Kids can learn circus skills free in Liverpool this half term

Kids will have the chance to learn a whole range of different circus skills free in Liverpool this half term thanks to Liverpool Community Youth Circus.

On Friday February 16, founders of the Liverpool Community Youth Circus Stephanie Greer and Steve Wallis will be holding two taster sessions for children aged 7-11 and 11-16 years old.

It’s drop-in so anyone can go along and there’s no cost because they want to keep the fun of circus performing open to everyone.

The pair first teamed up when they were teaching at The Blackie in the city centre – Stephanie is an aerial performer while Steve specialises in ground-based skills like juggling, stilt walking and unicycling.

When those classes came to an end last summer, they were determined not to lose the community of young circus artists they’d created.

So they decided to form Liverpool Community Youth Circus and launched a crowdfunding campaign for a series of workshops while they apply for funding to start regular weekly classes, hopefully by Easter.

Stephanie explains:

“We had this group of young people and their families that we’d built up and we didn’t want to let that go. We set up Liverpool Community Youth Circus and now we’ve got the opportunity to grow it and get even more children involved.

“The main thing is we want to keep it completely free of charge to make it truly accessible to everyone because aerial skills especially can be expensive to learn.

“The group we have at the moment is so diverse and I really believe that comes from the fact we don’t charge anyone. Families are able to bring numerous children if they want and it’s drop-in so there’s no commitment although we do have lots of young people coming every week because they love it.

“We also have lots of neurodiversity and in our senior group we have LGBTQ young people who feel safe to be able to share that with us and with each other and be themselves. They find their tribe, maybe school is difficult for them, but circus has always been inclusive.

“It’s like a youth theatre but for circus, they can have a go at whatever skills they fancy, and they tend to find what they’re interested in and what their specialism is. Some are really into aerial hoop, some want to be an amazing juggler, they all find their niche.

“Families bring children for the social aspect as well because they make lasting friendships and then as they move up in age the older ones start mentoring the younger ones which is great.

“And we’re now collaborating with 24 Hope Street so that’s our new home. They didn’t have any aerial capacity until I got in contact with them, but now they’ve put up some rigging and they’ve been really supportive.”

Both Stephanie and Steve still perform as circus artists alongside their work with LCYC.

Steph, who was born in Wigan but lives in Liverpool, actually trained as an actor originally but with dance alongside that, and was lucky enough to work with an aerialist who encouraged her talent.

“She invited me to go along to some classes she was doing. she saw something in me, trained me up and gave me my first professional performance opportunity and I did my teacher training through her.”

Although she’s freelance, she is attached to a circus which performs outdoors rather than in a traditional big top. She also works with the Birdcage, performing character-based aerial in family-friendly shows.

Steph says some young people who they’ve taught have gone on to become professional performers and the pair regularly collaborate with Liverpool’s circus community to help inspire a new generation of circus artists.

“There’s no booking, no cost, we just want to welcome as many people as we can to have a go,” adds Steph.

The free taster sessions, covering a range of ground-based and aerial skills, are at 24 Hope Street on Friday February 16 – juniors (age 7-11) from 10am to 11.15am and seniors (11-16) from 11.30am-1pm.