Enhancing Our Performance Space at Skylight Circus Arts

Enhancing Our Performance Space at Skylight Circus Arts

by | Mar 9, 2025 | News, Performance, Support

We’re excited to share that we’ve received funding to further enhance our performance space and provide more creative opportunities for the Rochdale community.

Exciting Venue Upgrades

Thanks to funding from the Rochdale Visitor Attraction and Venue Improvement Scheme with Rochdale Development Agency, we have made some exciting upgrades to our venue at Skylight Circus Arts.

Investing in New Equipment 

This funding has enabled us to invest in much-needed specialist circus and performance equipment. Our new black stage mats and stage lighting will enhance our performances, creating a more immersive and professional experience for our audiences. Be the first to see it all in action at our upcoming show, Sky Fi, happening in mid-March!

Expert Training for Our Youth Circus

In addition to equipment upgrades, the funding has also allowed us to bring in Cath, a local creative professional with skills in aerial and circus to work with our Spotlight performance troupe and youth circus.

Working with new creative professionals not only gives our young people new circus skills but it also provides us with new and exciting ideas, inspiration and helps to develop their resilience and team work. 

The training is focused in acrobalance and will further develop their skills, ready for our upcoming show, Sky-Fi.

photograph of three people, two younger boys and one women practising acrobalance. One boy is balancing on the women and the other boy is spotting him.

Sky-Fi

Coming Soon!

Date: Saturday 15th March 3pm & 7pm and Sunday 16th March 11am & 3pm

Location: Skylight Circus Arts, St Chads Fold, Sparrow Hill, Rochdale, OL16 1QT

Tickets: £5 per person (must book in advance)

Contact us for more information

Tickets

Thank You

A huge thank you to Rochdale Visitor Attraction and Venue Improvement Scheme and Rochdale Development Agency to supporting us to further develop our training space and performance venue here in Rochdale. 

Support Skylight Circus Arts

We are working hard to continue to develop our venue, upgrade our equipment and create high-quality performances for Rochdale audiences.

If you’d like to help us and are able to, please consider donating or sharing our stories with your families, friends and networks. Your kindness and support makes a huge difference!

Donate

Contact us to find out more about our projects, join one of our classes and our wonderful Skylight community.

Spotlight Presents: Sky-Fi Circus Show

Spotlight Presents: Sky-Fi Circus Show

by | Mar 9, 2025 | News, Our Team & Community, Performance, Projects, Spotlight

Meet our youth performance troupe, Spotlight and hear about our upcoming space themed circus and aerial show, Sky-Fi!

Spotlight

Originally formed in 2019, made up of a group of young performers from Skylight Circus Arts’ youth circus and aerial classes. They inspired the community and showcased their talent at community events such as Rochdale Feel Good Festival, Middleton Sports and Culture Awards and Darnhill Festival. They were set to debut their first solo show ‘Mammoth’ at Gracie Fields Theatre in March 2020, but the pandemic halted those plans.

Skylight Circus Manchester NW Aerial Silk Performers
Skylight Circus Youth Circus Theatre Performance
Skylight Circus Youth Circus Acro Training
Skylight Circus backstage at Middleton Arena
Skylight Circus NW Acrobatic Artists

While most of the original Spotlight members have moved on to university, one now works with us as a freelance circus and aerial tutor and performer, both here at Skylight and other venues in the North West. She has also worked on the Sky-Fi project and will be performing in the show!

A New Generation

Thanks to funding from Arts Council England, we have been able to reignite Spotlight with a brand new cohort of young circus performers and creatives to create a new circus show Sky-Fi.

The new Spotlight group, formed in January 2025, is made up of 14 young performers aged 12-20 all from the Rochdale and the surrounding areas. They’ve trained with us in Skylight’s regular youth circus classes and have shown a strong interest in developing their performance skills and working within the arts.

“My favourite part of being in Spotlight and creating Sky-Fi has been creating the show with everyone else. Some of us didn’t really know each other that well before January but we’re like a big team now.” 

– Spotlight Member

Spotlight’s Upcoming Circus Show: Sky-Fi

Since January, Skylight have been creating, training and rehearsing with Spotlight to create Sky Fi, an circus show that will take audiences on a journey to explore the curiosity of the vastness of space, the movement of zero gravity, and our connection to the universe.

