Circo Svago – Scuola di Circo Educativo e Circo Sociale

Circo Svago is an educational and social circus school located in Albano Laziale, in the Castelli Romani, southeast of Rome.

The school was founded in 2015 .

Today, it presents itself as the first circus school in the province of Rome .

Circo Svago is constituted as an amateur sports association and develops an approach to circus arts that is simultaneously sporting , artistic , educational and social .

His team brings together participants with complementary skills who share the principles of educational circus and social circus.

For Circo Svago, circus arts are not simply a set of techniques intended for performance.

They also represent a tool to support personal, cultural and social transformations .

This philosophy structures both regular courses and the numerous projects developed outside of school .

The subjects taught

Circo Svago offers year-round multidisciplinary courses for children, teenagers, and adults.

• Juggling is one of the major disciplines taught. It helps develop coordination, concentration, rhythm, and the ability to manipulate different objects.
• Balancing acts constitute a second important aspect of the teaching. Students gradually discover different situations in which they must develop stability, concentration and body control.
• The unicycle also has an important place in the program. Circo Svago specifically refers to it as " monociclo sportivo ," demonstrating a real focus on this discipline.
• Acrobatic movement is another pillar of the curriculum. It helps develop mobility, strength, coordination, spatial awareness, and body awareness.
• Aerial acrobatics complements this multidisciplinary training. Participants can thus discover the sensations and techniques specific to suspended apparatus.

Specific aerial acrobatics courses are also offered to adults .

This organization allows students to discover several major circus families before gradually delving deeper into certain techniques .

A person-centered pedagogy

Circo Svago's pedagogy places particular importance on the overall development of the person .

Technical progress is therefore not considered the sole objective.

Circus exercises are used to develop autonomy, confidence, cooperation and the ability to find one's place in a group.

This concept explains Circo Svago's strong involvement in social circus .

For several years the school has been developing collaborations with local authorities, associations and educational institutions in the area.

Many institutions use the association to organize programs around circus arts.

These interventions can be integrated into the school curriculum or offered as extracurricular activities.

Circus arts then become an original tool for motor education .

Over the years, Circo Svago has deepened this approach thanks in particular to a collaboration with the medical team of the psychotherapy and rehabilitation studio for the evolving age Le Onde .

This collaboration allows for the combination of the skills of circus educators with those of professionals working in the fields of child development and therapeutic support.

The adapted circus thus constitutes a particularly interesting dimension of the project.

Circo Svago works on the use of conventional circus equipment but also of specifically adapted equipment.

The goal is to enable people with different abilities to participate in the activities.

This desire for accessibility is reflected in several social projects developed by the association.

The Re-Play project and Giocol'Oggi

Circo Svago participates in particular in the national project Re-Play – Circo, reti, crescita giovanile .

This project brings together different circus schools and organizations from Lombardy, Tuscany and Lazio.

It is coordinated by Giocolieri & Dintorni through the CircoSfera and AltroCirco networks.

The project seeks in particular to strengthen the active participation of young people and to combat educational poverty through circus arts.

He is particularly interested in teenagers aged 11 to 17 .

In this context, Circo Svago is developing a project in Albano Laziale entitled Giocoieri Giocol'Oggi .

Adolescents experiencing socio-economic vulnerability may be referred to the project by the social services of Albano Laziale.

They participate in activities with young people already attending the school.

The teenagers involved can also attend Circo Svago courses free of charge for the duration of the project.

An initial phase allows them to discover the techniques and equipment of the fun-educational circus.

They also discover equipment specifically designed for the adapted circus.

The project then seeks to gradually give more responsibility to young people.

They can participate in leading new workshops with professionals from Circo Svago.

Peer education is therefore an important component of the system.

An intergenerational dimension

The project also has a particularly original intergenerational dimension.

Fun and educational circus workshops are organized for residents of facilities that house elderly people.

Circo Svago works in particular with RSA (Revenu de Solidarité Active) recipients in the Castelli Romani territory.

The association also collaborates with CASAlzheimer in Albano Laziale.

Teenagers participate in these meetings alongside speakers from Circo Svago.

Circus arts then become a way to create a relationship between generations who rarely meet in the context of a common activity.

The project also seeks to encourage the involvement of parents and grandparents.

This approach goes far beyond the scope of a simple technical course in juggling or acrobatics.

Circo Svago truly uses circus arts as a tool for encounter .

Events open to all

The association also organizes open days for the entire population.

Free educational and adapted circus workshops may be offered.

Some of these days take place in Villa Contarini , in Pavona, in the territory of the municipality of Albano Laziale.

They combine workshops, traditional games and performances.

The students' families also participate in these events.

The school thus seeks to create a community around its activities.

Collaboration with local scout groups further expands the audiences involved.

A national and European network

Circo Svago also participates in a particularly important national network for the development of educational circus in Italy.

Through Re-Play, the association works in particular alongside schools such as Antitesi in Tuscany and Accademia Materiaviva in Rome.

The project also benefits from the knowledge developed within the European youth circus community .

These exchanges allow teaching teams to compare their methods and develop new practices.

The school's facilities and offerings

The school continues its regular classes in parallel at Albano Laziale.

The activities are spread across several partner spaces.

• The Le Onde studio is one of the places used by the association.
• The Rari Nantes sports centre also hosts some activities.

This organization allows for spaces adapted to the different courses.

In addition to its circus arts courses, the structure occasionally hosts other physical and artistic practices.

The site specifically mentions hip-hop and Lindy Hop activities.

These disciplines, however, remain peripheral to the main identity of Circo Svago.

The heart of the project clearly remains the educational and social circus .

The school also develops events, activities and shows.

Activities can be organised for parties and various events.

Summer camp projects are gradually complementing the offering.

This diversity allows the association to reach people who do not necessarily attend the annual courses.

A unique project in the Circassian landscape of Lazio

Since its creation in 2015, Circo Svago has thus built a project in which circus training and social intervention are closely associated .

• A child can discover juggling, balance, unicycling, acrobatics and aerial disciplines there.
• A teenager can deepen their practice while participating in a peer education project.
• A school can use circus arts in an educational program.
• Elderly people or people requiring adapted practice can also benefit from projects specifically designed for them.

This ability to circulate circus arts between different audiences is one of the main characteristics of Circo Svago.

The school ultimately defends a conception of the circus in which technical success remains important but is never isolated from human development.

Trust, autonomy, cooperation, inclusion and encounter are placed on the same level as learning the disciplines.

This strong identity as an educational and social circus makes Circo Svago a particularly interesting structure in the circus landscape of Latium .