Audition for Aloft's Professional Training Program ^expired

UPDATE: Join our virtual info session on December 17th at 12PM Central Time! Register here: https://bit.ly/aloftinfo


After canceling their program for the last two years due to COVID, Aloft Circus Arts has reimagined the structure of their Professional Development Program (Formerly the Two Year Professional Training program). Beginning in June 2022, the new program is designed to better serve the needs of a diverse student population in the following ways:

Lower monthly fees
More time for outside/life commitments
A more comprehensive Year One experience
An optional, more personalized Year Two focused on act development and show creation.

Aloft is now accepting applications from circus students interested in auditioning for their Professional Development Program. Applications will be accepted until Jan 15. If accepted, students will attend an in-person audition in Chicago March 10-11, 2022. Aloft accepts only 10-12 students into Year One of their rigorous professional training program.

To apply, and for more information please visit https://www.aloftloft.com.

The unique structure of Aloft’s Professional Development Program encourages both individual and ensemble growth. Year One is our FOUNDATIONS AND RESEARCH YEAR. Students spend 9 solid months engaged in intensive training to develop strong core, ensemble skills in dance, physical theater, aerial and ground acrobatics that will make them valuable and vital circus artists. Intensive month-long units in skills like juggling, tightwire, trampoline, cyr wheel, handstands, tumbling and group acrobatics will accelerate skill acquisition in these crucial disciplines. They’ll also dive deeply into research in a chosen apparatus, developing a voice and movement style that is unique.

The final 3 months of the year will feature the LAB WEEKS and SHOW CREATION. In the Lab Weeks, guest circus directors from around the world curate week-long intensives, immersing the students in their working styles and techniques. Past lab coaches have included circus luminaries such as Emma Serjeant (Casus, Circa, ESP), Joe Pinzon (Eloize, Short Round), Cohdi Harrell (Ricochet Project), Terry Crane (Acrobatic Conundrum), Keith Bindlestiff (Bindlestiff Family Circus), Rain Anya (Paper Doll Militia), Allesandra Ogren (Wise Fool, Penasco Theater), George Orange (No Fit State, Mary Bijou) and many more.

Year Two is our RESIDENCY YEAR. Designed as a sort of “circus graduate program”, only 8-10 students are selected. This small program is personalized and intensive. In addition to weekly training in core circus skills, students work closely with a personal coach who prescribes a custom training program for independent study. Students receive 90 minutes of weekly private lessons, small group training sessions, weekly feedback sessions to monitor act development, career coaching and plenty of open training time. Aloft will also provide paid performance opportunities for those whose acts and skills are at the appropriate level. Year Two ends with the Lab Weeks and Show Creation unit, where their acts will be showcased in a final, professional quality performance directed by a renowned circus director.

Since 2013, the mission of Aloft’s program has been to create curious and questioning artists committed to advancing the role of circus in the US and abroad. We aim to inspire our students to inspire others and give them the tools to make physically and emotionally rigorous work that challenges ideas of who we are and what we can do, as individuals and a unified force. We want a circus revolution and we are building an army.