EASTHAMPTON — White Brook Middle School students will show off what they learned about integrating circus practices into every day life on Friday.
The students spent a week under the tutelage of Chris Oakley and Audrey Hyvonen of SHOW Circus Studio.
In two assemblies, one at 10:40 a.m. and one at 1:15 p.m., students from White Brook’s fifth- and sixth-grades will demonstrate their new circus skills at the school gymnasium to family, educators and Easthampton residents.
“We’re trying to focus heavily on taking something complex, breaking it down into smaller steps and then building it back up into something complex again,” Hyvonen said.
White Brook received a $5,000 grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council STARS (Students and Teachers Working with Artists, Scientists and Scholars) Residencies Grant Program to bring Oakley to teach the fifth- and sixth-graders the art of circus practices during the first week of June.
Oakley is the executive director, co-owner and circus instructor at SHOW Circus Studio, a full-time circus school for children and adults in Easthampton that offers instruction in everything from aerial arts to acrobatics to stilt walking and unicycling.
He has performed and studied contortion and circus for nine years and graduated with a major in solo trapeze and contortion from The New England Center for Circus Arts Professional Track Program. Oakley opened the studio in 2009 with co-owner Henry Wheaton, and specializes in contortion, hand balancing, solo trapeze and diabolo — an hourglass-shaped toy on a string, often used as a circus prop for juggling.
Hyvonen is project manager at SHOW who has a background in martial arts and being a circus mom. On Tuesday, Hyvonen said she was in charge of scarf juggling, while Oakley taught juggling with balls.
With self-guided stations grouped by grade, students can try a variety of circus play sessions from spinning plates to juggling scarves and balls to more advanced tight wire work.
These stations allow for the students to “explore balance and rhythm individually at the level that is most appropriate for each student,” according to the press release.
The flexible format of the sessions allows Hyvonen and Oakley to offer a diverse array of skills and activities and to modulate them to different abilities, she said. Hyvonen said the weeklong session teaches students about patience and perseverance.
According to press materials from Easthampton public schools physical educator Richard Weinberg, the goal of the weeklong residency is to help students “practice simplifying complexity in a tangible, physical and fun way, expand their intrinsic motivational capacity and share the results of their focus and practice as inspiration.” It also provides an opportunity for the students to work with a professional circus teacher and performer.
Hyvonen said the students have expressed interest in continuing learning circus practices and added that a few students told her they made tin foil juggling balls to practice at home.
M.J. Tidwell can be reached at mjtidwell@gazettenet.com.