Training Is The Way to Succeed

All those fantastic circus acts you see out there all get to the stage where they can perform by training, and training hard. Here is some example of the conditioning exercises that acro balance teams do.

A Different Way To Use A German Wheel

This is a really nice duo aerial hoop routine. Some of the combinations of moves made me gasp. Nice work Michael McNamara Marina Tomanova.

Luciano Rosso, Great Dancer and Clown

This is a bit of fun for a Tuesday. Luciano Rosso is well known for his lip syncing and beautifully funny physical presence. If you check him out on You Tube, you can also see what a fantastic dancer he is. I think he is a very talented clown, but I'm not sure other people would agree on that title. I hope you enjoy this and it brings a smile to you face.



P.S. If anyone can link me to the full recording of his Un Poyo Rojo show I would be very grateful. Here is the trailer.

It's been a long time...

Sorry for the lack of posts on this blog. Sometimes life takes you off in other directions that need all your attention.

Elephants Not Included is still running every Thursday evening at the Alltwen Community hall from 19.30 - 22.00. We are still an 18 + club and accept new members. The price is £2.50 per session, and the first session is free, so you can decide if you like us or not, without spending a penny. We have members who are complete beginners, through to professional circus performers and trainers. For those of you that are beginners and have no kit, worry not, the club has a lot of it's own kit you can used. If you have any questions you would like answering before you attend, message us using the comments on this blog or our Facebook Page messenger.

I have added a new page to this blog "Workshops". On this page we will post information of workshops group members have offered to run. Any club member is invited to run a workshop, so if you would like to do that, contact Lynne and let her know.

Many of the club members attended the Bath UpChuck circus festival on 17th Feb 2018, so we are hoping to share some of what we learned there with those that could not attend.

For those of you wishing to attend the PLAY festival later this year, get your tickets now, before the price goes up. There are a limited number of earlybird tickets at £80 which includes camping, workshops, shows and other entertainment.

Much More Than Just Handstands

Oh my goodness, I saw this and just had to share it with you all, but I was so fast to dash over to the blog to embed the video that I didn't even find out the name of this talented, strong lady. Her name is Val Doucette, and as yet I know nothing about her. I will try to find out more, so if you like what you see, you can get more information. Watch and be wowed.


You can see 2 more videos she has uploaded to You Tube here.

Boys Can Hoop

For all those people that have told me "But hoopings for girls, not boys." Well here is video evidence that proves that's not true. The very talented Nick Broyd knocks that belief out of the ballpark.


Time to get your wiggle on boys!

AGM 27th November 2014

This years Elephants Not Included AGM will be on 27th November at 8pm, in the Alltwen Community Hall, Dyffryn Rd, Alltwen, Pontardawe. Swansea. SA8 3BY. 


Please try to be there. If you are unable to attend, but would like something discussed, please contact me, so I can add it to the agenda. Equally, if you would like to be considered for one of the three posts on the committee of the group (see below), let me know and I will nominate you and put your name on the ballot. The week before the AGM I will be sending out an email to all members that will have the agenda and list of people nominated for the committee posts, so that you all get a chance to think about things before the meeting or email me your votes and opinions on the agenda topics in advance if you cannot be there. Thanks.


Committee Posts Job Descriptions

Chair:-

• Responsible for the smooth running of the club.
• Keep club members informed of everything going on within the club.
• Covering or re-allocating work for committee members that are absent/ill/having problems with their duties.
• Run the lending library, processing and keeping record of equipment going out and coming back in.
• Keeping the Facebook group and blog news page up to date.
• Increase awareness in the local community what ENI is all about.
• Be the person club members contact to request master classes/training.
• Find venues and tutors for master classes requested by the club members.
• Dealing with complaints.
• Chair monthly meetings.
• Key holding.

Treasurer:- 

• Keep weekly club attendance records up to date with who has and hasn't paid.
• Keep accurate records of money taken each week.
• Keep accurate records of club expenditure.
• Keep and file receipts for all payments made by the club.
• Bank money (or arrange for another committee member to do so)
• Pay the monthly rent for the hall from club funds and pay club invoices.
• Attend short monthly meetings and keep the committee updated on the accounts and any problems.
• Occasional key holding.

