[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t’s about giving children the chance to shine under the spotlight. It’s about empowering youth to walk the tightrope of life. It’s about being moved by music and dance.
Circo para Todos (Circus for all) was born in Cali as a training school for children with talent and unharnessed energy. It would grow under the big top to make a big splash and an even bigger bang, with the sounds of hip-hop, reggaeton and salsa.
Many dream of running away to join the circus. Felicity Simpson did. But it would take several “mistakes of geography” for the then 16-year-old to call Colombia home and Circo para Todos a destiny.
[quote]“I want every child to experience the circus. Circus is a fantastic way to learn social skills.”[/quote]
London in the 1960s was swinging to the Beatles’ “Twist and Shout” and dazzled by Twiggy in tweed. Rising hemlines, vinyl and the Morris mini pushed London to the epicenter of cultural change.
After three years at the prestigious arts school, ArtsEd, Felicity moved from her West London home to the close cultural rival Paris, where at 19 she joined the circus. But the Paris experience was “too clean” for her tastes, and short-lived.
She then ventured south to Rio de Janeiro where the National Circus School had recently launched, and she set up her own progressive performance troupe, Intre?pida Troupe.
Opening contemporary circus culture in Brazil and taking it to “new platforms” introduced Felicity to a lifestyle of touring and trouping.
Already front and center in the minds of Brazilian audiences, it took a seven-minute act to catapult Felicity and a Colombian member of her troupe, Hector Fabio Cobo, to the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain.
They represented the South American country in the 1989 “Cannes of circuses.” Five years of constant contracts poured in.
The friendship between the Londoner and Bugen?o deepened into a creative maelstrom whose beating heart would become the capital of Valle del Cauca — Cali.
Having worked on projects with children from disadvantaged backgrounds, Felicity and He?ctor understood that short-term ventures could do more harm than good. “We wanted to build something for the long-term that would have an impact on a national level,” she said.
International funding got Circo para Todos off its feet in the years between 1992 and 1995.
“He?ctor wanted to give something back to Colombia,” states Felicity, remembering how the founders had to juggle life on the road, relationships and a pregnancy with setting up operations in Cali.
The first students from shelters and community centers in marginalized neighborhoods, such as Siloe? and Aguablanca, enrolled. But they need those to teach others.
In 1996, Circo para Todos convinced the National Military Service that it could train future circus instructors if they could be exempt from the one-year obligatory service.
“It was better than sending them to the frontline,” recalls Felicity. Some 700 youngsters applied under the program and Circo para Todos began to pick prime local talent. Twenty-eight were chosen and 11 succeeded as future instructors of the circus school.
Felicity shies away from emphasizing the term “street kids” to describe the social reality of some of the first students of the school and an image that continues to wet the presses.
When performing in 2010 at the Roundhouse theatre in London and quoted as “one of the most excit- ing youth theatre troupes,” The Telegraph opened their story on Circo para Todos with the headline: “From street urchins to circus stars.”
Felicity cringes.
Yet, despite bouts of sensationalism, critical reviews of production house Circolombia’s Circo para Todos are overwhelming.
When the company took its most recent production, Urban, to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2011, The Scotsman heralded an “outstanding” performance by youngsters “in its strength and precision.” The Australian opened with “Raw vitality and excitement” when the troupe toured Sydney in 2013.
But it began with a school nestled in the Parque de Amor in Cali.
In 1997, Colombia’s first professional circus school opened its doors with a four-year course and diploma. But a cruel twist of irony struck the first graduation class of 2001, when He?ctor Fabio Cobo died on December 14, the day of the official ceremony.
“It was a day we had worked so hard for,” remembers Felicity as a vigil was held under the big top. One student remarked to the co-founder: “We are not burying him, we are sowing for the future.”
The future would reap many rewards and offers began to pour in from talent scouts to recruit Circo para Todos’ energetic young men and women. All went on to become active in the world of theatre and circus performance.
In order to structure contracts and open up doors to the world’s stages, Felicity set up Circolombia in the UK. It was the “less organic” sibling to the school and an entity whose mission statement is to stage productions in the most prestigious venues.
Salsa dance show, Delirio, began as a fundraising initiative by Circo para Todos. Delirio became so successful that it broke away from the school and evolved into a hit sensation in its own right.
Today, Cali is home to two of this country’s most-applauded performance companies, and even though they maintain very separate philosophies, they have taken Cali talent to the four corners of the globe.
From the first experience of “scary” to “sowing He?ctor” on the stage, Felicity’s latest gem is Urban. This high-voltage hip-hop, part rap, reggaeton-esque performance opened Wednesday and runs through Dec. 23 in the Teatro Colo?n in Bogota?.
Urban has been touring the world’s capitals for five years, and their debut in the “Theatre of Colombians” marks a homecoming of sorts and page turner in a new chapter to be written by Circolombia.
[infobox title=’If you go’]
What:
Urban tells the story of two competing gangs in Cali through acrobatics, music and performance art.
When:
7:30 p.m. Mon-Sat
3:30 p.m. Sun
Where:
Teatro Colon
Calle 10 No. 5-32
How much:
$30,000-60,000
More info:
www.teatrocolon.gov.co/eventos/circolombia-urban
[/infobox]
Felicity has grand visions for the circus and believes it’s a powerful agent for social change in Bogota?. Audiences will get a 360-degree urban “experience” taking the Tren de la Sabana from the circus’ Bogota? home to Usaque?n and back before curtain call when the show continues through December 25 to 30.
Felicity found her first diamonds in the Cali rough, polished them and propelled them as performers.
She wants this philosophy to be adapted to every school across Colombia. “I want every child to experience the circus,” she said. “Circus is a fantastic way to learn social skills.”
The Urban story is pure freestyle and tells the story of two rival gangs from Cali who face off with air performing acrobatics and a soundtrack that melds the energy of Cali streets with a cocktail of synchronised sound. Urban is rough, tumble and sweaty.
The tale of one city and its youngsters who embrace values of tolerance, compassion and reconciliation over drugs, crime and social exclusion. It’s the story of Circo para Todos: under the limelight and in your face.
As a circus “runaway,” Felicity Simpson is now a role model to many. While Bogota? is home and until Circolombia’s big top becomes an established and admired part of the city landscape, the journey continues.
A journey, which transcends borders and physical limitations. Felicity’s real Urban adventure is about youth and potential.
It’s also an affirmation for Colombians that peace can be achieved beyond a stage.
