Circus Smirkus

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Circus Smirkus
Type Non Profit
Founded 1987
Founder Rob Mermin
Headquarters Greensboro, Vermont, Flag of the United States United States
Area served Flag of the United States Northeastern United States
Key people Rob Mermin, Founder
Troy Wunderle, Artistic Director
Jesse Dryden, Creative Director
Ed LeClair, Executive Director
Industry Entertainment
Website www.smirkus.org

Circus Smirkus is a non-profit, award-winning, international youth circus founded in 1987 by Rob Mermin. Based in Greensboro, Vermont, the mission of Circus Smirkus is to promote the skills, culture and traditions of the traveling circus and to inspire youth to engage in life-changing adventures in the circus arts.

Circus Smirkus is one of the only youth circuses in existence touring in the European style with its own Big Top tent.

The performers (troupers) range in age from 10 to 18. Professional artists occasionally perform with the troupers as colleagues in the ring, however, the young troupers are the stars of the show. They perform juggling, acrobatics, trapeze, unicycling, wire walking, clowning – all the circus skills in a full-length professional circus show.

Troupers are selected through auditions. Many of them begin their circus training in summer circus camps and similar programs auditioning for the tour after they've developed solid skills and the beginnings of a circus performance style. Foreign guest performers typically come from international circus schools.In addition to performing, all of the Troupers have circus chores: raising the tent, setting up bleachers, selling concessions, tending costumes and props, even washing dishes.

Each year the show has a new theme, complete with appropriate story, costumes, and live music.

Circus Smirkus is an international youth circus with troupers and coaches that have come from Canada, China, Columbia, England, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Kazahkstan, Latvia, Moldova, Mongolia, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Thailand and Ukraine, not to mention ten Native American nations and 20 U.S. states. At the International Children's Festival at Wolftrap National Park for the Performing Arts in September, 2000, Circus Smirkus was introduced as "the United Nations of the Youth Circus World".

Circus Smirkus' Big Top Tour travels the Northeastern United States for seven weeks during the summer. They perform about 72 shows in addition to several community service shows which benefit children's hospitals, for example.

Contents

[edit] Awards and Honors

  • 1990 Best Director Prize at Russia's International Festival on the Black Sea
  • 1992 Vermont Arts Council's [1] Award of Excellence
  • 1994 Dove Foundation Award for Family Values [2]
  • 1994 Named One of America's Best Circuses by Family Fun Magazine [3]
  • 1997 Awarded a Bessie Award from Burlington Cit Arts [4]
  • 1998 People's Choice Award at Swedish International Circus Festival
  • 2000 Named The United Nations of the Youth Circus World by Wolftrap Foundation for the Performing Arts
  • 2000 Disney Channel broadcasts Totally Circus, a fifteen part Smirkus Documentary
  • 2004 Smirkus Founder awarded the Lund Family Center's [5] It Takes a Village Award
  • 2004 Smirkus Founder awarded Vermont Arts Council's [6] Award of Excellence

[edit] Collaborations

  • 1989 Guest Troupe from Tbilisi, Georgia.
  • 1990 Historic Joint Soviet/American Youth Circus joint tour.
    Smirkus performed in Yaroslavl and Moscow.
  • 1991 Smirkus was the first circus ever to perform on the island of Nantucket.
    Latvian Youth Circus and Moscow Circus members joined the Smirkus Big Top Tour.
    Smirkus co-produced Soviet/American Youth Circus-on-Ice.
  • 1992 Guest Performers from Russia, Moldova and Kazakhstan, and 12 performers from California’s Great Y Circus.
  • 1993 Collaborating with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Russian performers and 10 Native Americans performed with Smirkus.
  • 1994 Guest Artists from Russia and Mongolia joined the Tour.
  • 1995 Guest Performers from Russia, Mongolia and Hungary. Also the first exchange with Budapest Circus School.
  • 1998 Guest Performers joined the Troupe from Russia, Israel, Mongolia and China. This was the first exchange with the Wuqiau School and Chinese Acrobatic Arts Association.
  • 1999 Alberto Zoppe family from Italy joined the tour performing with Percheron horses.
    Marcel Marceau gave a benefit performance in the Smirkus tent. [1]
  • 2000 IndoKids [7] from Indonesia joined the Tour.
    Smirkus performed with Sesame Street’s Bob McGrath.
    Disney Channel broadcasted Totally Circus, a fifteen part Smirkus documentary.
  • 2001 Collaboration with the Chicago Boyz, and with Chicago’s Midnight Circus.
    First Arab-Israeli circus kids from Jerusalem performed in the Smirkus tent as part of a joint peace program.
    Julia Child joined the Smirkus Board of Directors as an honorary member after her visit to the Smirkus chuck wagon.
  • 2002 Collaboration with the six-member Vermont bluegrass band, The Route Seven Ramblers, who performed live with the show for the summer Tour.
    The First Nation dancers and cowboy rope spinners from the Southwest joined the Tour.
    Smirkus Advanced Camp created a road show to tour hospitals and nursing homes.
  • 2003 Performers joined the Tour from Sweden’s youth circus troupe Cirkus and Variete.
  • 2004 Volunteers for Peace joined Smirkus with students from Spain, France, England and Poland.
    Smirkus was featured on The Martha Stewart Show.
  • 2005 Collaboration with the Sandglass Theater of Putney, Vermont, produced a ringful of puppets, high-flying Troupers, and miniature donkeys.
  • 2006 Filmmaker Signe Taylor traveled with the Big Top Tour, shooting for an upcoming documentary entitled Circus Dreams. [8]
  • 2007 Guest performers from Columbia and Mongolia joined the Tour.
  • 2008 Guest performers from Columbia and Ethiopia are scheduled to join the Tour.

[edit] Notable Alumni

[edit] Summer Camps

Smirkus hosts a summer camp program.[9]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Rob Mermin remembers his friend, Marcel Marceau. Retrieved on February 20, 2008.
  2. ^ Enc
  3. ^ Thestage
  4. ^ Smirkus.org
  5. ^ Scifi.com
  6. ^ Smirkus.org
  7. ^ IMDB
  8. ^ Smirkus.org
  9. ^ Smirkus.org

[edit] External links