teacher trainings

one-day Tools for Teachers

Are you a teacher, therapist or parent looking to improve your toolbox of games that make leading groups fun, easy and active? Spend an intensive and experiential day learning practices she has developed over 35 years of teaching dance, theatre, yoga and circus. All of the practices develop inclusion, connection, co-authorship and empathy in the group learning process and can be adaptable to any classroom, population or curriculum. Facilitate learning that is playful, kinesthetic and profoundly memorable.

Included in tuition is a Human Art of Play Tools for Teachers Workbook and 6 hours of instruction.

three-day Teacher Trainings

Join us for an unforgettable 3 days of multi-generational play and learning with expert trainers and co-creators, Erin Maile + Kevin O’Keefe. This is a program for those wishing to explore and expand their teaching, creativity, leadership and more. Whether you are a circus teacher, circus enthusiast, school teacher, facilitator, leader, dancer, yogi, or parent... come steep in the benefits of the Human Art of Play and infuse your practice with the embodied principles of inclusion, connection, co-authorship & empathy. 
More details below.

Included in tuition is a Human Art of Play Teacher Training Manual and 18 hours of instruction.

Practices may include:

  • Whole group, small group, partner and solo practices

  • Threshold practices that initiate the learning space

  • Lots of inclusive group play & games

  • Creativity challenges in pairs and small groups

  • Improvisational games that lead to act development

  • Circus skills in juggling, circus toys, balance + clown

  • Partner movement, yoga, acrobatics + care

  • Practices that unify a group: focus, integrate/incorporate, activate

  • Activities that increase awareness of self and others

  • Trust-building sequencing

  • Practices + sequences that focus on developmental patterning

  • Playful and dynamic classroom management techniques

  • Cultivation of your authentic teaching voice

Guiding Principles:

  • Inclusion

  • curiosity + embodiment

  • Connection

  • creativity + exploration

  • Co-Authorship

  • deep listening + reflection

  • Empathy

  • evolution + holding questions

the Human Art of Play©
3-Day Teacher Training

Join us for an unforgettable 3 days of multi-generational play and learning with expert trainers and co-creators, Erin Maile + Kevin O’Keefe. This is a program for those wishing to explore and expand their teaching, creativity, leadership and more. Whether you are a circus teacher, circus enthusiast, school teacher, facilitator, leader, dancer, yogi, or parent... come steep in the benefits of the Human Art of Play and infuse your practice with the embodied principles of inclusion, connection, co-authorship & empathy. 

Ignite the Human Art of Play fire in you, and learn to:

  • Design embodied learning progressions that strengthen connection in any group;

  • Draw from the powerful practices of circus, yoga, and movement arts;

  • Build trust and joy in groups with skillful developmental sequencing;

  • Learn teaching transitions that hold the group and prepare them for the next activity;

  • Teach collaborative skills in groups of all abilities;

  • Develop social and emotional learning resiliency practices;

  • Foster an inclusive, empathetic group culture; &

  • Integrate meaningful play in your classroom, workshops and group leadership.

Erin Maile & Kevin O’Keefe have each been teaching for over 40 years. In 1997, they co-developed CircusYoga & the Human Art of Play out of their love for yoga, circus, connection, and play. Since then, they have led teacher trainings worldwide, conducted hundreds of workshops and in-school residencies in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Asia and the Pacific. Erin’s lifelong passion for exploring embodied movement led her to certifications in Kripalu Yoga, Rasa Yoga, Thai Massage, and Embodied Anatomy and Yoga from the School for Body-Mind Centering. She earned a certificate from Ohio State in creative placemaking. She’s been designing community engagement through the arts for thirty years. Her superpowers lie in curriculum development, sequencing and group dynamics. Kevin is the founder of Circus Minimus and the American Youth Circus Organization, and taught for many years at the Big Apple Circus School, and Sarah Lawrence College. He has advanced certifications from Integral Yoga in addition to thirty-five years of study in a variety of yoga modalities. Together they have taught multi-generational CircusYoga retreats for the past twenty-five years at Kripalu Center for Yoga. For nearly two decades, they’ve launched teachers and social workers creating youth circus programs in orphanages around India.

“CircusYoga is a beautiful program that features new approaches to sharing circus arts with families. Our staff was inspired by the way this method models inclusion and cooperation while allowing for each participant to shine as an individual.”

—Donna Wood-Babcock, director, Hope Street Circus, CA