and failing at alarming rates. 'fhey were the vic-tims of institutionalized racism before we had names forthe phenomenon. These are problems that unfortunate-1y still go under-addressed, but our work did heightenthe discussions of that time. and inf'luenced those thatfollowed.

This era pushed me to further exanine my own work.I was learning to look through a 'tultural lens" for ev-ery lesson, every discussion, every opportunity. Thisbecanre the turning point that allowed me to promotesocial justice by recognizing and valuing the culture ofmy students as a top priority. The internalization ofthispoint ofview became the local point ofthe rest ofmy ca-reer, and I believe it is lvhat has made the Prescott Circusstand out from other plograms.

As rvith most things in America, circus arts are creditedas a European tradition. And as is also true in Amer-.! l \ r r r ' l ) i i i ) l t r j l i ( j r ( ) l i ( .1 'or | : l r l i i \ , r l j . ) t ) : . i i i ; : : : i i l i t t l tut l t r , i i l t

/ r i ! r ! r , ) / i l r f , i r r i r ; i r ; r rLr i r / i l / ' l i , ' l { r : i t r r ' iarJ i r i l i i i i i i i l iJ : : l i i '

I eventually left the classroom to devote my full atten-tion to expanding the program throughout Oakland. Tothis day, aspiring students still show me their cartwheelswhen I cross the yard and requests still come in regu-larly for us to appear at everlthing from the state fairto the mayoral inauguration. In 2001, thanks to KevinO'Keefe, we took our kids to Florida for the first AYCOFestival. Our students were not only the youngest butalso the only children of color in attendance at that time.Prescott Circus became a proud part of the nationalyouth circus community.

The success of the Prescott Circus Theatre has been duein major part to the inclusion of culturally responsivecurriculum and pedagogy. This perspective emphasizesrelationships with students and families, high expecta-tions, and a teaching style that promotes student par-ticipation and achievement. The emotional connections

and lifelong friendships that I have made are the best re-wards for me. It is an honor for me to be accepted as partof the West Oakland/Prescott community. To the extentthat I have internalized the Afro-centric curriculum thatimplores teachers to touch the spirit of the children, sohas my spirit been touched. Applying all of this to circus* well, that was just secondary.

I look to others to use the AYCO journal forum to tell thestories of exciting performing moments, individual tri,umphs ofyouth circus stars, and inspiring tales oflead-ership, teamwork, and youth empowerment through thevehicle ofcircus arts.

Safety is everyonet business, and needs to be first and foremost in all our minds at all times. There are a couple ofmyths that need to be debunked regarding safety guidelines standards.

MYTH #1: Safety guidelines stifle creativit''.This couldnt be farther from the truth! As we all need boundaries to work most eficiently in our occupations anddaily lives, safety gives us the boundaries within which to work and train most effectively and for the longest time.No training or creativity exists when you are home nursing an injuryl

MYTH #2: Stringent safety guidelines make circus arts less fun.Again, quite the opposite. When you work within a safe framework, you have the ability to work and play with muchmore concentrated fun and joy, as well as being able to repeat what you do for a much longer time.

But how do we define good safety practice? A great deal ofit is common sense. For example, talking through everystep of a trick with your partners, spotters and supervisors before actually attempting it is a common-sense, yet oftenneglected, step in ensuring safety. Even very simple and relatively easy tricks can become dangerous if the partici-pants have different styles or approaches they mistakenly assume their partners share. The clearer the vision is for allinvolved, while all feet are still solidly on the ground, the safer everyone will be.

Most good safety practices have to come from others with more experience -- or in other words, they must beIearned. The AYCO Safety Committee will be working hard to provide more safe practice information in the comingmonths, as well as workshops at each AYCO event.

While these are not strict standards, here are some generai principles to follow: