Taking flexibility to a new level

Times Reporter

 

Going to a circus school may not be every little girls dream but for Desirae Thomas it was. Thomas would one day like to join Cirque du Soleil and has already been taking steps towards it. With the help of a scholarship from EPCOR she was able to attend the Kinetic Theory Circus School and circus classes in Los Angeles for three weeks. 

“Its like Cirque du Soleil, learning how to do the trapeze and silks and contortion and stuff like that,” said Thomas. 

Even though she is only 15-years-old, Thomas has been dancing for just over 10 years. She does a little bit of every thing: jazz, tap, ballet, musical theatre and hip hop among others. She also goes to a studio in Black Diamond for trapeze, silks and things like that. Silks are fabric hanging from the ceiling and then a person climbs up, wraps his or her self in it and falls gracefully back down. 

“I have no life,” said Thomas. 

Because of the time frame when she could go, she couldn’t actually go when they had their specific summer school, so she was in classes with adults. There were three to six people in each of her classes.  

“The people down there were just awesome, and they slotted her in to fit into the programs that they already had going, so that’s why she was with adults a lot of the time,” said Heather Thomas, Desirae’s mom and owner of Expressions the Dance Gallery. 

“It was really good. The teachers explained stuff in different ways so I understood it better, they applied it to things I would understand, so then I understood the tricks better and how to get into them,” said Desirae.  

“They would sit on me and pull my legs in ways I don’t think is normal for people to go into,” said Desirae. Despite the pain and being twisted into unnatural positions, she said Cirque du Soleil is still her dream job. 

“I hope to go back to the one (circus school) in L.A again, maybe next summer, maybe sometime sooner,” said Desirae. 

In L.A Desirae trained everyday for approximately three hours a day, except for Wednesdays and Saturdays when she would either go to Disneyland or to more dance classes. 

The approximately $1,700 award from EPCOR cut a huge chunk out of the costs of the training, and the plan is to apply for another scholarship to help for the next time around.