Saved by the circus

“I’m running away to join the circus!” is what many a cartoon character says, usually a young boy with a stick slung over one shoulder on which a bag of clothes and food hangs. While in the Philippines the circus performing trade is usually handed down from parent to child, with schooling done at home between performances, it doesn’t take much to imagine how “joining the circus” would appeal to an aggrieved child dreaming of starting over. There is something about the glamour, the daring, the public adulation granted the circus performer that appeals to the dreamer.

For a group of girls in Iloilo, however, the circus, or rather the skills and artistry of circus performance, provides not just an escape from the humdrum and prosaic. Taking part in a circus also offers them a new way of life, an escape from their otherwise dreadful existence.

In the past six years, members of the ENACR (Ecole Nationale des Arts du Cirque de Rosny-sous-Bois, or the French National School of Circus), including professionals and students, have been coming to the Philippines as volunteer teachers working with Cameleon Association. Cameleon, founded in Iloilo by then visiting Frenchwoman Noelle Couget, provides shelter, therapy, counseling and training to girl-survivors of sexual abuse. With the ENACR team working with them and honing their skills, two of the Cameleon scholars have already become professional trainors. But the more important result of the collaboration has been the use of circus practice as “a tool of therapy and professional integration.” Beyond being able to soar through the air, juggle implements, or dance, sing and mime, the training provides not just escape but also a sense of accomplishment, autonomy and newfound confidence that was stripped from them after years of abuse.

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Established 30 years ago, the French National Circus School has evolved into “the best French higher education institution based on a multidisciplinary circus practice.” The school provides professional training for three to four years, with students graduating as circus artists. Renowned internationally, the school “trains the circus artists of tomorrow through circus techniques, dance, theater, music and fine arts.”

The school also offers training and internships for nonprofessionals, aiming, according to its information materials, to become a “school of life” by “developing values such as sharing, solidarity and responsibility” and “provid[ing] them with potentially useful skills in their daily life.”

Their “key to success,” says the school, “is the pleasure coming from creativity, games, intensive and physical training, and mutual exchange, allowing participants to become good listeners with better observation and concentration abilities.”

This quality and scope of training are what the ENACR team provides the young women sheltered by Cameleon. Indeed, it seems the training in circus performances provides the girls training not just for a career and life in the circus but for life itself, for coping with the day-to-day demands of life outside the loving embrace of the association, after their recovery from the trauma they had endured at the hands of strangers or, even worse, adults they had trusted, including their own family members.

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On May 14, Thursday, at 8 p.m., you will have a chance to see for yourselves both the ENACR volunteers and the girls of Cameleon perform in a show they have dubbed “Lukso (Leap)! Cirque de la Vie: French Healing Circus for Girl Survivors of Sexual Abuse.”

The show, to be staged at the Newport Performing Arts Theater of Resorts World, will feature 14 circus performers from France, composed of two teachers and 12 students, French actress Sabrina Ouazani, and Italian singer Mikelangelo Loconte. They will be joined by two girls from Cameleon. The members of the audience will, I am sure, be treated to a breathtaking show, as many ENACR alumni have made names for themselves with world-famous troupes.

Indeed, the two ENACR teachers—Luc Richard and Patrick Mattioni—are internationally renowned circus trainors, involved in the artistic direction of numerous events including the Asian Games in Qatar and the Festival of Cirque de Demain. They have also worked with Cirque du Soleil.

Aside from being treated to a world-class show, ticket holders will be contributing to a good cause, helping raise funds to sustain the programs of Cameleon.

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After the May 14 show, the entire ENACR team will fly to Iloilo to provide 60 beneficiaries of Cameleon and 300 young people from the surrounding communities with circus training and an intensive professional program for the young teachers with Cameleon. Included in the training program are skills such as aerial silk, fixed trapeze, cloud swing, aerial straps, Chinese pole, acrobatics, balancing, hand-to-hand, juggling and “cyr wheel.”

Being planned is a series of six shows, involving the visitors from France and the whole company of “Cirquera de Cameleon,” to be composed of 20 girls, to be held in Roxas, Passi and Iloilo.

Apart from raising funds for the continued operations of Cameleon, allowing it to help more girls in crisis, the collaboration between ENACR and Cameleon aims to demonstrate the use of circus training as a therapeutic tool; exchange skills and experiences between the ENACR students and Cameleon girls; professionalize a circus career in the Philippines; and, of course, increase the visibility of Cameleon on the national level.

Tickets are available at TicketWorld, with prices ranging from P5,000 for VIP seats to P1,000 for De Luxe seats. Corporate sponsors are encouraged to get in touch with Cameleon directly.