Classes and Camps
My Nose Turns Red offers your child the opportunity to run away and join the circus without leaving home. Students learn how to juggle, balance on the rolling globe, and learn the basics of creating a clown character. Classes are highly engaging; challenging youth to walk on the wire, balance on the rola bola, and build human pyramids, which builds their physical literacy and hand-eye coordination. Students play a wide variety of circus games that build teamwork and cooperation, trust, and friendship. We strive to build your children’s self-confidence and creativity in a safe and non-competitive environment. My Nose Turns Red classes are led by highly experienced, professional circus coaches and experienced assistant coaches. Gym wheel coaches are certifed by Internationaler Rhönradturn-Verband.
Have you been sitting watching the screen all day? Well, get ready to move! From 4-5 pm, circus coach Natalie Roenker will lead you through a circus warm-up, balance, games, and circus skills. Each class comes with a Circus Kit that includes a diabolo (Chinese yo-yo), a spinning plate, three hula hoops, and juggling balls, scarves, and triads. You will leave the class refreshed and ready to go! Parents and friends will be impressed with your new physical literacy skills, focus, balance, hand-eye coordination, and body awareness. The class is offered Tuesdays and Fridays!
My Nose Turns Red conducts weekly after-school circus classes in the Greater Cincinnati Area. After-school classes are led by director Steve Roenker, Natalie Roenker and Circus Youth in Action teens for 6-12 weeks. In 2019, after-school circus classes were held at:
- Fairview-Clifton German Language School
- Hyde Park Elementary School
- Woodford Paideia Academy
- Roberts Paideia Academy
- Mt. Washington Elementary
- Clifton Area Community School
Free after-school circus classes are offered for Roberts Paidea Academy and Woodford Paideia Academy students thanks to funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, Ohio Arts Council, ArtsWave, and SC Ministries. Scholarships are available for any students eligible for free and/or reduced lunch. My Nose Turns Red believes everyone should have the opportunity to take circus classes.
Contact My Nose Turns Red to discuss having an after-school circus program at your school.
Social Circus
My Nose Turns Red Youth Circus has been nationally recognized as a member of the Social Circus Network with the American Youth Circus Organization The Social Circus Network is designed to bring up-to-date research and resources to the 18-member network to increase youth circus participation and improve program design.
Social Circus is defined by Cirque Du Monde as an “innovative social intervention approach based on circus arts. The primary goal is not to learn the circus arts, but rather to assist with participants’ personal and social development by nurturing their self-esteem and trust in others, as well as by helping them to acquire social skills, become active citizens, express their creativity and realize their potential.”
My Nose Turns Red’s strategic plan calls for 30% of enrollment be underserved and attend for free. This includes scholarships, two 24-week sessions at Woodford Paideia Academy and Roberts Paideia Academy, ongoing programming at Diocesan Catholic Children’s Home (14 years), and the TALL Institute, an organization for adults with intellectual and developmental challenges as well as L.A.D.D.
MNTR also reaches underserved children by offering full and partial scholarships to our after-school programs, circus classes including the Advanced Circus Ensemble program and summer camps.
Circus Youth In Action
Circus Youth in Action (CYA) is My Nose Turns Red’s creative youth arts leadership development program for teens 14+. Members are a part of MNTR’s Advanced Circus Ensemble. They receive instruction on safety, giving instruction, etc. as well as developing solo and group acts. CYA members are valuable members of MNTR’s teaching staff. Many serve as assistant instructors at camps and after-school programs.
Arts Education
MNTR presents their performance All About Balance and circus performances/workshops to schools and libraries for a demonstration of circus skills such as gym wheel, unicycle, tightwire, acrobatics, hoop dancing and more. Performers will share their creative process, skill development and take questions from the students. Past performances have included St. James Catholic School, Holy Family Catholic School, Wright Memorial Library, Miami Township Library and Dayton Metro Libraries.
