Cirque: A Rabun Gap Tradition

High-flying aerialists, intriguing storylines, dazzling costumes and sets — it's much more than you’ll see on most high school stages across the country.

In February, we celebrated another successful performance with “Cirque Qaos.” Near sold-out audiences were amazed as students dangled from aerial silks, contorted into different shapes, and told the story of a production team coming together for a successful show after chaos ensued. The yearly show continues to gain popularity across the region.

The Cirque program has become an essential part of the Rabun Gap experience for our entire community. It started in 2001 when Larry Smith and his Gap Players performed the first Cirque show with a handful of dedicated students.

Cirque combines theatre performance, acrobatics, and dance. Students perform on apparatuses including the Spanish web, aerial silks, trapeze, German wheel, and aerial lyra. The program is led by our arts faculty and draws on the expertise of regional cirque trainers and performers.

More than ever before, the annual cirque show has become a full performing arts endeavor, showcasing the best in theatre, instrumental music, and dance. Each show features a live orchestra (in this year’s “Cirque Qaos,” the music was all student-arranged), as well as student-choreographed dance numbers. The student-led production also includes stage direction, costume design, and technical theatre experience for students.

"One of the main elements that make Rabun Gap's cirque program unique and exciting is that it reinvents itself every single year. We create a custom show based upon the skills, talents, and interests of the performing arts department," said Mr. Sean Lakey, fine and performing arts department chair and director of Cirque. "The students not only perform but help conceive the show itself, from the characters and script, through the design process and even the acts themselves.  It is mass collaboration in every sense of the word and something truly rare among high school programs."

But the Cirque program extends beyond just a yearly show. Our cirque performers have year-round access to Cirque instruction through the School’s after-school activity program. Exposure to Cirque begins in Middle School through our Cirque afternoon activity in the fall. We also offer a “Cirque Out” training program in the spring, as well as classes and lessons through The Studio at Rabun Gap.

"Cirque has evolved each year and it is built around the interests and talents of the students.  One year we had a quartet of musicians that love jazz and that evolved into a film noir murder mystery. We've had students interested in fake fighting and that turned into a show about pirates.  Students created a doubles trapeze act and that turned into an act about a lover’s quarrel," Mr. Lakey said. "Cirque is entirely about what the students can bring to the program and as we have evolved, so too has the size and scope of the program.  This year we had roughly one hundred students involved in some capacity or another. It is this excitement and passion that makes this program so amazing."