Circus training

Circus training can take place in a range of settings, from informal clubs, to recreational programs, to pre-professional programs, to degree granting programs, as well as anything in between.

Many pedagogies or classification systems exist for circus skills. Some of the most famous systems include:

• The Gurevich system of the Moscow Circus School
• The Lecoq system of the LeCoq school in France
• The Hovey Burgess system (made famous from the publication of Burgess' 1976 instructional book “Circus Techniques”)

In addition to these major systems, virtually every circus school in the world - and to a lesser extent every circus arts teacher in the world - has, over time, developed their own pedagogies for teaching circus arts. While most of these pedagogies evolved to fit the needs, strengths and teaching styles of the individual school or teacher, some pedagogies evolved from more pragmatic approaches, with categories being based more on objectively defined criteria, and less on how the individual school or teacher approaches the teaching of the skills.

Alphabetical listing of circus pedagogies

• The Gurevich system of the Moscow Circus School
• The Hovey Burgess system
• The Lecoq system of the LeCoq school in France
• The New York Circus Arts Academy system
• The Simply Circus system