Circus Workshop Extravaganza

Workshop Rates & Discount

Schedule

Learn from expert coaches! Our Circus Workshop Extravaganza is open to the public. Adults and teens are welcome to sign up!

Day 1 (September 1, 2025)

• Act Creation (Amy Funbuttons) | 3:45pm – 5:45pm
• Butterfly Taming: Single Star Drops and You! (Jasmine Manuel) | 3:45pm – 5:45pm
• Beginner Tightwire (Jasmine Manuel) | 6:00pm – 7:00pm
• Dragon Dreaming (Esjay Powell) | 6:00pm – 7:00pm
• Hat Juggling (Morrison Helton) | 7:00pm – 8:00pm

Day 2 (September 2, 2025) 

• Tail Manipulation (Mercury Bergren) | 3:45-5:45
• Intermediate Tightwire (Jasmine Manuel) | 6:00pm – 7:30pm
• Lyra Hip Hangs (Julia Schoemig) | 6:00pm – 8:00pm

Act Creation with Amy Funbuttons

Monday, September 1st | 3:45pm – 5:45pm

Have you ever wanted to perform, but don’t know where to start?  How does one turn movement into an experience? 

In this workshop, we’ll dive into creating an act that engages and entertains while expressing your unique vision.  We’ll talk about story-telling through movement, props, music, facial expression, costume, venue and lighting… all the ingredients needed to turn your choreography into performance art. You might join in to get feedback on a work in progress, or continue development on an existing act.  

We’ll cover:

• Intro/outro and transitions
• Stage presence 
• Theme/color scheme
• Movement Quality: limb articulation, sequencing to build tension, 
• Music mapping
• Costume, hair and makeup 
• Gig bag: Day of tips and tricks

We’ll start with a group discussion, then we’ll break into small groups to share ideas and inspiration and get feedback.

Prerequisites: A desire to create and perform.  Bring notebook and pen, inspiration photos, small costume pieces/fabric swatches, BIG ideas.

Ages 13+

Butterfly Taming: Single Star Drops and You!

Monday, September 1st | 3:45pm – 5:45pm

Do you detest star drops? Got the star drop scaries? Do star drops feel more like ‘AHHH!’ and less like ‘Weeee!’? This workshop is for students who have been introduced to single star drop and the stomach butterflies are flapping in a tornado instead of fluttering in a meadow. The goal of this workshop is to learn all the details and wrap theory to this drop to help you execute it with confidence and ease. We will look at multiple ground exercises, walk-downs, and retrogrades to make this ‘dynamic descent’ a useful part of your toolkit and less of a dreaded chore.

Coach: Jasmine Manuel
Prerequisites: Rope or Fabric level 3+. Stamina to do multiple straddle ups from the ground and from a climb during a 2-hr class. Confident in russian climb on both feet. Ability to hold a 30 second hollow body on all sides and 30 second side plank.
Ages 18+

Beginner Tightwire

Monday, September 1st | 6:00pm – 7:00pm

Curious about tightwire? Looking to increase your spatial awareness and balance? Dip a toe onto tightwire and find new comfort in the slow focus of funambulism! Jasmine has taught students to walk across a wire for 10+ years as well as performed in venues all over the PNW. Students may want to wear socks, ballet slippers, or thinly soled indoor shoes for comfort and ease. Clothes should be circus appropriate, it is recommended that legs are covered down to the ankle. Barefoot is allowed.

Coach: Jasmine Manuel
Prerequisites: If you have concerns or questions, please reach out to [email protected]
Ages 13+

Dragon Dreaming

Monday, September 1st | 6:00pm – 7:00pm

Have you heard of Dragon Dreaming? Have you ever wanted to dance with a dragon of your own? Join Esjay as they walk you through some basic Dragon Dreaming moves. This workshop will focus on the basic infinity shape, loops, hand switches, and footwork to incorporate into your Dreaming. There will also be plenty of time for improvisation and exploration. Dragon Dreaming is a relatively new flow art in the United States, but the dragon props are utilized as a fitness tools in China. This flow art is particularly healthy for the shoulders and core as it encourages stability and mobility of the upper body and spine.

