Following your dreams vs career

[admonisher]

Hi guys, wanted to know if anyone here is in a similar situation and have try stuff to change this.

I have always done mostly visual arts, I was good in it, because not social etc love to draw. As I grew up I wanted to learn how to defend myself from bullies, wanted to learn how to dance to impress girls, and learn theater art not to become shy, loved running and doing athletics to have a nice body and feel respected.

I was taken between 2 choices go to visual art or go to dance/theater/acrobatics. I made the choice at 17-18 to go visual art because 1 I have more experience I am better at this, some people said I was really good and visual art(graphic/illustration/animation) is more secure than perforances art.

Now I am doing visual arts I love it but I found myself doing more training physically then drawing training.

Now I am 22 and I dont know how but I dont liek to draw anymore, maybe those are things that happen, something you really loved you come to hate. But on the other end I am always mad because I can never train an off. Becauming a visual artist takes a lot of time, because its competitive and the skills are hard too obtain. But I have a hard time becauming good visually because I also try to become good physically as a personnal accomplishment.

its a fight between 2 passions but one of the passion which is visual art I am bored of now. I have 1 year left to f inish college. I dont want to come back but I will. I wonder if swiching career to a performing one is still possible. I mean its a question of how much the body can take and how young you look. ( I look like 17-18 years old but I am 22)

My parents did not approve the choice of becoming an illustrator/designer because its not safe, so thats why I never took the path of a dancer/circus artist/theater because its even less safe.

I know now that I owe money for school already, not too much, I need 5 years to pay them back. But I am thinking hey when you finish school you have to pay bills man. So even if I hate drawing or illustration well not hate but not passionate, I can still try to become good and work in it, even thought its competitive heh

But I know thhat I love arts I love creating in general, My goal was to find an artistic mean that can combine both visual and physical in an act, for something that can be good, both making money and doing what I like. I will need luck for this hehe.

I know I have a weird kneed but not injured, its loose from wushu in the past, and my elbow is slightly huurt because of bad training I hope this is not a bad start for me. I want to switch to physical arts when I am done the last year of college.

How many of you guys became circus performers/acrobats/dancer at my age or older ?

I want to know if any of you guys were in similar choice decision to make and what did you do ? hearing stories is always fun

[LaughingTiger]

I'm not an acrobat/dancer/circus performer, etc., but thought I'd respond anyway. It's just my opinion, not gospel or anything that needs to be followed.

Who says you can't have a career in both visual and performing arts?

Unless there's an age limit, you're never too young/old to do anything.

If you're thinking about making a change in your career/education, I'd say this is the best time. You're young and don't have a family to support right now, and still in school.

If you are able, take a theater or dance class at your college or a local community college. If your school has a gymnastics team, see if you can train with them.

If after taking a class in the performing arts, you feel that's really the direction for you to go in, then pursue it. You always want to be respectful of your parents and not disappoint them, but ultimately it's your life. Many parents say they want their kids to be doctors, lawyers, etc. because they believe those careers will allow their children to be financially secure. Money isn't everything and you're not guaranteed to be rich just because you become a doctor. Your parents may decide to stop supporting you financially, but they won't stop supporting you.

Use a performing arts class, to dip your toe in the water and see if this is something you really want to pursue. Once you've made your decision, pursue it. In most instances, you are not in a situation of all or nothing. You could major in visual arts and minor in performing arts.

Pursue that thing that you want to do. Plan how you would accomplish the goal and go for it. You can have a contingency plan in case things don't work out. Work at the advertising firm by day, while you go to circus school at night.

You don't want to spend your life wondering what if.

[admonisher]

Well one thing that is good is that during my visual art study I always trained, for 1 year in shaolin kung fu, for 3 years in wushu and now for 1 year in capoeira and still pursuing. I also did breakdance and hiphop and salsa in the past. I did also 2 years of theather in high school (I was mainly dancer/mime). Right now I am a figure drawing model, I pose nude for artist like me who likes to paint and I love it and I have very good comentary about it people believe I am very good and expressive in movement, and I hear all the time that I know how to dance( not master) but that I know how. and sometime some teachers says I am not to bad in martial art.

