CircusSchool

First of all, we want to build a professional circus school in Conakry, Guinea. To the model of the National Circus School in Montreal, we want to offer a 3 year program for students. This program aims to offer the students a possibility to grow into a professional circus artist with the space to develop their own personality and unique talents.

The idea has been living a long time among Guinean acrobats, especially youth friends Ballamoussa Bangoura and Alseny Sacko. But without means and no support from governmental side, this idea never took fruition. Today, acrobats still train on sand or wood shavings, without any materials, security or protection against the sun. It has given them endurance and tone, but also lots of untreated injuries and has put a limit to their potential.

Together now with Nathalie Vandenabeele, the province of Flandres-Occidentale and Engineers without Borders, this dream slowly becomes realization. After long delibiration, it was decided to take a geodesic dome as base structure for the new circusschool. Togeter with a truss structure, this is the best solution for budget and security reasons. The dome will be provided by ShelterStructures and will go this year 2018 into production. We currently are looking for finances to purchase the truss structure and build the necessary fundations for the implementation of the dome. Please feel free to contact us if you have propositions or ideas concerning the financial side of the project.

In our circusschool, there will be lots of attention to circus skills, but also to general education. Most of the acrobats who leave Guinea for contracts in foreign countries do not master reading or writing. This often leads to abuse of their skills, disputes and underpayment. The goal is thus to teach language skills, informatics and general education next to the circus classes. There are several older acrobats in Guinea who have the necessary pedagogic skills and are motivated to start teaching and share their experience with the ones coming behind them. Also, we want to build a circusschool open to anyone with the right motivation. As such, people from all over the world are welcome to join as volunteer, teacher or student.

Follow our story and become part of Amoukanama Circusschool! 

Here a little song for You…