Date: 2 November 2015

Residents, staff and local students have welcomed the Carnival of the Here and Now, a ‘circus skills exercise program’, to Whiddon Casino.

The Carnival of the Here and Now brings together a local circus trainer, drama and arts students from Casino High School, Whiddon’s care team, a physiotherapist and residents in an exciting 8 week program. The program aims to foster relationships between students and residents by supporting them to learn new skills together, with the guidance and expert knowledge of a local circus trainer.

Casino’s Director Care Services, Melissa Dunkley, says she is looking forward to the “spontaneous fun, energy, vibrancy and endless laughter that the Carnival brings to the home,” and that residents and students are “excited and looking forward to getting to know each other better, trying something different and creating the circus activities.”

The circus skills program is an alternative engagement strategy that reaches residents who may not participate in normal exercise programs, and includes roving visits to resident’s rooms and common areas to include everyone.

Through the combined vision of the physio and the circus trainer, activities are creatively designed to maximise outcomes of positive social, physical and physiological benefits while also aiming to improve muscle memory, dexterity, motor skills, balance and concentration.

Over the course of 8 weeks, the residents, staff and students participate in weekly circus skills workshops and together, the group plan a carnival event. Students match their interests and creative skills with individual or small groups of residents to co-design vignettes.

The grand event, the Carnival itself, will see the home transform into a theatre style setting where spontaneous acts and performances fill the spaces. The Carnival is not designed to be a performance to an audience, but to blur the line between audience and participant so that everyone contributes in the moment. The approach of the final performance is inspired by the theory of carnivalesque, where time is suspended, normal routine and structure becomes “topsy turvy”, and all are equal – no hierarchy or ageism exits.

The Carnival began on October 14th and runs for 8 weeks, with the residents and students building up to the final week, a Carnival performance on December 5th.

 

Credits

The Carnival of the Here and Now is produced by Arts Health Agency, created by Creature Tales in partnership with Island Care, and delivered in Casino in partnership with Whiddon and artist Michelle Thomas of Circustrain.

Photo by Stephanie Finn, Arts Health Agency.