I also juggle right now. And I used to have very very good endurance cardio, w hich reduced with training less. But I have never been super strong physically thought, but I had an average flexibility and I am a creative person

The problem though is All those years of training I never did it seriously because college (visual art studies) always outweight things so I always end up not training for 2 week to 1 month because of business. Making my progress very slow

I know one thing, I love all the performance stuff but I dont know if I would love to do it professionnally? When I went in visual art I did not think of this but I knew I dont want to do a job were i will be always sitting and always in the same company, I never keep a job for more then 3 months and 1 year is my max. So arts /contract is my way. ANd I don't mind living a bit poor like I am now cuz I am somewhat happy.

Now when I read this i'm like oh my good I did more physical stuff then visual stuff, Well when I was younger and less active I used to draw way more but not its reverse.

The only thing im afraid of is that I am not fully in shape, I almost injured my foot once, My knee is loose but I am working on it to make it strong. But I suppose even performers of my age have those weird body pain right ?

My parents started believing in me after 4 years, now they realised I have skills in visual art, I do have but I dont have an off, probably because I dont love what im doing an off, I dont know. But they most of the time encorage me to take a second major but in somehing that would make money, for sure art or dance doestn make money but heh. I think its better to do what I love first and then see how I can get out of the fire.

Anyway Thanks man for answering me, What is your experiences thought with this ? I dont want to make this post a rant but a post were I can here the other talk about same issues or regrets/success and age etc

[admonisher]

Honestly I dont want to come back to finish my last year. I dont talk with nobody there and seems not to be connecting with them, and I hate beign sitted for so long. But I love certain classes like sculpture and creative art and design, especially if it as to do with the body or anatomy, I am fascinated b y the body but I am far from loving science but I love psychology and philosophy

School sports team include

Basket ball

Volley Ball

Soccer

Rowing team

Cheerleeding team

joining any of these is impossible within my technicle program because I would have to commit training 4 times a week and doing matches I would have to take a lighter load for this to be possible

my plan would be that after I finish, i'll be 23 years old I'll continue capeoira but seriously like 4/5times a week for months and months like a year, then if I progressed well,I'll do dance at the same time, something like ballet or contemporary(because its my dream to try those) a mime class co uld be good too. i'll do 2 or 3 years like that while I do this I will do my best to pay back my 10 000$ loan. I probably wont have time to draw anymore, which is fine, you have to sacrifice if you want to progress quick. Then if my body is good and if I am in very good shape I can choose to go to another college or university but in something like Cirque du soleil school/Dance college or theather arts if really this is what I want to do. on a plan like that it means I would start my career at 28/29 years old.living me until 35-40.

[LaughingTiger]

It's good that you're thinking about all of this now.

When I graduated high school and briefly attended a couple of universities, I didn't have a dream career. I was always good with computers, so I decided to work in that field. I started out, going to class full time and working part time. Soon I reversed it and was working more than I attended class. I finally quit school all together. When I quit school, I was forced to leave the job program that I had been in.

I was fortunate in that I was able to use a connection to secure a full time position in the IT field as a contractor. Again this wasn't something I wanted to do because I loved it, but it paid very well. Initially, I stayed with companies for an average of 5 years until they lost the contract. When I went to work for my third company, I was a newly wed and had a child on the way. I decided I really didn't want to do this kind of work anymore.

I didn't leave the IT field, but did change the kind of work I do in this field. It hasn't always been by choice, but lately I've only been working on contracts for a year at the most. If I had put more thought and effort into what I wanted to do sooner, I wouldn't have wasted my time with 1 or 2 of my employers when I started my career. I was blessed in that things have worked out for me, but I know this hasn't been true for everyone.

Think long and hard about visual or performing arts or what ever other career you might want. There's nothing wrong with trying out different jobs while you're young. It's a lot easier to make those changes now.

[admonisher]

true, everyone is putting so much pressure when your young saying, you have to prepare your future very soon or else its too late, then whats happens is you might take something you hate and boom you might have a kid or something and you cant go back anymore. But in another way some people dont go to school but go to travel and when they come back they regret,

One of the things I want to do too is travel hehe.

I am curious too see what the others experiences are. I have been looking over the internet for people who started performing in physically demanding career but I cant find anyone who started old, probably because they are rare, i guess I could be one of them.

Do you think that not talking to nobody in a program and almost failing a program while working hard and not wanting to do any art for fun. I even wanted to fail but worked hard not to fail but I wish I could have failed because it would have given me 1 year to do capoeira/gymnastics and dance, consistantly. is a proof I might be hating what I am doing hehe. I use to love it a lot thought.

