Kevin O'Keefe, AYCO's president, was asked to speak at the International Youth Circus Festival and Congress, held in July of 2000 in Berlin, Germany, about the role of circus in education. In attendance were youth circus representatives from the US, UK, Finland, Russia, Belgium, Switzerland, and Germany. The following is the text of that speech.

Traditionally, the circus has been a place of inclusion where no matter how weird, unique or special your talent there was a place for you. Like the traditional circus, Circus Minimus has a place for everyone. In our workshops we tell the story of The Ring of Shazzam. Shazzam was a popular cartoon I watched as a child. In the story there was a brother and sister who each had half of this magic ring. When they were separated the ring had no power. When they brought the two halves of the ring together a magic genie appeared who would grant them any wish and help them overcome any obstacle.

At the onset of a Circus Kids Create residency we make a circle on the floor and we talk about being part of the whole: individuals committed to the team. Every student has a portion of Shazaam's magic ring. As we come together and discover what each of us can bring to the circus, we create the magic ring of Shazzam. When we all come together focused on our purpose we have the power to overcome obstacles and create something truly original.

When a student(s) learns how to juggle they acquire a metaphor for life about being able to handle more than they are accustomed to. They don't just survive they thrive. When they comes down safely from the top of a human pyramid they sense they are preparing to scale the greater heights of whatever lies ahead. When they learn to balance on a wire they recreate a metaphor that we live with but rarely acknowledge- that each step we take forward, is a challenge. Students learn that when they take risks the rewards are commensurate. Educators, parents and family members glimpse that child's future as they see them engaged in a craft that has trust, teamwork, magic, discipline and creativity in it.

The process of teaching is just as important as the product if not more so. Any real learning takes place in the context of a learning culture that is created by the teacher with his or her students. Circus Minimus creates an environment of respect and safety that opens the possibility for peer learning. The circus staff are mentors and co creators along with the students, aware of the different developmental needs of each set of students we work with. We develop leadership, conflict resolution, cooperation, integration of language arts-listening, speaking, reading and writing and as well as physical education skills in an integrated way.

Children have their own integrity and autonomy. A child is not an adult and a kid's circus should not look like an adult circus with shorter and less skilled performers. Kids circus should include kids personalities. In my work I am constantly searching for ways to let the child's personality and creativity emerge. When it does there is no need to motivate, convince, or impose our ideas. Children take their idea and run with it empowered. I'm sure that many of you here today know the satisfaction of this feeling of empowerment in your own students. My staff and I work to create with each child their "moment in the sun."

We, try to refine the unique gift that each child brings to the circus. It is not enough to carry the tradition of the circus if we exclude the individuality of the child. One of the reasons that the circus is no longer an integral part of the American culture is that circus didn't grow fast enough to keep up with a culture that included television and mass media. If we can draw what is personal from every different group of children we can make the circus new each time we do it. Kids come up to me in the towns that I return to year after year and ask if we can do the same routine or act that we did last year. My response is the same; "We are going to make something new." Originality can not be taught but an environment can be created where the children feel safe to express themselves and to take creative and emotional risks.

Circus is intrinsically physical. In disciplines like juggling, tumbling, acrobatics, tight wire or trapeze there is a certain amount of physical skill and vocabulary that is necessary in order for the creative process to begin. Once that vocabulary has been established we work with the child to draw their particular spin on the routine. We don't carbon copy routines and then assign students their place in them. We work organically for the development of personal routines. When I watch routines done by kids no different from ones done by adults except that the technique isn't as good I get frustrated. I recently watched an American Youth circus unicycle act. It was a demonstration of skill rather than an integrated routine. At the end of the routine there was polite applause from the audience. One small boy, about 8 years old had trouble remounting his unicycle in order to get offstage. He tried a few times and was finally successful. His attempts and eventually success left him onstage alone. When he rode off he got genuine applause from the audience. He was mystified because he thought he'd held up the show and done something wrong. The audience was applauding the fact that the child did not give up; that he was mastering his frustration and trying again. He would have received no such recognition if he had performed adequately as the other children did. I'm not advocating that we plug in mishaps into our shows. The mishaps will happen whether we put them in or not but the way that the child reacts to mishaps tells so much about the child, the circus and the audience.

What are the skills that we teach? What are we really teaching? My goal is not to prepare circus performers of tomorrow. My goal is to give kids and their communities a structure with which to express themselves.

The Circus Kids Create is a magnet drawing all kinds of people to it. People who bring their gift to the circus and then return to their lives changed in some way. We teach self-esteem, discipline, creativity, self-expression, community, teamwork, and problem solving while using the circus as a metaphor for life. We don't teach juggling. We teach people to be patient with themselves while they learn to juggle.

