How did the Youth Performance Company start? SANCA’s Youth Performance Company was started in SANCA’s early years by Crystal Campbell, then a 22 year-old who had been in the Cascade Youth Circus for six years. After graduating from high school she trained in England for a year, and found her way to SANCA upon her return.  Crystal was always the kind of kid who wanted to put on a show, according to her mother, Eloise.  Not long after Crystal joined SANCA, Eloise suggested Crystal put together a show of kids doing circus acts as a fundraiser for a critically ill friend. The result was the first “Circo Vivo” show in 2005, which was so successful it was repeated the next year. At this point Crystal convinced Chuck and Jo to start a youth company. “We were reluctant at first,” says co-founder and program director Chuck, “but she convinced us that kids would want to perform, to have something to work toward.” Crystal’s instincts were right.  The Youth Performance Company, or Y-Co for short, put on their first SANCA-sponsored all-Y-Co production December of 2006 and packed the house with standing room only. The show was so successful, SANCA gave Y-Co its own budget, and created an all-SANCA Spring Showcase the following spring. The Y-Co show and the Spring Showcase have been popular annual events ever since.

Now 27, Crystal handed the director reins to her capable successor, Nickolai Pirak, after the 2009 winter Y-Co show. Looking back on Y-Co’s evolution, Crystal says she would have never guessed the amount of energy and hard work the kids would put into circus. The skill level of the kids has increased every year. “They’re doing 3-high acro, 6-ball juggling and 6-club passing—it is unbelievable. In the beginning I had to choreograph the acts because they didn’t know how. Now they choreograph it all themselves, which was always my goal. They put on a fantastic show.”  And they love doing it.

How do kids get into Y-co? When SANCA was smaller, Crystal could observe all of the students and would choose Y-Co team members herself. SANCA grew so quickly that she could no longer personally observe all of the students, so relied upon teacher recommendations and she held auditions, a practice that Nickolai is continuing. Crystal says “it’s not about their skill level. I can teach them the skills. It’s about their attitude, their desire to perform, and their ability to roll with changes that inevitably come up in the performances. They basically have to be willing to make fools of themselves in front of people. Those are the kids who are great in Y-Co.”

What brought the Y-Co members to SANCA?

Inspired by the Pros: Many of the Y-Co members became interested in circus arts after having seen a circus performance that amazed them, and inspired them to try for themselves.  For Jasmine Manuel it was a documentary about Cirque du Soleil she saw when she was 13. “I became obsessed with circus,” she says. She hunted down every DVD she could find at the library about Cirque du Soleil, and thought to herself, “Why can’t I learn how to do that?” So she searched the internet and found SANCA. Ian Nanney saw Russian jugglers Vova & Olga on the web and was immediately hooked. His dad recalls Ian juggling three rocks while hiking a trail at a national park. “It was all that was at hand,” Ian says.  Ian’s talent for juggling was clear so early on that he was asked to perform in a show only months after he joined his first juggling class at SANCA.  Current Y-Co Director Nickolai Pirak was mesmerized by the German Wheel act in a Cirque du Soleil show he saw while living in Germany, and began his training shortly afterward. When he moved to Seattle Nickolai showed up at SANCA and Chuck quickly hired him to teach.

Childhood Obsession: Several Y-Co performers were inspired by pros at a very early age. Anna Partridge recalls watching a circus video over and over.  Her mother saw an ad for SANCA and, knowing that their nurse practitioner Jo Montgomery was also co-founder of SANCA, asked Jo about it. Jo suggested Anna try it, and Anna has been involved ever since.  Emma Page says “it was my father who got me hooked on circus.” Her dad took his kids to the circus regularly, and Emma loved it. When he was six Manny Eckert saw a juggling/comedy act called the “Brothers from Different Mothers.” Even at that early age he knew that he wanted to be just like them, performing for hundreds of people on stage. He followed them all around the Seattle area to see their act. He had seen it at least a dozen times that year when he found SANCA, and started learning to juggle.

