Project type: Take Part

Young aerial performer hanging from beam wrapped in orange silk.

A FREE year-long inclusive aerial acrobatics programme for young people ages 13-25.

Take Flight

Our inclusive programme for young people aged 13-25, where you’ll be introduced to aerial acrobatics, physical theatre and choreography to explore and develop aerial skills.

You’ll get to try exciting movements on:

  • Elastic cocoons
  • Silks
  • Hoop
  • Chinese Pole

This is a progressive programme, which is FREE and requires commitment.

Sessions every Wednesday (term time), 4.30-6.30pm and 7-9pm
Held in Main Hall, at Caxton House Community Centre, 129 St John’s Way, London, N19 3RQ

To find out more or join the waiting list please contact us:  emma@scarabeus.co.uk or call/message 07951 503 948

Supported by BBC Children in Need, Cloudesley, NCEL CYPMH Winter Pressures fund, National Lottery Awards for All, City Bridge Trust and Caxton House Community Centre.

Image by Henri T, video by Seb Whyte, Whispering Rebel – with thanks to Media Trust.

“I am so glad that Take Flight is something I’ve been part of. I feel strong and motivated, and that I can do something unique that is super cool?”

Participant, 2021

“Just give it a go. You’ll never know unless you try. Give it one chance and I guarantee you’ll fall in love with it.”

Participant, 2021

Young girl suspended from harness, floating on her back above the floor.

A brilliantly exciting new way of teaching physics to KS2 children through aerial flying!

Flying into Physics

Using exciting and creative aerial techniques to explore physical forces, Flying into Physics makes science approachable and accessible for a wide range of KS2 learners, including those who struggle with more traditional methods, to feel inspired and enjoy learning science and engineering.

This programme is offered free to primary schools in the London Boroughs of: Islington, Camden, Barnet, Brent, Ealing, and Hammersmith & Fulham.

The programme is available in 2 versions:

  • Demonstration model: a 2 hour session where the principles of physics are demonstrated by aerial artists with some participation from the students. 
  • Practical model: pupils will get to actively take part across 3 aerial sessions applying physical aerial movement to learn physics.

What do you get for FREE? 

  • Teacher CPD session with Science Specialist 
  • Teachers Aerial session*
  • Flying into Physics sessions for young people focussing on exploring flying, exploring forces at play & exploring pulleys, pulley systems & levers*

*please note the details of the offer are dependent on the model chosen for delivery 

If you’re interested and would like to receive further information please contact Søren Nielsen (Executive Director & Project Lead) on soren@scarabeus.co.uk 

This programme is offered free thanks to the generous support of John Lyon’s Charity, The Portal Trust, The Armourers and Brasiers’ Gauntlet Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation, The Ogden Trust, The Vintners Foundation and Manly Trust. Please contact us at the email address below to see if your school is eligible.

Image by Gigi Giannella, video by Chloë Plumb.

Young girl suspended in air, wrapped in green silk, with her mother sitting smiling beside her.

Flying Families is a FREE programme of creative and physical aerial workshops for grown-ups and their children. A great way of bonding deeply with your child and building self-confidence while learning fun new skills in a safe, supportive and non-judgemental environment.

Flying Families

Flying Families is a great way for grown-ups and children to spend quality time together and meet other local families with children of a similar age. We welcome families that are often living under difficult circumstances or that have complex needs, working with them to form stronger bonds, feel less stressed and anxious, and more able to have fun as a family.

We work with Primary Schools in London, offering a free weekly after-school programme across 8-weeks, exploring aerial skills using cocoons, yoga for adults & children, fun theatre games, outdoor adventures in Queen’s Woods and finishing off with some relaxation techniques.

If you want to bring Flying Families to your school please contact Daniela at daniela@scarabeus.co.uk

This programme is offered free thanks to the support by the National Lottery Community Fund.

Images by Gigi Giannella and Sky Neal, video by Sky Neal.

