A local circus star and a good pup

Welcome to The Nugget, a 24k gold newsletter about Castlemaine's people and events

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The Nugget
November 22, 2024

★MEET A LOCAL CIRCUS STAR

Yep, Caz West is about to hop up on that tower of martini glasses. She has all the tricks.

Back in the twenty-teens, Caz Walsh was travelling the world with Pants Down Circus - a four-person, do-it-all mini-troupe.

She captivated thousands of people swinging through the air on trapeze and executing a wild rolla-bolla act. 

"We toured America, Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore and Brunei, where we performed for a prince."

When it was time to put down roots among fresh air and open space, she landed on Castlemaine: one of the only small towns in Victoria with a (thriving) circus school. 

"One of the main reasons for moving here was knowing there was already an established circus school."

She arrived with her husband, fellow rolla bolla performer Mason West, in 2018 and they soon began teaching at Castlemaine Circus.

"We've since run our own circus festival here in 2022-23, Circus Mania," says Caz.

The couple bought 'The May Wirth,' a 300-person traditional circus tent and now produce circus shows and take them to festivals like Adelaide Fringe and Canberra Circus Festival.

On Nov 30 and Dec 1, Caz and Mason will be performing in Castlemaine as part of Playing on the Edge Circus Show.

This show is nothing like the end-of-year performance Castlemaine Circus typically does.

The school won a grant, allowing them to bring in two physical theatre directors. They collaborated for months to develop a show specifically for the Castlemaine Circus venue.

Twenty-nine professional and young emerging artists from Castlemaine will be on stage together, showing off parkour flips, aerial drops, circus tricks and live music. Epic.

A brand-new teen Circus Band will feature in the show this year. It is made up of students from CSC. Local musician and teacher, Justin Marshall, helped the Circus Band create original music that complements the movements of the performers as each scene unfolds.

The young people involved in the show helped shape the concept: a response to our society's obsession with safety. 

"The kids can feel the society is anxious and it's having an impact on them," says Castlemaine Circus General Manager Kirsty Sutherland.

It has become increasingly popular for schools to remove monkey bars, for example, and ban cartwheels. This is a bad idea according to recent research into kids and risky play, which has been shown to help in the development of risk intelligence.

In time, kids build a skill set through adventurous play that allows them to see a situation and assess it for danger. Learning how to take risks safely, so you can push further, is at the core of the Castlemaine Circus mission. Kids and parents are seriously into what the school is offering.

Castlemaine Circus has 400 kids come through for classes each week and even the teen classes are booming.

"Enrollment used to really drop off when kids became teens," says Kirsty. "But now we have two full parkour teens classes and four aerial teen classes that are all full."

There is also a new circus teens class, as well, which Caz teaches.

Caz says she has loved meeting kids and parents and becoming part of the Castlemaine community.

"You do feel connected. I feel like I'm a lot more social here than I would be in Melbourne. Everyone knows each other. When you're out in the street, everyone says 'Hi.' I feel like we fitted in really quickly and I felt the connections with the community really quickly."

If you're considering going to the Playing on the Edge circus show, book now. It always sells out.

❀ DOG OF THE WEEK ❀

Goodest boy Sunny is absolutely vibrating with fun-time puppy energy. He’s bringing his whole self as he trains to be a school wellbeing dog at Winters Flat Primary school, (naps included). Keep it up, Sunny!

♡˖ NOVEMBER EVENTS ˖♡

★ DECEMBER EVENTS ★

December is a manic month and a girl’s gotta plan. Let’s look into the future fill out that diary. See the events happening in and around Castlemaine in December here.

Have I missed something? That won’t do. Email me at [email protected] to have your event included, and to suggest interview subjects, too. xo