[admonisher]

oh and what I am doing now is a diploma, its not a degree. In montreal people dont have to have a degree to work. it depend what type of diploma you have. But a degree as more prestige for sure. I still live at my parents so at least this is good. IVe been listening to a podcast of a guy dancing ballet professionnally starting at 24 years old, so yeah some things are not impossible, and there was a guy who became contortionist at 28, but he is like a contortionist actor for commercials.

I know that if i want to be good in illustration I need atleast 2-3 year of intensive training, now what I have for skill is pretty basic.

As for performance art I need at least 3 years intense to get the basic for sure and 2 more year to perfect my self and find a market

[AlexX]

Honestly, no one can give you the right answer here. This is a choice you need to make for yourself and there are pros and cons to each decision besides the obvious secure career vs not.

However I will say that there have definitely been people who have done similar things to you. Perhaps the most impressive that I've seen (you can try looking it up on your tube as I forgot the guy's name) is a guy in his early twenties after graduating college and working a nice regular business job decided that this was just too boring and he felt that he never got his dream to pursue sprinting and reach for the olympics (he was a sprinter in college). He quit his job for a job as a tire installer at a garage, working the minimum amount of hours that he could survive on, cut all his expenses and began training full time for sprinting. I haven't checked on him in a while but a year ago the guy was flirting with breaking the ten second barrier. These stories are more rare than others but most definitely not unheard of.

Hell I quit an office job and decided not to go to school for physical therapy (it's awesome just not for me at the moment) because I didn't want to end up in my thirties working a career in an office or as therapist where every day is the same. I took a year off looking for a job that I would like and worked for myself in the process. As a result I got an amazing opportunity to be trained as a gymnastics coach. Yeah I don't make the same amount of money, my hours are all over the place, and people think I am crazy for dumping a nice job and school for a coaching job but I can honestly tell you that I haven't had this much fun in years.

[Cole Dano]

Its extremely important you make this choice yourself. Based on all the information you get from talking to people and your own intelligence and intuition.

I'll give you some perspective being someone who has made that kind of change.

First thing to keep in mind, and i've seen this with myself, and other top people in my field. Nothing is perfect, the grass is always greener. What often happens as one gets into the trenches of day to day life is that the thing we used to love looses its luster.

I was over 30 when i got into teaching yoga, and about 37 when i went full time with it. At 42 i was the top of my own yoga practice and, though there is no measure for this, probably doing the most advanced work of anyone in Europe at that time.

Unfortunately i got sick and continued practicing and wound up giving my self asthma. About the same time i started my own yoga studio, and from there it was rapidly downhill.

I really loved it up to that point, even though there was a ton of politics going on, i did my best to stay out of it and just do my work. But the seeds of discontent were there, which of course is what led me to open a studio.

In many ways i really didn't have a choice but to open a studio, and the truth is, it did wind up taking much of my love and belief in yoga in general. I won't go into details, but what i started as a way to have more freedom to practice, and get out of politics turned out to be the exact opposite. It led me to eventually quit the style of yoga i was practicing but with that came a big drop in students and even more financial stress.

I don't have any regrets, but am i better off or happier than if i'd just stayed in engineering? I can't say, i'm pretty sure from at least a financial standpoint, no, in a big way. I do serieously regret that i don't have more resources to help with my family and that i have little personal security. This is is something i have to live with. I'm 100% honest when i say that being the best at whatever age was not worth it for me. In fact in my field it didn't help whatsoever, only made folks jealous it seems.

I didn't set out, however, to be the best, that was just the product of lots of hard consistent work. I set out to answer some personal questions. Questions i needed to have answered, the answers were not what i expected, but for me there was no other way. To embark on such a quest, you need to know the risks, which is why i'm painting the negative side of the picture, and decide if they are worth it for you.

[yuri marmerstein]

I got a degree in physics and had a job as a contractor right out of college. I made lots of money but spent 80 hours a week in either an office or a lab.

When the contract was over I got into coaching gym. Even though I made a fraction of the money I no longer hated my life and found the time to do what I love, which is training.

Well I was getting a bit too comfortable in ohio so at 24 years old I made the choice to move to Las Vegas to try to pursue a career as a performer.

I've been in Vegas for 2 months and have found a job coaching and still find time to train(though I miss some of the open gyms I would like to go to). I've only had one audition so far(it went well, just timing was wrong) but I plan on going to all of them that come up and see what happens.

I've also been talking to a guy who is opening up a gym in august so that should be a good opportunity as well.

