We often talk about the benefit of circus as an activity for youth because it is non-competitive. No one wins or loses. You are only competing with yourself to get better. I do see the students compete each other to see who can do a trick better or sooner. Primarily, in circus, you are working together for the troupe or the show.
That being said, February 26 we are involved in a competitive giving event called Brackets for Good that is based on tournament competition. Circus Harmony was one of 64 St. Louis non-profits chosen to be part of this new awareness and fund-raising initiative brought to St. Louis by the YouthBridge Community Foundation. The first round starts on Friday, Feb 26 with tip off at 8PM. Please spread the word and go to https://stlouis.bfg.org to support Circus Harmony. We are in the Ferguson Roofing division on the lower left. $1 = 1 point.
Why should you support us? The graphic we are using for Brackets for Good is a photo that was taken in Israel in 2007 when we started our firs Peace Through Pyramids partnership with the Jewish/Arab Galilee Circus in Israel. Sidney ‘Iking’ Bateman, the young man pictured here, is now touring the world as a professional circus performer. By going to Israel, he realized he could live in a country with a different language, food and customs. This helped him attend Ecole Nationale de Cirque, the National Circus School of Montreal. From there he got a job with one of the top contemporary circus companies in the world, Les 7 Doigts de la Main! His acrobatic hoop diving act with another Circus Harmony alum, Melvin Diggs is now part of their Cuisine and Confessions show. The act symbolizes the doors they had to go through to escape their lives in St. Louis. The soundtrack to the act is an interview done with them in the summer of 2014 BEFORE the shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson. In the interview, they talk about growing up African-American in St. Louis and just waiting to be the next ones shot or arrested. Instead, they are entertaining and inspiring people around the world. When he comes home, Iking works with the next generation as seen in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBUxbars8xI.
Last week, one of our current St. Louis students and one of our Peace Through Pyramids partners from Israel followed in Iking’s footsteps to apply to the Ecole Nationale de Cirque. They made it through the grueling 4 day audition where over three quarters of the applicants got cut. The act they created together for part of their audition was an amazing acrobatic diabolo act. We will know in a month if they got in. We have numerous other young aspiring circus stars who are in training with us. We have students who use what they learn in our program to go o to college, to become teachers, electricians and other careers. Over 70% of our students are considered t-risk and under-served. Any money we raise through Brackets for Good will go to support our Flying Children Scholarship Fund which provide circus training for at-risk youth. Help us teach children that they can defy gravity and other limitations. Please help us win. Pledge your support starting February 26 at 6 PM at https://stlouis.bfg.org. And check back on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts to see if Chauncey and Yahel got accepted into Ecole Nationale de Cirque in April!
We will be holding our own Brackets for Good Fundraising Tip Off at City Museum on Saturday, February 27 at 12:45 with lots of give-aways and surprises. The Tip Off is free with City Museum admission or you can watch it via the live stream on our Facebook page! Then you can donate— and encourage your friends and family to support us, too— all week up to the end of the first round on March 4. Please keep an eye on the bracket towards the end of that first round and make sure we move on in the tournament! Your donation could be the one that puts us over the top!
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