In an old high school gymnasium in San Francisco, you can learn how to act, mime, juggle, fly on a trapeze, or contort your body into the shape of a pretzel. Sound interesting? Then head down to the San Francisco Circus Center, where all your circus dreams will come true.

When the Pickle Family Circus was founded in 1974, the Circus Center filled a gap to educate students in the act of circus. However, it was ten years later when founders Peggy Snider and Larry Pisoni took on a special project: the San Francisco School for Circus Arts. The Pickle Family Circus is no longer a functioning performance group, but the school lives on to teach performers what they need to succeed.

"Circus was in the point of changing from being family based--family was where all the training happened--to a situation where people were coming into circus who weren't from circus families," explains Jeff Raz, The Circus Center's director and creator of The Clown Conservatory.

Raz was born in New York but grew up in Berkeley. He learned to juggle at the age of fourteen during a Renaissance Faire and knew that one day it would be his passion. Once he perfected his juggling skills, he took them to the streets and became one of many street performers during the 1970s.

Raz comes from a family of intellectuals, his grandparents, parents, and siblings are all doctors or lawyers, but he knew that performing was the path for him. "There is something you find that fits your body," says Raz. He honed his craft at the Dell'Arte School of Physical Theatre, and continued to perform on Broadway as well as with Cirque du Soleil.

In the fall of 2001, Raz worked to develop the Clown Conservatory at the Circus Center, making it the only comprehensive clown conservatory program in the United States. "It's a conservatory program," Raz explains. "These eighteen hours [students] will be doing exactly this, and [they] will all do it together. They all have to take acrobatics and they all have to take circus skills, there are no exceptions." The graduating class consists of thirteen students who attend classes three days a week, eighteen hours a day to complete the two-year conservatory program which runs from September to June.

On October 15, the first year students had their first performance of the year, entitled "Who am I?" The audience had already taken their seats in front of the mock circus ring. The clowns were buzzing in the sidelines; their energy palpable. One by one they ran onto the stage and formed a ball of clowns, connected but trying to push away from one another. Their costumes were a mishmash of colors and lengths, their hair styled in high ponytails and braids atop their heads or covered by quirky hats. Then, once the ball broke, their performance began.

This may be their first show, but it is just as important as any other in their career. "Clowns have to have an audience," Raz says.

In the advanced year, the clowns have the opportunity to pick one of three focuses: Clown Ensemble Performance, Social Circus, or Independent Study. The social circus aspect focuses on performing in programs such as Clowns Without Borders, a troupe that entertains in the aftermath of disaster, or programs that utilize hospital clowning or intensive clown therapy. It may sound like a joke, but the performers know that laughter is the best medicine.

This year, the advanced students that are focusing on ensemble performance are working on a recreation of the Chinese classic novel and opera entitled Monkey: Journey to the West. The show will be done in comedia dell'arte style, an Italian improvisational style that dates back to the 16th century. In the traditional style, elaborate half masks are used to display the different characters. Monkey: Journey to the West will be performed with five students from the advanced program. During one practice, aerialist/contortionist Tara Quinn raises into a handstand, bends her legs backwards over her head, and uses the two comedia dell'arte masks that she has placed on her feet as well as the one on her face to act out a scene.

The Journey to the West group practices a variance of physical acts to work into the performance. Barrell rolls with four clowns hopping and rolling with one another, one rolls while the other hops over and repeats the process. Two advanced jugglers, Mark Wessels and Thomas John, work with traditional half masks ensuring that their eyes pop from the masks and are an extension from their performance. "Head takes!" Raz calls out to them while they are working on their juggling performance, insisting that while they juggle six clubs between them, they do not lose the mask's character.

The clowns will travel with their Journey to the West performance starting in mid-April and continue through June with about twenty-five performances. If you want to run away and join the circus make sure you feel it to your core, because at the Circus Center they mean business.[X]