By Vera Alexandrova | Fundraising manager
Once upon a time our Circus was one of the smallest circuses in the world: we had no tent, we only had one trainer, and no more than 5 kids. 13 years later we have two circus tents, a dozen staged performances and our former artists who became our trainers. And through this journey we always had the brightest example that we could refer to: the biggest and the most famous circus in the world once also started as a small company. We are talking about Cirque du Soleil, of course.
Year after year the little artists of Upsala-Circus watched the Cirque du Soleil shows and admired the jugglers and the acrobats, the dancers and the clowns. We even went to Moscow by train to see a Varekai show. Next year we met the Cirque du Monde (the social branch of Cirque du Soleil) representatives and told them about our little circus. And the next year our little artists were invited to see the grand rehearsal of the show. One year later the whole Upsala-Circus team was invited to see what was going on behind the curtains, to talk to the Cirque du Soleil artists after the show. Little jugglers and acrobats of Upsala-Circus were getting closer and closer to their heroes, the people whose movements they have been following on stage with their eyes and mouths wide open. It is very important for the children’s development and self-esteem, to see somebody they adore and respect so close.
One more year has passed, and our artists had an exclusive workshop with Cirque du Soleil artists: they did acro together and learned some new tricks. We thought that was the best real circus experience our children could ever have.
And this year we were proved wrong.
This year the Cirque du Soleil artists from the Dralion show came to our tent.
They saw the Niece show of Upsala-Circus and our little artists got standing ovation.
Imagine our little artists, our little Anton, who was cheered and admired by the best circus artists in the world.
After the show we made Russian pelmeni (dumplings) together and ate them all and there was so much fun and laughter and real closeness that can only appear between people sharing the same ideas.
Our little artists circus dream came true! There's always a place for magic in the circus.
By Alexandra Shchetkina | GlobalGiving Ambassador Russia
By Vera Alexandrova | Fundraiser
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