Thanks, 2023...Let's Go 2024!
2023 was pretty fantastic!
The light is returning, and I am still reflecting on what an incredible year 2023 was!
We started the year with a bang with Maia’s son Atlas joining the A3 family!
In March we completed installation of our permanent rigging points on the roof of ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum, just in time for our (sometimes snowy??) wall dancing Spring Break Camps on the wall. Flying outside, looking at the clouds and Grizzly Peak is pretty awesome.
In April our wall dancing crew performed on the wall at the Earth Day celebrations at ScienceWorks.
Then it was time for the Big Show – Circus Aurora – “Out of Time” – and we packed our little studio to the brim with around 150 students performing in 4 shows. The love and wonder at what we can do together is real!
We stilt walked for the Juneteenth gathering in Ashland Creek Park, where the new public art piece Ancestor’s Future: Crystallizing Our Call will be located.
Summer Camp time! Our friends from Zaccho in San Francisco came up for a weekend of skill sharing and mini-performances. We even got a couple of Mom's on the wall!
Our Gig Lab participants made new choreography that premiered at the 4th of July Parade festivities, and our stilt crew was up and ready for that long walk!
Our adult wall dancing folk became Super Heroes on the wall for one of ScienceWorks After Dark parties, much to all of our great amusement!
In August we successfully updated our rigging grid in the studio with new steel and a few new toys to keep us all safe!
A few of our students were able to attend the American Youth Circus Organization Festival in Seattle to meet other young artists and acrobats, take classes of all sorts, eat dorm food, and see performances by their peers!
Just before classes started, Flynn Creek Circus came to town, and our wall dancing and Gig Lab folk were able to perform again as pre-show entertainment for this sweet traveling circus!
Classes started with 200 students enrolled in classes for the fall. We feel incredibly blessed to provide this safe, exhilarating, and challenging environment to all our students, and so appreciate the support as you keep showing up!
SOPride in October meant the stilt-walkers were on the street and the rig was up at the Bandshell with another opportunity for these talented young folk to say what they wanted to say to the world!
Monster Dash with the Ashland Schools Foundation and Monster Ball at ScienceWorks were a chilly end to our season of putting the rig up to perform for community events that support the youth in Ashland.
In November we brought out access consultants and teachers Erin Ball and Maxime Beauregard to conduct a teacher training for our staff, and some new friends who joined us in learning to make our aerial and circus spaces more inclusive for all folks. For real. That work will continue!
The Festival of Lights in Ashland wrapped up our stilt walking for 2023 with one last parade (where we always hope the ground stays dry!!)
The end of the semester always means a low-key show off week, where parents are invited into the studio to see what we have been up to over the last several months. It is always a pleasure to see everyone owning what they have worked so hard to achieve!
Photo credits: Kristan Kelly Images, Cian Murty, Drone @ ScienceWorks, Erin Ball