How You Can Help...
Organised Kaos Youth Circus Ltd are a contemporary circus company, trading from our base in the Valleys of South Wales and working on an international platform.
We are a not-for-profit social enterprise where all money made from our activities is reinvested into our circus training school, making arts-based participation available to all members of our immediate community.
"Our mission statement is: Enterprising Circus For A Social Purpose."
Origins of Organised Kaos
Organised Kaos (OK) originated from a Friday night circus club in the Upper Amman Valley, South Wales on the 6th of July 2007. The Amman Valley, due to it’s semi rural location is an area with high levels of anti social behaviour, teenage Anti Social Behaviour Orders (ASBO’s) and minimal youth service provision. In response to this backdrop Nicola Hemsley started a Friday Night Circus School.
The purpose of Organised K.A.O.S is encompassed by its acronym (Keeping Adolescents Off the Streets). This was, and still is achieved by offering challenging skills based opportunities to young people through Circus Arts. Since those early days we have come a long way. We incorporated and became a company Ltd by guarantee, and In 2011 we secured a favourable lease on a dilapidated old church hall in the village of Gwaun Cae Gurwen. Since signing we have invested 150K into the remedial work getting the building, ensuring that it is safe and fit for purpose.
We currently run circus classes every night of the week, and intend to expand the class structure further after half term, and introduce Saturday acro class. Alongside this fabulous timetable of skills, We continue to be very social and very enterprising as we are not funded to cover core costs of the business.
How can you help?
Pay £5 and become a member, buy a t-shirt, donate some skills (we always need help with chainsawing!) donate some cash - think about us, like our FB and promote awareness of our business……..Diolch, Nicola.
Words from Gareth...
When I began developing the Quiet Triumphs Project one of the first organisations I thought of was Organised Kaos. Having worked in Circus for a number of years I had seen this company grow and grow without losing it's original principles. Organised Kaos have helped shape the lives of dozens of children, teenagers and young adults around South Wales with many going on to become professional Circus Artists that perform worldwide. In this building there are no outsiders, no insiders, and all are encouraged to develop and share their unique skills with one another. This is a place where teenagers can use their bodies to express themselves and with each new movement comes a deeper understanding of who they are and what they are capable of.
Organised Kaos is not just for young people either. The performances and showings that they share bring parents, grand parents and friends together to support a skill and art form that had once seemed unobtainable to older generations. Now the Circus is in the town of Gwaun Cae Gurwen every day!
If you ever think "nothing really happens" where you live then think of Nicola. Think of Nicola in Upper Amman Valley, with just over four thousand people living in it, taking classes for the first time. Think of her inspiring young people to discover and invent new forms of expression at a point in their lives where they are struggling to be heard. Think of the excitement that Organised Kaos has brought and the lives that are being changed on a daily basis in an area where "nothing really happens". If you still think that nothing really happens in your community then maybe it's time to start something...
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