Circus Lab Youth Camps
April 6-10, 2026
Sky High Adventure Center 27 Lake Rd. | Averill Park, NYAges: 7-17
Times: 9:00 am-3:00 PM
Early Drop Off: 8:00 am
Extended Care: 3:00-5:00 PM
Description: This dynamic camp blends circus arts and physical theater, introducing campers to foundational circus skills while exploring movement, acrobatics, and creative expression. Through tumbling, balance, partner work, and movement-based storytelling, participants build strength, coordination, confidence, and collaboration.
Each day combines active play with collective creation, welcoming beginners and experienced movers alike. The week ends with a relaxed, informal sharing of the work created together. No prior experience needed—just curiosity and a willingness to move and play.
Choreography Intensive:
Bringing Story to Life Through Movement
w/ New York Circus Project
April 11 | 10 am-2 pm
Mt. Ida Preservation Hall
548 Congress St. | Troy, NY
How does a story move? How does metaphor take shape in the body?
Join NY Circus Project for an immersive, four-hour choreography workshop exploring how narrative and metaphor can be embodied through contemporary circus and physical theatre. Drawing from the creative development of Rapunzel, participants will investigate how gesture, effort, rhythm, and spatial relationships transform abstract ideas into lived, kinetic experience.
Through guided improvisation, ensemble composition exercises, and dramaturgical discussion, artists will explore:
-Translating character and emotional arc into physical vocabulary
-Using repetition, variation, and contrast to build meaning
-Crafting metaphor through aerial work, partnering, and dynamic movement
-Balancing spectacle with intimacy in ensemble-driven storytelling
Participants will leave with practical compositional tools and a deeper understanding of how physical language can generate narrative—not illustrate it.
Open to circus artists, dancers, physical theatre makers, directors, and advanced movement practitioners as well as advanced high school students. No prior circus experience required, but a strong movement background is recommended.
$155 | Limited capacity
To reserve your spot, email info@thebigtopgroup.org
CIRCUS AS SYSTEM
Labor, Myth, and the Contemporary Circus Body
@ The Art Center of the Capital Region
265 River St. | Troy, NY
March 27-April 19
Reception and Q & A with Charles Batson, NY Circus Project & Friends
April 13 | 7 PM
Excess, Effort, Spectacle
Reading the Body in Motion
April 16 | 7:00 PM
Mt. Ida Preservation Hall
548 Congress St. | Troy, NY
A public conversation with Patricia Coleman exploring the relationship between sport, performance, and spectacle. Drawing on the ideas of Roland Barthes, the discussion examines how bodies in motion create meaning through effort, virtuosity, risk, and display. RSVP
New York Circus Project Residency
April 6–17
Hosted with Arts, Letters & Numbers and Mt. Ida Preservation Association
Throughout the lab New York Circus Project will be in residence at Arts, Letters & Numbers developing new work and collaborating with visiting artists.