We need your help to continue flying

The Volatil Circus School began as a dream, a dream to share the passion and excitement of the world of circus, a dream to bring this world to rural areas and offer small towns a cultural alternative.

This dream, which has materialised bit by bit, has now grown into a school with 130 students in the province of Cadiz.

Our school is now in serious danger because we desperately need to build a structure to continue teaching our students aerials

We teach classes in Tarifa, Conil and Jimena de la Frontera and also do occasional workshops in schools, for foundations and special events. We have also organised 4 International Circus Festivals in Tarifa (FEINCITA) and hosted the first Encuentro de Circo Joven de la FEECSE.

The following video further explains the project. In it, you can see our classes in the sports centre, as well as some of our end-of-year shows and displays.

The problem in Tarifa

We have starting this crowdfunding project because, in Tarifa, where this project began we have 90 students that no longer have access to our aerial equipment because the town council have stopped us using the building’s roof beams to hang our equipment from.

On the 22nd January 2020 and without prior notice, the Volatil Circus School were forced to remove all of our aerial acrobatic equipment because of an order issued from the technical department of the town council that concluded that the state of the roof structure of the “La Raqueta” Sports centre had deteriorated so much, the overhead beams could no longer support any extra weight.

As the Volatil Circus School are specialists in aerial acrobatics, this was an extremely hard blow as we are determined to continue with this aspect of training. Tarifa, being our main centre, is so important to our project because if we are unable to continue with regular classes here, we would not be able to financially support our employees, which means that we would have to cease all other activities throughout the province.

The school has offered various alternatives to resolve the problem , such as a change of location or to pay for a technical study of the load bearing beams to determine exactly how much weight they can support to find out whether a complete cessation of all aerial activities is indeed necessary, but the town council has rejected all of these offers.

Finally, we have found a viable alternative and we have the approval of the Town Hall. We are able to continue using the facilities at the sports centre but we have to build and install a structure that is completely independent and separate to the structure on the building to be able to hang our aerial equipment from.

Therefore, because we can’t use the installation’s roof beams as we have always done, and as a last resort in order to keep the school open and functioning, we have decided to launch this campaign to help us finance the building of a Truss structure, designed specifically for the needs of the students and school so that we can continue with our aerial activities this year. So that all of our students can carry on with their training on the silks and trapeze.

So what would your donations be used for?

Your donations would go directly and exclusively towards buying and installation of the structure we need to carry on teaching aerial acrobatics. The structure itself costs 9000 Euros and the crowdfunding fees are approximately 500 Euros. We therefore need to raise a total of 9500 Euros.

We can count on some help from the Council and the Port Authority of Algeciras but we need to rely on this crowdfunding project to reach the total amount needed. We have to install a structure that can hold 6 aerials and that is completely secure and certified to withstand the weight and activity we need it for. This is why we have decided on the F44 Truss system.

Your rewards

The rewards we offer for your donations have been created and designed with love. We hope you enjoy them and take full advantage of them. We have options available for every budget, taste and need. Here is some information about what we have available:

T-shirts and tops

This is one of our favourite rewards, especially as it is our first school shirt. We really really wanted to have our own t-shirts so that we could show what a great team we have become. The design was done by Alvaro Quintana, made with love for our school. We hope you like them as much as we do!

We have men’s, women’s and children’s sizes. When we reach our crowdfunding objective, we will contact you to find out what size you need and your address to be able to send it straight to you. We would love to see photos of you in it when you receive it!

‘Volatiles’ bags

We have also designed some very fashionable and eco-friendly tote-bags. You can use them for anything and everything! You can do your shopping with them or use them to bring your water, snacks and other bits and pieces to circus class. A great option to help reduce plastic use and waste!

Introduction to the Cloud Swinging

This is a very special reward that we are able to offer thanks to our amazing teacher Carolina Bustamente who is a flying aerial artist. The experience will be outdoors, on a specially mounted frame. The objective will be to give you your first contact with the flying rope where you can experiment with the feeling you get from flying through the air. It’s incredible!!

Live show

Courtesy of Mike Dosperillas, we can offer this amazing reward in the form of a live show. With incredible mastery and offbeat humour, Mike, in his experimental and endearing manner, always manages to bring a smile to both the young and old. Without a doubt a perfect option to get a taste of the culture and support our project. If you can, don’t think twice about it. You won’t regret it!

Who we are

We are a team of 4 teachers, circus professionals and educators which perfectly complements the requirements of the school.

Sara Rodriguez Castro: Our intrepid leader who founded this project in 2011. Sara studied early childhood education as her vocation as she enjoyed the company of children enormously. Sara discovered the circus later on, thanks to Ambidiextro and Carampa, the circus school where she was taught juggling, balancing acts, clown, acrobatics, vertical , dance and aerials. This is where Sara learnt so much about the circus, life, personal strength and the value of friendship.

Gema Conejo Carvajal: a teacher of physical education and a leisure and free time monitor. Gema also has credentials as a Montessori teacher and in Gestalt therapy. Our Gema’s motto is ‘non-violent communication’. Gema is attentive, caring and happy with our younger students and is why they love her so much.

Miguel Julian Rodriguez: better known as ‘Dos perillas’ is an actor, showman, presenter, juggler, does balancing acts, comedian..... but above all, a clown. A comedian that offers a different artistic vision to the school and amazes the students with his impossible balancing acts, flying objects and great sense of humour.

Carolina Bustamente Sanchez: An aerialist licensed in dramatic arts and ‘gaditana’ singing. Carolina’s circus career, which has spanned 20 years, has been focused on perfecting all possible aerial disciplines; mainly trapeze – both static and flying, silks, cuerda volante. This has gone hand in hand with her passion for the human body which has led her to become certified in physical therapy and osteopathy.

If you are still curious and you want to know more about our team of superheroes, you can find out more here.

Planned schedule.

This way of fundraising is all or nothing. We either reach our target and raise the total amount, or we don’t, and nothing at all is paid into our account. We have to wait for the end of the crowdfunding period, the 16th of October, to find out if we have managed to achieve our goals and therefore distribute the rewards. We already have the t-shirts and tote-bags in stock so, if you are in the area you will be able to collect them when the crowdfunding period is over. If we have to send the items to you, we would be able to begin processing the orders as from that date too. Our goal is to have everything on its way to you before the end of the first trimester. The live show reward is to enjoy at a future, agreed upon date during the course of 2021. The initiation to the cuerda volante will take place throughout the academic year 2020-2021 when a date can be agreed upon by all participants.

+ Info

You can always find more information about our project on our web page and social networks:
- Web - www.circovolatil.com
- Instagram - Escuela Circo Volátil.
- Facebook - Circo Volátil.
- Youtube- Circo Volátil.

Many thanks for helping to make this possible!