A performer who toured as an acrobat with Le Cirque du Soleil for two years will visit the Coast to give a circus tricks workshop especially for kids, followed by a performance for all ages. Colin Heath trained at the National Circus School in Montreal as an acrobat. He rides the teeter board, and performs chair balancing and bicycle tricks. He is also a founding member of Vancouver's Leaky Heaven Circus along with his wife and three daughters. It's been described as a theatrical circus that tells a story, not just a spectacle, and several of their shows have won or been nominated for Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards. "The kids will learn a new skill in a short time," says Heath. "I'll use their interests and strengths. If they want to juggle, I can teach them a few tricks." The workshop will be held on professional development day, Friday, Feb. 6, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Roberts Creek Elementary School gym and is aimed at kids from six to 12 years old. Local performer Tracy Lloyd will assist him. Heath says the acrobatics he will teach are on a more basic level than those he performed with the Cirque. However, children will use all they've learned when they give their own performance the next morning, Saturday, also at the school. The children's show will be followed by an interactive, one-man circus performance that can be enjoyed by the whole family. Oliver Sudden's Instant Circus features a clown (played by Heath) who has all the props and costumes but has lost his circus friends. Suddenly, he has to play all the parts, and he fumbles and tumbles his way around for a hilarious show that involves the audience. Heath was interviewed just before leaving for London, England, to appear at the Barbicon in the hit play The Overcoat which also uses mime and movement to convey its comic/serious story. He has appeared on TV in Stargate SG-1 and The Black Stallion and has written two award-winning plays for children. Registration for the children's circus workshop is through the Sunshine Coast Regional District recreation program at 604-885-6801. Admission to Oliver Sudden's Instant Circus can be bought at the door for $10 adults and $5 kids aged six to 12. Little ones are free. The performance is in the Roberts Creek Elementary School gym at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 7.