I am lucky that I had some money saved up though because I've had some unexpected shit happen like massive tooth infection(got root canal and getting crown next week) or auto accident that was my fault(nothing major)

Either way, we'll see how things go. The most important thing is that I don't want to be old and look back saying I could have done this but never had the balls to try.

[Cole Dano]

Haha! I've also got a Physics degree, with a math minor.

I had a similar experience with the work, actually not much thinking involved, that had to be done on my own time and the hours were crazy, especially when it was crunch time.

Best of luck to you in Vegas!

[Seiji]

I didn't read anything except the first thread, but all I have to say is this:

The people who compete in the world's strongest man competitions tend to be in their early thirties.

At 22 you aren't too old to start anything.

[admonisher]

Mr. Bradi and yuri I love your stories, you guys made choices and destiny made you make choices. This remind me of the book the alchimist by paolo. Where it says the world will conspirate to make you accomplish your personnal legend. But if you dont listen to the signs then you wont here them anymore and yr f*#ked.

Seiji yes I might be able to accomplish it, maybe its my last chances now. But I will act safe and try to finish my last year in my diploma even though I feel I might fail this time. But I will do my best. I even do the best taking a lot of extra english and french classes in writing because I never know.

I have to be aware of one thing thought, If I go into this field and dont like it, i'll have to accept to stick to the 2 degress I have. And it will always happen that there are stuff you dont like in certain things but this I know.

The only things I am afraid is that, I dont have much money and I have some few points in my body which are prone to injurys and even with no training for a month or two they dont disapear, I got introduced to go to a therapist when I registered to this forum soo. If I could get my prone to injury joi nts now. I will feel more confident to follow my dream

I have 3 options to try

-my favorite one and harest one is to go to the cirque du soleil school in montreal. Its a college diploma

They do a flexibility, strenght and artistic test and acrobatics. I will be strong in the artistic test but weak in the flexibility and strenght and acrobatics so I need to work on those

circus is very polivalent you can specialise in 1 act or becaume generalist and learn 4 styles(aerial,acrobatic,juggling,balancing)

you learn how to danse contemporary. you learn how to act(theater) you learn how to sing, You learn some theater design.

-Second choice is to go to college for Ballet or contemporary danse, I have more chance to go thought contemporary then ballet thought and I preffer contemporary.

For this I need to practice my danse a lot and get the same training as the circus minus less acrobatics

-third choice which is my l estt favorite but the one which I have the most skill is

to go to college or university for Theater and specialise in Mime or dance theater.

Then if I want to teach I need a BA(Bachelor of art) or best of all a MA(masters art)

I believe I will like any of those discipline cuz I have done them part time all my life, but its different intensiely for sure

SO those are 3 choices

Cirque du soleil college

Ballet or contemporary college

Theather/mime in college or university

The advantage to go to college again is that all the core courses like humanity, french, anglish, etc I took them so this takes me a big chunk of courses so I would be able to work part time and not take any school loans. or take a loans and work hard to take scholarships. Also aat my age I will be more mature than the other students

Other visual art jobs I wanted to try in the art field are make up artist/costume artists and scenid design. By having 2 degress like thist it will sure help me for when I get older.

anyone here have tried to apply for cirque, ballet or theater ?

I never hated any courses I took in any of those discipline

[acegerter]

I too am at a bit of a crossroads.

Just graduated from William & Mary with a major in Psychology and a math minor. Also have some connections in the finance/econometrics/programming world that I've gotten a lot of pressure from to pursue. Did NCAA gymnastics here at the W&M (although I spent a good bit of it injured) so my acrobatic background is pretty solid.

I'm 23, moving to Vegas to find cirque work and can't wait for the adventure. I'll probably pursue my cirque dream until my early 30's and then go back to school for MD, DO or PT. I LOVE every type of movement and artistic expression but my concern (as should everyone in this business) is how my body will hold up, especially with my history. I can only do it for so long and I'd really like to be able to move around when I'm older :-)... Basically it will be amazing while I'm young but I see myself in healthcare later down the road (not standard health care BS, Slizz has made some excellent posts that reflect most of my views).

My father has suggested I pursue Ecole Nationale de Cirque or other cirque schools in europe. I have given them some serious thought but am still unsure. It really would be incredible to be able to develop a handbalancing act or whatever they figure I'm best at but it would be a gamble with my health and financial stability. Also I have acrobatic background and can (hopefully) find work with what I already know.

