“There’s something for everyone in circus arts! There’s no such thing as ‘can’t,’ only ‘I’m still working on it!’”
— Jill Fleming, founder/director, Berkcirque Circus School of the Berkshires
“I’ve been a movement person all my life—I’ve always found joy, solace, power, and competence in my body, and I want to help others feel that way too,” Jill Fleming, founder/director of Berkcirque Circus School of the Berkshires, begins. “Movement spoke to me from a young age as a dancer and gymnast. Although my home life was challenging, I found my community in my teammates and coaches.” Fleming studied gymnastics and dance through her late teens until a lower back injury made it difficult to continue at a high level. “At that point, I was lucky to find yoga,” she notes, “which has kept me limber and flexible as I’ve aged.”
She initially enrolled in the dance program at New York University but found it demanding and competitive in a very different way than she had experienced in her youth. So she switched to education, earning her undergraduate degree in early childhood and special education and completing her master’s degree in exercise physiology and physical education.
Later, Fleming studied at the New England Center for Circus Arts (Brattleboro, Vt.), and earned a movement training certification from the Spacial Dynamics Institute (upstate New York) and a yoga teacher certification from the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, which enabled her to begin teaching adults. She is also a member of the American Youth Circus Organization and American Circus Educators Association (AYCO/ACE), which helps circus educators stay connected through annual conferences and stay current on best practices and safety in the field.
A circus enterprise takes flight
Living on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Fleming began spending weekends in the Berkshires in the early 1980s, buying a second home on Copake Lake in 1985. She eventually moved to the region to raise her children, who attended the Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School, where Fleming taught movement education while also launching a circus arts program and producing several fundraising youth circus productions. Feeling that the services and resources were better in Massachusetts than in New York, she made her way to Great Barrington.
“I started running the circus summer camp at Hawthorne Valley School in 1995 and later in my barn in Alford, in addition to teaching at Berkshire Children’s Circus (part of Berkshire Community College, Pittsfield) for many years,” she explains. When BCC’s circus program closed, she bought some of their circus equipment and, in 2015, opened her own studio near downtown Great Barrington. “The brick and mortar there felt too restrictive, and it was expensive to rent,” she continues.
When COVID hit, she closed and put her equipment in storage—but not for long. “People started emailing me, asking for lessons. They wouldn’t let me close.” Whether through word of mouth or exposure to circus artists through Berkshire Busk, people recognized its value. She reopened the circus school in the summer of 2022 at the Berkcirque Barn in her current location at 49 Pearl Street in Great Barrington.
Not just for fun—and gentle enough for all ages
Fleming is passionate about the benefits of circus arts, citing increased eye-hand coordination, right/left brain integration, better physical/mental health, greater strength and overall fitness, boosted confidence, social/emotional development, enhanced problem-solving skills, and improved creativity. “Gymnastics can be hard on a developing child’s body,” she acknowledges. “The beauty of circus arts is that they incorporate many different aspects of human development and offer a well-rounded approach to movement education. Skills are taught through incremental steps, and students can alternate between different modalities.” These include manipulation (such as juggling), acrobatics (tumbling), balancing, aerial arts, and theatrical clowning and performing arts.
Circus arts offer a unique combination of disciplined movement and a focused free expression that is equally appealing and beneficial for people of all ages and abilities. They are also confidence and competence builders (ask anyone who’s learned how to ride a unicycle or walk a tight wire!) and wonderful collaborative activities. “When you’re producing a circus, it’s less about competing with others and more about achieving your personal goals, appreciating and celebrating each person’s unique gifts,” Fleming says. Moreover, each circus show is different, and the participants get to choose the theme and create the script (last year, the summer campers chose an Olympics theme). “The focus is on the kids and creating joy,” she emphasizes.
Are there challenges? “The biggest obstacle for anyone trying to run programs for children in the Berkshires is transportation,” she answers. “When I was growing up in Weehawken, New Jersey, I didn’t need a parent to drive me anywhere. I could walk, bike, or carpool. But when I offer a program here, the first question I get is, ‘Do you provide transportation?’ We need a better solution for moving children around.”
Her teaching team includes Elizabeth Helminska, a professional aerial fabric artist and coach; Moo Butler, the main teaching assistant and a theatrical clown; and previous campers who serve as counselors in training. “There are several wonderful circus artists in the Berkshires, in addition to the broader circus community—we stay connected through various local and national events,” Fleming says.
Moo Butler grew up in the Berkshires. “My father was a clown, and he introduced me to circus arts. I was a gymnast, but I didn’t love the structure of it,” they share. “Going to Circus Smirkus camp (in Greensboro, Vt) had a huge impact on my life—I felt very encouraged to be myself and try so many different options within the circus and performing arts.”
In 2016, Butler started working with Berkcirque, helping to run the summer camp program. “Jill is an amazing teaching mentor,” they say. “I felt incredibly grateful to be able to continue what I loved as a child and be involved in teaching the next generation. Along with her well-rounded approach to circus arts, Jill imparts ‘circus secrets’— little encouragements to ‘try again’ or ‘try a different way,’ which can be applied to other things.”
Summer camps and community partnerships
During the summer months, Fleming rents a red-and-white striped circus tent, allowing most programming to happen outdoors at the Pearl Street location. There, campers move through various stations—including low-wire, tumbling, equilibristics, aerial arts, balancing, and juggling. Sign-ups are already underway for the 2025 spring session for both adults and children and the popular circus summer camps, including a Beginners Camp for ages 6 to 10 (July 21-25); an Aerial Arts Intensive with Elizabeth Helminska for ages 10 to 16 (July 28-August 1); and a two-week Performance Arts Session for ages 8 to 14 (August 4-15).
The Berkcirque Barn is closed from November 1 to April 30. “That’s when I do my outreach,” Fleming notes. During these months, she teaches aerial yoga at Be Well Community Yoga in Canaan, Conn., and partners with nonprofit community programs—a helpful strategy for anyone trying to build a business. “I’ve also been a faculty teaching artist at Community Access to the Arts (CATA) for the past 10 years, bringing adaptive juggling to people with disabilities,” she explains. In winter, Fleming provides respite care for adults with special needs through the Cadmus Lifesharing Association. “I’m very much a community person,” she underscores. “It’s part of my personality to roll up my sleeves and dive in where help is needed.”
Throughout the year, Fleming offers intergenerational circus arts activities at various regional events, including Party in the Park (Housatonic), Founder’s Day (Lee), and the Berkshire Botanical Garden Fall Festival, as well as in programs at local libraries and schools. “I introduce spinning plates, juggling scarves, balance boards, hula hoops, or stilt walking. All are for children five years and older and require an accompanying parent or guardian, and many are financed by charging a small fee to attend the brief closing performance,” she notes. More extensive artist-in-residence programs have included an eight-week session in the Richmond Consolidated School District. “There are so many wonderful resources in Southern Berkshire County for kids in schools!” she says.
Whether you’re interested in having private instruction in your home or another location, hosting a circus birthday party, or booking an artist-in-residence program, aerial yoga class, or teacher training, endless possibilities await! For a complete list of offerings and summer camp opportunities, visit the website.
