Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship, in partnership with Vermont Public
BRATTLEBORO — The room smells faintly of chalk and rubber mats. A handful of students, mostly retirees and grandparents, are juggling, swinging, and stretching. At the New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA) in Brattleboro, they call this the Silver Circus.
“It’s for anyone who identifies as ‘silver,’” said NECCA co-founder and Silver Circus instructor Serenity Smith Forchion. “We say 50 plus, but anyone who wants to take it can.”
Silver Circus is a weekly, hourlong class that “uses circus to teach balance, agility, and strength in a very relaxed way that really supports older bodies,” Smith Forchion said.
Silver Circus classes include a variety of activities including clowning, partner acrobatics, and aerials. Students can drop-in for a class or sign up for a full 10-week session, which costs $220. Thanks to a grant from the Vermont Community Foundation, some financial assistance is available.
Instructor Solveig Gannon said almost all the students in Silver Circus are new to circus arts. “As you age, it’s really good for your brain to do new things,” she said. “We do juggling, we do balance. We work on grip strength and getting up off the ground.”
Gannon has worked with circus arts students all over the world. “I teach professionals, I teach aspiring professionals,” she said. “But some of my favorite [people] to teach are older adults, going upside down for the first time since they were little kids. The joy on their faces [when they see] that they can still do this — that they’re not done with learning in the world — it’s just so much fun to share that.”
Bronna Zlochiver, 77, has been attending Silver Circus classes for a little more than a year. “It’s a community where people care about you,” she said. “It takes courage. It develops trust. It develops confidence in yourself. I’d like more people to do it. I keep telling friends about it.”
Zlochiver said she’s been surprised to see how similar the Silver Circus class can be to NECCA’s full-time professional circus training program.
“I talk to people who are in ProTrack, and sometimes I feel like they’re saying the same things, we’re having the same experiences,” she said. “Only, I’m not going to go high up on the flying trapeze. But I’m doing the same things, and it’s great.”
Her coaches say she’s not exaggerating. “I have [another] student who’s 77, and she is doing pullovers,” Gannon said, “like, she’s fully going to be actually performing aerials aerials, and she just started three months ago. She’s incredible.”
Gannon said the Silver Circus class has shaped the way she thinks about aging. She said the people in this class are the kind of people who seek out challenges and opportunities for personal growth. “And it’s been really inspiring for me to work with older people, because I’m getting older, and it’s nice to see people still living their best life,” she said.
Zlochiver said she wants to keep doing circus arts for the rest of her life. Eventually, she said, she’d like to become an assistant coach so she can help people who are just beginning to learn circus arts.
“I just love it,” she said. “I’m doing things that I never thought I’d do.”