2012-1013 SEASON SchoolTime Study Guide Circus Oz Friday, February 15, 2013 at 11 a.m. Zellerbach Hall, University of California, Berkeley Welcome to SchoolTime On Friday, February 15 at 11:00 a.m., your class will a end a performance by Circus Oz of Austrailia. Get set for the beau ful and the absurd, the breathtakingly brilliant, and thehe downright kooky as Australia’s Circus Oz fi lls the Zellerbach stage with theirr renowned brand of collec ve mayhem. Stunt-jumping acrobats challenge physics, fearless aerial ar sts laugh at gravity, slaps ck knockabouts descendnd into hilarious chaos, and live onstage musicians rock the house! Using This Study Guide This study guide is designed to engage your students with the performancee and enrich their fi eld trip to Zellerbach Hall. Before coming to the performance, we encourage you to: • Copy the student resource sheet on pages 2-3 and hand it out to your students several days before the show. • Discuss the informa on on pages 4-7 about the performance and the ar sts with your students. • Read to your students from About the Art Form on page 8-10 and About Australia on page 12-14. • Assign two or more of the ac vi es on pages 15-17 to your students. • Refl ect with your students by asking them guiding ques ons, which you can fi nd on pages 4,6,8, and 12. • Immerse students further into the art form by using the resource and glossary sec ons on pages 17-18. At the performance: Students can ac vely par cipate during the performance by: • OBSERVING how the performers use their bodies, and how they work together • NOTICING how the music, lights and sound are used to enhance the acts • MARVELING at the skill, technique and prepara on required by the performers • THINKING ABOUT all the ways circus is a theatrical art • REFLECTING on the sounds and sights experienced at the theater. We look forward to seeing you at SchoolTime! SchoolTime Circus Oz | Table of Contents 1. Theater E que e 1 2. Student Resource Sheet 2 3. About the Performance 4 4. About the Ar sts 6 5. About the Art Form 8 6. About Australia 12 7. Learning Ac vi es 15 8. Glossary 18 9. California State Standards 19 About SchoolTime 20 The essence of The Circus is probably diversity “ combined with coopera on— a lesson for the planet. — Circus Oz ” | SchoolTime Circus Oz 1 Theater E que e Be prepared and arrive early. Ideally you should arrive at the theater 30 to 45 minutes before the show. Allow for travel me and parking, and plan to be in your seats at least 15 minutes before the performance begins. Be aware and remain quiet. The theater is a “live” space—you can hear the performers easily, but they can also hear you, and you can hear other audience members, too! Even the smallest sounds, like rustling papers and whispering, can be heard throughout the theater, so it’s best to stay quiet so that everyone can enjoy the performance without distrac ons. The interna onal sign for “Quiet Please” is to silently raise your index fi nger to your lips. Show appreciaƟ on by applauding. Applause is the best way to show your enthusiasm and apprecia on. Performers return their apprecia on for your a en on by bowing to the audience at the end of the show. It is always appropriate to applaud at the end of a performance, and it is customary to con nue clapping un l the curtain comes down or the house lights come up. ParƟ cipate by responding to the acƟ on onstage. Some mes during a performance, you may respond by laughing, crying or sighing. By all means, feel free to do so! Apprecia on can be shown in many diff erent ways, depending upon the art form. For instance, an audience a ending a string quartet performance will sit very quietly, while the audience at a gospel concert may be inspired to par cipate by clapping and shou ng. Concentrate to help the performers. These ar sts use concentra on to focus their energy while on stage. If the audience is focused while watching the performance, they feel supported and are able to do their best work. They can feel that you are with them! Please note: Backpacks and lunches are not permi ed in the theater. Bags will be provided for lobby storage in the event that you bring these with you. There is absolutely no food or drink permi ed in the sea ng areas. Recording devices of any kind, including cameras, cannot be used during performances. Please remember to turn off your cell phone. SchoolTime Circus Oz | 1 Student Resource Sheet 2 Circusrcus OOzz Ques ons to Think About During the Performance • What makes Circus Oz unique? • How is Circus Oz diff erent from a “Big Top” circus? • What skills do the performers need to develop to be part