Here is a pretty cool essay on cirque as a hobby vs a career:

http://circusgeeks.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/hobby/

If you're seriously looking into circus as a career, reading up on the history of circus and doing as much research as you can about the lifestyle is really necessary. There are plenty of resources online with history and most artists are friendly on facebook if you send them a message asking a few questions.

It's your life to do what you wish but find the balance of safety and pleasure. Also remember you grow old like anyone else :-)

[yuri marmerstein]

Circus school sounds interesting but the idea of living in a foreign country with no source of income does not appeal to me

Plus the idea of "school" has never really appealed to me either. I much prefer to learn in the field and create my own experience

[admonisher]

all those schools are in my town so i would have to leave my moms house. they will probably see my idea as crazy thought.

School is good I think when Your older and need to get in the field and get connections.

I heard that to apply to a cirque company they require that you get train in one of the big circu school because they dont want ot lose time teaching yu. But I suppose a diploma or degree is not nessesary for them, its mainly audition right ?

And also going to school is good when you dont have much money because they have specialise therapist for you to take care of your body .

But what I hate from school is freedom of voice and expression and also cant train at your rithim, you have to train fast and follow the others.

[admonisher]

I have to say guys, I actually dont want to finish my diploma in Illustration and design. There is 1 year left. And I almost failed my last semester(because of boredom) but I did my best and passed.

Now I am going to the next semester. I actually dont even want to go.

1) I dont want to go because I seem to not like it an ymore

2) By continuing I will almost have no time to train( that is the sacrifice of doing a career program in arts)

One positive thing I have now is if I transfert to another college I dont have to redo certain classes so I will be able to work part-time part time. Now I work part time once or 2 a week.

my parents are gonna be mad for sure if I quit school. but its my choice

I am thinking maybe I dont want to come back and hate stuff because I havent been taking any break from school. I am constantly either in school full time and in the summer part time both working part time all the time in a job I hate

but Maybe I sho uld cope and try hard until I really fail trying. Cuz I need this attitude wathever I will work for heh.

[admonisher]

I will also take this year to put money on my body weak points which are prone to injurys, one of my knees hurt and one of my elbow hurt, instead of taking therapy, I took rest+more study time. but that did not fix anything

[Marlon]

Hey admonisher,

Circus is the only performance art career I really know much about, but I do know a fair bit about it so hopefully I'll be able to offer you some useful advice.

First, I'm guessing the circus school in Montreal you are referring too is Ecole Nationale de Cirque. The auditions are very competitive, the program is very intense, and If you wan't to work as a circus performer at a high level in a major company (cirque du soleil, les sept doigt de la main, cirque eloize etc.) then that school would probably the best and most direct route to get you to the kind of career you are hoping for. Even if you aren't certain you want to do circus, you should just go for it and see what happens. Get an application from the website right now, fill it out and send it back in as soon as possible. A big part of what the school looks for is how young the applicants are, every year you wait, even if you skills improve, the less of a chance you will have to be accepted.

That said, circus is a very dynamic career, Becoming a top notch circus artist and getting into cirque du soleil may be a long shot if you are starting at 22. But becoming a professional circus artist through some other route is not a long shot at all. I know lots of people who got into circus in there twenties. Early, mid, and late twenties, who are making good money do circus. They aren't necessarily doing big shows, or any anything with a long term contract at all. You can do circus work gig to gig. Night clubs, festivals, and parties are just a few of the types venues that you can get a lot of work from. The paycheck's aren't consistent, and it is hard work, but if you put the effort in, it isn't as risky as you might think. To be honest, you don't really need to be that good to make it as a circus performer working gig to gig. $300 for a single gig is average for a circus performer (that gig could mean running a 5 minute act one time) regardless of whether you are "cirque du soleil calibur" you can easily make $500 or more in a single day of performing. The most important part is how you sell yourself; you need to look like a professional by having good costumes and good make-up, and send out tons and tons of promotional material. Sending promo is the biggest thing, If you have an act to sell and look professional you will get work if you send out enough promotional material.

The other thing to be said for circus work is that it isn't an all or nothing thing, you can do circus part time, most people I know mix and match various types of work related to circus. My girlfriend started got into circus when she was 22 as well, the very year she started circus she and her ex-boyfriend started there own small circus company (If you create the work yourself you bypass the whole competitive nature of the job). The company ran for 5 years before she decided to come out and train at the circus school where I met her. She's actually injured right now and still making a living through circus and circus related work. While she was building her company, they needed costumes. So she and her ex learned how to make them. Now that the company has separated she makes $35 an hour costuming for other circus performers, and on top of that she just made $800.00 this weekend from two stilting gigs. She's injured so she can't train on the aerial aparatii that she got into circus doing, but she is still able to sew circus costumes to make money, and she always has stilting as a backup (she doesn't even need to practice stilting to pick it up and do it when ever she needs to). Teaching is also an option, and something that a lot of people I know do to supplement performing work.

