Circus Camp for Professionals

General

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How to create good juggling performances? In addition to skills and techniques, how can artists connect juggling with narration, choreography and music, and create works that embody the uniqueness of a performer?

This year, “Tai Kwun Circus Plays” has invited Sean Gandini and Kati Ylä-Hokkala, Co-Artistic Directors of the world’s leading juggling company Gandini Juggling, to conduct the “Circus Camp for Professionals”. If you are a juggler, street arts performer, or arts practitioner who is interested in contemporary circus creations, this series of masterclasses and workshops at Tai Kwun is the perfect opportunity to sharpen your artistic senses. Sean and Kati will meet you online to explore and experience the unexpected possibilities in contemporary circus creations.

Participants will also be able to watch the Smashed XL film, a special edition with 20 world-class jugglers performing together for the 40th anniversary of London International Mime Festival.

“Circus Camp for Professionals” will be conducted in English; free of charge.

Masterclass for Jugglers

Looking at structure and how it affects the making of juggling performance, “Masterclass for Jugglers” will explore the use of choreography and dramaturgy to mould juggling into a performance. Different fun practical exercises will be used to research on the subject and enhance the technique as well as creativity in juggling.

Target participants: jugglers and artists who practice juggling

Quota: 20 persons

Participants are required to attend the following events:

Masterclass

Date	13.04.2021 \| 7pm – 9pm,
	15.04.2021 \| 8:30pm – 10:30pm, and
	16.04.2021 \| 7pm – 9pm*
Venue	JC Cube

Screening of Smashed XL (2017) by Gandini Juggling

Date	15.04.2021 \| 7pm – 8:15pm
Venue	JC Cube

*Participants of “Masterclass for Jugglers” and “Choreographing Juggling Workshops” will join the training on 15.04. 2021 together

Choreographing Juggling Workshop

The basic concept of juggling is the choreography of “throw” and “catch”. By delving into this concept and layering them with movement, “Choreographing Juggling Workshop” will look at the fun and exciting world of dance and juggling crossing over. Taking hints from fiendishly difficult coordination to charming mental puzzles, the workshop will look at juggling from a logical and mathematical angle, where music and counts will complement the creation of an artistic juggling piece.

Target participants: choreographers, dancers and arts practitioners who are interested in creating contemporary circus productions

Quota: 20 persons

Participants are required to attend the following events:

Workshop

Date	14.04.2021 \| 7pm – 9pm
	15.04.2021 \| 8:30pm – 10:30pm*
Venue	JC Cube

Screening of Smashed XL (2017) by Gandini Juggling

Date	15.04.2021 \| 7pm – 8:15pm
Venue	JC Cube

*Participants of “Masterclass for Jugglers” and “Choreographing Juggling Workshops” will join the training on 15.04. 2021 together

Apply here

Application deadline: 12noon, 25.03.2021

Special Remarks

Participants will be selected according to the information submitted on the application form. Tai Kwun will contact successful applicants by email on or before 06.04.2021.
Participants are obliged to attend all activities as required.
Activities are subject to change without prior notice. Tai Kwun reserves the right to make the final decision regarding the arrangements.

Biography

Sean Gandini

Kati Ylä-Hokkala

Sean Gandini is one of the pioneers of contemporary juggling. Working as a performer, choreographer and director, he has, for over 25 years, pushed the boundaries of juggling as a discipline and as an art form.

Growing up in Havana, Cuba, Sean was fascinated by magic and mathematics. At the age of 16, he began juggling, prompting a life-long fascination with all aspects of the art form. Sean’s professional career began in the 1980s, where he regularly performed in London and toured with various theatre companies – including the pioneering Ra-Ra Zoo. In 1991, with Kati Ylä-Hokkala, he co-founded Gandini Juggling. Together they have been at the forefront of experiments into what juggling is and what juggling can be.

Sean has created diverse array of shows, including the playful Sweet Life, the fiendishly complex celebration of the London Olympics Twenty/Twenty, and their smash hit, the darkly humorous and theatrical homage to Pina Bausch Smashed. Currently, the Company is developing Life, a new work inspired by Merce Cunningham’s works and with the support of Cunningham Trust.

www.gandinijuggling.com

Kati Ylä-Hokkala is one of her generation’s iconic jugglers. As the co-founder of Gandini Juggling, she has built a reputation not only as a highly-skilled technical juggler, but is also renowned as one of the leading innovators in dance-juggling.

Kati’s professional career began in the 1990’s, when she performed with the influential Ra-Ra Zoo. In 1991, with Sean, she co-founded Gandini Juggling. Since then she has been instrumental in the company’s experiments into the possibilities of juggling, including working to create unique “two-person sharing” juggling patterns.

A former rhythmic gymnast, Kati’s distinctive ability to combine movement with extremely complex coordination is second-to-none. In this she has crafted an intimate and extensive knowledge of the relationship between dance and juggling. Kati has performed in all of Gandini Juggling’s works since 1991, encompassing over 2,500 shows around the world.

Circus Camp for Professionals

Tai Kwun Circus Plays