By REBECCA WALSH education reporter
School may be out for most children, but for the youngsters of the cosmopolitan Cirque du Soleil the work has just begun.
After a two-month break, it is back to the books and the big top for the children in the travelling production of the circus' Asia-Pacific
show, Alegria.
And while you might expect them to be envious of Kiwi kids running around at the beach, they are remarkably unfazed about beginning a three-year tour taking in New Zealand, Australia and parts of Asia, including Singapore.
"It's hard, but you get used to it. We are busy all day, basically," says 15-year-old acrobat Ivan Savelieve.
"In the morning we wake up, go to school, we go to training then we have the shows.
"Then you go home and go to sleep right away.
"It's quite insulated. Because we travel a lot, we are like a big family, a big team. We live together and we work together."
Russian-born Ivan joined Cirque du Soleil - a spectacle featuring a cast of 56 performers and musicians from 13 countries, including acrobats, flaming-knife jugglers and contortionists - five years ago.
"My dad used to work here. It's cool to see the world and stuff. It's fun. I like what I'm doing."
Ivan, who speaks Russian, English and French, is one of five child artists performing in Auckland next month - he will be the one on the Russian bars or performing midair acrobatics in the Fast Track routine above giant trampolines.
The rest of the school is made up of the children of artists and permanent staff of the circus.
The school, set up at Quay Park under the shadow of the Grand Chapiteau (big top), is based on the Quebec school system in Canada - the home of Cirque du Soleil's international headquarters.
Three teachers, fluent in French and English, supervise the 16 students aged from 6 to 18.
Like Ivan, Russian-born Kristina Ivanova, 15, and Mongolian Bachka Batjargal, 9, were brought up in the circus and for both it has become a way of life.
Kristina, whose father is an acrobat, described the school as "just like a normal school" with lunch breaks and exams.
The only difference was no homework because after school was training time.
"It's your life, your job ... Sometimes it's boring to pack and unpack all the time but it's fun to see other countries and cultures."
By REBECCA WALSH education reporter
School may be out for most children, but for the youngsters of the cosmopolitan Cirque du Soleil the work has just begun.
After a two-month break, it is back to the books and the big top for the children in the travelling production of the circus' Asia-Pacific
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