The point I'm trying to make is that Circus is a versatile and legitimate career no matter how late you start and no matter what your skill set is. You can strive to be in cirque du soleil, and you could make it there! It's also true that you may not. But if what you really want is to not be stuck working 9-5, travel, be able to really put your all into training, and be able to make money performing you're going to be happy no matter where your doing it. Hell, you could even still do visual art on the side to supplement circus, there's also a lot of cross-over between circus and dance in terms of the work you can get.

[admonisher]

hey dude can we chat on skype or msn ? ky80@hotmail.com but skype is better at yoshiki801 (Jeffry Charles)

Man Such A difficult choices, The younger I apply the faster I may get there. I am 22 now.

I already registered for my last year for my Illustration and design. My feelings are that as hard as I might work I might fail. because instead of practicing drawing I am training hehehehe. Its hard to do 2 things perfectly

My thing is that I should always do my best to finish what I start. But my age is so important to apply for this kind of a career.

But dude if I apply to cirque du soleil like now. Dude I dont have much skills ? I mean I can act a bit and creatte some kind of a dance routines but I dont have any splits, or open shoulder, I only have decent flexibility and good cardio very weak strenght

If I take one year to train seriously instead of doing 2 things at the same time, I might be able to advance.

But what I need to know is what are the advantages and disadvantage of not doing the last year I have( which I feel I might fail) I invested so much money on that diploma (well technicaly not a lot but its a lot for me cuz im poor)

I am not asking what should I do but I want to know what are advantages and disadventages of waiting 1 more year finish a diploma or go in right away because I am young.

One thing that will help me outside of the ages is my body and my face, People always think i am 17-18 but i'm 22 years old

Okey...

I checked the date, auditions is on february 21-24 on 2012, limit date to apply is january 15. I will be 23 years old at that date.

my birthday is december 27 2011, So I should apply on november 2011.

If I do actually I dont attend my current school semester, I will have 3 months to train.

There is something called ''Cour D'appoint at there school'' its something for good applicants who need to relearn some skills'' then if they pass this they readmit them.

I think I will not say anything to my parents or friends or no body except with the people I train with.

[admonisher]

oh and how intense is that, Like how many hours per day 1 year and second year ?

I feel my program now is sortoff intense for me, knowing that I had to do a lot of core courses which now since they are done, if I go to the cirque school in montreal I will have less problems.

Your right, maybe I should apply, get refused, so they know my face and laught at me lol. Train hard and reaply ?

my friend as a trapeze company, I could probably train there

the other things I have in mine to help me get into circus is

well what im doing now capoeira regional is good(lots of martial art but also lots of dance, music and acrobatics, flips etc)

I tryed some mime and I loved it, there is a good school in montreal I can go too

I could do some ballet classes for adults, would help my flexibility alot and doing ballet is good asset for dance

Than my friend as a school that teachs aerial things

And on my own I juggle for a hobby, but I could get really serious if I see a possibility of creating an act.

My backgrounds are

Some breakdance

Some hiphop

SOme salsa(and other latin dances)

Some Judo

Shaolin

Wushu

Capoeira regional

My strongest are salsa, wushu and capoeira.

My strong points used to be that I j u mped high but now my knee is weird because I trained wrong, I need to fix that. Also I have good character and presence in acting and moving but I dont have much technique, I also have very good cardio but i'm loosing it cuz I dont train as intense as when I was running younger. I have good martial art kicks. I am also able to trian 5 times a week for 1 month and support soreness, I did it in the past.

My weak point are that I have very weak upper body strenght for my height but I have good shoulder anatomy(from what I heard)

I also tend to learn things slow When it as to do with acrobatics, for choreography i'm fine.

Oh and I am of Black race, I havent seen yet from cirque du soleil school any black student. DO you think it might be either a plus or a minus or doesnt make a difference? Like in ballet I know thet need mans cuz there is never an off.

[Marlon]

Jeffry,

I don't have an msn account, or a mic to chat on skype, but I'd be happy to talk as much as you want on here on Gymnasticbodies. You can pm me if you want or we can keep using this thread, up to you.