Expect to step into the abyss with a mesmerising tight wire performance, orbiting unicyclists and aerial acts questioning time and space.

One of the initial sparks of inspiration from the group was the idea of how enormous the universe is, and how tiny we really are here on earth.

 

 

“I like to think about how tiny we are, compared to everything else. Like when you think about life and your problems, but then you zoom out and take step back and think about how big the universe is, it’s actually kind of nice because it makes your problems feel smaller.”

– Spotlight Member

 

Creative Employment Pathways

Skylight Circus Arts is working hard to provide opportunities for our young people in creative employment pathways. With two Spotlight members already working with us, Spotlight’s journey is a testament to that vision.

By giving these talented young performers the opportunity to develop their skills in circus, performance and other areas within the creative industry we hope to inspire and provide more opportunities to the next generation of circus artists and young creatives.

Support Spotlight

Come and witness the magic of Sky-Fi and support the next generation of circus artists! Whether you’re a fan of circus, space, or simply love a good show, this is an event not to be missed.

Date: Saturday 15th March 3pm & 7pm and Sunday 16th March 11am & 3pm
Location: Skylight Circus Arts, St Chads Fold, Sparrow Hill, Rochdale, OL16 1QT
Tickets: £5 per person (must book in advance)

Tickets

Help Shape Spotlights Future

We are working hard to secure funding to keep our Spotlight performance troupe thriving. If you’d like to help us provide opportunities for young Rochdale creatives, please consider donating. Your support makes a difference!
Donate

Contact us to find out more about our classes and our wonderful Skylight community.

A Magical Celebration & A Fond Farewell

A Magical Celebration & A Fond Farewell

by | Mar 5, 2025 | News, Our Team & Community, Performance

Christmas feels like a distant memory now as we dive into all things circus in 2025! Our regular classes are back in full swing, and we’re excited to continue sharing the joy of circus arts with the community.

We couldn’t let our annual Christmas Show Ho Ho pass without a special mention!

“Fantastic show, really heartwarming to see everyone enjoying showcasing their talents onstage. Great job 👏🏻”

– Parent of Youth Performer 

Over both nights we saw a range of acts, all created by the performers themselves in their regular weekly classes, with support from our dedicated and talented circus tutors. Performers included our youth, adult and Silver Circus members from our regular weekly classes.

To name a few highlights we saw the juggling duos, a balancing Christmas Tree (you had to be there!), 6 mini acrobats, LED Silver Circus mash-up with flying diabolos, skipping ropes and stilt walkers, breath-taking silk drops, the famous plate-spinning ladder trick, and of course, the big man himself with the stilt walking reindeers! Performers ranged from ages 8 to 88!

Photos coming soon…

To The Performers,

An enormous well done to all of you who thought creatively, worked together, practised your skills each week to create a brilliant show!

It takes bravery, courage and your passionate circus sparks to be able to stand up in front of an audience and make them smile!

A Big Shoutout

A big shoutout to our incredible youth volunteers Darci, Elsa, and Isabella who inspire the younger generation of circus performers and volunteer their time weekly to support in our midi youth circus and aerial classes! One of which completed her work experience week with us the week of the show, and has written ‘The Diary Of A Work Experience Student, with Skylight Circus’.

The night also marked a bittersweet moment as we said goodbye to our CEO, David, whose passion and leadership and fine eye for a branded Skylight water bottle have shaped Skylight over the past few years. While we’ll miss him, (we do already) we celebrate all he’s achieved and wish him the best!

With no budget or extra rehearsal time, this show is a true labor of love, powered by our dedicated staff team, freelance circus and aerial tutors, volunteers who help to set up the space, and performers who make the evenings magical! 

Thank you to our amazing audiences of family and friends for your donations on each evening, your much needed support helps us to keep sharing the joy, excitement and love that we all have for the world of circus!

Contact us to find out more about our classes and our wonderful Skylight community.

Bringing The Fire Back To Skylight Circus Arts

Bringing The Fire Back To Skylight Circus Arts

by | Nov 19, 2024 | News, Performance, Projects

Igniting Passion! Introducing Fireflies

Skylight’s new community fire circus project for our local people. Including an upcoming performance at Ignite Fire Festival.

