New England Center for Circus Arts Lifts Hopes
By Nancy A. Olson
Circus is for everyone. That’s the foundation on which identical twins Elsie Smith and Serenity Smith Forchion, world-renowned circus performers and teachers, have built the New England Center for Circus Arts in Brattleboro, Vt.
Since its founding in 2007, NECCA’s mission has been to create and sustain “a school, facility, and community where circus arts are available to the general public and to inspire students of all skill levels, ages, abilities, and aspirations.”
NECCA has grown substantially in the last decade. In June 2007, the center moved into its new state-of-the-art circus trapezium, a custom-designed 8,600-square-foot building with 40-foot-high ceilings, which allow for varied training apparatus, including an indoor flying trapeze rig, a built-in trampoline, and requisite safety equipment.
Today, the circus school offers the most comprehensive full-time professional training program, a three-year track, for artists in the newest facility in the United States.
