In Labrador, they don't run away to join the circus. It comes to them
Meet the circus artists of Nunatsiavut, and the performers who've worked with them for decades
Teetering on stilts, wearing a sparkly purple and silver ringmaster costume, Beni Malone ducks down to enter classrooms at the J.C. Erhardt Memorial School in Makkovik, on Labrador's northern coast.
The artistic director of St. John's-based Wonderbolt Circus invites students and teachers to join the circus.
When they follow him to the school gym, there are spinning plates, devil sticks, balance boards, hula hoops, stilts and unicycles.
Malone said the children can't resist the challenge and don't even think of the circus skills as excercise, although they work through the existing phys ed program.
"We train the teachers and more importantly the kids in all the skills to get them excited about the circus arts," he said. "We want the project to continue that becomes part of the activities in that community."
Directed by Ruth Lawrence, the documentary Circus By Komatik — airing Saturday night on CBC Television at 8:30 p.m. NT — follows the Wonderbolt troupe as they travel to schools in Makkovik and Rigolet.
Troupe member Susan Jarvis said they fly into the communities by coastal plane, teach the skills over a week, leave, and return a month later to reinforce the skills and organize a performance for the community.
Part of Wonderbolt's mandate is to foster confidence and creativity by sharing circus skills with youth in remote communities.
They've toured Newfoundland's south coast, the Innu communities of Natuashish and Sheshatshiu as well as repeated visits to the Inuit coastal communities of Nunatsiavut.
They're having an impact. Two friends in Makkovik — Devlin Hay and Rahele Obed — say they want to start their own mini-circus.
Not just clowning around: Watch a documentary on how circus performers have forged special relationships with Labrador Inuit communities
Wonderbolt Circus has been travelling to communities in Labrador for 30 years.
One mom interviewed in the film fondly recalls a childhood memory of learning to juggle on the dock when Wonderbolt visited her community.
Now her son is hooked.
"Now I have a little guy who is playing with the spinning plate, so it's really full circle," she says in the film.
As well as the physical arts, Wonderbolt gives the Labrador students a chance to express their culture through the dramatization of a play based on Inuit legends. Parents, teachers and community members perform it.
The performances in Makkovik and Rigolet drew on stories of seals, mythology, dog teams, coastal planes and many other elements of Labrador culture.
Beni Malone said the students have a lot to draw on.
They have a sense of artistic expression and a deep deep culture that they're working with. A lot of people don't have that any more in North America where there's a very shallow culture.- Beni Malone
Sherry Maher, the principal at Northern Lights Academy in Rigolet, recognizes the magic of Wonderbolt Circus.
"When you watch a bunch of kids in kindergarten with kids all the way up to grade 12, you think how is one play with all those age groups going to work out?" she said.
"The one thing that stands out to me is the fact that they brought Labrador culture into this play. It wasn't something abstract for them. For them it's their life."
Circus By Komatik airs Saturday at 8:30 p.m. (NT) on CBC Television and can be viewed on demand for free on the CBC Gem streaming service. Click on the player above to watch it now.
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