On the 26th of February, a man named Connor came into the TYs to teach us some circus skills. He started with some hula hoops and got them to spin them on our hips for as long as he played the music. They then moved onto spinning the hula hoops which some found harder. Once they had finished with the hula hoops, Connor and an SNA held a rope between them and they kept changing the height and getting the TYs to jump over it. Then they got them to skip the giant rope. A few people were a bit hesitant but once they did it once, they were more confident to do it again.
Once they had finished jumping over the rope, Connor brought out some circus equipment like tennis balls to juggle, the diablo which was spun on a small rope joined using two sticks, a baton with flower-like strips on the end of it and spinning plates. The TYs were split into four groups and they were sent around each station to try out each piece of equipment.
Once they had finished using the equipment, Connor gave each group a puzzle to finish. For the last twenty minutes before their first break, we were just playing games within their groups which they thought was a nice way to relax.
Once they had finished our break, Connor took them outside to practise using the equipment again. He also had skipping ropes for them to use and they were told to get to twenty. Once they had finished skipping, the big rope was brought out again and they were told to jump over it. Once they had finished jumping over the rope, Connor played some music which they danced to. He also played songs from their musical for which they practised the dances.
After their lunch break, Connor brought out some balloons for them to make balloon animals. The first animal they made was a dog which looked harder than it actually was. They also learnt how to make a sword and hat. For the last half an hour, they were allowed to make whatever they wanted with the balloons.
The TYs really enjoyed the Circus Skills Workshop as they never would have learnt any of this had it not been for the workshop. They were really glad for the opportunity.