A mother supports the arms of her smiling son as he practices a move of a green cocoon.
A Scarabeus tutor helps a young boy move his above him as he balances in a yellow sling.
In a line, four children are wrapped in a band of bold red silk, suspended from the ceiling, they curl into a ball shape.
A mother and child peek out from a green cocoon, smiling to the photographer.
A group of families and tutors warm up in a circle, stretching their arms, the bright red silks suspended above their heads contrast with the pale wooden floor of the hall they're in.
Three children are upside-down, practicing aerial moves, suspended on red silk they are each in a different pose, one with their legs and arms spread like a star, the next kicking their legs behind them with help from their mother, and the final in a similar position, with her arms touching the blue mat beneath her.

Providing children an introduction to the art of aerial theatre.

Airborne

A 10 week programme, Airborne aims to increase children’s physical literacy, building their inner trust and self-belief through improving their confidence and competence.

Children feel better able to express themselves through non-competitive movement and working together as a team. They learn to make and relate to new friends, and feel more connected within the school environment. By having fun, pleasure and enjoyment in an activity that promotes positive challenges, children acquire the motivation and determination to overcome mental and physical obstacles and fears.

Made possible with funding from the John Lyon’s Charity.

“The way that you have built relationships with the children has been a crucial factor in the success and calmness within the sessions. I have been very impressed with the increasingly serious way the children approach the learning that they are doing with you. It doesn’t feel like you are delivering an activity, it does feel like you are delivering life skills that the children will now own.” Headteacher, All Saints School N20

Four performers are embracing arms in pairs. They cross each other so their arms form a X, lights shine above them as they smile.

Our new experiential programme working with primary schools to better understand and promote Healthy Relationships using an arts-based approach.

Shifting Point

Run in collaboration with Tender, Shifting Point is delivered as weekly sessions across 6-weeks or as a week’s intensive for Year 5 students. Closely linked to the PSHE curriculum it is designed to help children:

  • communicate and collaborate with their peers
  • better able to express positive and negative emotions that affect their collaborative work
  • listen and respond with empathy to different perspectives
  • learn new skills that stretch the boundaries of what they believe they can achieve
  • understand the components of healthy and unhealthy relationships, and where to access support.

Teachers and school staff:

  • Become more skilled and resourced for Healthy Relationship education
  • Feel more confident using arts-based approaches to teach Healthy Relationships.

Made possible with funding through the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

‘Creating an environment where the children feel safe and comfortable is paramount to children participation and their opening up, and that is exactly what happened.’

Class Teacher

Hands are pressed, palm to palm, with a perspex screen between them. There are reflections, lights spots and scratches covering the surface.
Four performers are embracing arms in pairs. They cross each other so their arms form a X, lights shine above them as they smile.
Group of school children in their wolf costumes with pointy ears and masks.

A collaboration between Keys Meadow Primary School & Scarabeus Aerial Theatre.

A Child Of Stories

Inspired by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston’s A Child of Books and Anthony Browne’s The Tunnel, together with traditional stories from the cultures of the children at Keys Meadow Primary School. A Child of Stories invites you to join brother and sister Maya and Kwame on an unexpected journey which requires all of their courage and bravery.

Bored because they have not been at school for months, whilst the world is stricken by a pandemic, Maya and Kwame bicker and bicker. Mum and Dad send them out to play. Little do they know that Kwame will get lost in a dark tunnel whilst chasing a ball, which will lead him to be captured and imprisoned in a suspended cage, frozen by fear and nearly eaten by fierce wolves. Maya, helped by her Auntie, who happens to be a very smart witch, will have to summon all her courage to find Kwame in the scary forest full of noises and perils. They will fight the bad wolves together with the caring witches and wizards who come to their rescue. Once safely back at home, Maya and Kwame have learned to rejoice in each other’s company. But are they really safe…

Created with Keys Meadow Year 5 Eagles & Owls pupils, who took leading roles in performing, filming and marketing this new short film. Each group has been working with professional artists, including circus performers/directors, filmmakers, costume designers and arts marketing experts.

