March 2020. COVID hits.
Government guidance, Department of Education guidance. Information changing every day.
Ensure your 2 meters apart. No touching. Wipe it touch it wipe it bin it. Enhanced cleaning.
I am lucky to have had the opportunity to work at Circomedia: a physical theatre and contemporary circus school, for 2 years. At Circomedia we taught in person. All week. Students use a variety of equipment and work incredibly closely in a variety of very physical disciplines acrobatics, manipulation, equilibristic (tight rope), aerial (trapeze). For the further education BTEC course this all takes place in a beautiful grade one listed church bringing with it added COVID issues: its space, size and cleaning. At the start of the COVID 19 outbreak out we jumped online hoping, like everyone it was a temporary measure. We then spent the summer of 2020, like all schools, colleges and universities, planning how we would re-open our spaces, how on earth we would teach our subjects with the guidance and all within our normal budget.
September 2020 the Circomedia BTEC course in performing arts with circus reopened.
We (somehow) managed to provide our BTEC students two full days training in college and two days theory based online teaching, all within the very tight and ever changing guidelines. We opened the course with wellbeing of our students and staff being the number one priority.
Teachers three meters apart from the students. Students trained in the new cleaning regime. Big smiles all around. Circomedia reopened, back teaching physical theatre and circus.
A lot of hard work and a huge miracle. Despite covid 19.
As I write this I am now part of the impressive Alumni of this incredible organisation and we have moved into #lockdown3 – where schools and colleges are online again.
Despite this, I still look back in awe at what we achieved in September 2020. Working as part of a very small team, a tight knit, community of creatives, was an absolute privilege. It may take several years to really sink in, but the epic task of re-opening a grade 1 listed church, for a physical theatre and circus programe, with teenagers, in the middle of a pandemic can only be a miracle.
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