Circus tour treat for care home residents
Acrobatic show brings a bit of sunshine
Adventure Circus is to embark on a tour of Strath care homes to entertain isolated residents during August and September.
Devised during lockdown thanks to funding from the Corra Foundation’s Community Wellbeing Fund, the 30-minute acrobatic outdoor show will thrill residents with trapeze, aerial silks and hoop, juggling, handstands and hula hooping.
Glencairn House activity coordinator, Julie Davies, initially got in touch with Adventure Circus to discuss ideas to help cheer up their Auchterarder residents who were missing their usual activities and family visitors.
With Julie’s ideas, the show, called ‘Bring Me Sunshine’, was devised to be themed around the swinging ‘60s. The circus spectacular includes music from Marvin Gaye, Millie
Small and Jackie Wilson as well as colourful costumes and fun props.
Adventure Circus director
Gemma Simpson will take performances across the region - starting in Strathearn and heading up to Highland
Perthshire.
She explained: “During lockdown, like all other arts and entertainment organisations, our performance work and circus lessons came to a halt.
“However it has always been on our to-do list to create a popup outdoor circus show that we can take to care homes, galas, festivals and other events.
“The time that we gained during lockdown gave our team the ability to focus on creating the show and I am delighted that we are now in a position to visit care homes and bring a bit of sunshine into their lives after a long period of isolation.
“We are starting our tour in Auchterarder and so far we are heading to homes in Crieff, Pitlochry and Dunkeld. Our show takes place in the grounds of care homes rather than indoors, so that we can physically distance from the residents and keep them safe.”
Adventure Circus began teaching from Perth Gymnastic Club, but, after growing in popularity, moved to a shared space in North Muirton which is now dedicated to circus, cheerleading and fitness.
They have a hard- working team of local circus instructors and regularly welcome additional guest instructors to lead classes.
Limited dates are available for performance bookings in August and September and activity co-ordinators are urged to get in touch with Gemma via admin@adventurecircus.org or 07709815564.
An information pack is available on the Adventure C i rcus website www. adventurecircus. org/ carehomes