Jackie Davis

Jackie Leigh Davis, EdM., is a circus education pioneer, teacher, and advocate. She was a founding member of the American Youth Circus Organization (AYCO). She was a professional mime at Walt Disney World and the wife of Rick Davis, a former Ringling Brothers Circus clown (CC class of '74, Blue Unit contract). Jackie’s circus education work began in 1995 when she established the middle school circus arts curriculum and annual Hilltop Circus at the Pine Hill Waldorf School in Wilton, NH. Jackie also founded the Silver Lining Circus Camp (1997), a summer day camp for children ages 7-14, and the Flying Gravity Circus (1999), a teen troupe. Jackie has coached juggling, balance skills, and clowning at the Circus Smirkus summer camp in Vermont. Many of her students have risen to join the ranks of the Circus Smirkus Big Top Tour, the National Circus School in Montreal, Cirque du Soleil, The 7 Fingers, and Cirque Éloize. At the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Jackie earned a Master of Education degree in Human Development & Psychology (2009). At Harvard Jackie identified circus as a vehicle for physical, social-emotional, and cognitive development. From this she constructed her framework of developmental circus arts (DCA), the theory and practice of using circus as a vehicle for positive youth development and self-determination. Jackie is now an author of children’s and young adult books. Her first project is a non-fiction circus education book entitled The Do-It-Yourself Circus Lab for Kids: A family-friendly guide for juggling, balancing, clowning, and show-making, slated for release in March of 2018 by Quarry Books.