On the weekend of March 29th and 30th, students from several different colleges around the Northeast congregated at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA for the first-ever Student Circus Resurgence Conference! Members of Circus Folk Unite!, Hampshire College’s circus arts collective, began organizing the event in December, hoping to encourage networking between far-flung college circus groups.
     Though the Hampshire College administration vetoed physical skills workshops, a series of presentations and discussions ranging from “Social Circus” to “Show Creation” formed the core of the conference, along with screenings of circus movies and a night of performances by the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus and Paradizo Dance (both founded by Hampshire alumni!). Presenters included Steven Santos from Simply Circus, David Hunt from the American Youth Circus Organization, and Stephanie Monseu and Keith Nelson from the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus.
    Besides Circus Folk Unite!, members of Bard College’s Surrealistic Training Circus, Oberlin College’s OCircus!, Wellesley College’s GLOW, and the College of Saint Rose attended the conference. They traded emails and websites, swapped juggling tricks and costume advice, gained valuable advice and resources, and left with the knowledge that they are part of a growing movement in the USA -- the Student Circus Resurgence! At the Conference’s final round-table discussion, hopes that the Conference would continue annually, hosted by a different school each year, were voiced, along with the desire to stay in touch with each other and continue reaching out to fellow circus organizations across the country for help and partnership.
    College or University circus groups wanting to connect with this growing network should join the Student Circus Message Board at www.collegecircus.proboards62.com. Soon, there will also be an online Wiki site which will function as a publicly-edited collection of information about student circus groups and resources useful to them!