Whether or not you should finish your last year of school is something that i don't think anyone online can really help you with that much. I just don't know you or your situation well enough to really offer very good advice. One thing you should keep in mind though is that even if you apply to the circus school right now, the auditions won't be until february like you said, and if you are accepted your first year wouldn't start until august 2012. If your last year of visual arts school starts this fall, then you would have time to finish your last year, and get your diploma before the circus school starts up if you were accepted. Dropping out of your school is a very big risk to take, especially if you are set on going to this particular circus school which has a very low acceptance rate.

You should also know that Ecole nationale de cirque isn't actually connected to Cirque du Soleil. Cirque's headquarters and the schools building are right next to each other, but they are completely separate. Because of that, the school isn't looking for people who are good enough to be in cirque du soleil, what they want to see is someone who they think has the potential to be that good after three years of hard training in their school. If you are seriously interested in circus, you should go to the auditions. If nothing else you'll get to meet a ton of circus people, lots of them from Montreal, possibly make some connections and figure out if training at that school is really what you want.

The coaches at the school who will be judging you know what they are looking for in students and roughly how much you could improve in a year with good training. If they see something in you that they like, they would probably prefer to be training you themselves for a year, rather than have you train yourself for a year and probably make less progress than you would have in that school environment before applying. If they don't like what they see in you, then unless you make a very large improvement over the course of a year, you may not change their minds. Keep in mind that there are many other paths to become a circus performer than through that particular school (there are many other schools, and there are many self taught circus performers).

As for how intense the training days are, it depends a little bit on the individual I'm sure. When i went to the school i think monday tuesday and wednesday I was at the school for about 12 hours each day, thursdays and fridays were a bit shorter, and I had weekends off. It isn't all physical training, you do dance and tumbling, juggling, acting, act creation, some academic classes, general movement classes, physical preparation, flexibility, along with the primary discipline they accepted you for.

All of the things that you mentioned from your background and options for training are great for circus. Ballet in particular would be an excellent use of training time and energy especially because you have an interest in both dance and circus. Just train what you love in the time you have to do it. Juggling is a discipline that the school accepts, and they would probably be less critical of age for jugglers applying, but juggling is also one of the most difficult circus disciplines to do. I think they have a list of general skills and exercises they will ask you to perform during the auditions on their website. You can look at that and work on those things in particular. If you choose to audition, show them what you are capable of doing and who you are. You can't give them anymore than that and they know it.

Don't worry about your race either. I'm black too, there are some black circus people out there, just not many of us

[admonisher]

Hehehe, thats so kool were black. I actually tought been black could be an advantage because not many hehe. The problem with doing what i'm doing now, my diploma is that, perhaps just like cirque du soleil. Ilustration is a career program. which means if I want good results in doing my diploma I need to make it my priority. I have only 2 times sometimes 3 times a week to train And those 2 or 3 times a week are wrong because I could use them to perfect my visual art skills to help my career. Choosing drawing classes instead of acrobatic classes would be abetter bet if I want to survive in my career program. My grades are not that great because I spend time training and sleeping and eating well. Well I know one guy who juggler with work, school and hockey. there is maybe 3 people who are very strong and organized and thats it. They are either chinese/ scientific background or one special indifidual who is a very good athlete already. Like Now, I havent done capoeira for 1 month because, 1) I have to take summer school from monday to thursday, saturday and sunday I work 10 hour shifts 2) I have a finger injury so I rested for 1month and realise I am not healing so I should pay for a therapist, its my first time in life taking a terapist. I will be training once a week for capoeira this month since I only have 1 day off. And I can do some training here and there on my own depending how much home work I have. Summer class is rought and I hate studying in time I h ave to rush

Knowing myself and knowing how difficult my illustration program is. If I dont quit. I will have from 2 days a week to zero to prepare for cirque.

Other option would be to take only 2 or 3 classes instead of doing the full semester. This mean if I come back I will have 2 more years to do instead of 1.

I think if I dont have a diploma in illustration and if I get or dong get a diploma in circus, I could apply in university for a BA degree, which is stronger then diploma from college and get like a bachelor of theater art or animation(drawing)/communication/fashion something like that.

I know that training 2/3 times a week I could see some progress but small. My weight tended to switch a lot because of irregularity of training.

I only juggler 30mins per day or something and its for fun to relieve stress but its fun.

SO when we apply we have to tell them what discipline we want, and sometime they choose it for you?

