Training Programs and Social Development

1. The Youth Performance Troup

   is made up of kids from 12-16 who train and perform together no matter their origins or their future and participate in the show creation process. Their dedication to the project is evident as they train in the afternoons after school during the week and every Saturday, Sunday & school or public holiday. The school is open 7 days a week & is free of charge for all. The children share a warm up session, tumbling & pyramid work. Then they work in groups or pairs on their circus skills and acts ensuring the high standard of performance as well as the permanent interaction between all the children that makes Zip Zap such a unique school. Membership of Zip Zap is free and there is no talent audition. It attracts children from diverse backgrounds, some from the streets, some from wealthy homes. In Zip Zap all children are equal.

2. Saturday Circus Classes Kids

   age 7-12 are welcome to play in the tent from 10:00-2:00. They will be led in warm up games and stretching, and introduced to basic circus skills. They will have the freedom to play and learn in a safe and encouraging environment. No auditions are necessary and it is free for everybody.

3. The Young Adult Training and Job Creation Programme

   attracts students over the age of 16 who are interested in pursuing a career in circus arts. The Young Adults train and work six days a week and are instructors for the Outreach, the Initiation and the Youth Programmes. Beyond circus skills, the young adults are taught in a variety of areas, from independent living skills to presentation skills, from sewing to wood work, from sound editing to light operating, from driving to first aid, from rigging to planning. Zip Zap has been approached by several organizations (rural, street shelters, primary schools all over the Cape) in order to use the circus arts to address social issues and has been unable to attend to the demand.

4. The Outreach Programme

   cares for HIV+ Children: Zip Zap has a history of working with HIV+ children and does so currently though weekly workshops. Since the beginning of 2005, Zip Zap has been running workshops in cooperation with Médecins Sans Frontières for HIV+ children receiving Anti RetroViral therapy at the Nolungile Clinic in Khayelitsha. This is a Cirque du Monde programme financed by the Cirque du Soleil in Canada who also trains the instructors with a 35 hour-course each year.

5. A Professional Troupe

   would provide high quality performances for the corporate world as well as artistic productions for the tourists in need of a "home grown" production. It is a fantastic launching opportunity for Zip Zap's young graduates to express themselves and the chance for South Africa to shine with the rebirth of an ancient performing art. It will also answer the huge demand we receive regularly from various industries: tourism, artistic and corporate.

Social Development

Obs House

• Zip Zap children residence, known as "Obs House" 30 Milton Road, Observatory, Cape Town is the brightest blue painted house of the street. You can't miss it.
• In 2002, the need to host trainers of the Young Adult Training Programme in a safe and accessible location became a priority. In October 2004, the residence moved to Milton Road in a 4-bedroom house with a 2 bedroom cottage in the back. The spirits were high and all helped to clean, repair and paint the house in bright colors (inside and out!). In true Zip Zap style, the "Obs House" hasn't emptied since, always welcoming foreign visitors (teaching and doing internship at Zip Zap) encouraging exchanges and open-mindedness.
• Life in he Obs House is much like life in the circus ring, without teamwork, trust, respect, self discipline, cooking and cleaning would be as perilous as walking the high wire!! Without missing a beat, the kids seem to balance their way of life in the house much like their performances, rising to the challenges and succeeding without forgetting to have fun.
• The residents of the house aged 15 to 25 years, learn to live in an independent manner, shopping, cooking, cleaning, setting rules under the guidance of a social worker.
• Discovery, experience and growth come from the mixing of cultures and backgrounds all aimed towards a positive goal: to live and learn to live together.
• Just like a family, there are issues. Aweekly meeting is held to discuss the roster and to see what could be done better. When matters cannot be solved there, it goes back to Zip Zap for further discussions.
• Obs House is totally subsidized by Zip Zap who pays the rent, water, rates, refuse, electricity and telephone. The students are given a weekly budget which they use to buy food, toiletries and cleaning products.
• It costs around R11,000.00 monthly to cover all these expenses. For repairs and investment such as appliances or bedding, Zip Zap appeals to the generosity of individuals and local companies. (see Donations).
• To donate to Obs house, please write to donation@zip-zap.co.za.
• Here are some suggestions: bedding, towels, cleaning products, tin food, dry food, pans, pots, kitchen utensils, microwave, desk and chair, kitchen table, rug, carpet.
• A fundraising campaign is aiming at gathering 365 people willing to donate R362 each for the year to cover the overheads.