Coach: Esjay Powell
Prerequisites: Open to all levels!
Ages 13+

Hat Juggling and Manipulation

Monday, September 1st | 7:00pm – 8:00pm
This workshop will cover basic hat throws, flips, rolls, and manipulations. After creating a one hat sequence, we will begin to learn how to juggle multiple hats. Finishing with partner and group work, this workshop will teach you everything you need to know to begin your hat juggling career (or to just have some fun!).

Coach: Morrison Helton
Prerequisites: Open to all levels!
Ages 13+

Tail Manipulation

Tuesday, September 2nd | 3:45pm – 5:45pm
This workshop will introduce you to creative uses of aerial rope tails both from the ground and from suspended positions. Come learn how to turn your rope into a lasso, or tail whip an aerial partner into new and exciting wraps. There’s a whole new world of skills to explore!

Coach: Mercury Bergren
Prerequisites: Comfortable hip key and inversion in the air. There will be a lot of climbing, so be ready to go up and hang out in the air for a while. Familiarity with Rope is ideal, but other vertical experience will transfer easily!
Ages 13+

Intermediate Tightwire

Tuesday, September 2nd | 6:00pm – 7:30pm
You can walk across the tightwire no problem, but need a little more to chew on. Students will be challenged with new skills and balance drills to improve their practice. Possible focuses include: sitting, turning, creative walks, poses, acrobatics and partner skills. Please come with your curiosity and nerd out on this simple yet rewarding apparatus! Please bring a sweatshirt or layers that will allow you to have a cushion to learn balances on other body parts.

Coach: Jasmine Manuel
Prerequisites: 30 second standing balance, controlled slow walk across wire
Ages 13+

Lyra Hip Hangs

Tuesday, September 2nd | 6:00pm – 8:00pm
In this Hip Hang workshop on Lyra, we will be exploring shapes, braces, leans and slides in and out of predominantly single hip hangs. Having spent a lot of time exploring hip hangs in my own Lyra journey, I find it to be a foundational and versatile skill that I enjoy working within. Come get twisty! 

Coach: Julia Schoemig
Prerequisites: Strong inversions and pullovers on lyra, basic familiarity with a single hip hang
Ages: 14+

Julia Schoemig

Julia Schoemig is an aerialist and circus artist born & raised in Seattle. Having already been involved in theater and performance for many years, they found aerial at the age of 16 and never looked back. Julia now finds herself instructing and performing in the very community that raised her, but still considers herself a forever student in movement.

Morrison Helton

Mo is a general circus coach and performer, specializing in aerial sling and hat juggling. She has been doing hat manipulation since 2019, performing at the Seattle Moisture Festival and the Cascade Juggling Festival. Mo has been a member of the SANCA community for 13 years, and can’t wait to share her love of hats with everyone!

Jasmine Manuel

Jasmine Manuel has been a circus instructor for 17 years and primarily specializes in coaching tightwire and aerial fabric. She has performed tightwire at the Moisture Festival, Portland’s Oregon Zoo, Benaroya Hall, and more. Jasmine’s current focus is working with teens and tweens in SANCA’s youth aerial program.

Mercury Bergren

Mercury Bergren is a genderfluid circus artist and coach currently working on Duwamish land in Seattle, Washington. They began their circus journey in 2016 in Tlingít Aaní, Juneau, Alaska. They moved to Seattle in June 2021 to pursue circus full-time. Since then they have trained in various disciplines including group acrobatics, flying trapeze, object manipulation, and deepening their love of aerial through a devoted aerial rope practice. Much of their movement work as of late has tended toward ropes of various stripes: aerial rope, counterbalance rope, trick rope lassoing, and catch rope lassoing. Before their circus career began Mercury was a poet and writer. They focused on social issues and finding shared truths through co-creation and writing with populations spanning from incarcerated women to poetry slam-goers, to mothers and fathers, young people, and a whole host of working neighbors, finding and speaking to the threads that connect our shared experience. Movement and rope seems a natural, though no less surprising, evolution of this attentive practice.

Amy Funbuttons

Amy Funbuttons is a multi disciplined circus performer specializing in aerial rope. She loves the challenge of the vertical apparatus and the freedom of dynamic movement. Her circus expertise includes fire-eating, juggling, stilting and her new ground act, the BED OF NAILS. This irreverent showgirl loves to perform at Pacific Northwest hot spots like the Pink Door, Woodland Park Zoo, Moisture Festival, Bumbershoot, and Open Air Vashon!  In her free time she enjoys eating donuts, dressing up like a cowboy and going to bed early.