Circus Studies Program Audition
As part of admission to High Mowing School, students wishing to enroll in the Circus Studies Program also need to complete an audition.
Show us some of your skills, but above all, be safe! Don't do anything that could result in injury or unhappiness!
Below is a list of suggestions to get your creative juices flowing. It is perfectly fine if you do not know how to do these or if you have other things that you would like to show us. Do not try tricks that you are not able to do or attempt to learn new skills without supervision from a qualified professional.
- Floor tumbling
- Forward roll
- Backward roll
- Handstand forward roll
- Back extension roll
- Cartwheel
- Roundoff
- Front walkover
- Back walkover
- Front handspring
- Back handspring
- Aerial cartwheel
- Front tuck
- Back tuck
- Roundoff back handspring
- Roundoff back tuck
- Strength — Good form from the beginning is more important than large numbers or reps. Both together are even better.
- Pushups
- Pull ups or chin ups
- V ups on ground
- Leg lifts on stall bars/wall bars
- Pullovers on a trapezeor high bar
- Tuck jumps
- Superman rocks or lifts
- Squats
- Handstand endurance on a wall
- Flexibility
- Standing pike
- Sitting pike
- Sitting straddle pancake with legs open to 90 degrees
- Right split
- Left split
- Center split
- Bridge
- Dance — Any type of dance you enjoy.
- Acting — Any acting exercises or any type of performance not centered around a circus skill: acting, singing, stand-up comedy, physical comedy, you name it.
- Specific disciplines — Anything you would like to show us from circus disciplines such as aerials, trampoline, clowning, manipulation/juggling, balance, etc.
Please also include a one minute or longer performance piece. This does not have to be something specifically recorded for this audition, anything from the past year or two that you feel showcases your abilities is fine.
Admission to High Mowing does not depend on admission to the Circus Studies Program.
Even if you are not accepted into the program, you can still be accepted into the school.
In-Person Audition
If you live in or are visiting New Hampshire and would like to arrange an in-person audition, please email our program coordinator at jroitman@highmowing.org.
Note that after an in-person audition, we might still request video materials if needed.
Video Audition
If you submit a video for your audition, it should be longer than 30 seconds but no longer than 6 minutes.
If possible, please use a landscape camera view and continuous takes rather than fancy editing. Background music is nice but not required. If you use music, it should reflect who you are.