April 17 – 19, 2026

Vertical Arts Immersion

With Sarah Poole

Artists in vertical apparatuses transcend our sense of what’s possible when their aerial movement happens not only coming down, but also in going up. How can we develop work that goes beyond the effort of climbing in order to dance in the air?

We’ll look at specific skills that play with a sense of balancing the body on the apparatus in order to discover movement possibilities. You’ll explore skill vocabulary in the process of developing your own transitions and methods of moving up. We’ll look at principles of falls that change direction using momentum, rolling points of contact, and useful blocks. Creative puzzles will invite you to develop sequences of movement that rise.

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More Details

When:

  • Friday | 5:30 – 8:30 pm
  • Saturday | 1:00 – 4:00 pm & 5:00 – 7:00 pm
  • Sunday | 10:00 am – 1:00 pm

Where:
The Trapezium
10 Town Crier Drive
Brattleboro, Vermont

Cost:
$450

Ages:
12 & up or by permission of instructor

Register By: 
March 1, 2026

Prerequisites:
Participants should have a regular, consistent practice in aerial rope or fabric, comfort with inverting at height, wheeldowns (aka helicopter or windmill) in straddle, and back balances. It would be useful to also be developing one handed grip strength in suspension.

About The Coach

An American contemporary dancer by training, Sarah Poole left New York City to settle in Québec in 2003, completing a college diploma as a circus instructor (2008) at the National Circus School in Montreal (ENC), a graduate certificate in educational leadership at McGill University (2022), and an MA from the Individualized Program (INDI) at Concordia (2025).

Sarah is interested in the human being at the center of circus work and the sustainability of a circus artist’s career. She taught at the ENC in Montréal for 14 years and recently served as Director of Higher Education at the École de cirque de Québec (2022-2024).

A specialized coach and aerial choreographer, she has worked on several original creations for Cirque du Soleil (MESSI10, KURIOS, CRYSTAL, SAND) and Cirque Éloize (SEUL ENSEMBLE), as well as on the restaging of shows such as TORUK, CRYSTAL, CIRKOPOLIS, SALOON, and BOSCH DREAMS. She choreographs and coordinates circus aspects of television and film projects such as Plan B—Season 2 of KOTV and Falling by Moment Factory for Royal Caribbean.

Sarah works with circus artists who are developing acts independently, and regularly offers workshops in aerial disciplines and choreographic research in Europe, the United States, and Canada.

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