In-school performances, residencies, or workshops are tailored for grades K-12.
Contact My Nose Turns Red to hire us for a workshop at your school or library.
Performances and Events
Intermediate/Advanced students of My Nose Turns Red participate in a two-week intensive summer camp where they learned from visiting coaches Sam Sake and Copper Santiago. Gym wheel coach Sam Sake is originally from Ethiopia and moved to Chicago as a child. He found circus through CircEsteem and learned gym (German) wheel from Wolfgang Bientzle. We met Sam when he was 18, and he has been our guest wheel coach for many years. In 2019, we also brought in Copper Santiago, a student at Circadium School in Philadelphia, PA, who taught aerials. She is also a well-rounded circus artist and an excellent unicyclist. Jesse Alford, our head coach, brought his unicycle, partner acro, and juggling skills. Artistic director Steve Roenker teaches clowning, and Natalie is an assistant coach and camp manager. The annual Intermediate/Advanced Circus Camp features other coaches that expand their learning and experience different teaching styles and techniques they won’t learn anywhere else. At the end of these two-weeks, they perform their new skills on the gym (German) wheel, aerial silks, unicycles, new clown routines, and more for family and friends.
The board raises funds at the camp shows by selling concessions, auctioning items, and holding a raffle. Many of our families tell us it is their favorite performance of the year. Advanced members of My Nose Turns Red participate in a two-week intensive summer camp where they learn from visiting coaches from around the country. A master class for advanced students, the camp exposes them to skills, and techniques they won’t learn anywhere else. At the end of these two-weeks, they perform their newly learned skills on the gym (German) wheel, aerial silks, unicycle, and more for their family and friends. available for use. There will be a coach available at all times.
Circ-A-Thon is our annual friend and fundraising event held every year on the second weekend in December. The event showcases our gym (German) wheel and unicycle skills. And artistic director Steve Roenker amazes us all with his food juggling challenge.
Each student picks a circus skill they want to master by Circ-A-Thon, and just like a walk-a-thon, they raise money for their skills. The fundraising committee holds an auction and raffles off baskets of donated goods. Each participating student gets a bag of goodies.
Circ-A-Thon is also time to get new t-shirts and buy some swag. It’s a great way to end the Fall semester and ready ourselves for the spring Extravaganza. The best part is the sense of accomplishment the students demonstrate and the pride in their friends and family display.
The Youth Circus Extravaganza is My Nose Turns Red’s annual celebration of the accomplishments of our extraordinary circus students. Over 48 of our circus students from across the Cincinnati region come together to demonstrate their courage and tenacity, joy, and creativity in the Jarson-Kaplan Theater in the Aronoff Center for the Arts for audiences of over 700 people.
The youth circus performers and coaches demonstrate their circus skills on the unicycle, gym (German) wheel, and aerial silks. Other circus skills include juggling, hooping, stilt-walking, wire-walking. And, of course, the clowns delight all ages.
Run or walk a 5k while being cheered on by students demonstrating circus skills like juggling or hooping around the track.
Community Engagement
My Nose Turns Red engages the community through performances, workshops, and special events. Past performances have included:
- Lexington Opera House as part of the Chinese New Year Celebration
- Majorie P. Lee Residential Hope for National Unicycle Day
- Play in the Park
- The Green Umbrella and the Avondale Community Development Corporation Bike event
- Cincinnati STEM Collaborative’s End of Summer, Back to School Event
- Holy Family Church Festival in Price Hill
- Jaffe Family Block Party
MNTR participated in two parades in 2019, the 4th of July Parade in Northside and the second BLINK parade. The BLINK Parade, presented by Skyline Chili and part of the Future City Spectacular, was held on October 10th in downtown Cincinnati. We had 25 illuminated unicycles, LED jump ropers, hula hoops, and jugglers. Altogether, we had 50 people walk with us. Over 150,000 people were there to cheer on the parade.
