Circus schools and where to apply as a Diabolo player?

[Marko]

Had a short talk with Henri about this today and though this would be a good topic to expand here as well. I know that some of the people on the board are thinking about applying to study at different circus schools and are Diabolo players. My question really is where would you recommend to go if you are a Diabolo player?

Who is teaching where? And which schools would be best for jugglers, especially for Diabolo players and why?

[Ronnie]

I asked the one and only Guillaume something along these lines a month or so ago and this is what he told me:

Well circus schools are only tools so your question is like asking me what good music instrument there are. It depends what sort of music you want to play.
Montreal and Kiev are known for their very high level of pure technique though artistically rather traditional.
Then in France a lot of schools are focusing on the artistic individuality. The Cnac and Fratellini are doing a good job. The Lido in Toulouse is probably the most qualified for pushing circus in an innovative manner. Even though sometimes criticized for a lack of technique.
Finally, Doch is in my opinion a good compromise. They encourage the innovation of disciplines and keep a rather high level of technique. I must mention that Jay Gilligan and Ben Richter, the two main juggling teachers in Doch are on top of their game dealing with juggling as an art form.

With your level in diabolo I would recommend you Doch, the Lido or another school in France such as Fratellini. The Lattet has the specificity to pay the student monthly. You can ask Nino Wasmer who is a diabolist in that school for more info.

It all depends on what you are interested in. If you like only technique for its sake I wouldn't necessarily recommend circus schools.

Another way, is to create your own teaching by taking workshops often a week long. Juggling workshops, theater workshop, dance, opera, mime, art performance. It is very efficient because you work directly on your needs (in circus schools, you will sometimes waste time or not like stuff) but the downside is that it is expensive and you need to be strongly independent and determined because it is not conventional.

A last word, to me the biggest points of schools are the space, that is an environment to train create try out, and the people around you who are a source of inspiration. The rest comes from you only.

Also when speaking to Diabolotino he told me that he loves being a diabolo coach in Malaysia. What took me aback was the fact that there are international schools of diabolo, meaning that if you can speak English you can teach people, you don't need to know Malay or Chinese. It's much more on the technical side (which I like) and you are closer to all of those crazy diabolo competitions however the drawback is that you are so far away from the EJC, FDC, BJC and other marvelous European conventions.

[Wis]

Ronnie, I am glad to see you asked Guillaume about that

Did you make any decision?

[von_Ungern_Sternberg]

There is Codarts in Rotterdam, which is a good school in my opinion, if you want to add movement/expression to your diabolo. Arjan and Dixie are teaching some hours a week. The main juggling teacher, also for diabolo players, is Gregor Kick. He comes from club/ball juggling, not diabolo. He is good in making your training structured, your posture clean, and aware about your artistic choices.

As said above, there are different schools, with different style. School A may be good for one person, and bad for another one. To know more about a school you are interested in, I would recommend contacting the school and asking if you can visit it. In some school you can even follow the program for a week.

From what I know, there is no higher education in Circus in Europe that are super good for pushing your diabolo technique. Taiwan and Malaysia might be good for that. The schools in Europe are good to improve your technique a bit, while improving your performance skills, physicall skills (accrobatics...) and finding your concept and style.

[Ronnie]

Ronnie, I am glad to see you asked Guillaume about that

Did you make any decision?

Well so far I have decided that I am going to study Mathematics at Imperial College London but a part of me is really tempted to go to Malaysia or Taiwan after that and develop some of my diabolo ideas, even if it's just for a year or two

[Wis]

Please, do that I mean the second part
Maths are of course always cool

You may like this game, I love it
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hil_hk.euclidea&hl=en

[Marko]

Jouni studied in Fratellini and he told me good things about that place. As an outside point of view teaching tends to focus on artistic side but Trespace and Vux were teaching technique there as well!