Inuvik (Mar 17/06) - The circus came to town last week and the best part about it was most of the performers were Inuvik students.

On March 6, Calgary's Green Fools Theatre director Dean Bareham and his assistant Stacy Clark, a trapeze artist, arrived to teach students from the Alternative School the finer art of, well, clowning around.

However, there is more to playing the fool than being silly, as students soon learned. Twirling plates, juggling, walking on stilts and even having a go at the trapeze are all part of a professional clown's repertoire.

"This is a real positive experience for our students," said alternative school teacher Cam Brown, adding that this was the third year the Green Fools have come to Inuvik.

"To perform for their peers really builds up their confidence."

Wanda Joe, the first trapeze performer of the day, wowed the crowd with her abilities on the swinging bar high above Samuel Hearne's gymnasium floor.

"It was fun and everything went well," she said, cool as a cucumber, about her death-defying stunt.

Elder Rennie Kalinek, assistant at the school, seemed a bit more invigorated about her trapeze debut, which included hanging upside down by her legs. "It was cool," she said of her parka-clad performance.

"But everything happens so fast you don't have time to think anything."

While several others gave the trapeze a try, to the delight of the crowd students also strutted their new-found juggling and stilt-walking talents.

"Definitely walking on stilts was the best," said Lawrence Simon backstage after the performance. "Because you get to be tall."

Ae For more reaction, turn to page 12