March 2010 Newsletter

Greetings from Flow Circus
Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss
Teen Tech Week
Flow Circus Goes to School
Think Summer!

What an exciting February we had! It began with two performances customized for the Nasher Museum of Art's exhibition Big Shots: Andy Warhol Polaroids. Then off on our Northeast February tour of schools & libraries where we deftly evaded most of the snow. Luckily the Mid-Hudson Library System Performer's Showcase was not affected by wintry weather.....a group of librarians gathered for a showcase or conference has to be among the most playful audiences in the world! Finally, the month concluded with a couple of highly improvisational shows to cap off a season of Upward Bound in Roanoke VA.

For photos from the Nasher Museum and February library shows visit the Flow Circus Photo Gallery. Sometimes it feels like Flow Circus is allowed to have too much fun!

Playfully Yours,
Paul & Dawn

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! Tuesday, March 2nd marks the 106th birthday of Theodore Geisel, the man that influenced us all as children's book author Dr. Seuss! Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, Fox in Sox...whatever your favorite, this is the day to dust it off and read it again. Find a child to share your love of these books.

Libraries and schools across the country are celebrating Read Across America to remind us how important it is to motivate children to read. For more information and activity ideas visit the National Education Association's website.

Flow Circus will be honoring the occasion with a performance of Read Yourself Silly at Union West Regional Library in Indian Trail, NC. If you live in the Charlotte area, come out to laugh and celebrate reading with us.

Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

Teen Tech Week: In 2007, YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) established Teen Tech Week as an initiative to encourage teens to be "competent and ethical users of technologies" especially those offered at libraries. Teen Tech Week encourages teens to use school & community libraries' nonprint resources for education and recreation. Teen Tech Week 2010 is March 7-13 and the theme this year is Learn, Create, Share.

Flow Circus will be helping Rowan and Durham County libraries generate excitement for Teen Tech Week by conducting workshops and sponsoring a Skill Toy Video Contest. Teens are invited to use juggling and other skill toys to create videos that will be shared on FlowCircus.tv. What a perfect fit for Teen Tech Week: Learn to juggle, Create a video, Share it with family & friends.

If you are interested in participating in the Teen Tech Week video contest or starting a skill toy club at your library/school, contact Paul at (919) 426-9157 or paul@flowcircus.com. More information about our skill toy program available at: www.FlowCircus.com/skilltoys

For additional Teen Tech Week program ideas and promotional tools, visit the YALSA Teen Tech Week website.

Flow Circus Goes to School: In addition to performing at school assemblies, we love getting students out of their seats and engaged in active learning! In March and April, we will visit schools in North Carolina and Virginia to connect juggling, skill toys, and balloon twisting to a variety of learning objectives. Whether connecting to a certain historical period, reinforcing writing skills, or emphasizing 21st century skills such as problem solving, our workshops definitely make an impression.

The following quote comes from Amy Franks, Program Specialist for Durham Public Schools:

Encore! loves Flow Circus. Paul and Dawn are awesome!  They managed to capture the attention of and engage even our most hard-to-please students. The demonstrations and patient instruction were top notch—and I was even juggling by the end! I can’t say enough about how great they are.

For more information about our workshops, visit www.FlowCircus.com/schools. To discuss how the workshops can be adapted to your learning goals, contact Dawn at dawn@flowcircus.com or (919) 604-3462.

Think Summer! Are you looking for an engaging performance or workshop for your Library Summer Reading Program, Summer Camp Staff Training, or Parks & Recreation Summer Festival? Flow Circus can add playfulness to your event. We still have a few openings left for Summer 2010. Contact Dawn at (919) 604-3462 or dawn@flowcircus.com to check availability.

Flow Circus on Facebook: Stay up to date on Flow Circus happenings by becoming a Facebook fan. Join today and tell a friend! http://www.facebook.com/flowcircus

Thank you.