I hate to state the obvious but I will. (Pause) The strength of a kid's circus is the fact that it is done by kids. Kids bring a fresh way of looking at circus. They will constantly bring to the table a different idea. I look forward every day to losing the "circus expert label" parents, classroom teachers and kids put on me.

The reason we come together as a congress is the same reason our communities come together behind circus - we can't do it alone. This congress is smarter than any of the individuals participating in it. Likewise our individual circus communities are smarter than any of the individuals participating in the making of the circus - including the director. It is our responsibility as artists, teachers and directors is to remain available to the gifts children bring us. What do schools think of the Circus Kids Create? Marty Siegel a PE teacher of the year in NJ said this, "CM was the most extraordinary event in which I have been involved as a physical education specialist." Allison Cobb, a music teacher in NH said, "It has been an incredible, wonderful, thrilling experience! Thanks you for bringing the magic of circus to the Symonds school. The children and the staff will never forget what you've given us." I relay these quotes to you not simply to toot our horn although (whoo-whoo) but to give you an idea of the profound effect the combination of Circus and traditional education can have. Two loves combine to form a third more powerful entity.

Like when your parents got together they created a special being unique in this entire world. - You. I have many loves in my life- circus, yoga, poetry, music, education, history, reading, traveling, and children among them. Whenever I can, I combine two of my loves and a third, more powerful entity is created. Some Circus Minimus collaborations have resulted in Circus Poeticus, Circus Musicus, Circus Historicus, Circus Yoga, the Integrated Circus Curriculum, The Parent/Child partner acrobatic troupe and The Peace Circus.

There are a few magical moments in every teacher's life when the hair on the back of their head stands up straight and they feel like shivering with the excitement, the reward, of the moment when the student gets it. I want to share with you a story about Ethan and his "moment in the sun." Ethan's moment in the sun was a defining moment in my life. It was then that I realized my mission in this world. Ethan gave me my rasion d'être.

He came to my circus about ten years ago when we were relatively inexperienced. We were working in a small community art center in upstate New York. Ethan had a twin brother named Gregory. Gregory was quick and intelligent and "normal" in many ways. Ethan was smaller and had some serious learning and physical disabilities that made him special in many ways. Compensating for his learning disabilities, he exerted himself with great force and personality in order to keep up with his stronger and faster brother. One day Ethan excitedly told me about a pair of clown dummies they had at home. They were life size (as tall as they were) stuffed clowns. I asked them to bring in the dummies.

The next day they showed up early and immediately started a wrestling slugfest that had the other kids entranced. Here was a clown act if I ever saw one. It was equal parts violence and comedy. In our collaboration I added a braggadocio commentator. Over the course of the next few rehearsals it developed into a World Wrestling Federation tag team championship.

The day of the big show came and Ethan and Gregory came to the stage when it was time for their routine. The boys put on a great show for the sold out crowd, which included their parents and grandparents. Ethan swizelled his dummy into a pretzel shape. Gregory swung his around like a lasso. Ethan put a vicious, drop kick, body slam on the dummy in order to secure their crown. To the cheers of the crowd they were declared champs and Gregory took his dummy and left the stage.

Ethan proudly stood over his dummy with his foot resting squarely on its chest. His arms were raised triumphantly over his head. He was not in any hurry to get off the stage. It was one of those moments when time seems to expand. Maybe it was that the sun breaking through the clouds but it seemed that the lights in that little barn got brighter. However it happened, the room definitely got warmer. The audience started spontaneously chanting his name. "Eth-An, Eth-An, Eth-An." Returning to my role as Ringmaster, I waited off to the side of the stage and thought about how to get him off so that we could continue the show. At some point I decided I was not ever going to take that kid off that stage in order to continue with the rest of the show. This was Ethan's moment in the sun. We hadn't planned it but sometimes fate intercedes. I could see his parents and grandparents crying tears of joy. Eventually Ethan felt the moment pass then he waved his arms to the crowd and walked off the stage trailing his dummy behind him.

While Ethan is an extreme example, through the circus, each child can have his or her moment in the sun. By the end of out work together the children understand that they couldn't have done it without each other. They couldn't have performed without the building blocks--the Circus Minimus process-- that brought them together into a community in the first place and which showed them, through their own experience, that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. We live in a fragmented world. A world that needs healing. Children are often our greatest hope. Together, all of us-whether instructors watching a child struggle with the tightwire or parents witnessing a circus production--or all of you listening to me at this very moment-- we ALL hold a portion of Shazaam's ring and it is with this understanding that we create magic.

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