Supported using public funding Arts Council England.

Check out Artistic Director Daniela Essart’s Case Study of the project Family Arts Campaign.

Image by Daniela Essart, video by Lucy Whitehead and Chloë Plumb.

Poster of If Not Now, Then When? showing silhouettes of people in a boat with bird flying above, drawn by students involved in project.

If not now then when? was an exciting site-specific promenade show inspired by Quentin Blake’s book ‘A Sailing Boat in the Sky’ and The United Nations Convention on the ‘Rights of the Child’.

If not now then when?

If not now then when? was an exciting site-specific promenade show inspired by Quentin Blake’s book ‘A Sailing Boat in the Sky’ and The United Nations Convention on the ‘Rights of the Child’. 

Working with Keys Meadow Primary School’s Year 5 children we explored themes of child labour, warfare, poverty and climate change with a life sized boat travelling around the school, ‘saving’ children from scene-to-scene. The show culminated with an aerial performance in the hall with children suspended above the ground in cocoons – in a call to action for the rights of all children! 

Supported by using public funds from Arts Council England.

Video by Chloë Plumb.

Large group of children dressed in gold raps with tartan plastic carriers

A 3-month visual theatre performance  project, inspired by the book ‘La Mariposa’ by Francisco Jimenez’, working with Keys Meadow Primary Schools’ Year 5 & 6 Pupils.

BE-LONGING

A 3-month visual theatre performance  project, inspired by the book ‘La Mariposa’ by Francisco Jimenez’, working with Keys Meadow Primary Schools’ Year 5 & 6 Pupils. 

Scarabeus worked with the pupils to explore team-building and trust, movement and staging, physical theatre and aerial skills; as well as visual art, costume and set design. 

The project culminated in a performance telling the story of a young migrant who lives in a refugee camp and speaks little English; feeling different and facing isolation at school, our protagonist takes comfort in oversving a caterpillar housed in a jar near his desk that slowly transforms into a butterfly. 

Working with the school, the grounds were transformed into large-scale sets; a refugee camp, a physical border crossing, a factory assembly line and the final scene of suspended aerial cocoons where a number of butterflies hatch and take flight. 

Supported by using public funds from Arts Council England.

Images by Daniela Essart, video by Chloë Plumb.

Person reaching to the sky with sea in the background, dancing on the beach.

Our virtual library of online movement classes created by our amazing tutors can be found here.

I Love Moving – online classes

Our brilliant teachers have created a variety of uplifting classes, during the Covid-19 lockdowns, to release tension, grow strength and stamina, deepen flexibility and mobility, but above all make us happy through movement from the cosiness of our homes, free as if we were breathing fresh sea air at the beach.

View our I Love Moving online classes here.

A collection of movement pieces created by the participants of the online classes delivered by the wonderful Lauren Carter; these zoom sessions kept our young people from Take Flight gleefully engaged throughout lockdown.

Image by Sky Neal.

Children laying on floor in a circle with heads together, faces covered with yellow clothes, covered in dappled sunlight.

Exodus (KS2) Project brought together groups of migrant and non-migrant communities to explore and aid communication between communities, improve understanding and challenge negative perceptions around refugee arrivals.

Exodus KS2

Using images, objects and physical theatre games as a starting point we were able to tell the stories of these communities.

Pupils participating in the project developed a variety of physical and creative skills through the application of yoga, aerial harness and cocoon and physical theatre.

Exodus was made possible with the support from Awards for All, Swan Mountain Trust, John Lyons Charity and Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

For more information on the Exodus project please see Secondary School Projects.

Images by Mark Morreau and Chloë Plumb, video by Chloë Plumb.

“It was really nice listening to other people’s stories.”

Participant