City Circus

The goal of City Circus is to see each performer reach his/her highest potential and to develop the skills and confidence necessary to be a great performer.  The training program focuses on three core areas:

Acrobatics:  tumbling, partner/ensemble acrobatics, flexibility, strength and conditioning.

Specialty skills:  aerial arts, contortion, hand balancing, object manipulation and other specialized circus disciplines.

Theatrical performance:  improvisation, dance, movement, character development and choreography.  Performers enhance their experience through ensemble training and performance opportunities. 

Urban Circus Arts training and theatrical productions are pioneering a new genre of contemporary performance which is a showcase for acrobatics, breakdancing, aerial arts, parkour, contortion and hip-hop theater.  City Circus’ diverse performance ensemble of pre-teen youth and adults are selected via audition.

City Circus taps into the old-world tradition of apprentice and master artists.

Through the Performance Track Program AcroSports Folk Apprentices’ and advanced students train and perform alongside acknowledged Master Artists.

The artists work together on an original theatrical production directed by AcroSports Artistic Director throughout the Fall, Winter, and Spring sessions.

After a season of training and rehearsing together, AcroSports presents City Circus in a multi-week, professionally-produced run at a Bay Area theater for the general public.

City Circus program graduates have joined the ranks of the most celebrated circus arts performers in the Bay Area and around the world.

City Circus performances combine Circus Arts with breakdancing, parkour, and other Urban Art forms into one thrilling show.

Explosive Entertainment from ‘Kamikaze Heart’ (2009)
photo by Mischiefphoto

SF Chronicle: Explosive Entertainment from ‘Kamikaze Heart’ by Chad Jones (2009)

Kamikaze Heart: New circus. Written and directed by Tim Barsky. Music by Kevin Carnes. With Chloe Axelrod, Jodi Power, Ed “B-boy Black” Johnson, Bobby “Finesse” Vicario, Shawn “Iron Monkey” Hallman. (Through May 31. Brava Theater, 2781 24th St., San Francisco. Two hours. Tickets: $14-$25.

Forget the top-dollar, corporate spectacle of Cirque du Soleil. The pleasures of a cozy, intimate circus experience are far more rewarding – and much more affordable.

Taking a cue from the superb small circus troupes such as Cirque Eloize and 7 Fingers, the San Francisco circus arts center AcroSports has developed City Circus, its performance arm, into a hip, happening showcase for its students and resident artists.    Read more

Bobby “Finesse” Vicario performs in “Kamikaze Heart” photo by Lydia Daniller

SF Chronicle: ‘Kamikaze Heart’: Circus acts in a fairy tale by Andrea Abney (April 30, 2009)

Tim Barsky‘s inspiration for “Kamikaze Heart” came from something his grandfather once said. His grandfather, a plastic surgeon who specialized in burn reconstruction, did a lot of work for people who were in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, when the United States dropped the atomic bombs, Barsky says.

“He never really talked about it, and yet he mentioned in Hiroshima the swans burst into flames, which doesn’t make for a good story,” Barsky says. “It’s a little too depressing. But out of that came this idea for a fairy tale.”

Dark? Sure. Dark enough for Barsky’s cast of young performers? Well, not all of the time.    Read more

 SF Chronicle cover story: “And If We Shadows:”  Hip-hop meets the Circus’ by Paul Kilduff (May 8, 2009)

Hip-hop dancers and circus performers have a lot in common. They both need to be agile and coordinated and have cat-quick reflexes. In fact, they have so much in common that they’ve joined forces to create the hybrid art form known as urban circus arts – a combination of traditional circus skills and hip-hop moves, such as break-dancing.

The Bay Area is the epicenter of this new movement, in part because of organizations such as San Francisco’s AcroSports, a training center for traditional circus arts founded in part by members of the renowned Moscow Circus 15 years ago.  Read more

SF Chronicle: Teen Space (April 13, 2006)

AcroSports City Circus, a high-level circus performance troupe and training program based at AcroSports in San Francisco, has performers in the 11-21 age group.

Run away and see the circus.  Watch the acrobatic, aerial, clowning and juggling talents of 16 performers ages 11 to 21 at AcroSports City Circus’ new show, “2106.” Opens Fri. and runs through April 30. $12-$15. Project Artaud Theater, 450 Florida St., S.F. (415) 665-2276. www.acrosports.org.