Circus Themed Lessons–a New Twist for Drama Classes
“Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Children of All Ages”–You know, I don’t think I’ve heard a circus master of ceremonies actually say this, have you?
It must be from the movie, Dumbo which was one of my favorites when I was a child. This is probably the reason I love elephants so much, too.
Recently, I saw a preview for the new Dumbo movie coming out soon and it reminded me of a couple of lessons I created about Cirque Du Soleil. Students don’t study Cirque du Soleil per se, but they focus on Cirque Du Soleil lessons through a new twist: the performers costumes and makeup.
In case you don’t know me, I taught drama at every grade level for over thirty-five years and as many as ten different subjects within it. Everything from creative dramatics to technical theatre–second through twelfth grade.
I had a good drama teacher when I was in high school during the Civil War (well, it feels like it sometimes). Mr. Kent Chapman of Emporia High School got me started and for that, I am always grateful. I loved everything about his classes–his warm ups, lessons, assignments and of course, direction of the plays.
Like most educators, we emulate what we liked from our own teachers. Over those many years of teaching, although I was modeling my lessons after Mr. Chapman’s it became dull and robotic.
As a result, I realized I was getting stale because I kept doing the same things over and over again.
However, if you are going to repeat yourself (for thirty-eight years) you may as well toil on an assembly line someplace and make better money. As a I was a creative person I couldn’t abide by it.
If you keep teaching the same thing over and over it’s easier, right? It’s way boring, though.
That’s just not my style. I like to build a better mousetrap.
Cirque Du Soleil Lessons–a New Twist for Drama Classes
When our daughters were young, we traveled to Disney World and just happened to get tickets for our first Cirque Du Soleil show, La Nouba. Oh my gosh, we were awestruck the entire time. If you haven’t seen it or any of their circuses, you are missing out! Here’s an example for you:
As you can see, their shows are magnificent!
Who is Cirque du Soleil?
According to Wikipedia, “Cirque Du Soleil is a Montreal-based entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the innter-city area of Saint Michel, it was founded on June 16, 1984 by former street performers Guy Laliberte and Giles St.-Crois. Like many new entertainment ventures, they had a great idea but not much money to make it happen. Then in 1983 they received a government grant from the Canada Count for the Arts to perform as part of the 450th anniversary celebrations of Jacques Cartier’s voyage to Canada. Its theatrical, character-driven approach and the absence of performing animals helped define Cirque du Soleil as the contemporary circus that it remains today.”
When I returned to school that year, I got to thinking about how I could use La Nouba in the classroom. First, I created a lesson on costume design about it. Kids just LOVED it!
As a result of my attendance to the show, we’d see video snippets about La Nouba. I’d talk them through the various acts pointing out the costumes and makeup in particular. Then the students would study costume design and its importance in theatre and finish by designing their own Cirque costume.
Since writing was a big push of ours at our school, I thought they needed to do more than design. So, I also assigned them to write a letter to a family member as if the student was hired by Cirque detailing their employment and subsequent training in the circus.
Time to Study Stage Makeup
Next it was time to study stage makeup–why not continue with the Cirque Du Soleil focus?
For Grades 6-9
We did so, and I was amazed at their wonderful designs and ideas. Here is one:
Isn’t this awesome?
I thought other teachers may like to use these lessons as well. Each lesson is about two days in length which could be stretched to a week if you did both. That’s a heck of a week of learning if you ask me.
Cirque Du Soleil Lessons–a New Twist for Drama Classes
For Grades 4 to 7.
Costume Design with Circus Performers
Stage Makeup Design with Circus Performers
These elements of drama lessons study costume design and stage makeup using circus performers (in particular Cirque Du Soleil) as their focus! These are great for an elementary gifted class or middle school drama class.
Students love to study stage makeup! Even boys enjoy it as you can see from the above.
Costume Design and Stage Makeup Design:
Costume Design includes:
- The History of Costume Design
- The Rationale for Teaching Costume Design
- Costume Notes for Students
- Procedure
- Teacher’s Script–what I say and how I say it!
- Materials List
- Source & Video link list (Cirque De Soleil, Ringling Brothers, etc.)
- A Warm-Up—engaging and creative
- Circus Performer list & skills
- Two Assignments–one drawing and one creative writing
- Student Examples
Stage Makeup Design:
- Warm Up Game–Zip, Zap, Zop (MY version)
- The History of Stage Makeup (separate file of Power Point slides & teacher’s lecture notes)
- Teacher’s Script–what I say and how I say it
- Procedure
- Materials List
- Source & Video link list (Cirque De Soleil makeup tutorials, Circus Shmurkus, Barnum and Bailey, etc.)
- Pinterest board link with examples
- Two Assignments–one drawing and one creative writing
- Theatre Quote page–great to use for discussion and/or bell ringers
I hope you get a chance to see both Dumbo and a Cirque Du Soleil show soon. You won’t regret it!
My favorite act at the circus is the trapeze. What is yours?
I’d love to hear from you. Contact me at dhcbaldwin@gmail.com or DeborahBaldwin.net
