THE BALLOON MAN

 

Cirque du Soleil offers special classes to young performers, children of actors
By Associated Press
From:  washingtgonpost.com
Published: September 24, 2012
OXON HILL, Md. — Perched on cinder blocks and separated into four small compartments with desks and a computer, the trailers look like any that sit beside overcrowded public schools throughout the Washington region.

But in this case, the two trailers are the school. And outside on a small patch of black asphalt, where youngsters have drawn stars, faces and a heart using yellow, pink and green chalk, is the playground.
Located just off Interstate 95 near National Harbor in Prince George’s County is Cirque du Soleil School, a place where young performers in “Totem,” a Cirque du Soleil show, and children of parents who participate in the traveling circus have been getting their education for the past two weeks. This is how children learn on the road.

In David Godbout’s mini-classroom, where he teaches art, four 6-year-olds recently sat at their desks — made of red traveling cases with fold-out legs — cutting construction paper to make flowers.
Next door, Sophia D’Virgilio, 14, of Los Angeles received one-on-one instruction from Patricia Elliot during a science class involving discussion of solubilities and densities.

And in Marie-France Roy’s social studies class, with four students ages 8 to 12, instruction was conducted in French.

Nikita Moiseev, 17, who graduated from the school in July, said that, because of the small class sizes, he felt like he had received private tutoring.

Moiseev, who began performing with Cirque when he was 8 and whose parents are performers, said there were occasions when there were three different grade levels with him, but “it wasn’t as bad as it sounds.”
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