of the company? • What ideas do you think Circus Oz is trying to share through their performance?erformance? What You’ll See You will be a ending the SchoolTime While performers in performance of Circus Oz. Known for their high tradi onal acroba c energy and zany sense of humor, members of companies only work on the troupe will juggle, balance on tall poles and their special skill, Circus OzOz giant see-saws, spin inside a giant wheel, swing encourages its members to devedeveloplop on a trapeze high in the air, twist their bodies into several diff erent skills. ItIt doesn’tdoesn’t mama eerr unbelievable shapes, and perform other amazing acroba c feats. Singers and musicians playing live if certain feats are usually thought original music add to the fun, as do the troupe’s of as “male” or “female.” In Circus Oz’s comedy bits, outrageous costumes, and theatrical show, acts usually reserved for men—like the lights and sound. Bricksmash, where concrete slabs are broken on the performer’s stomach —are o en performed About Circus Oz by women. Created in Australia in 1978, Circus Oz Circus Oz has an equal number of men and took its name from a slang term for Australia – women in the company, and their bodies are all “Oz.” All of the performers pitched in to start diff erent shapes and sizes. When a company the company. They sewed their own costumes, member leaves, instead of fi nding someone built theirthei show tent and props, and with the same set of skills, Circus Oz looks for a ddroverove their trucks from town to performer who has his or her own special talents towtown. Unlike many tradi onal and who is crea ve, friendly and works well with ccircus companies, there were everyone else in the group. Then, they create nno “stars.” Everyone in the new material around the performer’s skills and eensemble (performance personality. Circus Oz has performed all over the ggroup) had an equal role and world—from Broadway in New York, to refugee wworkedo together to make the camps in the Middle East, to a glass opera house shshow a success. Soon they in the Brazilian rainforest. rrealized their coopera on, Showing a group of very diff erent people teamwork and sense of working together to perform acts that look equality was central to who impossible points out one of Circus Oz’s main they were as a company, messages: If people are willing to take risks, and to what they believed. cooperate, embrace diff erences and be kind to each other, anything is possible. 2 | inhabitants)inhabitants) were huntershunte and gatherers who Life in the Circus bbelievedelieved the earth was sacred. They didn’t Circuses can be traced back overr 4,000 write, but passed alonalongg informa on through years, when countries like Greece, China,ina, ttheirheir ooralral tradi ons, which Egypt and Rome held events that includeduded means their culture horse racing, acroba cs and clowning.. and tradi ons were The kind of “big top” events that we passed along by telling think of as circus today started in the sstories. mid-1700’s in England and featured animalnimal acts, acrobats, trick horseback riders, hhigh-igh- InIn 1770, BritainBrita made Australia one wire acts, clowns and musicians. As circusesircuses ofof its colonies. OverOver the next 100 years, the began to tour they needed a large tentnt to BriBri sh governmentgovernment sents thousands of male perform in that could be easily set-up and andand female prisoners tot live and work there. taken down. Later,Later, peoplepeople moved to Australia because, like America,America, it was seen as a landl of opportunity To make performances more excici ng,ng, where theythey could make mmoney as farmers, circuses added theatrical elements likee traders, miners, builders andan factory workers. ligh ng, sound, backdrops, and more Unfortunately, as more peoplep came to Australia, elaborate costumes and makeup. In the AboriginalAboriginal people susuff ered under unfair laws the last thirty years, many circuses, thatthat forcedforced themthem toto movemov and took children including Circus Oz, have chosen aawayway from their families. Many also died from to only have human performers, ddiseasesiseases they caughtcaught from thet se lers. because using animals is thought by some to be cruel. SinceSince then,then, AustraliansAustralian have come to respect AboriginalAboriginal peoplepeople and theirth culture, as well About Australia asas the diff erent cultures of people from Asia, Australia is an island con nent inn EuropeEurope and thethe MiddleMiddle EastE who have come the southern hemisphere that is the to livelive therethere duringduring thethe lastl 50 years.