By Eric Zhao
Born in Toronto, and coming to Collingwood in grade five, Andrea Tate (grade ten) distinguishes herself from other talented Collingwood artists. She devotes her passion to a quite special kind of performing art: circus performing. She has started doing circus since grade four and she follows a schedule which seems very demanding to others; Andrea trains three times per week for four hours each session, and has occasionally enjoys additional sessions for extra rehearsals and fitness training. “Circus is a huge part of my life, and I dedicate so much of my time to training.” Throughout the year, Andrea does shows and performances all over the city at different events. Some of those events include the Apple Festival at UBC, the Kids Festival at Granville Island, and the Santa Claus Parade in Vancouver.
Born in Toronto, and coming to Collingwood in grade five, Andrea Tate (grade ten) distinguishes herself from other talented Collingwood artists. She devotes her passion to a quite special kind of performing art: circus performing. She has started doing circus since grade four and she follows a schedule which seems very demanding to others; Andrea trains three times per week for four hours each session, and has occasionally enjoys additional sessions for extra rehearsals and fitness training. “Circus is a huge part of my life, and I dedicate so much of my time to training.” Throughout the year, Andrea does shows and performances all over the city at different events. Some of those events include the Apple Festival at UBC, the Kids Festival at Granville Island, and the Santa Claus Parade in Vancouver.
Besides the circus, Andrea also demonstrates her skill and interest in music as an extraordinary violinist. She has been playing violin for twelve years and has won awards and scholarships, proving that she is not only a skillful performer, but also an accomplished musician. One achievement of which she is very proud this year was the Ambleside Orchestra Scholarship. Andrea has also been an active member of many music groups and orchestras, including the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Collingwood School Orchestra and the Ambleside Orchestra. Some of her other hobbies include photography, drawing, cooking or listening to music.
“I really admire a lot of circus artists. A lot of my coaches were part of Cirque du Soleil for many years and are such huge influences for me,” says Andrea as she describes how influential her coaches at Circus West have been to her. “Because I’ve been there so long, there’s not as much coaching anymore, and a lot of time is focused on individual work and our own inventing of new and creative tricks; however, my coaches are still there to help me with absolutely anything I need, so in that way they have been the biggest influences on me.” While showing her great gratitude to her coaches who made her who she is today, she also has the opportunity to guide younger performers. Being at the highest level as a performer herself, when it comes to suggestions and advice for her “underlings”, she says, “I enjoy coaching, and I encourage the younger kids to stay with circus and work hard, as some day they could get really far with it, considering the incredible coaches they will have, the amazing space that we have to train in.”
With the amazing facility she has for training at the circus, Andrea has the opportunity to work on many exciting tricks like tumbling, trampoline, juggling, hand to hand, silks, lyra, trapeze, straps and unicycling. The aerial silks, her specialty and passion, are her favourite. As mentioned earlier, Andrea has performances throughout the year, but the main show in which she takes part every year is the year end show at Circus West. Over the course of only four days, there are eight shows and each is about an hour long. Regardless of the tight schedule, Andrea enjoys the experience of being on the stage and of spending time with her amazing peers. As she puts it, this is her favourite week every year. “We spend most of the year rehearsing for this show, and it’s always so great to have over 500 people showing up for the performances. It really makes all the work pay off.”
Unfortunately, we may soon not able to see Andrea’s graceful performances under the spotlight on the stage anymore. After her graduation, she has chosen to not pursue circus as a profession. Fortunately for her fans out there, Andrea will not give up on her passion and on the years of work that she has put in. “I hope I’ll be able to find a gym or some sort of training centre so I don’t lose any strength or skills and will be able to keep doing what I love for as long as I can!” While Andrea is not sure about what she will be doing in the near future, she surmises that she will likely be going into sciences. Let’s wish the best of luck to Andrea!