Canada
III: Canadian Culture
Part 2: History of Canadian Circus
Introduction:
Although its origins stretch back to ancient Greece and the far East, modern circus was born in 1768 in England with performances that combined acrobatic and equestrian events. The circus came to North America in the late 1700s, brought to the US and Canada by Bill Ricketts. As circus developed throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, animal acts were added, as were tightrope walkers, clowns, and flying trapeze acts. With the opening of circuses in Moscow and China, circus became an important vehicle for cultural exchange as well. The 1970s and 80s were a pivotal time for circus arts in Canada, especially in the province of Québec, as Cirque du Soleil and the National Circus School were founded. Since then circus in Québec and Canada has developed a distinct style of its own—theatrical, thematic, artistic, and acrobatic. Canada is home to many circus schools and troupes; Montréal 's St Michel neighborhood is the world's largest circus arts city, which is a focal point for the training of circus artists and the performance of circus arts.
The circus will capture the interest of students of all age and ability levels. It presents a platform from which almost any discipline can be explored, especially physics, art, biology, social studies, and physical education. The resources section contains many links to lesson plans that incorporate different elements of the circus, as well as other ideas for incorporating the circus into your classes.
Overview:
Using Web sites that document the history of the circus in Europe and North America, students will design a circus of their own that reflects the evolution of the circus.
Objectives:
Students will gain an understanding and appreciation the circus and its history.
Students will learn about the different trends and periods in circus history.
Students will design a circus that combines elements of European and North American circuses.
Grade Level:
Elementary through high school
Time Required:
One to three class periods
Materials:
Access to the Web sites listed in the resources section
Art supplies, such as paper, markers, crayons, etc.
 Sample Graphic Organizer [PDF Download]
Teachers may direct students to the Student Resources Pages where they can follow relevant links without having access to lesson plans.
Procedure:
- Begin by asking students if they have ever attended a circus and/or what they know about it. Can they name any types of circus acts? Where do they think the circus originated? How might the circus differ in different parts of the world? Do they think any elements of the circus are universal? What does the word “circus” mean? Students may be surprised to learn, for example, that animal acts, which are typical in American circuses, were not originally part of the European circus and are not generally a part of the Canadian circus.
- Depending on how much students know, you may want to add some information or you may want them to discover more of it on their own. The Resources below include a section with links to Web sites with thorough overviews of the history of the circus in Europe and North America. You may want to direct students to these sites or select one or two and photocopy them for students. To give students a general introduction to the circus, you may want to copy Ringling Bros. “A to Z Glossary of Circus Terms.” (See the Resources section for links)
- One way for students to organize the information from the histories is a graphic organizer like a chart. They could create one based on centuries, geographic regions, or innovations in circus arts. Unifying and organizing their information will help them to see the bigger picture more easily. Download a Sample Graphic Organizer [PDF Download] based on century and innovation.
- A basic way to approach to the history of the circus is to have students create a timeline, which they could do artistically. For example, they could base their timeline around an image typically associated with the circus, such as a tightrope, a tent or a juggler. The important dates could be incorporated within this image.
- For a more in-depth look at the history of the circus, students could design their own circus to show its evolution. Students could divide their circus into several sections. They could divide it by century, including innovations from the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. They could create their own act to represent the 21st century or the future of circus. Another option would be to divide it geographically to include Europe—or several European countries—the US and Canada. Highlights from each region could be included in students' circuses. Another option would be for students to focus solely on the history of the circus in Canada.
- Students' circuses could take a variety of forms. They could be drawn by hand on paper, computer-generated using Power Point or Movie Maker, created three dimensionally in a diorama, performed in a skit, illustrated in a series of circus posters, made into map or a globe, turned into a children's book, etc.
- Students could display or present these to the class when completed.
Extensions:
Depending on the time constraints and resources, students could:
- Compare the way different artists depict the circus (See resources section for links to artwork.)
- Learn some of the skills circus artists perform, such as juggling or balancing (See resources section for links.)
- Investigate the physics of the circus, such as inertia, center of mass, gravity, force, etc. (See resources section for links.)
- Investigate and discuss or debate the issues of animal rights and treatment of animals in conjunction with circuses
- For younger students, read a story about the circus such as Olivia Saves the Circus by Ian Falconer or Emeline at the Circus by Margorie Priceman (For a more extensive list of books about the circus, see the first link in the Circus Teaching Resources section below.)
- Learn about animals that perform in circuses, their habitats, diets, and training
- Create a poster advertising the circuses that students designed
Resources:
(Links will open in new windows.)
Canadian Circus
Cirque Eloize, founded in Montréal, performed at the closing ceremonies of the Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy in 2006.
The history of Cirque du Soleil, founded in 1982 in Québec.
Ecole du Cirque de Québec
Cirkids is Vancouver 's circus arts school for children.
The National Circus School of Canada
The Toronto School of Circus Arts
Atlantic Cirque from Nova Scotia
History of the Circus
The National Circus School of Canada's history of circus arts page.
The UK's National Museum for the Performing Arts guided tour on the history of the Circus is at the People Play UK Web site.
The People Play UK 's collection of 164 circus related images.
The full text of The Rose Tinted Menagerie: A History of Animals in Entertainment is available online. It explores the history of circuses, zoos, oceanariums, people use of and attitudes toward animals throughout history, humane and inhumane treatment of animals, etc. Suitable for older students.
A history of the circus in China from the Imperial Circus.
A study guide for students to use in conjunction with a performance of Moscow Circus at UC Berkley. Contains information and activities on the circus in general.
The Circus in America is a very thorough Web site with great pictures.
The history of structures in circuses in America.
Circus around the World
The Great Moscow State Circus
Imperial Circus in China
Origin and History of Circus in India
Circus Krone from Germany
Circus Teaching Resources
Circus Mirkus Teaching Resources a pdf document detailing an extensive list of teaching resources, both print and electronic, for the circus.
The Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus Education Page has many lesson plans for all ages in a variety of subjects.
An A to Z glossary of circus terms from Ringling Bros.
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis “Circus Summer” Web site includes lots of lesson plans, including a “Science under the Big Top” section.
Circus Escape is an online flash-animated story for young learners on the British Council's site for young learners LearnEnglish Kids. The accompanying pdf guide for the Circus Escape site.
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/download/kids/circus_escape.pdf
Science Circus Lessons - Many ideas for incorporating science concepts and the circus.
A lesson on Picasso's “The Family of Saltimbanques” from the National Gallery of Art.
A tightrope lesson that emphasizes the physics of the circus.
Science Circus teaches kids about physics through the circus. Activities are included.
The lesson Circus: A Living Timeline combines movement and history to explore the circus.
Circus in Visual Arts
Georges Seurat's “Circus Sideshow”
Marc Chagall's “Le Cirque.” Images of all 38 lithographs in this series.
Henri Toulouse-Lautrec created a series of lithographs about the circus.
Picasso's Rose period was dominated by paintings of saltimbanques or circus people. This gallery has many examples.
A small collection of paintings of the circus, includes Seurat, Pechstein, Shahn, Chagall, Brown, Kuhn, Picasso, and Moillet.
Alexander Calder's ambitious project called Cirque Calder was a miniature representation of a circus that he operated in a film called Mobile.
A thorough description of Cirque Calder at MOMA in San Francisco.
Princeton University Library's image gallery of more than 300 circus posters.
Polish Circus Posters
Circus Posters from the Library of Congress Collection
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