For the past fourteen years the National Circus School in Montreal has given hundreds of students an opportunity to get a taste of circus life and has helped to transform a talented number of them into fully-fledged circus artists.The school, which was founded in Montreal's working class east end, has now taken up new quarters in the refurbished and splendidly equipped Dalhousie Railway Station. Over the years it has acquired a truly international reputation and has drawn students from as far afield as Europe, Asia and Australia. It is, in many ways, unlike the majority of circus schools in the world, operated by governments or circus companies. It is a private non-profit corporation which offers both full-time professional-track training as well as a recreational program. There are ten instructors and five administrators who run the facility.
There are some 32 students in the professional program, each paying 1,600 dollars a year tuition for between 35-40 weeks of gruelling, individually-tailored training.
The school has always been a training ground for the Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil but it has also won its own place on the world map of the circus. For the past four years all of the school's entrants in the Paris-based Festival of the Circus of Tomorrow have come away as medallist.
For further information on the National Circus School contact
The National Circus School 417 Berri Street Montreal, Quebec Canada H2Y 3E1 (514) 982-0859 (514) 982-6025 Fax
For information about circus arts in Nova Scotia, contact The Bluenose Jugglers.
Imagine-ère Computer & Circus Camp (d'Ordinateurs & de Cirque) Russ & Huguette 36 Fleurant, Escuminac Gaspesie, Québec G0C-1N0 tel/fax: 418-788-2804 e-mail camp@quebectel.com