Rather Perform than Compete: SANCA has proven to be a tremendous physical outlet for some Y-Co members who tried more typical sports but realized competitive sports was not their thing.  Emma Page says sports weren’t creative enough to interest her. Nor did she think she could keep up. “I wasn’t in that great of shape before circus,” says Emma, who is now in top shape.  When she was about 13 she became interested in gymnastics, but didn’t try because “most kids started when they were younger. I would have been way behind.” Emma Cady loved to perform but was never interested in competitive sports.  Dylan Forbes enjoyed acting as well as playing on many sports teams when he was younger, but once the teams became super-competitive, he realized he preferred the supportive coaches at SANCA to the critical, demanding coaches who were more concerned about the win than the kids. “Sports teams are about winning. In circus, everyone wins. There’s no external pressure to achieve a goal; it’s a personal desire to be good at something.” Sydney Petersen remembers having played one session of soccer, but being more interested in doing foot tricks with the ball than getting the ball in the goal. Sydney also tried gymnastics but didn’t like the competitive atmosphere. “At SANCA everyone is so nice to each other,” Sydney says. “And in Y-Co we get to make up our own acts. That’s exciting.”

Coloring Outside the Lines: Several of the Y-Co performers tried gymnastics after having started with SANCA, but came back to circus arts.  Anna Zuckerman “didn’t like the rigidity” and Lea Zuckerman said “it wasn’t fun.” Emma Cady says that after she had done circus arts at SANCA for a while her mother wanted her to try gymnastics. “I tried it, but it wasn’t nearly as fun,” she says. She came back to SANCA and before long was asked to try out for Y-Co.

Me, too!: Some kids were introduced to SANCA by a friend or sibling. Dylan Forbes’ best friend wanted to take a class and asked him to come along. Eloise O’Leary and Manny Eckert also found SANCA through a friend and have been participating ever since.  Steven Mathews (founder Crystal Campbell’s youngest sibling), Emma Page and Alyssa Nanney all watched siblings take classes or perform at a summer camp, and said, “I want to do that, too!”

The Wise Parent: Some kids were brought to SANCA by a parent who knew their active kids needed an outlet for their boundless energy. The mother of Emma Cady, who remembers her trying to do flips off of the sofa, found SANCA through a homeschoolers network and thought it would be a good outlet for her active and dramatic daughter. Sydney Petersen, who was always climbing trees and admits to having done flips on the furniture, was enrolled by her mother in a SANCA summer camp when she was six. Lyla Goldman was given a class as a birthday present by a relative who knew she’d like it. A neighbor whose daughter had been to a SANCA camp suggested SANCA to the mother of twins Anna and Lea Zuckerman, who were constantly jumping around, hanging from railings, and climbing on the furniture. Their mother says with a sigh, “all those wasted years saying ‘get down from there,’ ‘get off of that,’ or ‘don’t jump.’ I should have just brought them to SANCA.”

Have any Y-Co Members run off and joined the circus? Several hope to!

Arne Bystrom, 20, y-co member and former assistant director, traveled with Circus Smirkus during the summer of 2008 before moving Quebec City to study circus arts at Ecole de Cirque de Quebec .

Zora Blade, 18, who recently graduated from Garfield High School, will move to Montreal this fall to begin at Ecole Nationale de Cirque. She is currently performing with Circus Smirkus for her second summer.

Magnus Giaever, 15, is also performing with Circus Smirkus this summer, returning in time for his sophomore year at Nathan Hale High School.

Where do the Y-Co performers go to school? All over the place! High schools include Garfield, Nathan Hale, Mercer Island, Woodrow Wilson in Tacoma, Lakeside, and Bush. Middle schools include Salmon Bay, Denny International, Washington, and Maywood.  Several of the kids went to Lowell when they were in elementary school.  Two of the performers are home-schooled.

Are any of the Y-Co performers on scholarship? Yes! Fully half of the Y-Co kids are on scholarship at SANCA.

How can I get into Y-Co? Try outs are held once or twice a year, depending on the number of members in the Company. To qualify you must be: between the ages of 12 and 18, a currently enrolled student at the School of Acrobatics & New Circus Arts and enjoy performing. The audition process is a point based system that tests basic tumbling, juggling, aerial, and other circus skills. Attitude, willingness to try new things, the ability to work well with others and recover from mistakes quickly are also evaluated.

How often do they practice? Y-Co members have a 2-hour practice two evenings each week, and are required to take one additional class during the week to improve their skills.

When do they perform? Y-Co has a big show each winter, which the kids start planning and choreographing in the summer. They participate in other SANCA-sponsored shows during the year, including the annual fundraising show at Teatro Zinzanni in February, and the SANCA Annual Spring Showcase. Y-Co has been invited to perform at the Moisture Festival the last several years. Additionally, the Youth Performance Company is hired by various community organizations to perform throughout the spring and summer.