As you walk through the dark entranceway of The Circus Academy into the lit stage theatre, it's like stepping back in time. There are aerialists doing warm-up splits below a giant moon that hangs from the theatre rafters, reminiscent of Georges Méliès’s infamous turn-of-the-century film, A Trip to the Moon. You'd almost expect to hear someone playing an Eddie Cantor tune on an old piano while burlesque dancers in feather headdresses dangle long tortoise shell cigarette holders from their lips.
In 2005, The Circus Academy opened as an overflow rehearsal space for Zero Gravity Circus and quickly took on a life of its own. Jen Georgopoulos, co-owner of the academy and main aerialist for Zero Gravity, runs this unique “alternative community centre” that offers a full schedule of circus programs for children and adults to let out their inner clown, juggler, acrobat or aerialist.
The beautiful irony is that this modern manifestation of the classic circus arts is housed in an authentic Vaudeville Theatre from 1914. Once a movie theatre, and then a private storage space, Jen and her business partner Eli Chornenki have returned it to its former glory. "We've restored it back to what it once was, but we still get the odd 80-year-old man walk in and tell us stories about seeing movies there for 10 cents when he was a kid."