Ibhogolwethu

Ibhogolwethu is the name of the HIV/Aids program run at the Nolungile Clinic in Khayelitsha. Since 2005 Zip Zap has been running workshops in cooperation with Médecins Sans Frontières for children receiving Anti Retroviral Therapy.

Each school term the program takes about twenty-five children, aged between eight and thirteen who were all born HIV positive. They are often ostracized by their own communities, and, although they all attend the clinic, they had not formed any kind of a social or support group with each other.

At the Zip Zap workshops, children who have faced hardship and ill health their whole lives are given the chance to build a 'family' with others who face the same problems, whilst developing their physical strength and abilities and gaining self-confidence and hope for the first time in their lives.

The year's programme of weekly workshops culminated in a joint show involving the children from the clinic and the Zip Zap Kids, at the Oliver Tambo Centre in Khayelitsha. The joy experienced by these children for being a part of this opportunity was a magical reward for the dedicated young trainee teachers, who are part of Zip Zap's Young Adult Training Programme.

Performing Arts for Youth at Risk

Working with the city of Cape Town, Zip Zap is part of the 2010 world cup celebrations.

'Cirque du Monde' partnership in South Africa,

Outreach programme from 'Cirque du Soleil' in Canada working throughout the world, staging circus workshops jointly with community organisations that reach out to youth at risk. Zip Zap provides teaching and equipment to 'Survivors of Violence' group in Kwazulu-Natal organized in conjunction with Oxfam Canada and Nelson Mandela Children's Fund.

"Cirque du Monde wants to give its young participants, whether in Montreal, Rio or elsewhere, a springboard to a new stage of their lives.This may mean reconciliation with family, admission into a detox program, or even a dawning interest in an occupation or profession.

Training professionals is not one of the instructional objectives of the Cirque du Monde programme. Nonetheless, some of the young participants in the Cirque du Monde programme will want to make their living in circus-related fields. Some will want to be street entertainers, form their own troupes, or continue learning at professional schools.We will applaud all such initiatives on the part of our young participants as positive results of the effort invested in encouraging their development.

It is important to remember that the programme is above all an opportunity for a positive personal experience, which can act as a catalyst in terms of self-esteem and identity.

Circus arts require solidarity and matching of individual strengths and talents, so young people develop a feeling of belonging to a group. Precisely because they live for freedom and creativity, while demanding perseverance and discipline, circus arts give youth at risk a chance to blossom, to express themselves and to use their fringe status as a basis for forging new links to a society which has often rejected them.

Cirque du Monde is unique since it is based on a pedagogical approach that brings together artistic expression and social intervention. The programme calls for the involvement of circus artists who wish to use their talents from a social perspective, and social workers who want to integrate circus arts into their initiatives with youth."

Training of trainers

Each year Cirque du Soleil provides a week of Training, hosted by Zip Zap where young adults who believe in the power of Arts to foster social change in South Africa meet to exchange ideas and experience under the guidance of professional experts in the social field and Social Circus field.

Past Workshops

Workshops for rural area in 2002

Financed by the Department of Economic Affairs, aimed at children in Malmesbury, in order to provide skills & build open relationships in a previously disadvantaged area, Zip Zap provides circus workshops for a mixed group of children to give opportunities to earn some cash. At the end of the project, Zip Zap gave certificates as well as a circus kit (i.e. juggling balls & clubs, single trapeze bars, devil sticks, unicycle, costumes) to each kid to help them in their future endeavours.

Workshops for street children - in 1994-2000-2001

Facilitated by our trainees and overseas help : volunteers from the Dancape Intern Project from Denmark, specialised trainers from Cirque du Monde, the social programme of the famous Cirque du Soleil, volunteers from France who answered Laurence's call on French television in February 2001. Twice a week, we have 10 children from 2 shelters : "Ons Plek" (girls) and the "Homestead" (boys) for 2 hours at a time. They come to learn about circus, try out the basic skills required for juggling, tumbling, trampoline work, unicycle riding along with the values, trust and respect for equipment and fellow students that is a large part of Zip Zap's mission statement.