The Do’s and Don’ts of Training Abroad

Teaching in Iceland – it was every bit as cold as it looked, but SPECTACULAR!

Wheeeeeeeeeeee! You’re headed to another country and there’s a CIRCUS SCHOOL! You’re going to do ALL the training! Taking classes in other countries – hell, even other states – can be such an incredible experience. You get to play with new vocabulary, a new approach, maybe even a new apparatus! That said, there are a few things to keep in mind before you rosin up and make with the upside-down. Let’s get all “international human of mystery” and chat about the ins, outs, and ups of training abroad.

What to Look For

Different countries have different teaching methods, offerings, and a varying tolerance for risk; what flies in Greenland may not fly in Florida and vice versa. How do you know if you’re walking into a questionable situation?

Ask for recommendations from trusted sources. Post on the F-books, instagram, etc and ask people if they’ve trained in a particular city and what their experience was like. You can also poke around and see what kind of online reviews the school has.
Check out that rigging & apparatus. Does everything look well-maintained or are fabrics dirty with lots of holes? Do things seem to be rigged properly or are you about to trust your life to a coat hanger and some dental floss? If you don’t know your rigging basics, you’ll need to do extra research on the school’s reputation. Your life is on the line – don’t assume that just because someone let them open a circus school that they know what they’re doing.
What language will classes be taught in? If there’s no language barrier, you can be a bit more adventurous. If your French is as bad as mine, you may want to check and see if English is an option or if it will be more of a “charades” situation. If you can’t understand what the instructor is saying, that’s a safety issue. If you are an advanced student, it may not present a huge challenge, but beginners may really struggle.
Safety equipment. Does the studio have photos online of students using mats? Hooray! Do they have photos of students doing drops over yoga mats? Boooooo. Skip it. Ditto for apparatus requiring safety belts, foam pits, etc – look for photographic evidence.
Poke around their social media. Once you’ve got a few schools in mind, it never hurts to creep their social media a little. Look for mats, reasonably good technique (students often aren’t perfect, so go easy), the kind of atmosphere you’re after, etc. Some folks aren’t great at social media, so if you’ve gotten good recommendations for a studio but their Insta is crap, don’t let it be a deal breaker.

When to Pass

Whenever you get that funny feeling in your stomach, fake a dizzy spell and bow out. Trust your intuition if something doesn’t feel right. Beyond that, take a pass when:

You’re crazy jetlagged. It’s easy to underestimate how wolloped you can feel from jetlag – if you’re really hurting, bow out (this goes for hangovers and funny tummies too).
You observe a cavalier attitude towards safety. Is it raining students and no one seems concerned? Time to go.
No safety equipment. If you get there and there’s no mat, buh bye.
Dicey rigging. Is it looking a little fishy up there? Trust your intuition, even if you can’t quite put a finger on what looks wrong.
When a language barrier interferes with safety. Did your high school Spanish fail you? Can you not understand a blessed word? Either take everything down to the floor, or gracefully bow out.

Class Etiquette

So, you’ve found a studio, apparatus looks great, and you’re not hanging from anything that makes you go hmmmmm. Now, get in there and soak up that training! BUT. Remember that you are a guest. MANNERS, PEOPLE.

Do it the way they want you to. Within the bounds of safety, do things this instructor’s way. If they want you to ball instead of pike, try it – you might like it. If they want you to slow your decent, then slow your decent. Don’t be the a$$hole who comes into their class and is all like, “This is how we do it back home!” Shut up. No one cares how you do it back home. You came to learn something new, so learn something new.
Be honest if you don’t understand. Be honest on the ground if you don’t understand. Do not climb to the top of a 20 foot fabric and then try to figure out what they want you to do. No. Na. Ne. Non. Niet. Nein.
Don’t monopolize. See all those people in class with you? See the single teacher? Be extra sensitive to not monopolizing the instructor’s time.
Take your cue from others. Is this a smiley group? Try to match that energy. More serious? Maybe save the fart jokes for another time.
Make sure you sign up for an appropriate level. Email or call if you need to, and bow out gracefully if it becomes apparent that you completely overestimated your skills.

Know how else you can train abroad? (you know a shameless Escape plug is coming, and here it is!) Come on a retreat or an ESCAPE with a trusted teacher! Traveling with a coach means you’re traveling with an advocate – someone who can vet the studios and instructors, is knowledgeable about rigging, and can step in if you need a little extra hand holding, support, or translation.

Interested in a SassyPants Escape! Click here! Interested in our trip to Ireland in April? Click here (but do it quickly – registration closes completely Feb 10, 2020!)