What’s Fireflies?

Skylight’s exciting new community project supported by Culture Co-op and in collaboration with Travelling Light Circus! This project brings fire spinning circus classes to the local community, currently offering a unique opportunity for 12 local adults, many have no prior experience with fire performance.

Working with visiting Fire Performers and Tutors Travelling Light Circus, our participants have been engaging in weekly sessions at Skylight, immersing themselves in the art of fire spinning. With the Ignite Fire Festival on November 23rd and 24th fast approaching, the Fireflies group are gearing up for their performance, showcasing their newly acquired skills in front of the Rochdale community.

adults practising fire spinning with skylight circus arts
adults practising fire spinning with skylight circus arts
adults practising fire spinning with skylight circus arts

Skylight’s Youth Circus Fire Performance

Skylight’s Teen Youth Circus are also developing their skills, with masterclass’ in club swinging and all about keeping safe when performing with fire from Travelling Light Circus.

They have then been working hard with Skylight staff to create their fire performance choreography to perform alongside our adult community group at the Ignite Fire Festival.

teen practising fire spinning with skylight circus arts
teen practising fire spinning with skylight circus arts

Is this new for Skylight?

This project represents an exciting opportunity to reintroduce fire manipulation and fire performance within our Skylight community, allowing young people and adults to connect with an exhilarating new circus skill.

As Skylight embark on this journey, we are not only excited about the upcoming festival but also about the future of fire workshops for adults and young people in our community.

‘Fireflies’ Project was made possible with support from Rochdale’s Culture Co-op.

 

Upcoming Performances

Ignite Fire Festival – Town Hall Square

Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th November 2024

5 – 8pm Adult Community Group and Skylight Youth Circus Performance

Falinge Winter Markets – Falinge Park Courtyard

Sunday 1st December 2024

3:30pm Skylights Youth Circus

If you would like to speak to us about any upcoming events with Skylight Circus Arts please contact us.

Disclaimer: 

The skills and techniques discussed in this blog post involve fire performance and should only be attempted under the supervision of trained professionals. Do not attempt any of these skills without proper guidance, support, and appropriate safety equipment. Always prioritise safety and seek professional instruction when engaging in fire-related activities.

Extinction – What our young people think

by | Aug 20, 2020 | Heritage Lottery Fund, News, Performance, Projects

Funded by National Lottery Heritage fund, ‘3 intriguing fossils and the landscapes they came from’ project took Skylight’s participants on a journey of exploration around the Borough!  Research inspired a show called ‘Mammoth’  which was sadly cancelled due to the pandemic.

This page contains all the details of our fascinating research and maps for you to enjoy the fossil walks!  Below you’ll find the video which contains the  thoughts of our young people and our journey across the Borough.  

 

 

 

You can also read our blog posts about the different research that took place throughout the project: 

Sparth Bottoms – The scorpion trail research and photos

Syke – The woolly mammoth trail research and photos

Newhey Quarry – The seabed trail research and photos

If you would like to try the Rochdale walks, please find the walk map PDF’s below.  

 

Seabed Walk Map PDF
Scorpion Walk Map PDF
Mammoth Walk Map PDF

Skylight Circus LED Light Show

by | Dec 6, 2019 | Performance

As the dark nights have crept in, our Spotlight Troupe have ventured outside to light up the sky!  Our LED light show has been touring events across the Borough.  We’ve performed at Christmas Lights ‘Switch On’s’ in Heywood, Falinge and Rochdale.  We also enjoyed performances at Littleborough Arts Festival!

Our LED light show allows our performers to be very creative.  It’s also great to give the audience a chance to have a go too!   

Thank you to Grace for capturing the video below!  The music is by our talented musician, Steve Broomhead. 

 

“…It’s amazing, your are painting the sky with light!.” Audience Member Littleborough Arts Festival

“…It looked like graffiti fireworks, I want to have a go!”  Audience Member Falinge

 

silver circus juggling in mr kite
silver circus juggling in mr kite
 

If you’d like to book the LED Light Show, or would like any more information about Skylight’s work please call or email our Creative Director Martine on 01706 650676 / martine.b@skylightcircusarts.com