Secretary:-

• Keep members records up to date and add new members detail to the records as they join.
• Providing all committee members with up to date copies of members details.
• Deal with correspondence to and from ENI.
• Apply for grants and deal with responses from the grant bodies.
• Write the minutes for all meetings and provide copies of them to all committee members. This can be digitally.
• Holding records of any complaints made within or to the group.
• Attend monthly meetings to report to the committee any mail, grant replies etc.
• Occasional key holding.

AGM - 2014

This years AGM will be taking place at sometime in November. I say sometime, because I have yet to find a date that all the Committee members will be available to be at a meeting. This is down mainly to the fact I, and Glen work shifts and my shifts are not in a set pattern. I only get about a weeks notice of my definite rota times.

"So why are you posting this on the blog?" I hear you ask. I want you to know that there may only be very short notice that the meeting is on. Due to this I am asking all of you that if you have a burning passion to be elected to the Committee let me know as soon as possible and I will draw up a ballot to email to all of you. This means that you can register your vote before hand if you are worried you will not be able to attend the actual meeting. 

Also, if you have something you would like discussed at the meeting, please send me a message about that too. We as a group should all be able to have an input into how the club is run and about what we do. Think about what you would like to happen in 2015 and let us know. If you have radical ideas about changes we can make to the club, be sure to include the reasons why you want the changes and how you feel they would improve ENI. All of this will go into the email I will send out so others have a chance to put forward their views on your ideas.

Please get all of this to me before Thursday 6th November, so I can compose and send out an email and given you all a chance to reply and vote before November has run away and turned into December.

Thanks

Lynne

A Day At The Museum - Armin Zabba

Not a fan of poi? Then check out this video and be prepared to change your mind.

Swansea Meetings

I have some fabulous news, for those of you that haven't heard yet. Circus Eruption has got a new space to run their meetings in. The other great news is, they have offered us the space to run our Swansea ENI meetings, so from now on, the Sunday ENI meetings will be in Parc Tawe, in the unit that is the unit on the far right, as viewed from the car park, in the wing that has the Staples store in.

The space is huge, so there will be lots of room and no people below us that we have to keep quiet for, so bounce balls, double dutch skipping, unicycle stunts and more are all back in. YAY! Get along this Sunday at 11am - 1pm to celebrate.

BOOOOOO Wintertime is here.

Last year it was agreed at the club that in the Winter we would open the Thursday club at 7.30pm rather than the usual 7pm. I know it is a little bit early, as the clocks don't go back until the 26th October, but due to me having to work the next 2 Thursday evenings and Stephen being away, we will be relying on Glen and others, who come from further afield, to open up, so 7.30 suits them better.

We are also hoping to put on a program of workshops for the winter too, but we need members to volunteer to teach their skills to others and for club members to let me know what they would like to learn so I can book tutors. Once I have a program in place I will email it all out to everyone on the mailing list. If you have yet to join the mailing list, you can do so here.

Lets make this Winter a little bit brighter, by making it so much fun that we don't notice how early it is getting dark and how cold, wet and rainy the weather is.

Juggling - Alessandro Sacchi

Bounce ball juggling to make you squeal with delight from Alessandro Sacchi of the Axtractal Juggling project.

Hoop Manipulation

All I can say to this is WOW and command you to watch this. If it doesn't make you smile and want to build a platform on a pole to try it, then I ask you "What would make you want to build a platform on a pole?"

Skill Sharing

As a group we are pretty good at casual skill sharing within our weekly meetings, but sometimes we like to have more formal in house workshops run by club members and occasionally we invite external tutors to come and teach us new skills.

Summer is coming to an end, and the nights are drawing in. What better time for us to run some in house workshops, so everyone can learn some new skills to drive away the winter blues. If you are willing to run a workshop, please contact me (Lynne), and let me know what skill you would like to teach and to what level you feel confident to teach to. You can comment under this post or let me know on the ENI Facebook group. That way I can sort out a timetable of workshops for the Autumn and Winter in both Pontardawe and Swansea.

If you have never taught a workshop before and would like to give it a go, that's great and we will give you all the help and support you might need to do that. It's really not as scary as you might think.

As well as workshops we will meetings play games like Speed Ball Dating or Skill Swap Shop. They are silly, fun ways to try a new prop, see a new way of using a prop you already have some skills in or learn how to teach other people what you know.

Bring on the training!