I am interested in

Hand Balancing, dancing, Acrobatic, Chinese ring, Hand to hand. I love to create characters and scenarios.

I am curious of doing

Juggling, Bycycle stuff, Aerial, holla hoop

The stuff I dont really care but I am open too are

Contortionist, clown, russian wheel, kaa boom,

I am 145lbs if I eat correct, which I try now. i'm 5ft 11, Tall skinny(medium) Long legs short torse, long arm. My beauty on the face is average I look very young and have sortoff a funny/happy face. I have a small afro which I am working on getting big, will take 2 years.

I don't speak a lot, it depends with who,

My shoulders are still closed which is bad for hand balancing

I jump hihgh but I need to fix my knees,

The only thing I was good in highschool for was the test navet(cardio) other that I was average on the rest,

So what do you think of the stuff I want to do, is it resonable for my age, appearance, strenght weakness ? SHould I work on bulking up, if I want to do this ?

My situation is,

were not rich, I live with my parent, My sister will have a very good job in 2 years, so she can support the familly. I can support my self with a minimum wage job.

In illustration right now i'm not the best but 2 more years(full time) could get me perfect if I put the work to it.

If I quit, I have an off tools to practice illustration on my own but no diplomas. But I could always come back to finish my diploma

So you actually studied for 3 years in the nationnal school? Tell me the positive and bad points? usualy I tend to be a isolated, calm person who likes to meet people and help and ask questions and listen. How old were you when you applied ? DO you have a website or videos? How is the school regarding injurys and health ? is it free? does injury happen often ? I have week spot but no injury except my finger which happened by accident, now I am healing it.

I checked the stuff on the website

French is my first language but for gymnastic I know the term in english. The english file is broken, I have some question of the movement I could nto find.

What is

• montée groupée en appui tendu renversé

descente en pont 2 jambes

I imagine its a Handstand to bridge, like in capoeira and gymnastics

-appui tendu renversé, roulade avant,

demi tour, roulade arrière terminée

à l’appui tendu renversé

appui tendu renversé ? is it handstand falling by rolling forward end then you do it backward to standing up in handstand againn?

-• rondade, flic flac (salto arrière)

Means the flick flac combined with salto arrière is back handsrping/ or is it back flips with knee tuck in the chest?

-Roue latéral means you do a carthweel, but can it be with hands? I am working well doing 1 hands cartwheel I feel my body can reach it, its a matter of getting my knee good to jamb high kick strong, get flexible, I understand the technique.

Préparation physique

Levé de jambe sur barre means legs raises this I get

saut groupé sur place, I think is the plyometric jumps( need to fix my knee to do this one properly) I used to do them

How long can it take to get open shoulders? is it harder to get this then splits ?

They teach backflip front flip and handspring in capeoira and I know guys to help me learn it, so this should be fine. Capoeira if I can come 4-5times a week will get me the acrobatics down, the rest is a question of cleaning them for gymnasting standards Same for opening shoulder capoeira is fi ne but doing some ballet could help too if I would start.

[admonisher]

obviouly yeah the national school is not my only option, but its a good one in term of training/health and money ratio I think. and having a diploma always help in case you want to update into university or something and yes the networking part.

I would like to touch makeup art and costumes one day so its good that I would try circus and see if my body can take it and go from there.

I saw yr youtube, I seem to have similar body type to you minus the large arms and shoulder hehe, my body as a straight form your is in V. in a way having a light body can help to be quick in dancing and acrobatics i would think heh?

oh and what age did you start again?

[admonisher]

I was reading something about capoeira who inspired me.

In life if you stay in your confort zone you never progress, whatever the field.

What you guys all have in common here is you took small calculated risks and evolved as individuals. I realised that in my lilfe, how I evolved is by taking risk and how I felt depression and weakness is by staying in confort zones. And there are periods of time were you try to say safe and you realise something is wrong.

Perhaps a calculated risk could that its true that finishing the program is good on my reputation as a guy who always finish what I start, but its also a confortable thing.

I always have this feeling of... hmm man, I should have done this ,I should have done that... I want to reduce this kind of thought to happened, it happens to much

Maybe I could do half of this and half of the circus. Or I can takea big risk and do both, whicch COuld work

It could work because I actually have a bad work ethic.

I lose focus and tend to do nothing which makes me lose time. Because I hate doing what I hate so I do it slow, but do m y best. If I could fix this. it would help me. Probly something is wrong. I am planning to see my conselour/psychologist next week again and discuss this with me.