Circus itself has an incredibly long history,

possibly stretching back as far as prehistorical shamans performing wonders with objects and animals. More specific evidence however appears in the form of jugglers and contortionists on the walls of 4^th century BCE Egyptian pyramids, and acrobats and jugglers painted or sculpted in Chinese art from the 10^th century CE. The world ‘circus’ dates to the Roman era, where such entertainment took place in round or oval arenas. Modern circus is generally agreed to have begun with Philip Astley’s Equestrian Arena near Westminster, England in 1768. Social circus is significantly more recent, emerging sporadically around the world in the 1990’s and early 2000s. It was born from the contemporary circus movement that revitalized interest and love of circus arts, and of which Cirque du Soleil is perhaps the most renowned example.

Social circus,

also known as community circus, is increasingly being used to address various concerns of youth around the world. Much of the pioneering work has been assisted or led by Cirque du Monde. Begun in 1995, Cirque du Monde is a branch of the Canadian circus performance company, Cirque du Soleil, combined with the social services program Jeunesse du Monde. Cirque du Monde has been an influential proponent of social circus and social circus research, working with local partners to provide youth circus programs in more than 80 communities throughout the world.

The past decade has emphasized social circus research, and improved evaluation of effectiveness in particular, to rigorously demonstrate the effects that participants report experiencing and to increase funding opportunities. One of the landmark sources comes from Finland with the Social Circus Project (2009-2011) and the Effective Circus Project (2011-2014), which produced both research on social circus effectiveness and tools for circus organizations to demonstrate the wellbeing effects of their own activities. The push for more and better evaluations continues and efforts are multiplying monthly, as evidenced by the Evaluation Toolkit currently being assembled by the American Circus Educators (ACE), and the Cirque du Monde Box, both of which contain rich collections of research, teaching guides, and evaluation assistance, free for anyone.

According to the last recorded ‘census’ put together by Cirque du Monde, 502 social circus organizations and projects can be found in every corner of the world from Canada to Afghanistan, from New Zealand to Burkina Faso. The majority of programs are entirely devoted to social circus activities, however many other kinds of programs with a social circus component are present: recreational circus organizations, social organizations, professional circus troupes, or circus schools and educational institutions.

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World of Social Circus Map as of October 2016

Why develop Evaluations for Social Circus?

Circus has always been on the fringes of society: a distant source of wonder, awe and unpredictability, possessing a sort of otherworldly and untouchable quality. The birth of community circuses though has shown that this assumption can be false. Community circuses function like any other youth organization in the neighborhood, just with more children (intentionally) flying through the air. Community circus was a step in the vibrant and dynamic circus history, moving farther from entertainment and closer to intentional social impact.

Evaluation is an important part of circus’s next step into social circus. With the new objectives of health and youth development, social circus needs tools to measure, improve, and display its worth to the scientific community.

References:

American Circus Educators (ACE). (2014). – Bolton, R. (2004). – Dip, S. M. 2003. Fournier, C., Drouin, M. A., Marcoux, J., Garel, P., Bochud, E., Theberge, J., . . . Fleet, R. (2014). – Cirque du Soleil. (no date). (2015). (2016). – Kinnunen, R., Lidman, J., Kakko, S., Kekäläinen, K. (2013a). – Kinnunen, R., Lidman, J., Kakko, S., Veikkolainen, A. (2013b).