Zip Zap School of Circus Arts

Circus, photo courtesy Tom Smith

Flying trapeze
If the sight of trapeze artists arcing to and fro over a gasping crowd gets your adrenalin going, pay a visit to the Zip Zap School of Circus Arts.

Juggling act
At Founders Garden, Jan Smuts Street, Cape Town, you’ll find aspirant young circus trainees putting in hours of practice to achieve the skills needed to showcase their talents to the public. These include juggling, unicycle, lunatrics, tumbling and trapeze, to name a few. 

It’s a circus out there!
Zip Zap is a non-profit organisation with public benefit status whose aim is to hire out circus acts to clients as a way of empowering circus students and supporting the Zip Zap school. Their skills are sought after for corporate events, fundraisers, parties, schools, fairs, exhibitions, commercials, stunt work, and rigging.

All about the children
Apart from corporate sponsorship, all of Zip Zap’s income is earned by the performances put on by the children. Apart from performing, the children are also involved in script writing, directing, rigging, sound and costumes. An outreach programme involves working with HIV-positive children by means of weekly workshops.

Mission
Zip Zap’s mission is to provide innovative, cutting-edge professional training and entertainment which enables the youth to fulfill their potential and contribute towards the building of a healthy nation. The school is open seven days a week and is free of charge. Youths aged 12-16 train after school and over weekends and on public holidays, while younger children play in the tent from 10h00-14h00.

You might also be interested to read about the South African National Circus, also based in Cape Town.